Marathon Medical Team Ready For Hot Race Day

Officials are ramping up for Monday's 116th running of the Boston Marathon. The weather forecast is calling for temperatures in the 80s, bringing back bad memories of 2004, when a record number of runners were treated for heat-related illnesses.

Chris Troyanos, the longtime medical coordinator for the Boston Marathon, says there will be more than 1,300 medical volunteers on the course this year.

"I used to look at the Boston Marathon as a sporting event," Troyanos said. "That's no longer the case. After 2004, when we did experience high heat, I've come to the conclusion that this is a mass casualty event. And with that we bring in so many levels of public safety — EMS, the National Guard, the Massachusetts Emergency Management Agency — which oversees this. The levels of communication that we have, and the ability to bring in additional support and the coordination of 10 hospitals, five in Boston and five on the course... We're all coordinated, we know what's expected and how to deal with a day like we might see on Monday."

There are just under 27,000 runners entered in Monday's race. The defending champions are Geoffrey Mutai and Caroline Kilel, both from Kenya. Mutai ran the fastest marathon in history in Boston last April. But his time of 2-hours-3-minutes-and-2-seconds is not considered the officials world record because the Boston Marathon course is not a loop and is downhill overall.