Editing Boston Marathon (section)

===Qualifying===
{| class="wikitable" style="float:right; font-size: 80%;"
|+ Boston Marathon <br /> qualifying standards <br /> (effective for 2026 race)<ref>{{Cite web |title=Qualify {{!}} Boston Athletic Association |url=https://www.baa.org/races/boston-marathon/qualify |access-date=2024-09-17 |website=www.baa.org |language=en}}</ref><ref name=":0">{{Cite web |date=2024-09-17 |title=Boston Marathon lowers qualifying times for most prospective runners for 2026 race |url=https://apnews.com/article/boston-marathon-qualifying-times-b91feddd41298ca838249780323c395d |access-date=2024-09-17 |website=AP News |language=en}}</ref>
|-
! Age
! Men
! Women
|-
| 18–34 || 2{{nbsp}}[[hour|h]] 55{{nbsp}}[[minute|min]] || 3{{nbsp}}h 25{{nbsp}}min
|-
| 35–39 || 3 h 00 min || 3 h 30 min
|-
| 40–44 || 3 h 05 min || 3 h 35 min
|-
| 45–49 || 3 h 15 min || 3 h 45 min
|-
| 50–54 || 3 h 20 min || 3 h 50 min
|-
| 55–59 || 3 h 30 min || 4 h 00 min
|-
| 60–64 || 3 h 50 min || 4 h 20 min
|-
| 65–69 || 4 h 05 min || 4 h 35 min
|-
| 70–74 || 4 h 20 min || 4 h 50 min
|-
| 75–79 || 4 h 35 min || 5 h 05 min
|-
| ≥80   || 4 h 50 min || 5 h 20 min
|}

The Boston Marathon is open to runners 18 or older from any nation, but they must meet certain qualifying standards.<ref name=Qualifying/> To qualify, a runner must first complete a standard [[marathon (sport)|marathon]] course certified by a national governing body affiliated with the [[World Athletics]] within a certain period of time before the date of the desired Boston Marathon (usually within approximately 18 months prior).

In the 1980s and 1990s, membership in [[USA Track & Field]] was required of all runners, but this requirement has been eliminated.<ref>{{cite news |work=Newsday |last=Hanc |first=Jon |title=Marathoner Hits Bottom Of the World |date=29 January 1999}}</ref>

Qualifying standards for the 2013 race were tightened on February 15, 2011, by five minutes in each age-gender group for marathons run after September 23, 2011.<ref name=baa0211/>  Prospective runners in the age range of 18–34 must run a time of no more than 3:00:00 (3 hours) if male, or 3:30:00 (3 hours 30 minutes) if female; the qualifying time is adjusted upward as age increases. In addition, the 59-second grace period on qualifying times has been eliminated; for example, a 40- to 44-year-old male will no longer qualify with a time of 3:10:01. For many marathoners, to qualify for Boston (to "BQ") is a goal and achievement in itself.<ref name=Burfoot/><ref name=Mannes/> This leads many runners to find intrinsic motivation in qualifying for the elusive marathon by setting the specific, time-based, and difficult goals associated with the age-based time standard.<ref>Victoria Stewart, Sara S McMillan, Jie Hu, Jack C Collins, Sarira El-Den, Claire L O’Reilly, Amanda J Wheeler, Are SMART goals fit-for-purpose? Goal planning with mental health service-users in Australian community pharmacies, International Journal for Quality in Health Care, Volume 36, Issue 1, 2024, mzae009, https://doi.org/10.1093/intqhc/mzae009</ref>  

An exception to the qualification times is for runners who receive entries from partners. About one-fifth of the marathon's spots are reserved each year for charities, sponsors, vendors, licensees, consultants, municipal officials, local running clubs, and marketers. In 2010, about 5,470 additional runners received entries through partners, including 2,515 charity runners.<ref name=Hohler/> The marathon currently allocates spots to two dozen charities who in turn are expected to raise more than $10 million a year.<ref name=charity/>  In 2017, charity runners raised $34.2 million for more than 200 non-profit organizations.  The Boston Athletic Association's Official Charity Program raised $17.96 million, John Hancock's Non-Profit Program raised $12.3 million, and the last $3.97 million was raised by other qualified and invitational runners.<ref>{{Cite news|url=http://running.competitor.com/2017/06/news/2017-boston-marathon-charity-runners-raised-34-2-million_165773|title=2017 Boston Marathon Charity Runners Raised $34.2 Million|date=2017-06-29|work=Competitor.com|access-date=2017-06-30|language=en-US|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170630001741/http://running.competitor.com/2017/06/news/2017-boston-marathon-charity-runners-raised-34-2-million_165773|archive-date=June 30, 2017|url-status=live}}</ref>

On October 18, 2010, the 20,000 spots reserved for qualifiers were filled in a record-setting eight hours and three minutes.<ref name=Springer/> The speed of registration prompted the B.A.A. to change its qualifying standards for the 2013 marathon onward.<ref name=baa0211 />  In addition to lowering qualifying times, the change includes a rolling application process, which gives faster runners priority. Organizers decided not to significantly adjust the number of non-qualifiers.

On September 27, 2018, the B.A.A. announced that they were lowering the qualifying times for the 2020 marathon by another five minutes, with male runners in the 18-34 age group required to run a time of 3:00:00 (3 hours) or less and female runners in the 18-34 age group required to run a time of 3:30:00 (3 hours, 30 minutes) or less in order to qualify.<ref name=baa2020>[https://www.baa.org/2019-boston-marathon-qualifier-acceptances "2019 Boston Marathon Qualifier Acceptances"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181008121553/https://www.baa.org/2019-boston-marathon-qualifier-acceptances |date=October 8, 2018 }}, ''BAA.org'' 2018-09-27, Retrieved 2018-10-26</ref>

In September 2024, the B.A.A. announced new qualifying times for the 2026 race, lowering the former qualifying times by five minutes for most age groups. The 18-34 age group needs to run a time of 2:55 (two hours, 55 minutes) for males, and 3:25 (3 hours, 25 minutes) for female and non-binary runners to qualify for the 2026 race.<ref name=":0" /><ref>{{Cite web |last=Touri |first=Amin |date=16 September 2024 |title=The Boston Marathon’s qualifying standards just got harder. Here’s what you need to know |url=https://www.bostonglobe.com/2024/09/16/sports/boston-marathon-qualifying-standards/ |access-date=2024-09-17 |website=The Boston Globe |language=en-US}}</ref>