The 2024 Boston Marathon By the Numbers
What happens to the best marathoners when the weather doesn’t cooperate?
This week, 30,000 runners descended on Boston for the oldest and most prestigious marathon in the world.
It’s a tough course, and it’s not known for blazing-fast times like Chicago, London, or Berlin. But it attracts its fair share of the best elite runners.
And behind them, the majority of the runners have earned their entry by meeting a qualifying time — making this the most impressive collective field of all major marathons.
But the weather in April can be a fickle beast.
This year’s weather wasn’t the worst in recent memory, but it certainly wasn’t good running weather. It started in the high 50s with over 70% humidity in Hopkinton. By the time the finishers reached Boston, the temperatures would reach the high 60s to low 70s.
Heat + hills + winter training is potentially a recipe for disaster.
What impact did this have on the finishers? And what other conclusions can we draw from an analysis of the finisher data?
