Start Time

Start time

Through 2005, the race began at noon, (wheelchair race began at 11:25 a.m., and the elite women at 11:31 a.m.) at the official starting point in Hopkinton, Massachusetts. Beginning with the 2006 event, the race has used a staggered "wave start," where (in 2006) top seeded runners (the elite men's group) and a first batch of up to 10,000 runners started at noon, with a second group starting at 12:30. Beginning in 2007 the starting times for the race were moved to 10:00 a.m. and 10:30 a.m. for the two wave starts, with the wheelchair and elite women's divisions starting at 9:25 a.m. and 9:35 a.m., respectively. These changes were made primarily because of the runners' desire to begin the race earlier to take advantage of cooler temperatures, though another added benefit is that many roads along the course can reopen to traffic earlier in the day.