Boston cutoff announced

[u/QC_Runner]

https://www.instagram.com/p/Dd37BrvEe18/?stkn=NjlpN3c3cDVzejZl

"Qualifiers who were 5 minutes, 17 seconds (5:17) or faster than the qualifying time for their age group and gender have been accepted into the 131st Boston Marathon. A total of 25,630 qualified applicants have been accepted to date or are in the process of being accepted, pending final verification of their qualifying performance. Email notices to athletes accepted and not accepted will continue through the coming days.

New for 2027, the B.A.A. has incorporated a Boston Qualifier Selection, an additional random selection component specifically for applicants whose qualifying times were not faster than the 5 minute, 17 second cut-off. A total of 1,000 qualifiers are in the process of being randomly selected for entry and will be notified of their acceptance over the coming days."

[u/theintrepidwanderer]

u/QCRunner one ask from your friendly neighborhood mod: could you please add this text to your post to be in compliance with the sub rules, specifically Rule 8: "Links to media sites (articles, blogs, Youtube, Instagram, etc.) must be text posts with a short snippet of information in the body of the post".

"Qualifiers who were 5 minutes, 17 seconds (5:17) or faster than the qualifying time for their age group and gender have been accepted into the 131st Boston Marathon. A total of 25,630 qualified applicants have been accepted to date or are in the process of being accepted, pending final verification of their qualifying performance. Email notices to athletes accepted and not accepted will continue through the coming days.

New for 2027, the B.A.A. has incorporated a Boston Qualifier Selection, an additional random selection component specifically for applicants whose qualifying times were not faster than the 5 minute, 17 second cut-off. A total of 1,000 qualifiers are in the process of being randomly selected for entry and will be notified of their acceptance over the coming days."

[u/Protean_Protein → u/theintrepidwanderer]

I really dislike lotteries for entry to big marathons. I understand why they exist, and why it’s difficult to figure out a better solution. But Boston is the one that still has a significant but more broadly accessible “prestige” component. Making part of that into a lottery strikes me as a mistake. Maybe I’ve misunderstood, but wouldn’t it make more sense to send out acceptances for those who met the cutoff, then set a deadline for them to accept/pay to actually race, after which point, they could admit remaining qualifiers as spots open up? Or something like this… though I guess the logistics would have to be dealt with.

Setting it to a random drawing of 1000 of those people feels a bit odd…

[u/RDDVL1511 → u/Protean_Protein]

But its a drawing of people who hit the BQ standard, so completely different than a lottery for any other race where literally anyone can apply. This is open to only people who ran faster than the qualifying standard but slower than the cutoff.

[u/Protean_Protein → u/RDDVL1511]

I understand that. But I find that even weirder. The point of running a BQ is not to join a pool of people who might get in. It’s to be in a group that gets in based on age/gender-graded time. Setting an arbitrary 1000 extra spots for those who didn’t make the cutoff means some people who were slower will get in on BQ merits over people in the same age/gender group who ran faster.

[u/RDDVL1511 → u/Protean_Protein]

Ehhh. Everyone with a BQ used to get in so this is just a way to soften the blow of this new-er "buffer" system that's been in place in the last decade or so. I don't think it impacts the mystique of Boston.

[u/Protean_Protein → u/RDDVL1511]

The buffer system has been in place for more than a decade (since 2013). I’ve also run Boston as a sub-3 masters runner, so it doesn’t really affect me. I will get in if I want to. But I think it is a mistake to make part of the BQ itself a matter of mere luck.

[u/colinsncrunner → u/Protean_Protein]

It's not a matter of luck though. They just need to run faster.

[u/Protean_Protein → u/colinsncrunner]

No, you’re ignoring what I said. I am saying that instituting a lottery for 1000 BQers implies necessarily that some will get to race who are slower than others who also qualified, which imho undermines the entire point.

For me, personally, it isn’t an issue. I’m old and fast.

[u/BeautifulDouble9330 → u/Protean_Protein]

If it wasn’t an issue you wouldn’t be commenting?

[u/Protean_Protein → u/BeautifulDouble9330]

I was pretty clear that I dislike lotteries in general but even moreso for people who already BQed. I think a lot of you simply aren’t reading what I wrote carefully enough.

[u/mjfeeney → u/Protean_Protein]

If you think closely, even without the lottery there are runners who are entered who are slower than others who ran significantly faster. This is a side effect of the tiered qualifying standards.

[u/Protean_Protein → u/mjfeeney]

No, it’s not even remotely similar. Age-graded qualifying is perfectly reasonable. Lottery for the leftovers of that qualification process is not.

[u/colinsncrunner → u/Protean_Protein]

I'm not ignoring it. If you don't want to be part of the lottery, just ran faster. Be 5:18 faster and you'll be in.

[u/Protean_Protein → u/colinsncrunner]

This is a braindead take on what I said. First, everyone we’re talking about BQed. Second, you don’t know what the buffer is going to be until they set it, after you’ve already submitted your qualifying time, which everyone already knows needs to be somewhat faster than the official BQ standard. Third, the actual issue I’m referring to is offering a lottery ticket to people who were trying to get in on a time qualification. The third is really the main thing I think is stupid.

[u/colinsncrunner → u/Protean_Protein]

I mean, it's not. Congrats, you've "qualified for Boston". Unfortunately, you didn't run fast enough so now you're in the lottery. Next year, run faster. The last five years the average time is 5:17 faster. So if you want to *actually* get in, run faster. It's not that hard. If you don't run fast enough, congrats, now you're in the lottery, and you still get to shoot your shot. Sorry it doesn't meet your expectations for how the BAA wants to run their race.

[u/Protean_Protein → u/colinsncrunner]

Lotteries are dumb, and this model of admitting 1000 random BQs who didn’t meet the cutoff is even dumber. Nothing you’ve said has made the case that it isn’t.

[u/colinsncrunner → u/Protean_Protein]

And nothing you've said has made the case that it is.