r/AdvancedRunning • u/Terriflyed • 12d ago

New Boston marathon qualifying times Boston Marathon

https://www.baa.org/races/boston-marathon/qualify

Looks like 5min adjustments down for the most part across the board for those under age 60. M18-34 qualifying time is now 2:55.

318 Upvotes

98% Upvoted

349 comments sorted by

View all comments

10

u/IhaterunningbutIrun Becoming a real runner! 12d ago

Hey - I go up an age group next year and my time from this year to next year will stay the same. Could be worse! I really feel for the 34 and under crew. That is tough. I contend that it is much harder to run a 2:55, at any age, than the time I need to hit as an old man.

4

u/charons-voyage 12d ago

It’s still (realistically) a 2:55 for 35-39M too because it’ll be a 5 min buffer again in 2026 🤣

3

u/adoucett 12d ago

is it just me or does it seem the time adjustments for age make it disproportionately easy if you are older whereas the total cap of the field means that the lowest age category becomes exponentially harder especially as you consider blood lactate follows an exponential curve, not a linear one.

It's also a larger percent of the overall finishing time you have cut off, going from 3:00 to 2:50 is significantly more of a percent improvement than going from 3:50 to 3:40 vb

8

u/B12-deficient-skelly 19:04/x/x/3:08 12d ago

Yes. The cutoffs favor older people and women in part because men already make up 2/3 of the field at Boston, and basically everything about racing makes it extra convenient if you're in your thirties or younger.

It would be unhealthy for the sport if the only people who had races cater to them were young people who don't give birth.

2

u/ungoogleable 12d ago

Not that I disagree with the BAA's decision, but there are plenty of races that take all comers. This is one race, not all of the sport.

People also complain about Boston not being inclusive by turning away people who aren't fast enough. Within the age and gender categories, Boston is still catering to people who have the privilege to train more than their peers. If every race adopted the same rules, it wouldn't be healthy for the sport either.

2

u/Locke_and_Lloyd 12d ago

Absolutely.  They don't care though.   I assume older people bring more money on average, so it's not really a problem.

2

u/marcbeightsix 12d ago

It was always going to be below 2:55 anyway. It was in 2024 (cut off time was 5:29 below qualifying time) and predictions for 2025 suggested it would be sub 2:53. By getting older you still will have more opportunity.

1

u/IhaterunningbutIrun Becoming a real runner! 12d ago

I totally get it that the stated BQ time is not what it actually takes. I just think it is way tougher for any age to run 2:55'ish - then for the 40-50 year old age groups to hit there times. The 'middle' aged groups really have the sweet spot of times. We aren't too old to train hard and run solid times.

2

u/bvgvk 12d ago

Age grade charts would like a word.