How to qualify and register for the 2022 Boston Marathon

After last year’s postponement and eventual cancellation, runners were overjoyed to be back at the Boston Marathon, which took place on Monday. Mark your calendars, because in 2022, the race will return to its regular spot on Patriot’s Day, the third Monday in April – specifically, Monday, April 18. Here’s what you need to know if you’re hoping to race.

The B.A.A. recently announced that the qualification window for Boston 2022 opened on Sept. 1, 2019. Registration will take place between Nov. 8 and Nov. 12, and any qualifying time run between Sept. 1, 2019 and Nov. 12, 2021 will be considered.

Considering the lack of races in 2020, this means that most qualifiers will have earned their BQ at one of the final marathons held before the pandemic shutdown in early 2020, i.e. fall 2019, or possibly at this year’s Boston Marathon. That would seem to effectively reduce the number of qualifiers, which might expect to make cutoff time (i.e., the “real” qualifying time, which has been faster than the official qualifying time almost every year since 2012) closer to the official qualifying time. However, the field size was also reduced to 20,000 in 2021, and the B.A.A. has not yet indicated what the field size will be for 2022. The cutoff time for 2021 was 7:47 – the highest it’s ever been, resulting in more than 9,000 “qualified” runners being denied entry. Hopefully the cutoff for 2022 will be considerably lower.

Here are the time standards for official qualification. Your age is considered to be the age you will be on race day.

Age Group

MEN-WOMEN

18-34 - 3hrs 00min 00sec, 3hrs 30min 00sec

35-39 - 3hrs 05min 00sec, 3hrs 35min 00sec

40-44 - 3hrs 10min 00sec, 3hrs 40min 00sec

45-49 - 3hrs 20min 00sec, 3hrs 50min 00sec

50-54 - 3hrs 25min 00sec, 3hrs 55min 00sec

55-59 - 3hrs 35min 00sec, 4hrs 05min 00sec

60-64 - 3hrs 50min 00sec, 4hrs 20min 00sec

65-69 - 4hrs 05min 00sec, 4hrs 35min 00sec

70-74 - 4hrs 20min 00sec, 4hrs 50min 00sec

75-79 - 4hrs 35min 00sec, 5hrs 05min 00sec

80 and over 4hrs 50min 00sec, 5hrs 20min 00sec

posted Friday October 15th
by Anne Francis