How Fast Did You Need To Be For The 2018 Boston Marathon Cut?

Well, registration for the 2018 Boston Marathon is now over and we know how fast you had to be for the 2018 Boston Marathon. There are many happy people today and many more that are disappointed that they missed the time.

How Fast Did You Need to Be For the 2018 Boston Marathon Cut?

Link: Boston Marathon Acceptance

Marathoners all over the world know what their “BQ” is, or their Boston Marathon Qualifying time. It is a time that is age-graded by gender and the time that gives you the right to submit your race time for the Boston Marathon.

But, it does not guarantee that you will get in as there is a cap on the number of entrants for the Boston Marathon. This means that your Boston Marathon qualifying time may not be enough (and it hasn’t been enough since they started this new registration process).

What Was the 2018 Boston Marathon Cut-Off Time?

Last year, Boston Marathon hopefuls had to have a time 2 minutes and 9 seconds faster than their qualification time to toe the line at the 2017 Boston Marathon. For the 2018 Boston Marathon, you needed to have beat your qualification time by 3 minutes and 23 seconds! That is a big jump from last year for sure!

It also means that many people who had beat their qualifying time by just 2.5 minutes that thought they may get in found themselves missing it by almost a minute. It also means marathoners are getting faster or faster marathoners are entering for the Boston Marathon.

Here is the breakdown for the qualifiers for the 2018 Boston Marathon:

• 28,260 applications were received during the registration period for qualifiers.
• 23,198 Qualified applicants have been accepted to date or are in the process of being accepted, pending verification of their qualifying performance.
• 5,062 applicants were unable to be accepted due to the large number of eligible qualifiers who submitted an application for entry combined with field size limitations.
• Details of the B.A.A.’s registration process for qualifiers can be found here.

During the registration period, the breakdown of accepted Qualifiers was as follows:

• 4,691 Qualifiers met their qualifying time by 20 minutes, 00 seconds or faster.
• 7,673 Qualifiers met their qualifying time by 10 minutes, 00 seconds or faster.
• 7,505 Qualifiers met their qualifying time by 05 minutes, 00 seconds or faster.
• 2,905 Qualifiers met their qualifying time by 3 minutes, 23 seconds or faster.
• 424 Qualifiers were accepted based on finishing 10 or more consecutive Boston Marathons.
• 256 Qualified Athletes with Disabilities are expected to be accepted beginning October 16

Takeaway

This system is so difficult for Boston Marathon hopefuls since you don’t actually know how fast you need to be to get in. Of course, everyone will finish as fast as they can but a 3 minute gap is pretty big and takes quite a bit more training to overcome. Going forward, it may be safer to look at your qualifying time as 5 minutes faster than it really is – and that is a tall order!

For all those that got in, congrats! To those who missed out this year, I really feel for you and will be pulling for you to get in next year!

Featured image courtesy of Marcio Jose Bastos Silva | Shutterstock