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| 11:58 a.m. | Runners are on the starting line | |
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The field of the 104th Boston Marathon is now on the starting line. The elite runners are at the front of the field, the 18,000 other runners behind them.
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| 11:55 a.m. | Wheelchairs are in Ashland | |
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Franz Nietlispach, the three-time defending men's champion, has opened a big lead on the field early in the wheelchair race. Saul Mendoza, last year's runner up, is also rolling well.
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| 11:50 a.m. | Wheelchairs are in Hopkinton | |
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The wheelchairs are now rolling free, headed to Boston in a large pack. Meanwhile, back at the start runners are still loosening up and settling into the corrals that will keep the field in order until the start in 10 minutes.
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| 11:45 a.m. | Wheelchair race begins | |
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The wheelchairs are off! The start is clean, as they are paced through the first mile, which is strongly downhill, so most of the athletes are coasting.
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| 11:30 a.m. | Wheelchairs begin in 15 minutes | |
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The wheelchair athletes are lining up at the start. Both defending champions, 41-year-old Franz Nietlispach of Switzerland and 25-year-old Louise Sauvage of Australia, return. So do both runners-up, Saul Mendoza and Jean Driscoll. The wheelchair start is controlled, meaning that athletes are not allowed to go faster than 20 miles per hour for the first mile, which is the steepest downhill on the course. The paced start was instituted after a crash at the start marred the race in 1987.
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| 11 a.m. | Runners begin at noon | |
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Runners are streaming from the Athletes' Village at Hopkinton High School to the corrals which hold them, in numeric order, prior to the start. The weather is cool, which is good for marathoners, but the wind is quite stiff in unprotected parts of the course. [ More from Hopkinton ]
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| 10 a.m. | Runners begins at noon | |
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The mobility-impaired runners have just left the starting line in Hopkinton. They are the first athletes of the day the begin the 26.2-mile trek to Boston. Meanwhile, at the Athletes' Village, located at Hopkinton High School, a half mile from the start, Johnny Kelley has just addressed the runners, urging them to do their best today.
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| 9:30 a.m. | Runners begins at noon | |
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Boston.com will provide live, stride-by-stride coverage of the Boston Marathon beginning at 10 a.m. The first competitors, a group of 11 mobility-impaired athletes, will start at that time. A handcycle exhibition race starts at 11:35, followed 10 minutes later by the wheelchair division. The gun will sound at noon for some 18,000 officials runners, along with thousands of unofficial participants known as "bandits."
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