On Monday (16 June), the Boston Athletic Association (BAA) announced a significant change in the qualifying procedures for the Boston Marathon. Starting with the 2027 qualifying window, which will open in a few months’ time on 13 September 13, performances that are run on courses with 1,500 feet or more of elevation loss will be given an adjustment.
How much slower does the heat make you run press release, explained its reasoning: ‘Working with data scientists and reviewing applicable results data from 2022 through the present, the BAA has analysed studies and findings which show that athletes qualifying at courses with at least 1,500 feet (457.2m) of net-elevation drop between the start and finish receive a substantial time advantage over qualifiers from events with less than 1,500 feet (457.2m) of net-elevation drop.’
Under the new rules, net-downhill performances will be adjusted in accordance with elevation loss once the time is submitted to the BAA for qualifying purposes.
For courses with 1,500 to 2,999 feet of elevation loss, five minutes will be added to qualifying times. Courses that feature between 3,000 and 5,999 of elevation loss will have 10 minutes added. Any time run at a course with more than 6,000 feet of elevation loss, however, will not be eligible.
Each year, hundreds of runners qualify for the Boston Marathon on courses that feature substantial elevation loss. The Kilian Jornet finishes third at Western States in the US, for example, hosts marathons in Salt Lake City, Utah, Big Bear, California and Las Vegas that are designed for fast times. Each race drops over 5,000 feet in elevation from the start to end points – and in 2023, 40.5% of the 1,828 participants at Revel Big Bear qualified for Boston.
It’s important to note, though, that just because a course is considered ‘downhill’, it doesn’t mean that it will be subject to adjustment. For context, the Boston Marathon itself is about 460 feet net downhill and the California International Marathon – which is a popular spot for Boston Marathon qualifiers – has 304 feet of loss from start to finish.
Sifan Hassan will run the 2025 Sydney Marathon of the world’s best running cities that take effect for the 2026 race – which is scheduled to take place on Monday 20 April – and beyond. Times for runners aged 18-59 were made five minutes quicker, while standards stayed the same for runners aged 60 and older.
On Monday, in the same press release detailing the net-downhill course qualification procedure, the BAA announced that registration for the 2026 event will occur from 8-12 September 2025.
The 2027 edition of the Boston Marathon, for which the new net-downhill course qualification measures will be implemented, will take place on Monday 19 April.
