McGillivray to join crowd

The man in the middle of the pack blinking amid the unfamiliar (to him) sunshine Monday morning will be race director Dave McGillivray, who’ll be running the Boston Marathon in the daytime for the first time in 37 years.

“I won’t need a headlamp this year,” said McGillivray, who customarily takes the line in Hopkinton after he’s done supervising the proceedings and is the final recorded finisher. “At least I hope not.”

Usually McGillivray is up front on a motor scooter. This time he’ll take off on foot after the second wave of 30,000 runners has gone off.

“Seeing the race on two feet rather than two wheels will give me a special perspective,” he said.

McGillivray, whose streak of 51 consecutive completed Bostons is second only to Mark Bauman’s 54, will be accompanied by his daughter, Elle, and son,

Max. Fast turnaround

After falling short in her bid to make a third Olympic marathon team, Desiree Linden will take the line in Hopkinton for the 11th time only 10 weeks after the US Trials in Orlando.

“It’s not lost on me that this is a temporary thing,” said the 40-year-old Linden, who was the first American woman to win in Boston in 33 years when she prevailed in brutal conditions in 2018. “I’m healthy, I still have goals, I love being in Boston. So it was an easy decision to rally and come back here.”

Seven other top runners who competed at the Trials also are making what’s considered a short turnaround —

Sara Hall, Caroline Rotich, Jenny Simpson, Elkanah Kibet, CJ Albertson, Matt McDonald Sam Chelanga.

,and

“The recovery rate of athletes has improved,” observed BAA senior director Mary Kate Shea, who recruits the elite fields. “Maybe 15 years ago everybody thought they could only run two marathons a year. Now with improved shoe technology, people are rethinking that.”

Tricky temperatures

While Monday’s weather should be delightful for spectators, the predicted temperatures in the high 60s and west-northwest winds averaging around 15 miles an hour will be a mixed blessing for the runners.

“A tailwind can be good and bad,” observed McGillivray. “Good in that it helps push you along but bad in that you could get tricked into running faster than you should and you don’t have a little breeze in your face to cool you off a bit.”

And they’re off

Joan Benoit Samuelson, the two-time Boston champion who won the inaugural Olympic women’s marathon in Los Angeles 40 years ago, will be the official starter of Monday’s professional women’s race. Neil Cusack, the first (and still only) Irish victor here 50 years ago, will fire the gun for the men’s race.

London is calling

The women’s field for next Sunday’s London Marathon is stacked — Tigst Assefa and Brigid Kosgei, the current and previous world recordholders, plus Olympic gold medalist Peres Jepchirchir, former global titlist Ruth Chepngetich, and former race champion Yalemzerf Yehualaw. The men’s side includes Tamirat Tola and Geoffrey Kamworor, the reigning and former New York City champs, as well as Mosinet Geremew, a two-time global medalist, and Kenenisa Bekele, a three-time Olympic victor on the track.

Special centennial

This year marks the 100th anniversary of the shifting of the starting line from Ashland to Hopkinton when the distance was lengthened from 24.5 miles to 26 miles, 385 yards to match the Olympic format. It took three years for organizers to realize that their original measurement was 197 yards short. Clarence DeMar won both races easily . . . This also is the 20th anniversary of the introduction of a separate start for women that was designed to showcase the elite female runners. The result was a classic with Kenya’s Catherine Ndereba overtaking Ethiopia’s Elfenesh Alemu in the final mile to win her third crown by 16 seconds, matching the closest finish in event history.