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Boston Marathon Registration begins on September 8.
The 2026 Boston Marathon is 228 days away, but if you have a BQ time the first step of the process of getting into the race begins on September 8.
If you’re planning to register for the 2026 Boston Marathon, it’s time to submit your application. The sign-up window for the 130th Boston Marathon begins at 10 a.m. ET on September 8 and closes at 5 p.m. on September 12. The moment of truth probably won’t arrive until later this month, when the Boston Athletic Association will likely announce who got in and who didn’t.
The marathon will be run on Monday, April 20, 2026 and feature a field size of 30,000 athletes—of which about 24,000 entries will be awarded to qualified applicants.
The remainder of the field for the 2026 race will primarily be filled with runners supporting one of the 150-plus non-profit organizations of the Bank of America Boston Marathon Official Charity Program. Automatic entry is also offered to runners who’ve finished the Boston Marathon 10 to 24 times consecutively (provided they have a qualifying time), runners who have a current streak of 25 or more consecutive races (as long as they completed the 2025 race), as well as to a small number of sponsor exemptions.
The B.A.A.. will use the same registration process for qualified runners as it used for the 2021 through 2025 races, allowing any athlete who has achieved a currently valid Boston Marathon qualifying time to submit a registration application through the Athletes’ Village platform at any time during registration week.
Boston Marathon registration is not executed on a first-come, first-served basis. Instead, all applications will be accepted until 5 p.m. ET September 12 and treated in the same manner regardless of when they are submitted during the application period.
Qualifying standards for the 2026 Boston Marathon are 5 minutes faster than they were for the 2025 race, but surpassing a Boston Marathon qualifying time for a particular age group does not guarantee acceptance into the event. Those who are fastest among the pool of applicants in their age and gender group will be accepted.
The entry fee for accepted qualifiers is $260. Participants will have the opportunity to purchase Boston Marathon registration insurance at the point of registration. Entry fees will only be processed once an athlete is accepted into the Boston Marathon.
If you’re still eager to earn a qualifying time in time to enter the registration, your last real chance to do so is this weekend—even though the official close of the qualifying window doesn’t end until the close of the 2026 Boston Marathon registration week.
There are several last chance qualifying races this weekend, including events in Geneva, Illinois, and Payson, Utah, on September 6 and Grand Rapids, Michigan, and Sacketts Harbor, New York, on September 7. The final possible qualifier is a special edition of the Wicked Fast Marathon next Friday, September 12 in Lehighton, Pennsylvania.
Last year, the BAA received a record 36,393 entry applications for the 24,069 qualifier entry slots for the 2025 race, but there was also a record number of qualified applicants (12,324 runners) who didn’t earn admission to the race. Runners had to be 6:51 faster than the qualifying time for their age group and gender to secure a bib for the race.
That led to the BAA announcing tighter qualifying standards for the 2026 race. Qualifying standards will remain the same for the qualifying period for the 2027 race, which opens on September 13—one day following the completion of 2026 Boston Marathon registration week.
However, the B.A.A. announced new procedures for qualifying races that have a significant net-downhill of more than 1,500 feet (457.2 meters) or more.
Starting with registration for the 2027 Boston Marathon, verified qualifying times from any course with a net-downhill of 1,500 or more feet will incur a time adjustment to results (known as an ‘index’) after being submitted for Boston Marathon registration. The below time indexes will be added after an official qualifying time is submitted for review to the B.A.A.
Verified qualifying times from any course with a net-downhill of between 1,500 and 2,999 feet (457.2 meters and 914.1 meters) will incur a five-minute (+5:00 minutes) time adjustment to results once submitted to the B.A.A. for review.
Verified qualifying times from any course with a net-downhill of between 3,000 and 5,999 feet (914.2 meters and 1,828.5 meters) will incur a ten-minute (+10:00 minutes) time adjustment to results once submitted to the B.A.A. for review.
Any course with a net-downhill of 6,000 feet (1,828.6 meters) or greater will not be allowed for Boston Marathon qualifying purposes in 2027 and beyond.
In 2023, there were a record 33,058 qualifier applications for the 2024 Boston Marathon during registration week, but only 22,019 were accepted. For the 2024 Boston Marathon, the cut-off time needed to gain acceptance was 5 minutes, 29 seconds or faster than the official qualifying time. That translated to more than 11,000 applicants not being accepted into the 2024 Boston Marathon despite having an official qualifying time.
| Age Group | MEN | WOMEN | NON-BINARY |
|---|---|---|---|
| 18-34 | 2:55:00 | 3:25:00 | 3:25:00 |
| 35-39 | 3:00:00 | 3:30:00 | 3:30:00 |
| 40-44 | 3:05:00 | 3:35:00 | 3:35:00 |
| 45-49 | 3:15:00 | 3:45:00 | 3:45:00 |
| 50-54 | 3:20:00 | 3:50:00 | 3:50:00 |
| 55-59 | 3:30:00 | 4:00:00 | 4:00:00 |
| 60-64 | 3:50:00 | 4:20:00 | 4:20:00 |
| 65-69 | 4:05:00 | 4:35:00 | 4:35:00 |
| 70-74 | 4:20:00 | 4:50:00 | 4:50:00 |
| 75-79 | 4:35:00 | 5:05:00 | 5:05:00 |
| 80 and over | 4:50:00 | 5:20:00 | 5:20:00 |
Para Athletics, Adaptive Program, and Wheelchair Division have separate qualifying standards.
| YEAR | FIELD SIZE | “CUT-OFF TIME”* | QUALIFIERS NOT ACCEPTED |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2012 | 27,000 | 1:14 | 3,228 |
| 2014 | 36,000 | 1:38 | 2,976 |
| 2015 | 30,000 | 1:02 | 1,947 |
| 2016 | 30,000 | 2:28 | 4,562 |
| 2017 | 30,000 | 2:09 | 2,957 |
| 2018 | 30,000 | 3:23 | 5,062 |
| 2019 | 30,000 | 4:52 | 7,384 |
| 2020 | 31,500 | 1:39 | 3,161 |
| 2021 | 20,000 | 7:47 | 9,215 |
| 2022 | 30,000 | 0:00 | 0 |
| 2023 | 30,000 | 0:00 | 0 |
| 2024 | 30,000 | 5:29 | 11,039 |
| 2025 | 30,000 | 6:51 | 12,324 |
*Any athlete who submitted an invalid time, a finish result for a distance other than a qualifying marathon, or a time not within the designated qualifying window will not be accepted.
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Senior editor Brian Metzler is a three-time Boston Marathon qualifier. He has wear-tested more than 2,000 running shoes and is the author of “Kicksology: The Hype, Science, Culture and Cool of Running Shoes” (2019) and “Trail Running Illustrated” (2019). He has raced just about every distance from 100 meters to 100 miles, but he’s most eager to share stories about his experiences pack burro racing in Colorado.
