Would-be Boston Marathoners are confronting some tough math.
Shoes & Gear Boston Marathon high—33,058 qualified runners applied for entry, the highest number since 2018—but supply is more constrained than it has been in past years as well.
The Boston Athletic Association (B.A.A.) announced on September 28 a cutoff time of 5:29, meaning runners had to be 5:29 faster than the qualifying time for their age and gender. In the same press release, the organization said that only 22,019 runners have been accepted.
That figure—22,019, out of a stated field size of 30,000—raised eyebrows for runners familiar with previous years’ time qualifier allotments.
For the 2023 race, 23,000 time qualifiers were accepted. In 2022, it was almost the same. Demand was way down coming out of the pandemic, as fewer runners had done races that allowed them to run qualifying times. So there was no cutoff time either year.
The 2021 race was an anomaly, because the field size was reduced to 20,000 as races returned after the pandemic.
For the 2020 race, organizers announced 24,127 runners had been accepted by virtue of their time qualifiers, with a field size that was to be 31,500. In other words, 76.6 percent got in off of time. (That race never happened due to COVID.)
For the 2024 race, only 73.4 percent of the field was accepted by time qualifier, a significant drop for Boston hopefuls who live on the bubble of getting in or not.
Becky MacBride, 46, of Harwich, Massachusetts, was one of those. She missed the cutoff time by 1 second. She ran 3:44:32 at Cal International (CIM) to beat her qualifying time (3:50) by 5:28.
The rejection “stings a bit,” she said in a message to Runner’s World.
qualified applicants did not get into the race.
“While the number of qualifiers seems smaller than last year, it doesn’t yet account for a number of other qualifiers still to enter including professional athletes, Para Athletes (spanning our wheelchair field, Para Athletics Divisions and Adaptive Programs), local club runners, International Tour Programs, partners who gain entry and are qualifiers,” wrote a B.A.A. spokesman in an email to Runner’s World.
“As the rest of the field enters, the number of qualifiers will elevate closer to 80 percent. The field will ultimately net out close to 80 percent qualifiers, 20 percent non-qualifiers as is our usual balance.”
That doesn’t explain the drop in percentage of the field allotted to time qualifiers. Had the B.A.A. gone off of the percentage for the 2020 race this time around, an extra 960 runners would have gotten in based on time.
Also of note
Shoes & Gear. This year’s qualified field has 12,535 men, 9,440 women, and 44 non-binary athletes.
Father Pushes Son to a 2:59 Marathon and BQ for producing qualified entrants were last year’s Boston Marathon, the Chicago Marathon, the London Marathon, the Berlin Marathon, and CIM.
While 11,391 Father Pushes Son to a 2:59 Marathon and BQ, 11,039 qualified applicants did not get into the race.
Sarah Lorge Butler is a writer and editor living in Eugene, Oregon, and her stories about the sport, its trends, and fascinating individuals have appeared in Runner’s World Father Pushes Son to a 2:59 Marathon and BQ, Run Your Butt Off! and Walk Your Butt Off!
