Yesterday was the 2019 edition of the Boston Marathon – congrats to all of you who ran it and to all of you who had officially qualified but didn’t run this year! Now, it is time to look forward to qualifying for the 2020 Boston Marathon!

How Do You Qualify for the 2020 Boston Marathon?

It always happens that as soon as the Boston Marathon has concluded, people begin to wonder how they can qualify for the Boston Marathon. So, to help any of you who want to set that as a goal, here is how you qualify for the 2020 Boston Marathon!

When is the 2020 Boston Marathon Qualification Window?

The good first news is that we are already in the qualification window for the 2020 Boston Marathon. That window of qualification opened September 15, 2018 and will run until the conclusion of the Boston Marathon registration process this September. That means that you have another 5 months to qualify for the 2020 Boston Marathon.

How Fast Do You Need to Be to Qualify for the 2020 Boston Marathon?

As I covered before, you need to be a little faster to officially qualify for the 2020 Boston Marathon than in previous years. This is because the actual cut-off time for those that were being accepted was pretty close to 5 minutes under the official qualifying time.

So, while you do need to run a faster time to just qualify, you won’t actually have to run that much faster to be able to actually get in since the cut-off was so tough. Here are the times for the age groups and gender for the 2020 Boston Marathon qualifications.

Note: the age that you must qualify at is the age that you will be on April 20, 2020 – that is the date of the 2020 Boston Marathon.

Where Can You Qualify for the 2020 Boston Marathon?

Now, this is an important one! While most marathons are Boston qualifying races, not all of them are! This is especially true with things like trail races and some smaller marathons. So, make sure you check on the home page of the marathon you plan on running as a qualifier to see if they are a Boston qualifying marathon.

Most marathons include that bit of information on a FAQ page so look there if it isn’t prominently displayed otherwise. A Boston qualifying race will be one that is certified by the USATF or AIMS or a similar international body.

When Does Registration Open for the 2020 Boston Marathon?

The registration process is in a wave system by how much you beat your qualifying time. So, it will start with those that beat their qualifying time by at least 20 minutes and then work its way down from there. The registration window is normally 2 weeks and it will open in September of 2019.

Qualifying for the Boston Marathon is definitely a great goal! It is one that I have and hope to achieve in the coming years as well. So, if you don’t make it to Boston 2020, hopefully we will see each other at a future Boston Marathon!

Featured image courtesy of Marcio Jose Bastos Silva via Shutterstock