Forums >Racing>BQ Standards for 2024 Posted. ETA: BQ - 5:29
Runs in the rain
Half Crazy - The Findmymarathon data is interesting. I see the Wineglass marathon, that I have run, has close to 20% of the runners with BQ times, but also saw races where it was less than 2%. There was also listed a marathon with only 2 finishers, one of which ran a BQ. It says in 2023 there were 68,570 qualifiers and that was 12.6% of the finishers. The Disney marathon is said to be a flat, fast course, but had less than 1% qualify! I wonder why, too crowded? One race I'm considering for a BQ is the Mesa Marathon in AZ, mostly downhill and fast. As for descriptions, I think what is considered "rolling hills" is purely subjective. I know climbing a 50 foot hill in a mile does not seem much when I'm fresh, but at the end of a long run even a slight incline is an effort!
Long distance runner, what you standin' there for?Get up, get out, get out of the door!
Altair, I think Disney attracts a lot of fun runners. They have all sorts of character photo ops. Plus, i think it's fairly pricey and sucky logistics (2 or 3am wake up to get to the start). Salisbury had less than 100 feet of elevation gain in the HM. There are a few hills near the various river crossings, but my house is on a bigger hill than thosr.
Are we there, yet?
Keep in mind 16,479 of those qualifiers were at Boston, so they would most likely be double counted having run a qualifying time in order to get there.
2024 Races:
03/09 - Livingston Oval Ultra 6-Hour, 22.88 miles
05/11 - D3 50K, 9:11:09 05/25 - What the Duck 12-Hour
06/17 - 6 Days in the Dome 12-Hour.
Problem Child
Altair; thanks for the chart! Over the years the popularity of road race distances changes. For a long time most runners had a marathon as their main goal or distance. Then we had the rise of the 5k (accessible to almost anyone), and for a while the half was the popular new kid. And more recently ultras have come out of the shadows. Heck, the 100 miler is now passé, you need to do a 200+ miler to call yourself an ultra runner. The number/percentage of BQs per year probably follows the ebbs and flows of the marathon distance popularity. I guess you could also break this down into categories of motivation: People running for fitness (this made me get in shape) People running for performance (I took three tenths of a second off my marathon PR!) People running for mental health/affirmation/confidence (I did it!) People racking up influencer goals/bragging rights (I ran a BQ, look at this pic of my duck lips as I cross the finish line!) All are valid routes to the same end result.
Altair; thanks for the chart!
Over the years the popularity of road race distances changes. For a long time most runners had a marathon as their main goal or distance. Then we had the rise of the 5k (accessible to almost anyone), and for a while the half was the popular new kid. And more recently ultras have come out of the shadows. Heck, the 100 miler is now passé, you need to do a 200+ miler to call yourself an ultra runner. The number/percentage of BQs per year probably follows the ebbs and flows of the marathon distance popularity.
I guess you could also break this down into categories of motivation:
People running for fitness (this made me get in shape)
People running for performance (I took three tenths of a second off my marathon PR!)
People running for mental health/affirmation/confidence (I did it!)
People racking up influencer goals/bragging rights (I ran a BQ, look at this pic of my duck lips as I cross the finish line!)
All are valid routes to the same end result.
I did it to obtain mental health from my running performance while my fitness allowed me to brag about it.
Many of us aren't sure what the hell point you are trying to make and no matter how we guess, it always seems to be something else. Which usually means a person is doing it on purpose.
VDOT 53.37
5k18:xx | Marathon 2:55:22
#RunEveryDay
And it's qualifying -5:29. Gotta be speedier for 2024!
Half Fanatic #9292.
Game Admin for RA Running Game 2023.
Brutal. Just give me a time to hit, even if it's tougher, I hate this moving target system. If you don't get enough applicants to fill the field, add more charity bibs.
Anyone want to take a stab at the percentage of all <pick your AG> Americans are capable of a BQ, after, say, a year of training? I might be semi-joking.
I think it matters where you are starting from. What percentage can go from 0 (no prior running history) to BQ in a year? I have no idea, but certainly think that it would be very, very, very small. Now if it's someone that has previously trained/raced at shorter distances for a longer period of time I suspect that percentage would be much higher.
In my case, it took me just over 2 years and 8 marathons to get from a 4:23 inaugural marathon time down to < 3:20 (my BQ at the time). I started with no training history to speak of and logged a lot, lot, lot of miles! Interesting little factoid: after running a 3:19:17 for my BQ, I did it again 3 weeks later another marathon in 3:19:47!
It took me another 4 years and 30+ marathons to eventually get a sub3...
Some of the physiological changes that support higher performance at distance running can take a very long time to materialize. The two most important being the capillary structures needed to deliver blood and return the 'waste byproducts', and the density of mitochondria to increase the volume of energy available at the cellular level.
be curious; not judgmental
I was figuring if I could run five minutes under the qualifying time I would be sure to gain entry, now I'd have to do better than that! Somewhat discouraging since right now I don't have nearly the speed or stamina I would need and as Mr. Matt says it takes a long time, maybe years, to develop the required fitness.
And it's qualifying -5:29. Gotta be speedier for 2024! Boston Is Back! Cutoff Time for 2024 Race Is 5:29
What are the odds, BQ times will be tightened by another 5:00?
2025 qualification has already started on Sep 1 2023, so the earliest they can make the change is 2026. if they are going to do it, they will probably announce next summer, before Sep 1, 2024.
They announced the qualifying period but they didn’t confirm the qualifying times. I don’t see why they couldn’t still change those for 2025. I imagine they’ll announce something fairly soon one way or another. When they last changed the standards, it was shortly after announcing the cutoff for the 2019 race (4:52 at that time), and was to be effective for 2020.
Dave
delicate flower
I'm in.
<3
The last time they tightened the qualifying time, didn't they leave the current year on the old standards since the runners who had already qualified under the old standard shouldn't have to race again to meet the new standard? So 2025 standards should be the same as 2024, and new standards, if they tighten them, would be starting in 2026.
No, they tightened the standard right away.
In sept of 2018 they announced the cut for Boston 2019 was -4:52. At the same time (or basically the same time) the dropped the standard 5 minutes. I was running Twin Cities Marathon in Oct 2018, attempting to qualify for Boston 2020. It added some pressure, because while I was already training to go sub 3 (with a qualifying time of 3:05), now I HAD to go sub 3.
It worked out for me, and then Boston 2020 was canceled. Womp womp.
I don't think they'll do anything for now. They had two years where there was no cutoff, then suddenly there is a large cutoff. I think they'd want to see multiple years with the high cutoff before they do anything about it. I have no strong opinion either way. It's their race and they can do what they want.