Qualifying & Registering For Boston Facts

Qualifying for the Boston Marathon is an amazing accomplishment. This is the time of year when many runners become interested in nailing down their plan to get to Boston. All the hype surrounding the Boston Marathon is a great time to chat about the facts of getting to Boston and how the standards have changed over the years

What are the Boston qualification standards for Boston 2021?

How can someone find their BQ time online?

How does one qualify for Boston 2021? What is the ‘window for qualifying’?

How does age play a role?

What does ‘aging up’ mean?

Let’s say you turn 35 in March 2021, but you ran a BQ time in October 2019 at the age of 33, what is your actual qualifying standard time?

Have the standards always been the same?

Just because you qualify, does that automatically grant you a spot at Boston?

2015→ 1:02 under qualifying time

2016→ 2:28

2017→ 2:09

2018 → 3:23

2019 → 4:52  & changed the standards

2020 → 1:39

You must register and ‘ask’ Boston to accept your time, but you can only do that during the registration window once per year in September

Rolling registration (20 min, 10 min, 5 min, less than 5 min)

Can take weeks to hear back from the final groups

Runners are often blindsided by it

What are some ways that you can ensure you get your spot at Boston?

Is anyone ever really safe?

What do you think they will do in the future?

Do you think the use of 4% shoes & downhill courses is making it so that more people can qualify?