Running News Daily

All athletes running the 2022 Boston Marathon must be fully vaccinated

The Boston Athletic Association (B.A.A.) announced today (Nov 2) that the field size for the 126th Boston Marathon, scheduled to take place on Monday, April 18, 2022, has been established as 30,000 participants. All athletes must be fully vaccinated in order to participate in the race.

“As we look to return to the traditional Patriots’ Day date for the first time since 2019 and allow for as many athletes to participate as safely as possible, we know that a fully vaccinated field is the appropriate requirement to implement,” said Tom Grilk, President & Chief Executive Officer of the B.A.A. “We had a 93% vaccination rate among our 125th Boston Marathon participants and want to do our part to continue to mitigate the spread of COVID-19 as we continue our return to racing.”

Participants will need to provide proof of vaccination prior to participating in the April 18, 2022 race. To be considered fully vaccinated participants must have completed a vaccination series of a World Health Organization-certified vaccine prior to bib number pick up (Friday, April 15). Any registered athlete who cannot provide proof of vaccination will not be allowed to participate in the race. Entries will not be deferred, refunded, or transferred to a future race. Requests for a medical exemption will be reviewed individually.

Registration for the 2022 Boston Marathon will take place over five days, opening on Monday, November 8 at 10:00 a.m. ET and closing on November 12, 2021 at 5:00 p.m. ET. The B.A.A. will use the same registration process for qualified runners as it used for the 2021 race, allowing any athlete who has achieved a currently valid Boston Marathon qualifying time to submit a registration application between November 8-12, 2021 through the B.A.A.’s online platform, Athletes' Village. Registration is not first come, first served and applications will be accepted until 5:00 p.m. ET on Friday, November 12. The qualifying window began on September 1, 2019 and will close at 5:00 p.m. ET on Friday, November 12.

Qualifying standards for the 126th Boston Marathon can be found here. Qualifiers may submit an application at any point during the registration window. Achieving one’s qualifying standard does not guarantee acceptance into the Boston Marathon due to field size limitations. Those who are fastest among the pool of applicants in their age and gender group will be accepted.

The entry fee for qualifiers will remain $205 USD for United States residents and $255 USD for international residents. For the second straight year, participants will have the opportunity to purchase registration insurance at the point of registration.

The qualifying window for the 127th Boston Marathon, scheduled to take place on April 17, 2023, began on September 1, 2021. Registration details for that race will be announced following the 2022 Boston Marathon.