Organizer of the Boston Marathon – one of the world’s oldest annual marathon events – has chosen EarthLink to provide data center services to support the event’s digital needs, EarthLink announced on Monday.

EarthLink’s data center in Marlborough, Massachusetts, will support the marathon’s website, which participants will use to sign up for the race. The infrastructure will store runners’ statistics and registration information.

T.K. Skenderian, marketing and sponsorship manager of the Boston Athletic Association, the marathon’s organizer, said access to data was critical to the event, allowing the organizers to keep track of all the runners and manage information flow.

“Thanks to EarthLink, our event organizers and 26,895 participating runners know they have safe and convenient access to a high-performance website that has the information they need both before and on race day,” Skenderian said.

The Boston marathon started in the late 19^th century. The city hosts the race every Patriots’ Day (third Monday of April). Boston will be hosting the marathon for the 116^th time this year.