Boston Marathon
Qualifying for the Boston Marathon is more competitive than ever, with the BAA receiving a record 36,000 applications for the 2025 race.
The Boston Athletic Association received more than 36,000 qualifying applications for the 129th Boston Marathon, shattering the previous record set by last year’s race. The marathon’s field size held at 30,000, with a record number of qualifiers not accepted.
As the race gets more popular, the BAA continues to make qualifying more competitive. This year, athletes faced a comparatively harsh cut-off time, needing to run at least 6 minutes and 51 seconds faster than the qualifying time for their age and gender group. As a result, a total of 12,324 qualifiers were not accepted for this year’s Boston Marathon.
“The sport of marathoning is reaching record levels from both a participation and speed standpoint,” said Jack Fleming, president and CEO of the BAA, in a statement last fall. “Unfortunately, we’re unable to accept all athletes into the field, though we do want to recognize, thank, and applaud all whose goal was to be part of the 2025 event.”
The men’s and women’s qualifying times remain unchanged from last year, and the BAA has now added qualifying times for non-binary runners. The current non-binary qualifying times match the women’s qualifying times, but the BAA said it is working to establish more accurate times as more data is gathered. This year, 69 non-binary athletes are competing, an increase from 44 athletes in 2024.
Just like last year, the men’s qualifying times are 30 minutes faster than the women’s and non-binary qualifying times across all age groups. Men ages 18 to 34, the youngest age group, must run a sub-three hour marathon, whereas women and non-binary have to run under three and a half hours to qualify.
Here are this year’s qualifying times by age and gender. All 24,069 qualifiers ran nearly seven minutes faster than these times.
18-34
- Men: 3 hours
- Women/Non-Binary: 3 hours, 30 minutes
35-39
- Men: 3 hours, 5 minutes
- Women/Non-Binary: 3 hours, 35 minutes
40-44
- Men: 3 hours, 10 minutes
- Women/Non-Binary: 3 hours, 40 minutes
45-49
- Men: 3 hours, 20 minutes
- Women/Non-Binary: 3 hours, 50 minutes
50-54
- Men: 3 hours, 25 minutes
- Women/Non-Binary: 3 hours, 55 minutes
55-59
- Men: 3 hours, 35 minutes
- Women/Non-Binary: 4 hours, 5 minutes
60-64
- Men: 3 hours, 50 minutes
- Women/Non-Binary: 4 hours, 20 minutes
65-69
- Men: 4 hours, 5 minutes
- Women/Non-Binary: 4 hours, 35 minutes
70-74
- Men: 4 hours, 20 minutes
- Women: 4 hours, 50 minutes
75-79
- Men: 4 hours, 35 minutes
- Women/Non-Binary: 5 hours, 5 minutes
80 and over
- Men: 4 hours, 50 minutes
- Women/Non-Binary: 5 hours, 20 minutes
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