Boston Marathon Changes 2012 Qualifying Times

What time do you need to run to enter the Boston Marathon? For the first time in recent history, the answer is: it depends.

To enter the Boston Marathon, now you need to meet or beat two criteria:

1. Old Qualifying Time = 'Standard Eligible to Submit an Application' = run a time that meets the official qualifying standard in an officially recognized marathon
2. New Qualifying Time = Entrant Time = Run a qualifying time that beats the qualifying standard by an amount determined after registration is closed

Of the 23,521 applications submitted by runners who ran Qualifying Times to enter the 2012 Boston Marathon, 20,081 were accepted. Unfortunately for the 3,228 runners who had their applications rejected, nearly 14% of those who applied.

To meet size constraints, it came down to this: if you ran a qualifying time, you needed to beat that time by one minute and 14 seconds to enter the race. The new Entrant Time = qualifying time minus 0:01:14. For example, in the M40-44 division:

1. Old Qualifying Time = Standard Eligible to Submit an Application' = 3:20:00
2. New Qualifying Time = Entrant Time = 3:18:46

These changes were announced by the Boston Athletic Association in the following press release excerpt:


September 26, 2011 -- The Boston Athletic Association today notified applicants of their acceptance into the 2012 Boston Marathon. This year and for the first time, the B.A.A. implemented a new registration process for eligible qualifiers whereby the fastest runners in relation to their qualifying times were able to submit their entry on a rolling basis.  Acceptance was based on performance rather than on a first come, first served basis.  The 116th Boston Marathon is on Patriots’ Day: Monday, April 16, 2012.

• 23,521 applications were received during the two weeks of registration.
• 20,081 applicants have been accepted or are in the process of being accepted, pending verification of qualifying performance (14,780 from Week One; 5301 from Week Two).
• 3,228 applicants were unable to be accepted due to the large number of eligible qualifiers who submitted an application for entry combined with field size limitations.
• An additional 277 qualifiers who had run 10 or more consecutive Boston Marathons were also accepted. 

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.

Boston Marathon 2012 Sold Out.

Boston Marathon 2012 is sold out as of 9/23/11. [Charity entries may be available]

Update: 20,000+ entries accepted into Boston Marathon 2012, 3000+ entries rejected.

Around 24,000 finished the race in 2011, and estimates suggest about 25,000 to 26,000 will race in 2012.

The BAA's new 'performance-based' registration process accepted applications from runners who met the qualifying time criteria between 9/12/11 and 9/23/11.

However, BAA notes that many who registered may not be guaranteed entry. Posted on baa.org, 'Entry is not on a first-come, first-served basis . . .'

Applicants will be notified of acceptance or rejection 'next week.'

The 'performance-based' criteria are not clearly defined publicly. Our assumption is that applicants be accepted in order of fastest qualifying time in their age group. If so, will baa.org factor in the degree of difficulty by marathon?

Average finish times can vary among most marathons by 30 minutes or more.  At the extremes: consider a 5:16 average finish time in the Los Angeles Marathon compared to a 3:47 time at the Hamilton Marathon.

See details in our analysis of Top 25 Toughest Marathons.

For everything else, see our Complete Boston Marathon Coverage.

Ironman DNF (Did Not Finish) Rates for 2011 Season

Ask any triathlete which races they think will have the highest rate of starters who did not finish (DNF) for one reason or another, and they'll likely mention one or more of our top 25 Toughest Ironman races. Ironman events in St. George, France, and Lanzarote, featuring monster bike courses, would have been our picks. But the data tells a different story.

Believe it or not, Ironman Lanzarote has the lowest DNF rate: an astonishingly low 2%. St. George easily had the highest DNF rate at 16.5%. France, Regensburg and the new race in Wales all had DNF rates over 10%. The flat courses in Florida and Arizona help limit DNFs, while tough bike courses in Texas and Wisconsin push DNFs to the 7%-8% range.

We took a closer look at Lanzarote and Lake Placid. Lanzarote sorts results by men and women; only 2 women out of 113 starters DNF, 1.8%. Of the men, only 2.1% DNFd. One thing appears to be certain: those who have chosen to race Lanzarote are extremely ready for every challenge on the course. They finish, no matter what. Impressive.

At Ironman Lake Placid 2011, water temperatures were high enough that only those who swam without a wetsuit were eligible to qualify for Kona. More than 600 chose to swim sans wetsuit, and more than 1800 raced with the benefit of wetsuit buoyancy. Was there a difference in DNFs between the wetsuiters and the non-wetsuiters? No.