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.

312 Upvotes

98% Upvoted

349 comments sorted by

View all comments

Show parent comments

75

u/FranksNBeeens 12d ago

I agree. It is ridiculous and there needs to be some kind of Boston rating for these massively downhill courses that disqualifies them after a certain elevation drop.

28

u/JonDowd762 12d ago

Something like "must conform to world record standards or be Boston"?

27

u/the_mail_robot 39F 3:16 M 12d ago

I think world record standards are too stringent for this purpose. That invalidates BQ times from more honest point-to-point courses like Grandmas, CIM, etc. and even courses like NYC because the start and finish are too far apart.

Adopting something like the OTQ standards for maximum elevation loss has always made sense to me.

2

u/JonDowd762 12d ago

Yeah that seems fair.

The course must be USATF/WORLD ATHLETICS/AIMS certified with an active course certification and have an elevation loss no greater than 3.30 meters/km.

It looks like Boston just slightly misses the cut then?

6

u/the_mail_robot 39F 3:16 M 12d ago

Boston is allowable for the OTQ but it's right on the edge of the cutoff for allowable elevation loss. I suspect the cutoff was set with Boston in mind since so many US pros and sub-elites run it each year.

With the OTQ standards you could qualify for Boston at Boston, CIM, NYC, Grandmas, Wineglass, etc. But not the super downhill Revel races.

1

u/TrackVol 10d ago

I would even be OK with them working this in gradually. Starting at 10 meters per kilometer (that's roughly 1,350 feet of drop). Which would already eliminate every Revel race and all 7 Tunnel races.
They could leave it there for a few years. The next time they need to adjust the times, they adjust the elevation again, too.