Lisa Larsen Weidenbach was the last US woman to win this race, in 1985, but a group of highly talented home runners may find the way to amend that record against an international field whose most obvious contender is Kenya’s defending champion Edna Kiplagat.

The US challenge in a race that is the seventh event in the 2017-2018 Abbott World Marathon Majors Series XI will be led by Flanagan, who six months ago, at the age of 36, became the first American woman to win the New York City Marathon.

Flanagan, winner of the Olympic silver medal in the 10,000 metres at Beijing 2008, was brought up outside Boston and has said that winning its marathon - first open to women in 1966 - remains her last big goal in running.

There also will be huge interest in the performance of an American 10 years Flanagan’s junior - Jordan Hasay, who ran her first marathon in Boston last year, finishing third in 2 hours 23min 00sec, the fastest debut by an American woman by almost three minutes.

Hasay followed up by finishing third in the Chicago Marathon in 2:20:57, putting her second on the all-time women’s list behind the 2:19:36 recorded by Deena Kastor at the 2006 London Marathon.

The cloud on Hasay’s horizon, however,  is that she has reportedly been suffering from a foot injury.

For all the impact made by Hasay in recent months, she was soundly beaten over 15 kilometres recently by Molly Huddle.

The latter runner, 33, finished third in the 2016 New York City Marathon a year after missing a World Championship orld bronze medal in the 10,000m after her premature celebration allowed compatriot Emily Infeld to pass her on the line.  

Although Huddle’s time in her marathon debut was on 2:28:13 she has the competitive temperament to make her second attempt at the distance even more memorable.

The question will be how much longer Kiplagat, now 38, can maintain her winning form.

Last year the double world champion and winner of London and New York City titles followed up her Boston win by taking silver at the World Championships in London.

On the men’s side home runner Galen Rupp, beaten to this title a year ago by Kenya’s 24-year-old Geoffrey Kirui, will seek to turn that result around as both men return to the race this year.

Both gathered momentum from Boston, with Kirui going on to take the world title in London and his American opponent, the London 2012 10,000m silver medallist, earning a first marathon win in Chicago.

More recently Rupp has become only the second US runner to break the hour mark for the half-marathon.

The fastest man in the field, however, is Ethiopia’s Tamirat Tola, second behind Kirui at last summer’s World Championships, who set a personal best of  2:04:06 in January at the Dubai Marathon.

The field includes two other estimable Ethiopian past winners - Lemi Berhanu, who took the title two years ago, and Lelisa Desisa, who won in 2013 and 2015, making a widely acclaimed gesture after the first victory when he returned his medal to the city to honour those killed and injured in the bombings that disfigured the later stages of that race.