Boston Marathon registration opens Monday

Registration for the venerable Boston Marathon opens on Monday — but not for everyone.

The Boston Athletic Association, which runs the marathon, will open up registration for the 2012 marathon on Monday, Sept. 12 at 10 a.m. EST, but only those people who beat their qualifying time by 20 minutes or more are eligible to sign up on Monday.

What’s more is that the 59 second grace period allotted to qualifying times does not apply to these registration times. For example, a 36-year-old woman who has a qualifying time of 3:45 would have to run a qualifying race in 3:45:59 to be eligible. However, to be eligible to register on the first day, she would need a qualifying time of 3:25:00 or less, not 3:25:59.

Registration then opens up on Wednesday, Sept. 14 for anyone who met his or her time by 10 minutes or faster, if space remains. On Friday, Sept. 16, those with qualifying times of five minutes or faster are allowed to register and on Monday, Sept. 19, all qualifiers are able to register – provided any space remains. Registration closes on Friday, Sept. 23.

The new registration procedures were a result of a glut of registrations on the first day, causing the race to fill in less than 24 hours. The new procedures are designed to allow the faster, more elite runners the chance to register first, and then allow others to register if space permits.

Want to know when you can register? BAA has a calculator available on its website. A list of qualifying times is also available on the BAA site.