HOPKINTON, Mass. — After a year and a half hiatus, the Boston Marathon will get underway in just a few hours from now. The 125th running of the 26.2-mile race has a lot of changes.
First off, there will be 10,000 fewer runners this year. No athlete’s village, no vendors, and no spectators. But the runners can’t wait to cross this starting line, and that includes two brothers whose last marathon they’d like to forget.
“In 2018, we ran Boston together on that cold day,” said Scott Mumford. “I got hypothermia, and Brett helped me finish, and it was terrible.”
“And I said just stay right on my right hip,” said Brett Mumford. “Concentrate. I’m going to keep you right there with me. And let’s keep going one foot in front of the other. Just keep going forward, and we’re going to make it.”
Among the other changes with today’s marathon are the start times being pushed up earlier. The men’s wheelchair starts at 8:02 a.m., with the women starting three minutes after. Then the professional men’s race begins at 8:37 a.m., the women at 8:45 a.m. The rest of the field will have a rolling start time of 9 a.m.
These changes are to continue to ensure everyone’s safety. All of the runners had to provide their vaccination card or test negative 72 hours before the race. Because of the smaller field, there are about 30,000 runners taking part in a virtual marathon.