001Welcome to Boston Marathon 2026. >> Oh, team. >> Hi everybody. We're here with Sergeant Durant, Connecticut. >> Ngatuck, Connecticut. >> That's a mouthful. >> Oh my goodness. Well, first off, thank you so much for being up here for the Boston Marathon. And I see you have a part, you're working with a partner today. >> Yep. K9 Indie. >> And what does K9 Indie do here? >> So, Indie is our wellness dog. So, we're actually stationed down at the medical tent over here. Um, so he's here to support runners, get everybody excited, comfort anybody that needs it, that's maybe a little stressed, running jitters and stuff like that. So, we're actually down right over there and there's actually a whole team of canines down there specifically for the good vibes and all the puppy love that
002we could give today. >> That's amazing. charge it. Is this your first Boston Marathon or have you and you and Parker have been up here before? >> Nope. This is our very first Boston Marathon. We're super excited to be up here. >> Wow. How exciting is this? >> Very exciting. Welcome everybody to our 2026 coverage of the Boston Marathon right here in WACA >> in lovely Ashlin, Massachusetts. I'm Jerry Hindi. And who are you? I'm Nikita Keegan and we're going to be taking you through this race today. Uh talking to some great people, doing some great interviews, watching some incredible feats of athletic paral. So, and we're glad that you're joining us. >> The weather's great. I think it's somewhere around 45 degrees, which is perfect for the runners. And now, you've run before. Would
003this be great? >> You know, this is perfect running weather, Jerry. You know, it's not too hot. It's not too cold. you know, people. It's not great for spectating because I I can barely feel my hands at this point. But when you're out there running and you know, your adrenaline's pumping and you're doing the thing, it's it just keeps you on a nice even keel, you know. So, you're absolutely right about >> Well, when you're cheering for people and watching them go by and enjoying it, you don't even think about the cold. >> This is true. You're you're having a good time and you're especially going to be having a good time with us because we're, like I said, we're going to be taking you around. You're going to be talking to some of your
004friends and neighbors right here in Ashland about the race and all that good stuff. >> Oh, there's no runners yet. The only thing running right now is my nose. >> Well, my Well, I my nose was running and I I barely caught it, but um we did see some of the wheelchair athletes go by earlier. Um again, like that. How fast do you think those folks were going? I mean, they're kind of downhill. >> I estimated at about 40, 50 miles an hour maybe, which is so fast. I mean, just to have that little wheelchair, I it's fantastic. >> There's nothing between you and the road in that in that machine and like the the nerves of steel, those those incredible athletes like I hats off to them. I don't think I'd have the guts
005to do anything like that, you know? So, >> and just think about the arm strength, too. I mean, it's all like so wonderful. >> All arm strength, leg strength, you know, the whole whole nine yards. But, but you know, it it's interesting. And we were talking a little earlier about the the crowd size here in Ashland and we've got we've got a good number of people lining the route but you know we've also got a good number of runners. I from what I understand there are about 4300 runners today in the in the marathon alto together. um >> altogether and you mean the total amount of runners? >> I think so. >> 30,000 30,000 people in >> qualified I'm sorry qualified people I'm not sure but qualified >> qualified. So there's a little controversy in
006the running world about um who gets to run Boston, right? So, I'm sure a lot of people have been seeing um you know, or you're a real marathoner if you don't qualify because if it some to get people familiar with the process, you can apply to run and you have to have a qualifying time and there are different marathons you can do to submit your time or you can run for charity. >> Uh and then people get charity bids and they raise money. So, there's been a raging debate online about like who's a real marathoner, people who who make those qualifying times or people who are running for charity. Um, I don't know if you have any thoughts on that. >> I do. >> Oh, there's got the state police. >> I say they're all
007marathoners. All of them. Anyone who runs this race. >> And here are safety officers. >> There's a Massachusetts finest coming down the road here on 135 uh state police and they're think I think those are Harley's. I'm not. Yeah, I think those are Harley's. I'm not sure. Um they're giant bikes. That's all I know. I'm not >> They look kind of great. >> Face this way. >> Sure. >> This So this is like the opening opening. Okay. So these are women.