The 2027 Boston Marathon officially opened registration on September 14, 2026 at 22:00 Beijing time, and closed on September 19 at 05:00 Beijing time.
 
The race will start on April 19, 2027; runners who want to enter next year’s Boston Marathon can submit an application via the official registration platform Athletes’ Village. Next year will use the 2026 BQ standards (age groups 18–59 are 5 minutes faster than in 2025).
 
The 2027 Boston Marathon will also introduce two major changes:
 
1. Addition of BQS, with a total of 1,000 spots
 
Runners who met the BQ standard but did not run faster than the final cutoff will automatically be eligible for the lottery without needing to reapply; the organizers will randomly select about 1,000 people to receive final entry. This means BQ-qualified runners who were previously blocked by the cutoff will no longer have to wait until the next year to try again.
 
But it should be made clear that the Cutoff as the performance threshold has not been eliminated: the fastest BQ qualifiers are still admitted first. The lottery only gives those who met the BQ but did not beat the Cutoff an additional chance.
 
2. Formal implementation of qualifying-race time adjustments
 
When a course’s net elevation drop reaches:
 
1,500–2,999 feet (457.2 m–914.1 m), add 5 minutes to the time;
 
3,000–5,999 feet (914.2 m–1,828.5 m), add 10 minutes to the time;
 
6,000 feet (1,828.6 m) and above, results are not recognized.

For example, a male runner aged 35–39 (the BQ for that age group is 3:00:00) who runs 2:55:01 in a race with a net drop of 800 m would have 5 minutes added to that time, making it 3:00:01—unfortunately missing the BQ.
 
Therefore, when aiming to qualify for Boston in the future, you must not only check whether a race result is valid but also pay attention to the race’s net elevation drop.
 
Have you met the BQ for the 2027 Boston Marathon?

Text/Editor: MP
Image source: Paoye Da Baozha
Visual: Max