BOSTON — Two Black Hawk helicopters flew over the route of the Boston Marathon on Monday to wrap up a virtual event in which thousands of runners ran 26.2 miles on their own.

The helicopters flew the route from the starting line in Hopkinton to the finish line on Boylston Street in Boston in support of health care workers on the front lines of the coronavirus pandemic, the Boston Athletic Association said.

Locally, Lumberton native Josh Whitley completed his virtual marathon Saturday in 3 hours, 48 minutes.

“Great day,” he said. “A little humid, but at least it was cloudy.”

The marathon normally is run on a Monday in April, on Massachusetts’ Patriots Day holiday, but it was postponed to Sept. 14 because of the pandemic. At the end of May, it was canceled altogether — the first time in its 124-year history that the storied race in its traditional format was scrapped.

Instead, registered runners were encouraged to complete the marathon by themselves in their own neighborhoods and use a mobile app to upload their routes and finish times.

Nearly 18,000 people from almost 100 countries participated in the virtual marathon, which began Sept. 5, the athletic association said.

A post-race party, with appearances from Massachusetts Gov. Charlie Baker and others, will be broadcast live from Fenway Park, home of the Boston Red Sox, on Monday night.