The Boston Athletic Association (B.A.A.) Board voted late last night to change the name of the Boston Marathon’s Heartbreak Hill to “One Big Beautiful Hill.” The rebrand coincides with the B.A.A. announcing several monumental changes to the world’s oldest annual marathon. It’s a clear attempt to paint the controversial updates coming to the 2026 Boston Marathon in a positive light.
Among the most prominent changes include:
- A drastic reduction in medical tents, on-site medical personnel, ambulance services, and other medical care
- Replacing all water and sports drinks at aid stations with ICE
- Charging runners for formerly complimentary energy gels
- Shuttering all sustainability initiatives and increasing the number of print materials, reintroducing non-compostable cups and collection bags as well as non-recyclable plastics in event merchandise and materials
- Ending the Boston Marathon Charity Program and invitational entries, which raised funds for nonprofits dedicated to building healthy communities and enhancing diversity, inclusion and sustainability. The now defunct program provided 2,600 invitational entries to more than 200 organizations for fundraising purposes. More than $500 million had been raised since 1989.
- A significant increase in the race’s “defense” budget. When pressed for additional info, the B.A.A. clarified “defense” refers to a severe uptick in the number of racist police officers along the course and the introduction of an extremely heavy National Guard presence.
One Big Beautiful Hill
The most notable elevation gain of the 26.2-mile course, Heartbreak Hill—now, “One Big Beautiful Hill”—is infamous for being the last of the four Newton Hills. The grueling hill sits between miles 20 and 21 and challenges racers to finish strong as they’re close to reaching their breaking point.
The name change is an obvious effort to downplay the severity and evil nature of the hill formerly known as Heartbreak Hill. B.A.A. is spinning it into something to look forward to instead of absolutely dreading.
B.A.A. issued a statement as part of the announcement:
“The times, they are a-changin’. Honestly, we never loved our iconic hill’s association with utter despair. This is our way of reclaiming the name and positioning the forthcoming changes to the race as big and beautiful, like a nice set of hooters. After all, we are the world’s oldest marathon, and these archaic updates better reflect that distinction. We’re confident all racers will appreciate the fun updates coming to such a fun race, whether first-timers or veterans.”
28,409 runners finished the 2025 Boston Marathon; they will be the last to have completed the legendary race as the world used to know and love it.
The updates will likely come as quite the shock to runners of the 130th Boston Marathon, held April 20, 2026.
The qualifying window for the 2026 Boston Marathon opened September 1, 2024 and runs through September 12, 2025. Qualifier registration will take place September 8-12, 2025. This year, a record 12,324 qualifiers were not accepted into the race. The current bonkers qualifying standards for 2026 can be found on the pretentious race’s website.
