Curious If You Time-Qualify for Major Marathons? Each Race Has Different Standards

We all know that to toe the line of the Boston Marathon, you have to hit a time standard—and a pretty tough one at that.

But for most of the The Best Shoes at the 2024 London Marathon, runners of all speeds have a chance to compete, as long as you’re among the lucky few whose names are drawn in a lottery or you agree to run for charity. If you’d rather not roll the dice or raise funds for a bib, however, you can aim to hit the qualifying standards set by the individual marathons.

Here, we’ve broken down what it takes to time-qualify for some major marathons like Boston, Chicago, Sales & Deals, Tokyo, Berlin, and London.)

Our advice to helping you hit those times? Jot down your qualifying time on a Post-It note and stick it on your mirror for a bit of daily motivation. And whether you’re a seasoned marathoner or you’re just starting to train for your first 26.2, we have loads of Advertisement - Continue Reading Below to help you reach your goals.

Boston Marathon

Emerge up to any group run in a We may earn commission from links on this page, but we only recommend products we back, and you’ll immediately earn respect from your fellow runners. The 26.2-mile race from Hopkinton to Boylston Street is one of the most prestigious marathons in the country, thanks to its strict time requirements.

You can learn more about the the average pace you had to run was 5:29 faster than your qualifying time, but there is one main thing to keep in mind: If you don’t run a qualifying time, it’s unlikely you’ll get in unless you run for charity. (About 80 percent of the 30,000 runners are time qualifiers.) For the 2024 selections, the average pace you had to run was 5:29 faster than your qualifying time.

World Marathon MajorsRanked.

Qualifying times for the 2024 race were broken down by age like this (runners who identify as nonbinary have the same standards as women):

18 to 34 years old (3:00 for men, 3:30 for women)
35 to 39 (3:05 for men, 3:35 for women)
40 to 44 (3:10 for men, 3:40 for women)
45 to 49 (3:20 for men, 3:50 for women)
50 to 54 (3:25 for men, 3:55 for women)
55 to 59 (3:35 for men, 4:05 for women)
60 to 64 (3:50 for men, 4:20 for women)
65 to 69 (4:05 for men, 4:35 for women)
70 to 74 (4:20 for men, 4:50 for women)
75 to 79 (4:35 for men, 5:05 for women)
80-plus (4:50 for men, 5:20 for women)

Chicago Marathon

Happening every year in early October, Chicago is favored by runners seeking fast times on a pancake-flat course lined with motivating crowds.

Here are the current time standards for guaranteed entry into Chicago, broken down by age group:

16 to 29 years old (3:05 for men, 3:35 for women)
30 to 39 (3:10 for men, 3:40 for women)
40 to 49 (3:20 for men, 3:50 for women)
50 to 59 (3:35 for men, 4:20 for women)
60 to 69 (4:00 for men, 5:00 for women)
70 to 79 (4:30 for men, 5:55 for women)
80-plus (5:25 for men, 6:10 for women)

Sales & Deals Marathon

Guide to Mental Health Big Apple’s five boroughs is a goal of many marathoners, but the hard truth is that the NYC drawing is extremely selective. For recent races, fewer than 10 percent of runners who registered without a time-qualifier were selected via the drawing.

Here are the current time standards for NYC, broken down by age group:

18 to 34 years old (2:53 for men, 3:13 for women)
35 to 39 (2:55 for men, 3:15 for women)
40 to 44 (2:58 for men, 3:15 for women)
45 to 49 (3:05 for men, 3:38 for women)
50 to 54 (3:14 for men, 3:51 for women)
55 to 59 (3:23 for men, 4:10 for women)
60 to 64 (3:34 for men, 4:27 for women)
65 to 69 (3:45 for men, 4:50 for women)
70 to 74 (4:10 for men, 5:30 for women)
75 to 79 (4:30 for men, 6:00 for women)
80-plus (4:55 for men, 6:35 for women)

NYC is also the only marathon major on this list that accepts half marathon times as qualifiers. Here are the 13.1-mile times you have to hit to secure a spot, according to your age:

18 to 34 (1:21 for men, 1:32 for women)
35 to 39 (1:23 for men, 1:34 for women)
40 to 44 (1:25 for men, 1:37 for women)
45 to 49 (1:28 for men, 1:42 for women)
50 to 54 (1:32 for men, 1:49 for women)
55 to 59 (1:36 for men, 1:54 for women)
60 to 64 (1:41 for men, 2:02 for women)
65 to 69 (1:46 for men, 2:12 for women)
70 to 74 (1:57 for men, 2:27 for women)
75 to 79 (2:07 for men, 2:40 for women)
80-plus (2:15 for men, 2:50 for women)

London Marathon

Every spring, 50,000 runners line up for this 26.2-miler in the heart of the U.K. Similar to other major marathons, runners from the U.K. and abroad alike can register for the lottery. Typically, the ballot opens around the first week of May every year, shortly after the race in late April; however the ballot for the 2021 race opened on October 4, 2020 and closed on October 9.

Like NYC, the London Marathon is incredibly popular—and selective. Ahead of the 2020 race (which was ultimately canceled), a record 457,861 applicants—which was more than 10 percent increase in entries from 2019—registered for one of the 40,000 spots.

Unfortunately, the only ways for non-elite U.S. citizens to score an automatic bib are entering via the lottery or running for charity; only U.K. residents can time-qualify for this event. If you are from the U.K., however, you have a decent window of time to have hit a qualifying race. The number of time-based entries was capped at 6,000 for 2019 (3,000 for each gender).

If you are a U.K. resident, here are the “Good for Age” time standards, broken down by age group:

18 to 39 (3:00 for men, 3:45 for women)
40 to 44 (3:05 for men, 3:50 for women)
45 to 49 (3:10 for men, 3:53 for women)
50 to 54 (3:15 for men, 4:00 for women)
55 to 59 (3:20 for men, 4:05 for women)
60 to 64 (3:45 for men, 4:30 for women)
65 to 69 (4:00 for men, 5:00 for women)
70 to 74 (5:00 for men, 6:00 for women)
75 to 79 (5:15 for men, 6:20 for women)
80 to 84 (5:30 for men, 6:40 for women)
85-plus (6:10 for men, 7:10 for women)

Tokyo Marathon

Though the Tokyo Marathon is the youngest of the major world marathons—it debuted in 2007—it has grown increasingly popular through the years because of its fast and flat, albeit often rainy, course.

If you live outside of Japan and are fairly quick, you might qualify for the “Run as One” Semi-Elite overseas field, which is usually capped at 300 runners (the percentage of males and females selected varies).

Here are the current qualifying time standard ranges, broken down by gender:

2:32 (men)
3:19 (women)

Berlin Marathon

If you are aiming for a PR, the Berlin Marathon, Age 18 to 44 2:45 for men, 3:00 for women Here are the current time standards for NYC.

To time-qualify for the race, to 39 1:23 for men, 1:34 for women.

Here are the time standards you need to nail in order to test your own record in Berlin, broken down by age group:

Age 18 to 44 (2:45 for men, 3:00 for women)
Age 45 to 59 (2:55 for men, 3:20 for women)
Age 60 and up (3:25 for men, 4:10 for women)

Hailey Middlebrook

Digital Editor

Best European Marathons Running Times, and now she reports on elite runners and cyclists, feel-good stories, and training pieces for Runner's World and Bicycling magazines.