Boston Marathon Qualifying Times

Getting up Heartbreak Hill is hard enough . . . but first, you must meet strict Boston Marathon qualifying times to even enter the race.

Qualifying times have changed slightly from recent years. So yes - that means meeting the mark will be tougher than ever.

Marathon qualifying times are based on what your age will be on the day when the Boston Marathon in which you want to participate will be held. These requirements apply to everyone:

You must be at least 18 years old
Furthermore, you must achieve the qualifying time on a certified course approved by U.S.A. Track and Field, or the international equivalents designated by the Boston Athletic Association (BAA), which organizes the Boston Marathon

Fastest runners get to register first, plus if the number of qualified applicants registering for the race exceeds number that can be accepted based on the field size limit (which is almost always true), you'll need an even faster time in order to survive the cut-off.

Therefore, think of these qualifying times as just the first step to getting admitted to this elite race.

See the list below to find the exact qualifying times for each class and the cut-off times for prior years.

More about the Boston Marathon

Mile-by-mile description of the Marathon route - & best places to see the winners

Top photo: Boston Marathon competitors; copyright Boston Discovery Guide

Boston Marathon Qualifying Times: Can You Make the Cut?

Boston Marathon runners — Marathon runners and watchers

Are you thinking that if 30,000+ athletes from all over the world can qualify for the Boston Marathon, you can too?

To compete in the Boston Marathon, you must meet the qualification requirements within a 12-month period before the September registration date for the April race.

In other words, you need to achieve a qualifying time between approximately 7 and 19 months before you run the race in April.

So, for the qualifying window for the 128th Boston Marathon on April 21, 2025, you will need to have met the qualifying time for your division as early as September 1, 2023 and prior to the close of registration for the April race at 5pm on September 13, 2024.

Look for the exact dates to be published on the BAA website in late April or May. You can also find more information on Boston Discovery Guide's Event Calendar for September, including the exact date and time when registration opens for 2025.

To find out if you can qualify, check your age group (remember - not for your age today, but for the age you will be when the race takes place) and race category below.

And be sure to check the cut-off time limits during prior years as well.

If these qualifying times seem like a stretch, get out your running shoes, plan your Boston Marathon training program, and start working to achieve your goals today!

Boston Marathon Qualifying Times by Age Group & Gender

Qualifying times for the Boston Marathon have become more difficult to meet during the past few decades.

Below are the current qualifying times for male, female, and non-binary athletes:

Men

18-34: 3 hrs 00 min 00 sec
35-39: 3 hrs 5 min 00 sec
40-44: 3 hrs 10 min 00 sec
45-49: 3 hrs 20 min 00 sec
50-54: 3 hrs 25 min 00 sec
55-59: 3 hrs 35 min 00 sec
60-64: 3 hrs 50 min 00 sec
65-69: 4 hrs 5 min 00 sec
70-74: 4 hrs 20 min 00 sec
75-79: 4 hrs 35 min 00 sec
80 & over: 4 hrs 50 min 00 sec

Women

18-34: 3 hrs 30 min 00 sec
35-39: 3 hrs 35 min 00 sec
40-44: 3 hrs 40 min 00 sec
45-49: 3 hrs 50 min 00 sec
50-54: 3 hrs 55 min 00 sec
55-59: 4 hrs 5 min 00 sec
60-64: 4 hrs 20 min 00 sec
65-69: 4 hrs 35 min 00 sec
70-74: 4 hrs 50 min 00 sec
75-79: 5 hrs 5 min 00 sec
80 & over: 5 hrs 20 min 00 sec

Nonbinary

These are the current qualifying times for nonbinary athletes, but BAA expects to update these times at some point after they gather more data:

18-34: 3 hrs 30 min 00 sec
35-39: 3 hrs 35 min 00 sec
40-44: 3 hrs 40 min 00 sec
45-49: 3 hrs 50 min 00 sec
50-54: 3 hrs 55 min 00 sec
55-59: 4 hrs 5 min 00 sec
60-64: 4 hrs 20 min 00 sec
65-69: 4 hrs 35 min 00 sec
70-74: 4 hrs 50 min 00 sec
75-79: 5 hrs 5 min 00 sec
80 & over: 5 hrs 20 min 00 sec

Unlike earlier years, an additional 59 seconds will NOT be accepted for qualifying times. In fact, you cannot go even 1 second over the qualifying time.

For example, a qualifying time of 4:20:59 or 4:20:01 for a 62 year old woman will NOT be accepted.

We will post the qualifying times for the 2026 Boston Marathon as soon as they're announced.

The Qualifying Time "Cut-Off": Why Some Athletes Who Qualify Won't Be Accepted

The number of qualifying applicants has exceeded the marathon field size during recent years. Since 2012, applicants have been cut for all but two years and the trend seems likely to continue.

So how are eligible runners cut in order to keep within the field size limit?

Each year, after all registration applications have been received and the number of qualified applicants over the limit is calculated, a "cut-off time" is established.

"Cut-off time" is literally the minimum number of minutes and seconds you must subtract from the qualifying time from your race class in order to be accepted. And here's the catch: you won't know what the cut-off time will be until long after you've qualified and submitted your application.

Here are the field sizes, cut-off time (minutes:seconds), and number of qualified applicants not accepted for each year since 2012:

2012 Boston Marathon Cut-Offs

Field size: 27,000
Cut-Off Time: 1:14
Qualifiers Not Accepted: 3,228

2013 Boston Marathon Cut-Offs

Field size: 30,000
Cut-Off Time: 0:00
Qualifiers Not Accepted: 0

2014 Boston Marathon Cut-Offs

Field size: 36,000
Cut-Off Time: 1:38
Qualifiers Not Accepted: 2,976

2015 Boston Marathon Cut-Offs

Field size: 30,000
Cut-Off Time: 1:02
Qualifiers Not Accepted: 1,947

2016 Boston Marathon Cut-Offs

Field size: 30,000
Cut-Off Time: 2:28
Qualifiers Not Accepted: 4,562

2017 Boston Marathon Cut-Offs

Field size: 30,000
Cut-Off Time: 2:09
Qualifiers Not Accepted: 2,957

2018 Boston Marathon Cut-Offs

Field size: 30,000
Cut-Off Time: 3:23
Qualifiers Not Accepted: 5,062

2019 Boston Marathon Cut-Offs

Field size: 30,000
Cut-Off Time: 4:53
Qualifiers Not Accepted: 7,248

2020 Boston Marathon Cut-Offs

Field size: 31,500
Cut-Off Time: 1:39
Qualifiers Not Accepted: 3,161

2021 Boston Marathon Cut-Offs

Field size: 20,000
Cut-Off Time: 7:45
Qualifiers Not Accepted: 9,215

2022 Boston Marathon Cut-Offs

Field size: 30,000
Cut-Off Time: 0:00 (none)
Qualifiers Not Accepted: 0 (due to the Covid pandemic)

2023 Boston Marathon Cut-Offs

Field size: 30,000
Cut-Off Time: 0:00 (none)
Qualifiers Not Accepted: 0 (due to the Covid pandemic)

2024 Boston Marathon Cut-Offs

Field size: 30,000
Cut-Off Time: 5:29
Qualifiers Not Accepted: 11,039

(Source: BAA website)

How to Make Sure You Won't Be Cut from Qualifying for the Boston Marathon

How can you make sure that if you qualify, you don't get cut?

The quick answer: Make sure your qualifying time is a few minutes below the below the required time for your age group. And then drop a few more minutes from your time just to be safe. (And yes, that's MUCH easier said than done.)

Although there is no foolproof way to predict or know the "safe" number in advance, you can look at the cut-off times above and see that during most years a qualifying time of 2 or 3 minutes below the official maximum time for your age/gender would have been sufficient.

To qualify in 2019, you would have needed to come in roughly 5 minutes below the required time.

You can disregard the 2021 cut-off time, as field size shrank by more than a third due to restrictions caused by the pandemic and made qualifying even more competitive than normal.

Similarly, you can also disregard the 2022 results when all qualified applicants made the cut, since far fewer than normal athletes applied due to the ongoing Covid pandemic.

Additionally, for the 2022 and 2023 races, the qualifying time was officially set to zero because all athletes who qualified for 2020 and 2021 but who could not participate due to the pandemic cancelation (2020) or restrictions (2021) were accepted.

For the 2024 Marathon, qualifying times returned to the pre-pandemic "norm," with a cut-off time of 5 minutes, 29 seconds below the qualifying time based on age group and gender.

Of course there are no guarantees - but if you want to be accepted for a future Boston Marathon, history suggests that you should aim at for qualifying time of at least 6 minutes, and quite possibly more, under the maximum time for your age/gender class.