Forums >Racing>2019 Boston Marathon Thread
Good counter-point. But, they only select based on time. If they selected on something else - like this year, only people who ran marathons with x feet of elevation get in - it would make sense to consider the standard a qualifier. But, they're only selecting on time. So, IMHO, they should just toughen the standard. It's such a waste of time and energy on BAA and the applicants part doing it this way.
I think they should probably drop the time too, but only so less people are turned away. They can't set a standard that guarantees entry *and* quickly fills the available spots. Right now, the BAA has it good. Less than 10 days of open registration, a week of verifying, then on to the next thing. Not to mention $200 times 24,000 or so is pretty good for 3 weeks of work.
Dropping the time by only 5 minutes would most likely mean they still sell out in the first two weeks next year and they still have a cutoff faster than the standard. Maybe a cutoff of less than 30 seconds, but still a cutoff and still the waiting period.
Dropping the time by 10 minutes would probably mean a lot of left over spaces to fill. Those spaces may fill as fall marathons happen, but then they have to keep the registration site going and a couple of workers to verify the times. And even then it is possible that a couple of years down the road, enough people meet the standard and they sell out in the first two weeks and we are back to what we do now.
This all started because the first-come, first-served wasn't fair. They basically had to either do a lottery or pick the fastest.
Acceptance email received!
Dave
Hurrah!
This will be my first Boston as well. I ran my first marathon this June at Grandma's in Duluth, qualifying with a time of 2:54:49. The plan is to lead into Boston with the Rock 'n' Roll Arizona Half Marathon in January, so it should be an extended 24 week training block (including the training for Phoenix). It will be my first half in January as well, so hopefully all goes well with that too!
PR's: 800 - 2:01.9, 1600 - 4:34.4, 3 mile - 16:00, Full Marathon - 2:54:49
Goals: Break 1:20 HM, Break 2:45 FM, Break 34:00 10k, Break 16:00 5k
Upcoming Races:
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Congrats Dave!
and Mathew as well
Awesome!
I think they should probably drop the time too, but only so less people are turned away. They can't set a standard that guarantees entry *and* quickly fills the available spots. Right now, the BAA has it good. Less than 10 days of open registration, a week of verifying, then on to the next thing. Not to mention $200 times 24,000 or so is pretty good for 3 weeks of work. Dropping the time by only 5 minutes would most likely mean they still sell out in the first two weeks next year and they still have a cutoff faster than the standard. Maybe a cutoff of less than 30 seconds, but still a cutoff and still the waiting period. Dropping the time by 10 minutes would probably mean a lot of left over spaces to fill. Those spaces may fill as fall marathons happen, but then they have to keep the registration site going and a couple of workers to verify the times. And even then it is possible that a couple of years down the road, enough people meet the standard and they sell out in the first two weeks and we are back to what we do now. This all started because the first-come, first-served wasn't fair. They basically had to either do a lottery or pick the fastest.
I'll just add, I'm not sure why they seem to want all the times to end with a 0 or 5. They can mix it up a little like the New York City Marathon does. (I'm aware NYRR isn't try to admit as many people by time and therefore has a tighter standard.)
From what I gather, this circus should be over today or tomorrow. Good luck everyone!
My blog is JT Running DC. It's awesome. Guide to Washington DC Area Running Routes. Guide to the New York City Marathon. Guide to the Boston Marathon. Guide to Running Gear. Guide to Running Clothes.
I'll just add, I'm not sure why they seem to want all the times to end with a 0 or 5. They can mix it up a little like the New York City Marathon does. (I'm aware NYRR isn't try to admit as many people by time and therefore has a tighter standard.) From what I gather, this circus should be over today or tomorrow. Good luck everyone!
I wonder what they base their times on. NYRR has some tough times, obviously to get the most competitive entrants. But are the numbers and increments based on anything? Same for BAA, I'm not sure where the numbers come from. And some of the 10 minute jumps for Boston seem too much.
And some of the 10 minute jumps for Boston seem too much.
Hey! Careful with that, I'm about to get one.
From an article in Runner's World, they reviewed ~10 years of past race results to come up with the standards:
“In reviewing entries from nearly a decade of New York City Marathon history, we found that the percentage of time qualifiers has been inconsistent across the different age categories; qualifying by time was tougher for runners in certain age groups. We intend for our new standards to offer equal access to our most competitive applicants across all age categories and to allow the highest possible percentage of runners from each category to earn guaranteed entry into the TCS New York City Marathon.”
delicate flower
Still no word on the cutoff? Last year by this time we knew. I mean, I'm in, but I am really curious to see what it is.
<3
Nada. A lot of nervous people in the 4's posting in the latest thread on the FB page. BAA has only posted this comment within the thread: "When we send out final notifications, we will post it here".
Crickets from the BAA. I expected to at least see a "We're still working on it" type of post yesterday. Maybe, as someone on FB suggested, they're going to wait until end of day Friday, drop the bomb, and ignore all responses for the weekend.
https://www.baa.org/2019-boston-marathon-qualifier-acceptances
- 4:52
Amazing. I'm out. :P
And they're dropping the standard by 5 minutes.
Problem Child
https://www.baa.org/2019-boston-marathon-qualifier-acceptances - 4:52 Amazing. I'm out. :P And they're dropping the standard by 5 minutes.
FAWK me! Any possibility BAA changes the requirements at this point? 18-34 pretty much need to run sub 3 to get IN to the race.
Many of us aren't sure what the hell point you are trying to make and no matter how we guess, it always seems to be something else. Which usually means a person is doing it on purpose.
VDOT 53.37
5k18:xx | Marathon 2:55:22