We had a series of firsts for the iconic Boston Marathon this year – it was held in the fall, for one. But, they also held the sign-up period in November instead of September. And today, they released the cut-off times that people had been waiting for to see if they are going to get to toe the line at the 2022 Boston Marathon. Well, big surprise!
The 2022 Boston Marathon Cut-Off Time
Since 2013, the Boston Marathon has had a cut-off time that was faster than the qualifying times. The reason is that the number of qualified applicants had swelled considerably since the “old” days. Like 10 years ago, you could run a qualifying Boston Marathon time even just a little more than a month before the April starting date and get in. In fact, there was a marathon called “Last Chance Marathon” that existed for those runners that wanted one last stab at qualifying.
But, the numbers increased so they had to set a cut-off time that was faster than the qualifying times. This number grew so eventually, the BAA had to drop the qualifying times even more. And still there were cut-off times!
For this year’s Boston Marathon, the cut-off time had been over 7 minutes faster than the qualifying time! I had guessed that, due to the US being open to international visitors again and more runners likely wanting to run next year since many had worried about travel and Covid this year, it could be similar.
However, according to the BAA, the cut-off time for the 2022 Boston Marathon was “0 Minutes and 0 Seconds.” This means that every single qualifying applicant will be receiving a bib for the 2022 Boston Marathon! That is awesome and certainly a huge relief to any that just barely got under their qualifying time. This is the first time this has happened since 2013 so good news indeed!
The field was set at 30,000 and only 24,000 applicants signed-up. I think the reason for this is for two big things – one is the lack of marathons that were run in the last 16 months which likely kept many runners from getting a qualifying time and the other is the fact that every runner must be “fully” vaccinated before running the 2022 Boston Marathon. That “fully” part may have had some hesitant to throw their names on the list since some countries are redefining what that word “fully” means to include boosters and some runners may not be sure what the protocols in place may be when the Boston Marathon rolls around.
At any rate, congrats to all 24,000 runners who see a hit to their credit card for the entry fee amount and will likely never have been happier to see a $200+ charge on their cards! 🙂 By the way, that charge will actually not come until next month so do not worry if you do not see it today!
The reason that e-mails/letters will not go out until next month is that the BAA has to confirm every submitted race time for qualification purposes. Again, do not worry that it will still be a few weeks until you hear about your race!
