Boston Marathon Qualifying Times

- The 2013 Boston Marathon will be even more difficult to qualify for than any previous year. All of the age and gender categories will be five minutes faster. Here is the list below.

[Related - Use The 100 Day Marathon Plan To Run Your Best Marathon Time]

The times for 2013 also mean you have to be exactly at or under the listed time. For example, if you are in the Men's 18-34 Division, you have to run 3:10:00 or under. You won't qualify with a 3:10:01 through 3:10:59 anymore.

The same registration process for the 2012 Boston Marathon will apply for Boston Marathon qualifying times in 2013. Here is how it worked this year. I don't have the list of dates and times yet for when registration takes place in 2012 for the 2013 race.

The 2012 registration process allowed the faster runners to register first. Here are the details. Make sure you check your age and gender category above.

Week One of Registration
Sep. 12, 2011 - Qualifiers 20 minutes or under the qualifying times listed above.
Sep. 14, 2011 - Qualifiers 10 minutes or under.
Sep. 16, 2011 - Qualifiers 5 minutes or under.

Week Two of Registration If necessary
Registration will close if the field fills up after September 16th. If there are still spots available on Sep. 19th, all qualifiers can register. This doesn't mean you have been accepted into the race.

On September 23rd, applicants who register during the second week of registration are notified if they qualified for the race. All the applications will be processed, and the fastest runners from the second group of applications will be allowed in.

***On September 26th, the Boston Athletic Association released what the cut off times were for the race in 2012. This is word for word what the BAA said about qualifying for the upcoming race.

"Those who had a verified qualifying performance of one minute, 14 seconds or faster than the eligible standard for their age group have been accepted into the race."***

Exceptions - The Boston Athletic Association recognizes that it has a rich history and wants to honor those who have raced often in the past. Because of this, runners that meet the qualifying times, and who have finished the last ten consecutive Boston Marathons can enter anytime during the registration period. This won't affect the field too much because there are only about 500 runners who have run 10 or more consecutive Boston Marathons.

***According to the BAA only 277 runners fell in this category that were accepted into the 2012 race.***

Price - The entry fee increased to $150. For the 2011 race, the entry fee was $130. The invitational entry fees for non-qualifiers increased to $300 for the 2012 race. The previous fee was $250.

- The 2012 Boston Marathon had some changes to the qualifying standards. They let the runners who were dramatically under the qualifying standard register earlier.

Below was the qualifying standard for the upcoming race. Take 1:14 off that time and see what time you would have had to run to get in.

You might be wondering, why all these dramatic changes? In the past few years, there has been a tremendous surge in the amount of marathon runners all over the country, and the world for that matter. The Boston Marathon has been flooded with applicants.

For the 2011 Boston Marathon, the field filled up with qualified applicants in just over eight hours. After what happened with registration for this year's race, the Boston Athletic Association Executive Director released a video statement on why things filled up so fast. You can watch this below.

Not all marathons meet the requirements for Boston. If you want to run in Boston, make sure you are running on a certified Marathon course. There are two different websites that list qualifying marathons for Boston. U.S.A. Track and Field, and The Association of International Marathons.

If you are serious about qualifying for Boston in the future, start training now. Also, running just under the qualifying time doesn't guarantee you a spot in the big race. Follow the best training plan out there and qualify early. Run a faster time, so you don't get left out in 2013. It's not too early to train, even for the 2013 race. Any marathon run on or after September 24, 2011 at a certified qualifying marathon course can be used as Boston Marathon qualifying times in 2013. Good luck!

- Written by David Tiefenthaler

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- Boston Marathon 2011 Race Report
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