Boston Marathon
This morning, the 112th Boston Marathon begins. The race is run from Hopkinton to Boston along a 26.22 mile course. Approximately 25,000 runners will be competing this year. The course, over the hilly terrain of New England, is considered one of the best routes in the world. Every year, thousands of fans line the route and cheer on the runners.
A good article about the race and it’s history can be found on Wikipedia. This year there is $575,000 up for grabs in prize money. Weather this year is expected to be good, with partly sunny skies and a high near 60 F. The race will start at 10:00 Eastern Daylight Time with the elite female runners and wheelchair racers going earlier.
Bostonmarathon.org has live web coverage of the event with leaderboards and current stats for the race. You can see a list of the top runners and get updates and live reports from the race. There is also information on the biographies and personal records of some of the leaders available by clicking on their names on the leaderboard.
In order to run in the Boston Marathon you have to first qualify. To qualify, you must run a recognized marathon in a time that is less then the minimum required by the Boston Athletic Association. The men’s open record for the race is 2 hours, 7 minutes, 14 seconds, and the women’s record is 2 hours, 20 minutes, 43 seconds.
