Boston Marathon 2027: 1,000 New Entries Added

The Boston Marathon recently announced that the registration window for the 2027 race will be set foropen from September 14 to 18 this year, a five-day periodto accept registrations from qualified runners, and the race date is set for April 19, 2027.

At the same time, this year’s newly addedqualifier selection mechanismhas drawn significant attention: any runner who has met their category’s BQ standard but whose time did not beat the cut-off will automatically be entered into a random draw. The Boston Marathon is expected to spark another registration surge.

Boston Marathon registration will open

The rollout of the new system is attracting attention

The Boston Athletic Association officially announced that the 131st Boston Marathon willstart on April 19, 2027, qualifying athletes (Qualifier)the registration period is set for September 14–18, 2026, a total of five days, not first-come-first-served; the application deadline is Beijingtime5:00 AM on September 19.

All qualifying applicants must complete their submission on the official platform "Athletes' Village."

Met the standard but didn't beat the cut-off

1,000 lucky runners will be selected in the draw

The biggest change this year is the addition of the "Boston Qualifier Selection" mechanism. Previously, applicants who did not meet the cut-off time were simply rejected.

Starting in 2027, anyone who has met their age- and gender-group Qualifying Standard butRunners whose times do not beat the qualifying cutoff will be automatically entered into an additional random selection (random selection), approximately 1,000lucky runnerswill thereby gain entry.

The Boston Athletic Association says the move is intended to give all runners who truly meet the standard a chance to realize their dream, rather than determining entry solely by split seconds,At the same time,the odds of being selected will depend on the total number of applicants that year, but because spots are limited, not everyone will get a place.

In 2025 the Boston Marathon cutoff reached as high as 6 minutes 51 seconds, and more than 12,000 qualifying runners were turned away. In 2026, even though the BQ standard was tightened across the board by 5 minutes, 33,249 qualifying applications were still received; ultimately 24,362 were accepted, the cutoff was 4 minutes 34 seconds, and 8,887 BQ runners still could not secure a spot.

The added random selection is intended to address this increasingly severe supply-and-demand imbalance.

Downhill-course times

will be adjusted and re-ranked for the first time.

In response to the recent trend of runners flocking to downhill courses to "chase fast times"— which has been frequently reported —，the Boston Athletic Associationalsoannouncedthat it will be introduced for the first time in the 2027 registration"time index adjustments"mechanism.

Any qualifying time recorded on a course with a net elevation drop exceeding 1,500 feet (457.2 m) will be adjusted before being included in the rankings: downhill courses with a net drop of 1,500–2,999 feet will have 5 minutes added, and those with 3,000–5,999 feet will have 10 minutes added.

This ensures applicants from different course types can compete on an equal footing.

Results will be announced in October.

The 2028 window opens immediately afterward.

All applicants willbe notified of acceptance or rejection in early October 2026.。Before then, runners can start following,the 2028 Boston Marathon qualifying window (Qualifying Window),This windowwill open on September 19, 2026, allowing runners to begin accumulating qualifying times for the 2028 race; the window will remain open until the end of the registration week in September 2027.

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Text/Editor: Jim

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Boston Marathon 2027: 1,000 New Entries Added — Registration Dates Announced