How to qualify and register for the 2022 Boston Marathon

After last year’s postponement and eventual cancellation, runners were overjoyed to be back at the Boston Marathon, which took place on Monday. Mark your calendars, because in 2022, the race will return to its regular spot on Patriot’s Day, the third Monday in April – specifically, Monday, April 18. Here’s what you need to know if you’re hoping to race.

GALLERY: The 125th Boston Marathon

The B.A.A. recently announced that the qualification window for Boston 2022 opened on Sept. 1, 2019. Registration will take place between Nov. 8 and Nov. 12, and any qualifying time run between Sept. 1, 2019 and Nov. 12, 2021 will be considered.

Considering the lack of races in 2020, this means that most qualifiers will have earned their BQ at one of the final marathons held before the pandemic shutdown in early 2020, i.e. fall 2019, or possibly at this year’s Boston Marathon. That would seem to effectively reduce the number of qualifiers, which might expect to make cutoff time (i.e., the “real” qualifying time, which has been faster than the official qualifying time almost every year since 2012) closer to the official qualifying time. However, the field size was also reduced to 20,000 in 2021, and the B.A.A. has not yet indicated what the field size will be for 2022. The cutoff time for 2021 was 7:47 – the highest it’s ever been, resulting in more than 9,000 “qualified” runners being denied entry. Hopefully the cutoff for 2022 will be considerably lower.

Top Canadian results from the 125th Boston Marathon

Here are the time standards for official qualification. Your age is considered to be the age you will be on race day.