The Boston Marathon has announced the new qualifying standards, which will go into effect in 2013. Basically, runners will need to run at least 5 minutes and 59 seconds faster than the current standards in order to BQ. (The standards are all being made 5 minutes faster, and they are also going to stop allowing the 59 second lee-way that is currently in place.)
In addition, they are moving to a rolling registration starting in 2012, so that faster qualifiers can register first. The registration period will take place over (potentially) 2 or more weeks, as those that have beat their age group standard by a minimum of 20 minutes will be allowed to register first on September 12, 2011, followed by those that have run a minimum of 10 minutes faster than the necessary qualifying time for their age and gender on September 14, followed by those than can run a minimum of 5 minutes faster on September 16, and then if there are any registrations left anybody that has a BQ can begin registering starting on September 19.
Since the Boston Athletic Association’s website is getting slammed right now, here’s the full announcement about the rolling registration for the 2012 Boston Marathon as well as the new qualification standards for the 2013 Boston Marathon:
BOSTON – The Boston Athletic Association (B.A.A.) announced today a change in its registration process for the Boston Marathon, allowing the fastest qualifiers to enter the earliest and with a rolling admission system while also offering all eligible runners an increased registration period. The changes in registration are a response by the B.A.A. to greater than ever demand by runners to gain entry into the Boston Marathon and culminate more than three months of analysis, including input from the running industry. Rather than accepting runners who have met the qualifying standards on a first come, first served approach, a more systematic, performance-based process will be employed.
2012 Boston Marathon
For the 2012 Boston Marathon, registration will extend for two weeks, beginning on Monday, September 12, 2011 and continuing until Friday, September 23, 2011. The qualifying times for the 2012 Boston Marathon will not change from recent past years since the standards had been previously announced and have been in effect since last September. However, the new registration process addresses the increased demand among qualified runners to participate in the Boston Marathon and will accommodate those who are the fastest qualifiers first.
Registration will occur on a “rolling admission” schedule until the maximum field size is reached, beginning with the fastest qualifiers. On the first day of registration for the 2012 Boston Marathon, those who are eligible for entry by having met the qualifying standards for their age and gender group by 20 minutes or more will be able to enter on the first day of registration (September 12). On the third day (September 14), registration will open for those who have met their qualifying standards by 10 minutes or more. On the fifth day (September 16), registration will open for those who have met their qualifying standards by five minutes or more. During this first week of registration, applicants will be notified as they are accepted and their qualifying performance verified.
If the field size is not reached after the first week and additional space remains, then registration will open to all qualifiers at the beginning of Week Two (September 19) and those who have met the qualifying standards by any amount of time will be able to apply for entry. The application process will remain open for the entire week, closing on September 23. At the conclusion of Week Two, those who are the fastest among the pool of applicants in their age and gender will be accepted. Accepted athletes will be notified on September 28.
If space remains available after this two week process, registration will remain open to any qualifier on a first come, first served basis until the maximum field size is reached.
The field size for the 2012 Boston Marathon will not represent a significant increase from the most recent years.
Registration Process for the 2012 Boston Marathon
Date registration opens for runners with times…
September 12, 2011 20 min., 00sec. or more below their qualifying time (based on age/gender)
September 14, 2011 10 min., 00 sec. or more below their qualifying time (based on age/gender)
September 16, 2011 5 min., 00 sec. or more below their qualifying time (based on age/gender)
Second Week
September 19, 2011 All Qualified Runners
September 23, 2011 Registration closes for qualified applicants
September 28, 2011 (appx) Qualifiers from entry during second week of registration are notified of their acceptance.If the field is not filled at the conclusion of the two weeks, then registration will remain open and qualifiers will be accepted on a first come, first served basis until the maximum field size is reached.
2013 Boston Marathon
For the 2013 Boston Marathon, in addition to the new “rolling admission” process for registration which will be in effect for the 2012 Boston Marathon, the B.A.A. will adjust the qualifying times by lowering them by five minutes from the times which have been in effect in recent past years. The adjusted qualifying times will go into effect on September 24, 2011, and are as follows:
2013 Qualifying Times* (effective September 24, 2011)
Age Group MEN WOMEN 18-34 3hrs 05min 3hrs 35min 35-39 3hrs 10min 3hrs 40min 40-44 3hrs 15min 3hrs 45min 45-49 3hrs 25min 3hrs 55min 50-54 3hrs 30min 4hrs 00min 55-59 3hrs 40min 4hrs 10min 60-64 3hrs 55min 4hrs 25min 65-69 4hrs 10min 4hrs 40min 70-74 4hrs 25min 4hrs 55min 75-79 4hrs 40min 5hrs 10min 80 & over 4hrs 55min 5hrs 25min *Unlike previous years, an additional 59 seconds will NOT be accepted for each age group time standard. Registration for the 2013 Boston Marathon will begin on Monday, September 10, 2012.
“As the number of qualified runners has increased combined with greater demand to run the Boston Marathon, our new registration process enables those who qualify by the greatest amount of time to have the longest period to enter,” said Tom Grilk, B.A.A. Executive Director. “Our new registration process takes into consideration the many comments we received from runners this past fall and winter, most of whom urged the B.A.A. to institute a system which recognizes athletic performance above all else.”
Additionally, to recognize and to encourage longtime Boston Marathon entrants, the B.A.A. will allow those who have met the qualifying times and who have finished the last ten consecutive Boston Marathons to enter anytime during the registration period. Currently, there are approximately 500 runners who have run 10 or more consecutive Boston Marathons.
The B.A.A. last adjusted the qualifying times for the 2003 Boston Marathon, relaxing times for runners who were 55 years old and older. The last time the qualifying times were made more stringent was for the 1980 Boston Marathon.
The 2011 Boston Marathon reached its maximum field size of qualifiers faster than any previous year when qualifiers rushed to fill the race and the qualified field closed in eight hours, three minutes.
ugh! 😉
The new guidelines don’t address two of the inequities in the previous guidelines. The 30 minute difference between the genders is too large, it should be 20 minutes. Also, because about 5700 non-qualifying runners are admitted each year based on how well connected they are to charities, sponsors, vendors, etc. a lot of very good runners are left out. If you are really interested in maintaining the integrity of the Boston Marathon this 5700 number should be reduced dramatically or eliminated completely. With the 2013 guidelines a 39 year old male will probably have to run under 3:05 to gain entrance while someone well connected to one of the sponsors will walk across the finish in 6 hours. The BAA really blew it.
Given Boston politics I’m surprised there aren’t more than 5700 entries. Most of those (seem) go to law enforcement and local officials. It takes a lot of grease to get a race through all those communities. I mean in Mass you have bribe the code enforcer to change your own sink.
However, a lot of those entries go to hardworking local running clubs that help the baa through out the year as well as on race day. I’d hate to see this go away.
I’ve BQ’ed and ran Boston twice. However, with the new standard and the rolling deadline (before October!) I doesn’t look like I’ll be in Hopkinton again. This doesn’t make me sad -- I enjoyed Baystate and Sugarloaf much more.
What if your qualifying time is set at 3:50 for your age group, and you finished in 3:45:10? Since technically they still allowed 3:50:59 seconds until now, does that mean I finished five minutes faster than my qualifying time and will be able to register as such?
For the 2012 race, the 59 second leeway is going away. If you’re current qualifying standard is 3:50, then you’ll need to run 3:50:00 or faster for 2012 rather than 3:50:59 or faster as is currently the case. In addition, you’ll be registering up to a week later than the first folks who are able to run 3:30-3:45 or faster and you may get shut out if more people with a faster qualifying time than you register for the race.
Starting in 2013, you’re new qualifying standard (assuming you haven’t moved to a new age bracket) will now be 5 minutes faster, or 3:45:00 or faster.
I appreciate the prompt response, Blaine! However, my understanding is that the qualifying standards have not changed for the 2012 race. Only the registration process has changed for 2012. The new qualifying standards will be first applied for the 2013 race. That is what has raised the question for me. They are allowing people to qualify for 2012 with previous standards of “qualifying time +59 seconds.” So is that the number from which we measure backward to our “five minutes faster” mark? I wouldn’t be so pedantic about it, except that the runner in question finished in 3:45:10 against a qualifying time of 3:50. If we understand 3:50 to actually be 3:50:59, five minutes faster is 3:45:59.
“The qualifying times for the 2012 Boston Marathon will not change from recent past years since the standards had been previously announced and have been in effect since last September. However, the new registration process addresses the increased demand among qualified runners to participate in the Boston Marathon and will accommodate those who are the fastest qualifiers first.”
Sorry, you are correct -- the 59 second leeway doesn’t go away until 2013 (it’s been a while since I posted this and I didn’t reread it ahead of time.)
The way it works right now is whatever the minute that the current standard is at, they ignore the seconds. So, for 5 minutes faster, you’d have to run a 3:45…but you still have that 59 second leeway since it’s ignored.
In the future, rather than the standard saying 3:45, it will more specifically be 3:45:00 and will enforce the number of seconds.
Okay then, we will give it a go on Friday September 16th and hopefully it will be accepted. Thank you for your help!
Uh oh. I just found this under the QA section of the Boston Marathon website. It would seem to be counter to what we have discussed:
Q: I am 19:01 ahead of my qualifying time for my age group, can I use the 59 second window to my advantage and apply on September 12, 2011 (day one of 2012 registration)?
A: No, but you can apply on September 16, (day three). Only runners with times of 20:00 or faster than their qualifying times will be allowed to apply on day one. Similiarly, only runners with times 10:00 or more ahead of their specific qualifying standard may apply on day three. On Friday, September 16, (day five), only runners with times 5:00 or more ahead of the standard may apply.
Ahh, good to know! I hadn’t seen that. Thanks for finding it. Still, with a 5 minute lead on most of the folks registering in the last week, you should still be able to get in even after they sort everybody by qualifying times.
Hey. I know the 2013 registration process begins Sept. 10, 2012 but when does my qualifying window close? I have now until when to qualify to enter the registration process? Thanks.
As long as you qualify before you register, and you register within the registration window, you’ll be all set. You can’t register for the race before running a qualifying time, but you can run one on the last day of registration potentially and still register yourself.