BOSTON -- The first finish line spectator arrived at 4:15 a.m., and the first participants went off at 8:50 at the 118th Boston Marathon on Monday.
A moment of silence was held at 8:45 at the start in Hopkinton, one of eight cities and towns that the world’s oldest annual marathon runs through.
“We will never forget the courage, strength and resilience we’ve seen this past year,” an official said.
The moment recognized the three people killed in the twin bombings last year: Martin Richard, Krystle M. Campbell and Lingzi Lu, plus MIT police officer Sean Collier, who investigators say was shot and killed by the bombing suspects days later.
The moment also honored the more than 260 injured by the bombings last year, the first responders and two local firefighters who died battling a blaze last month -- Lt. Edward Walsh Jr. and Michael Kennedy -- and fallen police officers Gregory Maloney and Dennis Simmonds.
There were 35,755 official entries, nearly 9,000 more than last year, representing 96 countries. The most entries ever were 38,708 at the event’s centennial in 1996.
The weather at the start was 52 degrees with a SSW wind of 5 mph.
Here’s the race schedule (all time Eastern):
8:50 a.m. — Mobility impaired
9:17 a.m. — Wheelchair
9:22 a.m. — Handcycle
9:32 a.m. — Elite women
10 a.m. — Elite men and Wave 1
10:25 a.m. — Wave 2
11 a.m. — Wave 3
11:25 a.m. — Wave 4
The elite women should finish just before noon, and the elite men just after noon.
Regular trash cans outside Copley library are sealed off. pic.twitter.com/OfIsRULNNA
— Maria Cramer (@NYTimesCramer) April 21, 2014
