Breaking down the qualifying times for the Boston Marathon

Sports

The BAA turned away a record number of applications this year, and all accepted runners beat the qualifying time by more than five minutes.

The Boston Athletic Association turned away a record number of applications for the 2024 Boston Marathon, and runners who got one of the coveted spots at the starting line were more than five minutes faster than the qualifying time for their age and gender group.

The BAA said more than 33,000 qualified participants applied for the race, and they ended up turning away 11,039 qualifying runners. The 22,019 who will be running on Marathon Monday were faster than their age and gender group’s qualifying time by at least 5 minutes and 29 seconds.

The BAA already made the race more competitive four years ago. Starting in 2020, the qualifying time was decreased by five minutes. Now, the youngest men have to run a sub-three hour marathon, and a qualifying time for the youngest women is sub-three and a half hours. 

“While we’re unable to accept all into the field, we applaud and recognize the many athletes who circled the 128th Boston Marathon on their calendar as a goal race to strive towards,” BAA President and CEO Jack Fleming said in a statement last fall.

Men’s qualifying times are 30 minutes faster than women’s across all age groups, and the BAA’s non-binary times are the same as the women’s. The BAA said that this is the second year with a non-binary qualifying group, and that without enough data to formulate other qualifying times for nonbinary runners, these qualifying times are “inclusive.” This year, there are 44 non-binary runners competing.

The BAA said more than 6,000 runners beat the qualifying time by more than 20 minutes, almost 9,000 runners outpaced the qualifying time by 10 minutes, and nearly 7,000 runners were between five and 10 minutes faster than the set qualifying time.

And the BAA saved some room for Boston Marathon regulars. More than 600 runners who have finished 10 or more consecutive marathons were accepted to the 2024 marathon. 

Here’s all the qualifying times based on age and gender. This year, all qualifiers ran more than five minutes faster than these times.

18-34

• Men: 3 hours
• Women: 3 hours, 30 minutes

35-39

• Men: 3 hours, 5 min
• Women: 3 hours, 35 minutes

40-44

• Men: 3 hours, 10 minutes
• Women: 3 hours, 40 minutes

45-49

• Men: 3 hours, 20 minutes
• Women: 3 hours, 50 minutes

50-54

• Men: 3 hours, 25 minutes
• Women: 3 hours, 55 minutes

55-59

• Men: 3 hours, 35 minutes
• Women: 4 hours, 5 minutes

60-64

• Men: 3 hours, 50 minutes
• Women: 4 hours, 20 minutes

65-69

• Men: 4 hours, 5 minutes
• Women: 4 hours, 35 minutes

70-74

• Men: 4 hours, 20 minutes
• Women: 4 hours, 50 minutes

75-79

• Men: 4 hours, 35 minutes
• Women: 5 hours, 5 minutes

80 and over

• Men: 4 hours, 50 minutes
• Women: 5 hours, 20 minutes