The big story at today's Boston Marathon is the weather — in particular the bright, sunny skies and temperatures in the 80s that have race officials worried about how well some of the 27,000 registered runners will cope with the heat for 26.2 miles.
As the Boston Globe says, the medical tents are likely going to be quite busy today. And the Globe says that:
"Typically, the Boston Athletic Association (BAA) gets 288 five-gallon bottles of Poland Spring Natural Spring Water at the first water stops [miles 2 and 14] and 328 five-gallon bottles at the remainder of the water stations.
"This year, in anticipation of the high temperatures, they've upped it to 408 five-gallon bottles at all of the hydration stations along the course."
The city's mayor even suggested that some runners might want to skip this year's race. ESPN Boston reports that Mayor Tom Menino said Sunday that "we're asking runners who haven't run previously to think about tomorrow and maybe coming back next year. ... We don't want to have any accidents out there, or anybody overtaken by the heat."
The heat hasn't kept one record from already being set, though. According to the Globe, Canada's Joshua Cassidy won the wheelchair competition with a time of 1 hour, 18 minutes, 25 seconds — beating the previous course record by two seconds.
The Globe is live blogging here. The lead pack of men runners is about three minutes behind last year's pace, it says. They'll likely finish shortly after noon ET.
Update at 12:24 p.m. ET. Kenyan Cherop Wins Women's Race:
"Sharon Cherop won the women's race in the Boston Marathon on Monday," the AP writes, "surviving hot weather and a challenge from fellow Kenyan Jemima Jelagat Sumgong to win in an unofficial 2 hours, 31 minutes, 50 seconds. ... With temperatures rising to 78 degrees by the finish, Cherop won with the slowest time in Boston since 1985."
Update at 12:18 p.m. ET. Kenya's Korir Wins:
Wesley Korir of Kenya has won the men's race. His unofficial time, according to the Globe: 2:12:40. That's almost 9 minutes behind last year's world-record finish at the race.
Update at 12:05 p.m. ET. More Than 4,000 Elected Not To Run:
According to The Associated Press, "22,426 runners started Monday's race," which means more than 4,500 who registered did not run. Those who opted not to take part because of the heat will be offered places in next year's race, organizers say.
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