Boston Marathon organizers have lowered the qualifying times for runners hoping to participate in 2026 by five minutes.
Any prospective runners hoping to enter the world's oldest annual marathon have a new bar to meet after The Boston Athletic Association (BAA) updated its qualifying times.
Bermuda runners will have an opportunity to qualify on home soil in January when the Bermuda Triple Challenge takes place.
The 26.2-mile race in the Massachusetts capital will now require runners to clock five minutes faster than in recent years to earn a starting number except for those participating to raise money for charity.
“Every time the BAA has adjusted qualifying standards — most recently in 2019 — we’ve seen athletes continue to raise the bar and elevate to new levels," said Jack Fleming, President and CEO of the BAA on Monday. "In recent years we’ve turned away athletes in this age range (18-59) at the highest rate, and the adjustment reflects both the depth of participation and speed at which athletes are running.”
Qualifying times for the Boston Marathon were first introduced in 1970 and have frequently been adjusted since. The new changes mean that men aged 18 to 34 will have to clock a time of at least 2 hours and 55 minutes during the qualification window to earn a spot in 2026, five minutes faster than the requirements for 2024.
Women and those in the nonbinary category introduced last year will need to complete the distance in 3 hours and 25 minutes.
The requirements for the 80+ category remain unchanged with men needing to clock under 4 hours and 50 minutes while women and nonbinary competitors have a benchmark of 5 hours and 20 minutes.
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