After more than 10 months of careful planning for the 118th running of the Boston Marathon, Boston's hotels are gearing up for record occupancy and larger-than-ever crowds of spectators both in the city and along the 26.2 mile route. This year’s Boston Marathon will be held on April 21st.
The Boston Marathon is the second largest single day sporting event in terms of on-site media coverage, ranking behind only the Super Bowl as the largest single day sporting event in the world. Given the bombings that occurred at last year’s marathon, to say that all eyes are on Boston this year would be an understatement. The race has swelled to just over 36,000 participants, up from the average of 20,000 in prior years. The field of spectators could easily double from the average of 500,000 to over one million. “Everybody wants to come out and be part of this,” said Boston Police Commissioner William Evans. “I think we’re going to see the biggest numbers we’ve had, bigger than the 100th anniversary,” continued Evans.