From Chelsea Clinton to ‘Bachelor’ Matt James, tracking the celebrities and notables running the 2026 Boston Marathon
Clinton, 46, the daughter of former president Bill Clinton and former secretary of state Hillary Clinton, will be taking on the Boston Marathon for the first time.
She is an author, advocate, and the vice chair of the Clinton Foundation, a philanthropic organization aimed at addressing global problems. Clinton has run several marathons and qualified for Boston at the New York City Marathon last year, where she finished with a time of 3:44:22, 38 seconds under the qualifying time for her age group, according to the Marathon Handbook.
Chelsea Clinton, daughter of former president Bill Clinton, at the finish line of the New York City Marathon on Nov. 2, 2025.Angelina Katsanis/Associated Press
This will be the third time the former Bruins captain and NHL Hall of Famer has taken on Boston.
Chara, 49, ran the storied road race for the first time in 2023 — his first marathon ever — and again in 2024. Since then, he has run several marathons across the world, and recently became a World Marathon Major Six Star finisher. This year, Chara is running in support of the Thomas E. Smith Foundation, an organization dedicated to advancing comprehensive and compassionate care for people affected by paralysis.
Zdeno Chara crosses the finish line during the Boston Marathon in 2024.Jessica Rinaldi/Globe Staff
The Needham native and trailblazing astronaut fell in love with the Boston Marathon as a child and has run it multiple times before, including unofficially as a 17-year-old, and on a treadmill while aboard the International Space Station, where she became the first human to complete a marathon in orbit.
A former Navy captain and longtime runner who now lives in rural Maine, Williams, 60, will be running from Hopkinton to Boston more than a year after her space mission unexpectedly stretched from weeks into months. Now retired from her nearly three-decade-long career with NASA, Williams recently spoke with the Globe about the race.
“I’m a little slow, but I feel good and am happy to get out there to try it,” she said with a laugh.
Suni Williams at the Johnson Space Center on March 31, 2025, in Houston. Ashley Landis/Associated Press
Herren, 50, a Fall River native and promising basketball star whose addiction to heroin derailed his career with the Celtics, is running with his wife Heather to honor 15 years of the addiction recovery nonprofit they founded.
The Herren Project was started in 2011, after Herren got sober, and he’s running “to raise money so more people can find recovery, more families can heal, and more stories can come full circle,” the couple said on their fund-raising website.
“It’s a full circle moment for both of us — a celebration of healing, love, and the life we’ve worked so hard to reclaim. It’s also about every person still struggling and every family grieving the loss of a loved one,” they said.
Chris Herren, former Fall River basketball star, in 2018.Chin, Barry, Globe Staff Photo
DaRosa, a multi-instrumentalist for the Dropkick Murphys, the popular Boston-bred Celtic punk band, is running Boston this year in support of the Claddagh Fund, a charitable foundation founded by frontman Ken Casey. The 43-year-old told Boston.com that, since getting sober several years ago, running has become a form of meditation that has helped him feel more present and grounded. His one lighthearted goal, DaRosa said, is to beat Oprah’s marathon time. He narrowly eclipsed her 4:29:15 mark at the 2024 Mesa Marathon in Arizona.
Guitarist Jeff DaRosa performs with Dropkick Murphys at House of Blues on March 14, 2024.Ben Stas for The Boston Globe
For several decades, Dick and Rick Hoyt were a staple of the Boston Marathon. Between 1980 and 2014, Team Hoyt — the father-son duo — completed 32 of the prestigious races together, with Dick pushing Rick in his wheelchair through the 26.2-mile course and across the finish line. Together, the two became running legends. Rick, a quadriplegic who had cerebral palsy, died in May 2023, two years after his father.
The Hoyt family has remained dedicated to upholding their legacy. Troy Hoyt, one of Dick’s grandsons, has run the past three Marathons in Dick and Rick’s honor. He has raised money for Team Hoyt, part of the Hoyt Foundation, which was formed with the goal of building “the individual character, self-confidence, and self-esteem of America’s young people with disabilities through inclusion in all facets of daily life,” its website says.
Rick and Dick Hoyt passed the crowd at Wellesley College during the 1996 100th Boston Marathon.BOHN, John GLOBE PHOTO
Arenales, an Everett native and last year’s winner of the reality show “Love Island USA,” will be making his Boston debut. While he has run three marathons previously, Arenales, 29, calls Boston his “dream race.”
“I can’t wait. It’s literally a dream come true, what that race means to the city and the state of Mass. I’m Boston Strong till I die,” he said on Instagram recently, noting it will be his third world major. “I just can’t wait until I get that medal around my neck and just to be able to share that moment with my dad and family and friends.”
Bryan Arenales ran a marathon in Miami.Hermann Diehl
James, 34, a former star of The Bachelor, has a number of marathons under his belt and is lacing up for Boston for the third time. Last year, he worked as a field correspondent for WCVB, providing a first-person look of the race as he ran the 26.2-mile course. He told the Globe he chugged about “fix or six” beers along the way.
“When you have a little buzz, it’s easier to get up the hill,” he said. “It was a fun day.”
Matt James spoke with fans after crossing the finish line during the 129th Boston Marathon on April 21, 2025. Brett Phelps for The Boston Globe
Green, 40, is among the most popular running influencers in the Boston area. The Cambridge mom of three injects humor into her clips, which feature quick-cut, rapid-fire monologues that poke fun at the sometimes overtly serious attitude with which people approach the sport.
Laura Green is a popular running influencer. She is photographed with her daughter before a run in Cambridge. Suzanne Kreiter/Globe Staff
Linden is back at it again this year.
The two-time Olympian has run the Marathon a dozen times before, including last year, which marked her final race as a professional runner and where she placed 17th. In 2018, on one of the coldest and most rain-soaked race days in recent memory, Linden became the first American woman to win Boston in more than 30 years.
This time around, Linden, 42, a beloved figure in the running world who has turned to trail running and ultrarunning since stepping back from professional racing, is returning to Boston to pace her husband.
She races just a week after finishing third at the Marathon Des Sables, a six-day, 250-kilometer competition across the Sahara Desert. After that, she’ll be taking on the London Marathon.
American Des Linden crosses the finish line during the 2024 race.Danielle Parhizkaran/Globe Staff
The three-time Olympian and Connecticut native is one of the most accomplished athletes in the history of women’s soccer.
Lilly, 54, who holds the world record for the most number of international appearances and last played professionally for the Boston Breakers, is running Boston for fellow soccer legend Mia Hamm’s foundation, which supports families in need of transplants and advances opportunities for women in sports.
Retired soccer player and Olympic gold medal champion Kristine Lilly waved to the crowd at Fenway Park on July 24, 2021.Michael Dwyer/Associated Press
The Boston Celtics broadcaster and play-by-play commentator ran Boston — his first-ever marathon — last year and is back to do it again. Carter is running for the Celtics Shamrock Foundation’s Green Runs Deep team, which is raising money for the Martin Richard Foundation and Boys & Girls Clubs of Dorchester’s Fieldhouse+ project, a new athletic and community facility being built in Dorchester, according to his fund-raising website.
Celtics play-by-play voice Drew Carter, left, and analyst Brian Scalabrine talked after a Boston Celtics game.Brett Phelps for The Boston Globe
Burnett, a meteorologist and weather producer for WCVB, is running Boston for the first time in support of the Special Olympics, which helps provide training and competition opportunities for athletes with disabilities.
A.J. Burnett, middle, with Harvey Leonard, left, and Kelly Ann Cicalese, right, before a WCVB broadcast in 2022.David L. Ryan/Globe Staff
Burfoot, the former editor-in-chief of Runner’s World and 1968 Boston Marathon winner, has competed in the fabled road race many times over the years. Now 79, the running legend is returning to take it on again.
Amby Burfoot posed for a portrait at the Boston Marathon finish line in 2018.Jessica Rinaldi
McGillivray, the longtime race director of the Boston Marathon, is running from Hopkinton to Boston for the 54th time on Monday. This year, he will be racing alongside three of his children — Max, Luke, and Elle — to support his Finish Strong Foundation, which aims to inspire youth through running, reading, and kindness.
They are also running in honor of Susan Hurley, who participated in numerous Boston Athletic Association events and united athletes as part of her CharityTeams organization. She died of ovarian cancer in November.
“I know that as I run this year, she will be looking down on me providing the same supports,” said Max McGillivray, one of Hurley and Dave McGillivray’s two sons, in a recent interview with 7News.
Dave McGillivray at the starting line before the start of the 127th Boston Marathon. Matthew J. Lee/Globe Staff
Shannon Larson can be reached at [email protected]. Follow her @shannonlarson98.
