Boston Marathon is the world’s oldest annual marathon . The race is run through eight eastern Massachusetts cities, beginning in Hopkinton and ending in downtown Boston. The marathon is held the third Monday in April, which is Patriots’ Day, a state holiday in Massachusetts. Thousands of amateur and professional runners compete in the marathon every year, and hundreds of thousands of spectators line the race route of 26 miles 385 yards (42.2 kilometers).
Male and female athletes must be at least 18 years old to be eligible to run in the marathon and must meet certain qualifying times through participation in certified marathons. Women were first officially allowed to compete in the race in 1972. The race is divided into age groups, beginning with 18 through 34 and continuing to 80 years or older. There are also categories for contestants in wheelchairs and for vision-impaired runners.
The first Boston Marathon was held in 1897, patterned after the race run in the first modern Olympic Games in 1896. Since it began, the Boston Marathon has been supervised by the Boston Athletic Association, a nonprofit organization.
In 2006, the organizers of the Berlin , Boston, Chicago , London , and New York City marathons joined to create the World Marathon Majors. Tokyo joined as the sixth major in 2013. In addition to prize money awarded for the individual marathons, runners compete for an annual $1-million prize. The prize is based on points runners earn for their performance in major marathons plus the World Championship marathon and the Olympic Games marathon, when held.
In 2013, a terrorist attack took place at the Boston marathon when two homemade bombs exploded near the finish line of the race. The explosions killed 3 people and injured more than 200 others. The suspects later killed a law enforcement officer and wounded several other people. One of the suspects was killed during an encounter with police. The other was captured. 
In 2020, organizers canceled the marathon for the first time in the race’s history. The COVID-19 pandemic had become a matter of urgent concern for communities throughout the world. Local officials said they believed it would be impossible to observe social distancing or follow other public health guidelines in staging the event. Because of the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, the 2021 Boston Marathon was run in October.
