Boston Marathon
Listed below are all the well-known faces you will see out on the race course through the 2026 Boston Marathon.
Will probably be laborious to identify a face within the crowd of 32,000 contributors on the 2026 Boston Marathon on Monday. However if you happen to search laborious sufficient, you could spy a few well-known faces alongside the 26.2-mile race course.
Every year, a handful of celebrities head to Boston to strive their luck on the Boston Marathon. Current contributors embrace former Bruins defenseman Zdeno Chara, former NASCAR driver Danica Patrick, former star of “The Bachelor” Matt James, and “Supernatural” actor Jared Padalecki, who tackled the race in 2019 alongside along with his spouse, Genevieve.
Past these bold-faced names (a few whom are returning to this yr’s race), protection of the Boston Marathon has created its personal class of notable opponents. Elite American runners like 2018 winner Des Linden will likely be again, as will former champions like 8-time Males’s Wheelchair Division winner Marcel Hug.
On the 2026 Boston Marathon, the well-known contributors will embrace plenty of native newscasters, a trailblazing astronaut, a World Cup winner, former members of the Celtics and Bruins, and former First Daughter Chelsea Clinton.
One superstar that you just most likely received’t see? Pop star Harry Kinds.
Regardless of what Google’s AI Overview might let you know, Kinds is just not anticipated to run the 2026 Boston Marathon. As of this week, he has not registered for the race — a minimum of below his personal identify.
Although the singer theoretically would have loads of time to relaxation and get better earlier than his upcoming tour begins Could 16, his impressive 2:59:13 time on the Berlin Marathon in September continues to be 4:13 shy of qualifying for Boston in his age bracket.
That stated, Kinds might theoretically run as a part of the Boston Marathon’s charity program below an assumed identify. That’s what he did in Berlin, the place he entered the race as “Sted Sarandos.”
Pop star hypothesis apart, listed below are all the celebrities and notable figures operating the 2026 Boston Marathon.
Chelsea Clinton
Chelsea Clinton, the daughter of former President Invoice Clinton and former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, will likely be operating the Boston Marathon for the primary time in 2026.
Clinton has run a number of different marathons previously, together with the New York Metropolis Marathon. Her time of three:44:22 on the 2025 NYC Marathon certified her for Boston by a margin of 38 seconds.
Zdeno Chara
After pulling out of the 2025 Boston Marathon attributable to harm, Boston Bruins legend Zdeno Chara is about to run his third Boston Marathon in 4 years. The longtime Bruins defenseman towered over the course in 2023 and 2024 whereas elevating cash for the Thomas E. Smith Foundation and the Hoyt Foundation.
Father and son duo Dick and Rick Hoyt had been Boston Marathon fixtures for years, with Dick (who handed away in 2021) pushing Rick in a wheelchair. The Smith Basis helps these residing with paralysis, whereas the Hoyt Basis goals to “construct the person character, self-confidence and vanity of America’s disabled younger individuals.”
Suni Williams
Together with operating the 2026 Boston Marathon, lately retired NASA astronaut (and Needham native) Sunita “Suni” Williams will obtain the BAA’s annual Patriots’ Award, given to an individual who’s “patriotic, philanthropic, and inspirational, and fosters goodwill and sportsmanship.”
Williams will likely be operating her second Boston Marathon, however her first on Earth. In 2007, Williams ran the Boston Marathon on a treadmill aboard the International Space Station.
Jeff DaRosa
For years, the one construction in Dropkick Murphys multi-instrumentalist Jeff DaRosa’s life was the rhythm of tour life. However a number of years again, he stop consuming, and looking for one thing new to fill the void, found operating.
DaRosa told Boston.com that operating has introduced him nearer to his household and gave him “the self-discipline I so badly craved.” When he runs his first Boston Marathon (in assist of the Claddagh Fund), he has one objective:
“To only be current,” he stated. “That’s it.”
Bryan Arenales
Boston native Bryan Arenales, who was crowned the co-winner of “Love Island USA” Season 7 final summer season, is operating the Boston Marathon for the primary time in 2026.
Arenales ran his first marathon in Miami in early 2025, then ran the Chicago Marathon final fall in 4:18:40.
Matt James
Matt James might have been “cooked” on the finish of final yr’s Boston Marathon, however the star of “The Bachelor” Season 25 is returning as soon as extra.
James first ran the race in 2022, ending with a time of 03:49:38. He improved on his time in 2025, ending in 03:36:54 whereas additionally serving as an on-course correspondent for WCVB-TV and ESPN. This yr, James says his objective is to “have enjoyable.”
Laura Inexperienced
Laura Inexperienced doesn’t take operating — or herself — too significantly. That’s what Inexperienced’s 231,000 Instagram followers recognize concerning the Cambridge mother, who will likely be operating the Boston Marathon three years after initially qualifying due to BAA’s pregnancy and postpartum deferral policy.
Chris Herren
Fall River native Chris Herren was a hoops phenom within the ’90s, turning into a McDonald’s All-American and incomes a scholarship to Boston Faculty. However substance abuse points pushed Herren out of BC and later the NBA after a brief stint with the Celtics.
Sober and drug-free since 2008, Herren is operating the Boston Marathon to assist his non-profit Herren Project, which offers free sources for “remedy, restoration and prevention of substance use dysfunction.”
Kristine Lilly
The most effective girls’s soccer gamers in U.S. historical past, the two-time World Cup winner and former Boston Breakers participant has stayed lively within the Boston space as an advisor with the newly fashioned Boston Legacy FC.
Lilly will likely be operating the 2026 Boston Marathon on behalf of the Mia Hamm Foundation, a non-profit based by her former USWNT teammate to assist households in want of marrow or wire blood transplants.
Drew Carter
Carter, the Celtics’ play-by-play voice on NBC Sports activities Boston, is operating the Boston Marathon for a second consecutive yr as a part of the Celtics Shamrock Basis’s Inexperienced Runs Deep Group. This yr, Carter and co. will likely be operating and fundraising for the Martin Richard Foundation and its efforts to boost funds for a proposed athletic and neighborhood facility in Dorchester.
Carter told Boston.com in 2025 that he regarded ahead to taking part in one in all Boston’s best traditions.
“This simply seems like the proper method for me to make use of my platform because the Celtics announcer and my background as a runner to do some good and have lots of enjoyable and get to be part of that cloth and one of many actually particular issues about Boston,” Carter stated.
A.J. Burnett
Lately, Boston Marathon presenting media sponsor WCVB has had a handful of its anchors and reporters run the race. This yr, it’s WCVB meteorologist A.J. Burnett, who will most likely be forecasting sore limbs with an opportunity of cramping when he runs this yr’s race.
Burnett is at present elevating funds for Special Olympics Massachusetts.
Ambrose “Amby” Burfoot was an elite marathoner within the Sixties and ’70s, profitable the race in 1968. Burfoot was destined for Boston Marathon greatness, coaching in highschool below 1957 Boston Marathon winner John J. Kelley and rooming in faculty with four-time Boston Marathon winner Invoice Rodgers.
Burfoot, 79, will likely be sporting the bib quantity 1968 in honor of his milestone victory 58 years in the past.
Dave McGillivray
For years, Boston Marathon race course director Dave McGillivray, 71, was constantly the final runner to complete the race. That’s not as a result of he’s gradual — his private greatest time is 2:29:58 — however as a result of he was too busy overseeing each side of the race to compete till effectively after most runners already crossed the end line.
In 2024, McGillivray ran his first race from the center of the scrum. For this yr’s race, his 54th Boston Marathon, the plan is identical: See off the primary two waves of open division runners, then hit the course with three of his youngsters, Max, Luke, and Elle.
“It’s undoubtedly a household affair, and it’s in our DNA,” McGillivray told Boston.com. “The Boston Marathon is a part of our household… it’s a very good feeling.”
Join the In the present day publication
Get all the pieces you have to know to start out your day, delivered proper to your inbox each morning.
