Athletes get reprieve as cut-off time for Boston Marathon is scrapped
Organisers of the 127th edition of Boston Marathon have announced, for the second year in a row, that there will be no time cut-off for qualification in 2023 all registrants with a qualifying time during the qualification window will be accepted.
In 2022, for the first time since 2013, there was no cutoff, due to increased field size and a pandemic-related scarcity of qualifying races.
In 2021, by contrast, saw the biggest cutoff in race history registrants had to be at least seven minutes and 47 seconds faster than their age-group qualifying time to gain admittance to the race and almost 10,000 runners were denied entry as a result.
This was after qualifying times were lowered by five minutes ahead of the 2020 race - which was postponed until September that year, due to the pandemic - seven years after qualifying times had last been lowered, in 2013.
All qualified athletes who submitted applications during the 2023 Boston Marathon registration window of September 12-16 will be accepted into April 17, 2023 race provided their qualifying time is verified.
“With registration serving as our Opening Day, we are eager to kick off the road to Boston for qualified participants from around the world,” said acting Chief Executive Officer of the Boston Athletic Association (BAA), Jack Fleming.
“On Patriots’ Day, the determination, passion and unity of marathoners will be on display, bringing our community together in the spirit of athletics and our heritage. We are very much looking forward to the 127th running of the Boston Marathon in just seven months,” Fleming added.
A total of 23,267 applications were submitted over the five-day registration window, an increase from the 22,936 qualified applications received last year.
The field of 2023 qualifiers is made up of 13,315 men, 9,930 women, and 22 non-binary athletes. 624 athletes who have finished at least 10 consecutive Boston Marathons had already been accepted into the field.
The 127th Boston Marathon will feature a field size of 30,000 participants.
