Getting into the New York City Marathon

It can be pretty tough to get into the New York City Marathon, which is a little odd, it being at largest marathon in the world at over 50,000 entrants. This year, there were 134,000 people who applied through various channels to run, so actually getting a bib can still be a long shot for some.

Barring a few less-travelled routes to acquiring a bib number, most of the runners in Sunday’s race went through one of three methods; qualification based on time, picked through the lottery or running for charity, with the likelihood following that order.

New York City has some of the toughest qualifying standards of large marathon in the world. Men under 40 need to run under 2:45. For women, 3:10. Equally strenuous standards are set for each age category above that. There are similar standards set to qualify with a half-marathon time. Still, the race tends to attract some fast runners. By a landslide, the most common way to race the five boroughs is to dip under your respective standard. About three-quarters of the field in 2014 will have gotten in through guaranteed entry. There are other ways to get a guaranteed entry, but running fast is the most common way.

Still, even hitting standard for guaranteed entry doesn’t actually necessarily qualify you for guaranteed entry. Qualifying at a NYRR event will get you in for sure, but hitting standard elsewhere means you’re entered into a small, separate lottery from everyone else, from which you can be selected to run.

You can also be eligible for guaranteed entry if you’ve run the event 15 times, though this is being phased out. If you haven’t completed your 15 yet, you likely won’t before it’s removed in 2016.

There were a little over 9,000 people who won lottery bibs for the 2014 race, about 12 per cent of the 77,000 who applied, but the lottery is oddly another route to a guaranteed entry. If you’ve applied three years in a row and been denied all three years, you’re granted a guaranteed entry in your fourth year applying, but this, like the 15-year rule, is being grandfathered out. There are three categories of runners in the lottery: New York metropolitan area runners, U.S. residents and international runners. There’s no difference in how they’re selected, but there are differences in the numbers who apply. Most of those who apply for the lottery live in the area.

The third major route of entry is running for a charity, which is how 7,000 runners acquired bibs this year, which is down from previous years, partially as a result of 2012’s cancellation after Hurricane Sandy. Charity runners pledge to raise $2,500 for a specific charity connected with the event and are in turn offered a bib number.

There are a few other entry methods. Elites don’t have to go through this process, though in a sense they count under having qualified on time. Members of the New York Road Runners can get a bib through racing with the club and volunteering at other events, or paying $1,000.

Of course, there are people out there who will always be offered a bib number like the millionth finisher this year.

Simple, right?