Boston Marathon
Here are all of the famous faces you’ll see out on the race course during the 2026 Boston Marathon.
It will be hard to spot a face in the crowd of 32,000 participants at the 2026 Boston Marathon on Monday. But if you search hard enough, you may spy a couple of famous faces along the 26.2-mile race course.
Each year, a handful of celebrities head to Boston to try their luck at the Boston Marathon. Recent participants include former Bruins defenseman Zdeno Chara, former NASCAR driver Danica Patrick, former star of “The Bachelor” Matt James, and “Supernatural” actor Jared Padalecki, who tackled the race in 2019 along with his wife, Genevieve.
Beyond those bold-faced names (a couple of whom are returning to this year’s race), coverage of the Boston Marathon has created its own class of notable competitors. Elite American runners like 2018 winner Des Linden will be back, as will former champions like 8-time Men’s Wheelchair Division winner Marcel Hug.
At the 2026 Boston Marathon, the famous participants will include a number of local newscasters, a trailblazing astronaut, a World Cup winner, former members of the Celtics and Bruins, and former First Daughter Chelsea Clinton.
One celebrity that you probably won’t see? Pop star Harry Styles.
Despite what Google’s AI Overview may tell you, Styles is not expected to run the 2026 Boston Marathon. As of this week, he has not registered for the race — at least under his own name.
Even though the singer theoretically would have plenty of time to rest and recover before his upcoming tour starts May 16, his impressive 2:59:13 time at the Berlin Marathon in September is still 4:13 shy of qualifying for Boston in his age bracket.
That said, Styles could theoretically run as part of the Boston Marathon’s charity program under an assumed name. That’s what he did in Berlin, where he entered the race as “Sted Sarandos.”
Pop star speculation aside, here are all of the celebrities and notable figures running the 2026 Boston Marathon.
Chelsea Clinton
Chelsea Clinton, the daughter of former President Bill Clinton and former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, will be running the Boston Marathon for the first time in 2026.
Clinton has run several other marathons in the past, including the New York City Marathon. Her time of 3:44:22 at the 2025 NYC Marathon qualified her for Boston by a margin of 38 seconds.
Zdeno Chara
After pulling out of the 2025 Boston Marathon due to injury, Boston Bruins legend Zdeno Chara is set to run his third Boston Marathon in four years. The longtime Bruins defenseman towered over the course in 2023 and 2024 while raising money for the Thomas E. Smith Foundation and the Hoyt Foundation.
Father and son duo Dick and Rick Hoyt were Boston Marathon fixtures for years, with Dick (who passed away in 2021) pushing Rick in a wheelchair. The Smith Foundation supports those living with paralysis, while the Hoyt Foundation aims to “build the individual character, self-confidence and self-esteem of America’s disabled young people.”
Suni Williams
Along with running the 2026 Boston Marathon, recently retired NASA astronaut (and Needham native) Sunita “Suni” Williams will receive the BAA’s annual Patriots’ Award, given to a person who is “patriotic, philanthropic, and inspirational, and fosters goodwill and sportsmanship.”
Williams will be running her second Boston Marathon, but her first on Earth. In 2007, Williams ran the Boston Marathon on a treadmill aboard the International Space Station.
Jeff DaRosa
For years, the only structure in Dropkick Murphys multi-instrumentalist Jeff DaRosa’s life was the rhythm of tour life. But a few years back, he quit drinking, and in search of something new to fill the void, discovered running.
DaRosa told Boston.com that running has brought him closer to his family and gave him “the discipline I so badly craved.” When he runs his first Boston Marathon (in support of the Claddagh Fund), he has one goal:
“To just be present,” he said. “That’s it.”
Bryan Arenales
Boston native Bryan Arenales, who was crowned the co-winner of “Love Island USA” Season 7 last summer, is running the Boston Marathon for the first time in 2026.
Arenales ran his first marathon in Miami in early 2025, then ran the Chicago Marathon last fall in 4:18:40.
Matt James
Matt James may have been “cooked” at the end of last year’s Boston Marathon, but the star of “The Bachelor” Season 25 is returning once more.
James first ran the race in 2022, finishing with a time of 03:49:38. He improved on his time in 2025, finishing in 03:36:54 while also serving as an on-course correspondent for WCVB-TV and ESPN. This year, James says his goal is to “have fun.”
Laura Green
Laura Green doesn’t take running — or herself — too seriously. That’s what Green’s 231,000 Instagram followers appreciate about the Cambridge mom, who will be running the Boston Marathon three years after initially qualifying thanks to BAA’s pregnancy and postpartum deferral policy.
Chris Herren
Fall River native Chris Herren was a hoops phenom in the ’90s, becoming a McDonald’s All-American and earning a scholarship to Boston College. But substance abuse issues pushed Herren out of BC and later the NBA after a short stint with the Celtics.
Sober and drug-free since 2008, Herren is running the Boston Marathon to support his non-profit Herren Project, which provides free resources for “treatment, recovery and prevention of substance use disorder.”
Kristine Lilly
One of the best women’s soccer players in U.S. history, the two-time World Cup winner and former Boston Breakers player has stayed active in the Boston area as an advisor with the newly formed Boston Legacy FC.
Lilly will be running the 2026 Boston Marathon on behalf of the Mia Hamm Foundation, a non-profit founded by her former USWNT teammate to help families in need of marrow or cord blood transplants.
Drew Carter
Carter, the Celtics’ play-by-play voice on NBC Sports Boston, is running the Boston Marathon for a second consecutive year as part of the Celtics Shamrock Foundation’s Green Runs Deep Team. This year, Carter and co. will be running and fundraising for the Martin Richard Foundation and its efforts to raise funds for a proposed athletic and community facility in Dorchester.
Carter told Boston.com in 2025 that he looked forward to participating in one of Boston’s greatest traditions.
“This just feels like the perfect way for me to use my platform as the Celtics announcer and my background as a runner to do some good and have a lot of fun and get to be a part of that fabric and one of the truly special things about Boston,” Carter said.
A.J. Burnett
In recent years, Boston Marathon presenting media sponsor WCVB has had a handful of its anchors and reporters run the race. This year, it’s WCVB meteorologist A.J. Burnett, who will probably be forecasting sore limbs with a chance of cramping when he runs this year’s race.
Burnett is currently raising funds for Special Olympics Massachusetts.
Ambrose “Amby” Burfoot was an elite marathoner in the 1960s and ’70s, winning the race in 1968. Burfoot was destined for Boston Marathon greatness, training in high school under 1957 Boston Marathon winner John J. Kelley and rooming in college with four-time Boston Marathon winner Bill Rodgers.
Burfoot, 79, will be wearing the bib number 1968 in honor of his milestone victory 58 years ago.
Dave McGillivray
For years, Boston Marathon race course director Dave McGillivray, 71, was consistently the last runner to finish the race. That’s not because he’s slow — his personal best time is 2:29:58 — but because he was too busy overseeing every aspect of the race to compete until well after most runners already crossed the finish line.
In 2024, McGillivray ran his first race from the middle of the scrum. For this year’s race, his 54th Boston Marathon, the plan is the same: See off the first two waves of open division runners, then hit the course with three of his children, Max, Luke, and Elle.
“It’s definitely a family affair, and it’s in our DNA,” McGillivray told Boston.com. “The Boston Marathon is part of our family… it’s a good feeling.”
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