Boston Qualifying Times

Hey everyone! I know that a lot of you have goals to qualify for the Boston Marathon. Due to the increasing popularity of the race over the past couple of yeas, Boston has decided to modify their qualifying time standards, as well as their registration process. A couple of years ago, the Boston Marathon filled up completely within a matter of hours. A lot of runners were quite upset that they were unable to get into the race. In order to accommodate the runners who have run several minutes under the qualifying times, they felt a change was necessary. I have been receiving some questions regarding just exactly what these changes are and how they will affect the Boston Marathon registration process. So, I thought I would write a little about that here and explain the changes that have been made.
 
While keeping the qualifying times the same for the 2012 Boston Marathon, some changes were made to the registration process. Since the registration for the 2012 event has closed, I will focus more on the qualifying times and registration process for those of you who are looking to qualify for Boston in 2013.
 
I’ll start out by going over the changes in the qualifying times for the 2013 Boston Marathon. In past Boston Marathons, runners were given a 59 second grace period on their marathon times. For example, if the qualifying time for your age group was 3:45, you were able to qualify for Boston with a 3:45:59 or faster. They have now eliminated that 59 second grace period. So, if the qualifying time for your age group is 3:45, you must run 3:45:00 or faster.
 
Not only will runners not be able to use the 59 second grace period, but the qualifying times have also been lowered by 5 minutes across the board. If your age group qualifying time was 3:45 in the past, it has now been lowered to 3:40. So, with the 5 minute change along with the elimination of the 59 second grace period, your time will need to be 5 minutes and 59 seconds faster than it was for previous Boston Marathons. If you were able to qualify in the past with a 3:45:59, you must now run 3:40:00 or faster to make it to the starting line.
 
In order to qualify for the 2013 Boston Marathon, you must run your qualifying time on or after September 24, 2011.  Click here for the new time standards for the 2013 Boston Marathon.
 
The other major change Boston has made is in their registration process.  In the past, as soon as registration opened, anyone who had a qualifying time for Boston could register on their website.  It no longer works that way as they now have implemented a rolling registration.  This rolling registration will give preference to those runners who have run the fastest times in their respective age groups. 
 
For example, as soon as registration opens, the runners who have run at least 20 minutes faster than the qualifying time for their age group will be eligible for registration.  A couple of days later, they will open registration to all of those athletes who have run at least 10 minutes faster than the qualifying times.  A couple of days after that, they will open it to everyone who has run at least 5 minutes faster than the qualifying standard.  They will then close registration for one day while they notify the applicants if they have been accepted.  The registration will then open once again for everyone who has met the qualifying standards.  The runners with the fastest times amongst those in their respective age groups will be accepted into the race first. 
 
If the race reaches capacity at any time during this process, registration will be closed.  For example, if the race fills up 4 days into the registration process, only those runners who are at least 10 minutes faster than their qualifying time will be allowed into the race.  So, we’ll just have to train so that we run way faster than our qualifying standards! :)  Then we won’t have to worry about it.
 
If for some reason the race doesn’t fill up during the allotted registration period (highly unlikely),  registration will continue to stay open for anyone who has qualified on a first-come basis until the race is full.
 
The 2013 Boston Marathon will be run on Monday, April 15th.  They haven’t announced the official registration dates for the rolling registration yet, but they will begin accepting applications in September of 2012.  Last year, the registration was from September 12th-September 23rd, so I would expect the dates to be somewhat similar for the 2013 race.  I’ll keep you posted when I hear the specific dates.
 
If you have any questions about qualifying for the Boston Marathon, please let me know!
 
Here are the new time standards for the 2013 Boston Marathon.

Age Group Men Women
18-34 3hrs 05min 00sec 3hrs 35min 00sec
35-39 3hrs 10min 00sec 3hrs 40min 00sec
40-44 3hrs 15min 00sec 3hrs 45min 00sec
45-49 3hrs 25min 00sec 3hrs 55min 00sec
50-54 3hrs 30min 00sec 4hrs 00min 00sec
55-59 3hrs 40min 00sec 4hrs 10min 00sec
60-64 3hrs 55min 00sec 4hrs 25min 00sec
65-69 4hrs 10min 00sec 4hrs 40min 00sec
70-74 4hrs 25min 00sec 4hrs 55min 00sec
75-79 4hrs 40min 00sec 5hrs 10min 00sec
80 and over 4hrs 55min 00sec 5hrs 25min 00sec
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