Thursday, September 25, 2014

Those Crucial 62 Seconds - 2015 Boston Marathon Runners Needed 1:02 Below Their Qualifying Time To Get In

The rolling registration is over for the 2015 Boston Marathon, and this year it appears you needed to beat your qualifying time by 62 seconds to get one of the 23,546 qualified runner entry slots. This is slightly closer than last year, when the cutoff occurred at 1:38 below the qualifying time.  Here's how the numbers broke down:

356 runners (1.19%) were allowed in during an early registration for runners with a streak of 10+ finishes.

4,093 runners (13.64%) beat their qualifying time by 20 minutes or more.

6,490 runners (21.63%) beat their qualifying time by 10 minutes or more.

6,160 runners (20.53%) beat their qualifying time by 5 minutes or more.

6,447 runners (21.49%) beat their qualifying time by 62 seconds or more.

This means 1,947 unlucky runners scored a BQ time, but it wasn't fast enough to get entry through the lottery system. Bummer!

There's still hope, however - 6,000 additional spots (for a total of 30,000) will be available to "individual entrants", which are mostly charity runners and volunteers.

For those who worked hard to get into Boston, I hope you made it! I'll be back for #11, and hope to see you there.

- SD
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5 comments:

  1. AuntRosa9/25/2014 06:12:00 PM

    Scott I know this is probably not the best place to ask this question but I want to be sure and I think you wouls know best...If I am 44 and running a Dec marathon to try and qualify for 2016 do i need to run age 44 qualifying time or can it be age 45 qualifying time since I will be 45 in 2015? Thank you :)

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    1. Scott Dunlap9/25/2014 07:56:00 PM

      Excellent, Rosa! Best of luck at your race.

      The qualifying time is based on your age at the time of the race (April, 2016), so as long as you are under the W45-49 qualifying time of 3 hrs and 55 min (and a few minutes under to be safe), you are in good shape.

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  2. Brian Schmitz9/27/2014 12:30:00 AM

    Thanks for the break down, Scott! Question: considering you've run both Boston and San Francisco, how do the two compare? I've run San Fran several times, but not Boston. Thanks, and see you in Boston on April 20th!

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    1. Scott Dunlap9/27/2014 08:45:00 AM

      Brian -

      Congrats on getting in Boston! You'll find the course is considerably easier than the SF Marathon, with easy rolling hills vs the coastal craziness of SF. Heartbreak Hill is about the same as climbing up to the GG Bridge, but a nice even grade. It just feels big since its right at mile 21.

      Your bigger challenge will be navigating the larger crowds in the early miles. If you are planning a PR, get to your corral early and get up front!

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  3. Brian Schmitz9/27/2014 08:47:00 AM

    Sweet, Scott. Just what I wanted to hear! And thanks for the tip about the opening miles.

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