Boston Marathon 2024: List of celebrities participating

Meet the celebrities who will be running the 2024 Boston Marathon.

Zdeno Chara: Bruins Legend

Arguably one of the most respected figures in Boston sports history, former Bruins captain and defenseman Zdeno Chara ran the Boston Marathon for the first time last year.

The race, which he ran for the Thomas E. Smith Foundation and the Hoyt Foundation, was the 6-foot-9 Slovakian's first marathon.

Since then, the future NHL Hall of Famer has completed several marathons and will add another to his belt when he crosses the finish line in Boston on Monday. Chara, 47, plans to run again for the Hoyt Foundation, which she said “seeks to improve the lives of young people with disabilities.”

Nicholas Kiefer: Tennis Olympic medalist

Kiefer is a German tennis star who achieved a career-high of 4th place on the Pro Tour during his playing days and won a silver medal in doubles at the 2004 Athens Olympics.

At the 128th Boston Marathon, Kiefer sets out to join the ranks of Six Star finishers, runners who complete six major marathons in the World Marathon Majors. Mr. Kiefer has previously managed locations in Berlin, London, New York, Tokyo and Chicago. Next is Boston.

Henry Richard: Martin Richard's younger brother

After the 2013 Boston Marathon bombings killed his brother Martin and seriously injured his mother Dennis and sister Jane, Henry Richard traveled to Boylston almost every year to watch the race.

He made his running debut in 2022, representing Team MR8, the team representing the Martin Richard Foundation. It was an emotional moment for the family, but in Martin's memory, Henry ran the race again last year, 10 years after the atomic bomb was dropped, along with three of his brother's childhood friends.

Henry is running his third Boston Marathon to raise money for the Martin Richard Foundation. Many of this year's team members are “childhood friends of the Martins and I am so excited to run with them and spread the message of the Martin Richard Foundation,” Henry wrote on the fundraising site. He called his past two years of race management experience “extraordinary.”

Daniel Humm: Award-winning chef

Well-known in the culinary world, Hamm is a celebrity chef and owner of Make It Nice, the New York-based hospitality group behind the famous Eleven Madison Park. The Swiss native has earned various accolades throughout his career, including his three stars in Michelin. Hamm, a former professional cyclist, has completed numerous marathons and last spring ran Boston for the first time in less than three hours.

Matt Wilpers: Peloton Instructor

Wilpers, one of the most popular instructors on the Peloton platform, announced during his February class that he would run the Boston Marathon. Wilpers, a former distance runner at Georgia State University, has competed in marathons before, but never in Boston (he missed 2007 with an injury and then lost his eligibility due to the pandemic). (The next marathon event was canceled.) But the Boston Marathon was a “bucket list race” for Wilpers, he said in an Instagram post.

“This is a race that's been on my list for a long time. When I started running marathons, my eyes immediately fell on Boston. And I knew, someday, I have to run that race. '' he recently told Boston.com.

Shane Sager: Sting's harmonica player

Sager, a Boston-based musician, plays harmonica with Sting. He runs marathons in support of the Mass General Marathon Team, which raises money for childhood cancer research. In preparation for the race, he has been documenting his training runs, including along the Charles River Esplanade.

Meb Keflezighi: 2014 winner

Ten years after winning the 2014 Boston Marathon, Keflezighi will once again take on the prestigious road race. In an emotional race a year after the atomic bomb was dropped, Keflezighi became the first American man to win since 1983.

Keflezighi, who also won the New York City Marathon and is an Olympic silver medalist, took part in February to celebrate his victory and to light the way for the MEB Foundation, which aims to “promote youth health, education and society.” announced that he would be running for “. According to the company's website, he promotes “fitness” both domestically and internationally.

Des Linden: 2018 Winner

Linden is no stranger to the Boston Marathon.

Last year marked her 10th time competing in the world-famous race. In 2018, on the coldest, wettest race day in her recent memory, Linden became the first American woman to win in Boston in more than 30 years. The two-time Olympian is back in Boston this year, and in her Instagram post she said, “You can't beat Boylston.”

Evans Chebet: 2022 and 2023 Winner

The amazing feat gave Chebet his second victory, following his first place in the Boston Marathon the previous spring. The Kenyan runner also won the 2022 New York City Marathon in the same year he won his first Boston Marathon, becoming the eighth runner to win both in the same year, according to New York Road Runners.

The two-time Boston Marathon champion, who will be at the top of the men's professional world this year, is looking to add another historic feat to his list. He becomes the fifth person to win the Boston Marathon three times in a row. He recently said, “Boston has become like a second home.”

“Even after running 28 marathons in my career, the chance to race in Boston for the 29th time and the fans there will give me the motivation I need to prepare to defend my title,” Chebet said. Told. “We look forward to getting out into town this spring and hearing the enthusiastic crowds along the course.”

Charlie Davis: 'Survivor' 46 Contestants

Davis, a Manchester-by-the-Sea native and Boston University School of Law student, graced television screens across the country for several weeks as a contestant on Season 46 of “Survivor.” CBS's long-running reality competition show. Davis, who was captain of the cross country team at Harvard University, will be running the Boston Marathon for the first time.

He told the Globe in February that taking part in the famous race was fulfilling a “lifelong dream.” Davis is running for Casa Marna, a nonprofit organization dedicated to ending domestic and dating violence.

In 1968, during his senior year at Wesleyan University, Barfoot won the Boston Marathon. In a Medium post last year, Barfoot said he “wanted to win Boston more than I ever imagined,” adding that he “trained extremely hard” to do so that year and that during a typical game, he “ran well over 100 miles.” He said he recorded a distance exceeding . week of training.

More than half a century later, Barfoot, who writes and edits for various running publications, has competed in the legendary road race more than a dozen times. He will try it again this year.

“Today, 55 years later, I'm still running Boston, mostly to say thank you. I'm so grateful. It doesn't matter how slowly I cover the course or where I finish. It's a miracle. , you can still walk 42.2 miles from rural Hopkinton to Copley Square in downtown Boston,” he wrote last April.

Troy Hoyt: Dick Hoyt's grandson

For decades, Dick and Rick Hoyt were staples of the Boston Marathon. From 1980 to his 2014 team Hoyt, a father-son duo, Dick pushed Rick in a wheelchair as he traversed the 42.2-mile course and crossed the finish line, completing the 32 prestigious We completed the race together. The two became running legends together. Rick, a quadriplegic with cerebral palsy, died in May last year, two years after his father.

In their absence, the Hoyt family remains dedicated to preserving their legacy. Last year, three of Dick's grandchildren, Troy, Cameron and Ryan, ran for Team Hoyt. The Hoyt Foundation was created to “build the character, confidence, and self-esteem of America's youth with disabilities through inclusion in all aspects of daily life,” according to the foundation's website.

Troy, along with Chara, will be running for Team Hoyt again this year. He said the race is “special to our family because it's the 10th anniversary of the last time his grandfather and uncle ran together in Boston.”

Tevin Wooten: NBC10 Boston Meteorologist

Wooten, a meteorologist for NBC10 Boston and NECN, is running his first Boston marathon to raise money for Boston Medical Center. Wooten has been documenting his training since the fall, providing updates on his progress and introducing his fellow BMC charity runners to his team.

“Training to run the Boston Marathon was a whirlwind for me, who is not an athlete. I have been through many hurricanes and winter storms, but this is thrilling. This is very personal. It's been a rough journey, but I will have many of you in mind as I cross the finish line of the marathon on Monday,” he said in an Instagram post in March.

Emily Maher: WCVB Reporter

Maher, a general assignment reporter for WCVB, decided to run the Boston Marathon for the first time in support of the Boys & Girls Clubs of Boston, “an organization that provides a safe and supportive environment for young people to learn and grow.” Then she said. Fundraising site. Maher “couldn't be more excited,” she said.

Dave Fortier: Boston Marathon Bombing Survivor

Fortier was injured by the first bomb in 2013 while running the Boston Marathon to support a friend battling cancer. He suffered shrapnel wounds and hearing loss. After the attack, Fortier and other survivors were deeply touched by the support provided by the Semper Fi Fund, a group of veterans injured in Iraq and Afghanistan. That support and a “passion for helping other survivors of terrorism and trauma,” according to Fortier's bio, led him to found the One World Strong Foundation, where he currently serves as president. He is said to be in charge of

The 2013 race was his first marathon, and the Newburyport resident has run more than a dozen times since then, including this year in Boston.

Read more about the Boston Marathon

Shannon Larson can be reached at shannon.larson@globe.com.follow her @shannonlarson98.