The field includes some 34 elite athletes from 12 countries. Two-time Boston marathon champion Moses Tanui and reigning Olympic champion Gezahegne Abera are among the runners slated to run in the Boston race. Lagat, Tanui and Abera were all in contention for last year's title. Lagat edged out Abera at the finish line – both were clocked at 2 hours, 9 minutes, 47 seconds – while Tanui finished three seconds back.
The women's field includes 1996 Olympic gold medalist Fatuma Roba of Ethiopia, Lornah Kiplagat of Kenya and Ludmila Petrova of Russia. Boston Marathon celebrity Roberta "Bobbi" Gibb will also be running in this year's race.
In 1966, Gibb jumped into the field at the starting line as an unofficial competitor after the Boston Athletic Association, which organizes the race, rejected her application, saying women were not physiologically able to run 26.2 miles. She finished in three hours 20 minutes, becoming the first woman to ever finish the race. Gibb also ran in the 1996 Boston Marathon.
This year's field will be capped at 15,000 official competitors – 2,813 fewer than in 2000, according to Jack Fleming, director of communications for the BAA. The record field is 38,708 for the 100th anniversary race in 1996.
There are a number of Web sites dedicated to the race. An excellent unofficial site is Boston.com's Marathon Central at http://www.boston.com/marathon/. This site has a top-notch news stories – both pre-race and post-race. Other features on the site include a number of quality photos, a history of the race, course records and a list of past champions. There is also a video tour of the race route.
For those planning to attend the race, Marathon Central has a lot of helpful information, such as a list of businesses located near the finish line – including bars, restaurants, convenience stores, parking garages and lots, taxis, and pharmacies and also has a list of roads that will be closed in Boston that day.
The official site of the Boston Marathon is at http://www.bostonmarathon.org/. This site includes news stories and features, a spectator's guide, a history of the race and general information about the city of Boston. While some of the pre-race features listed on the site are interesting – like the one on 1926 winner Johnny Miles – the pickings are a little slim when it comes for pre-race information on this year's participants.
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