Boston Marathon

Course & Elevation

The Boston Marathon is a point-to-point road race from Hopkinton to Boylston Street in central Boston, held on Patriots' Day, the third Monday of April. The Boston Athletic Association organises it, and it is the world's oldest annual marathon, first run in 1897. Entry is by qualifying time: athletes must meet an age- and gender-based standard to apply, and the field is about 30,000 runners, who start in staggered waves on Main Street in Hopkinton. The route follows Route 135 through Ashland, Framingham and Natick to Wellesley, where Wellesley College students line the road at the Scream Tunnel around the halfway mark. It then joins Route 16 into Newton and turns onto Commonwealth Avenue for the four Newton hills, the last of which is Heartbreak Hill between miles 20 and 21. After the hills the route passes the Chestnut Hill Reservoir, continues along Beacon Street through Brookline and Kenmore Square, and turns right onto Hereford Street and left onto Boylston Street for the finish at Copley Square, beside the Boston Public Library. The course crosses eight cities and towns, and it is a net-downhill route overall, even though the hills come late. The minimum age is 18 on race day.