The traditional noon start is gone. As originally announced last August, the Boston Athletic Association and eight cities and towns along the marathon route have agreed to a 10 a.m. start for the Monday, April 16 race, a move that had been under discussion since 2005. The race, which will have 23,500 runners, will continue to utilize a two-wave start at 10:00 and 10:30; the elite women, approximately 80 in total, will actually begin earlier, at 9:35 a.m. The Mobility Impaired Program, Wheelchair and Elite Women's divisions will continue to start earlier. More,

The legendary Boston Marathon course follows a point-to-point route from rural Hopkinton into Ashland, then Framingham, Natick, Wellesley, Newton, Brookline and, finally, Boston. The inaugural Boston Marathon, held in 1897, began at 12:19 p.m., and the race traditionally began at noon in the 109 races that followed.

In an effort to inform residents of the communities along the course as well as commuters who may be affected by the new start time, several measures are being taken:

--The towns and cities along the course will post information on the early start to their websites.
--Races - Places.
--The B.A.A. will place public service advertisements in newspapers that serve the communities along the course.

Schedule for the start of the 2007 Boston Marathon:

Mobility Impaired Division (approximately 10 athletes)--9:00 a.m.
Wheelchair Division (approximately 50 athletes)--9:25 a.m.
Elite Women (approximately 80 athletes)-- 9:35 a.m.
Wave One (approximately 10,000 athletes)--10:00 a.m.
Wave Two (approximately 13,500 athletes)--10:30 a.m.

In addition to runners enjoying cooler temperatures and an earlier re-opening of roads to vehicular traffic, several other reasons factored into the B.A.A.'s decision to break from its traditional noon starting time:

--The overwhelming majority of runners prefer to start earlier than noon. Recreational and elite runners alike are accustomed and tuned to racing marathons in the morning.
--The event's medical constituency unanimously concurs with an earlier start time.
--Police, fire and medical representatives of all eight cities and towns along the route have responded positively to the concept of the earlier start.
--Registration for the 2007 Boston Marathon has officially closed. The field size of 23,500 official runners is the second largest in Boston history, behind only the 1996 100th running.