Boston Marathon

Here are the qualifying times for the 2021 Boston Marathon

With a reduced in-person field, runners had to be faster than ever to get a spot.

By Hayden Bird

October 7, 2021

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Given that the first in-person Boston Marathon since 2019 will include a reduced field because of ongoing pandemic-related concerns, it’s no surprise that qualifying for the 2021 edition was even more difficult than usual.

The already high standards that runners had to pass in order to qualify for Boston were escalated this year. According to a Boston Athletic Association announcement from back in May, simply meeting the qualifying standards was not enough to get a spot among the expected field of 20,000.

Since the usual number of runners in Boston is much higher (30,000 participated in 2019), the BAA revealed that it only accepted athletes who ran 7 minutes and 47 seconds faster than their respective qualifying time.

According to Runner’s World, the 7:47 margin is the “biggest cutoff in the race’s history.”

Runners’ qualifying times had to have fallen between Sept. 15, 2018, and April 23, 2021.

Here were the men’s qualifying standards:

• 18-34: 3 hrs 00 min 00 sec
• 35-39: 3 hrs 5 min 00 sec
• 40-44: 3 hrs 10 min 00 sec
• 45-49: 3 hrs 20 min 00 sec
• 50-54: 3 hrs 25 min 00 sec
• 55-59: 3 hrs 35 min 00 sec
• 60-64: 3 hrs 50 min 00 sec
• 65-69: 4 hrs 5 min 00 sec
• 70-74: 4 hrs 20 min 00 sec
• 75-79: 4 hrs 35 min 00 sec
• 80 & over: 4 hrs 50 min 00 sec

And here were the women’s qualifying standards:

• 18-34: 3 hrs 30 min 00 sec
• 35-39: 3 hrs 35 min 00 sec
• 40-44: 3 hrs 40 min 00 sec
• 45-49: 3 hrs 50 min 00 sec
• 50-54: 3 hrs 55 min 00 sec
• 55-59: 4 hrs 5 min 00 sec
• 60-64: 4 hrs 20 min 00 sec
• 65-69: 4 hrs 35 min 00 sec
• 70-74: 4 hrs 50 min 00 sec
• 75-79: 5 hrs 5 min 00 sec
• 80 & over: 5 hrs 20 min 00 sec

The marathon begins on Monday, Oct. 11, at 8:02 a.m. with the start of the men’s wheelchair division.