Marathon Qualifying Times | How to Time-Qualify for Major Marathons – Runner’s World

We all know that to toe the line of the Boston Marathon, you have to hit a time standard—and a pretty tough one at that.

But for most of the major U.S. and world marathons, runners of all speeds have a chance to compete as long as you’re among the lucky few whose names are drawn in a lottery or you agree to run for charity. If you’d rather not roll the dice or raise funds for a bib, however, you can aim to hit the qualifying standards set by the individual marathons.

Here, we’ve broken down what it takes to time-qualify for some major marathons like Boston, Chicago, New York City, Tokyo, and London.

Our advice? Jot down your qualifying time on a Post-It note and stick it on your mirror for a bit of daily training motivation.

Boston Marathon

Show up to any group run in a Boston Celebration Jacket, and you’ll immediately earn respect from your fellow runners. The 26.2-mile race from Hopkinton to Boylston Street—which this year is on Monday, April 15—is one of the most prestigious marathons in the country, thanks to its strict time requirements.

Take a look at the full registration process here, but there is one main thing to keep in mind: If you don’t run a a qualifying time, it’s unlikely you’ll get in unless you run for charity. (About 80 percent of the 30,000 runners is filled by time qualifiers.) The window to qualify for the 2020 race opened on September 15, 2018, and runs until registration closes later this September.

Runners can qualify for the 2020 race by nailing the following times, broken down by age group:

• 18 to 34 years old (3:00 for men, 3:30 for women)
• 35 to 39 (3:05 for men, 3:35 for women)
• 40 to 44 (3:10 for men, 3:40 for women)
• 45 to 49 (3:20 for men, 3:50 for women)
• 50 to 54 (3:25 for men, 3:55 for women)
• 55 to 59 (3:35 for men, 4:05 for women)
• 60 to 64 (3:50 for men, 4:20 for women)
• 65 to 69 (4:05 for men, 4:35 for women)
• 70 to 74 (4:20 for men, 4:50 for women)
• 75 to 79 (4:35 for men, 5:05 for women)
• 80-plus (4:50 for men, 5:20 for women)

Chicago Marathon

Happening this year on Sunday, October 13, Chicago is favored by runners seeking fast times on a pancake-flat course lined with motivating crowds.

To secure guaranteed entry among the expected 45,000 runners taking part in the 2020 fall race, your have to hit a time standard between January 1, 2019, and when registration usually closes in late November.

Here are the current time standards for Chicago, broken down by age group:

• 16 to 29 years old (3:05 for men, 3:35 for women)
• 30 to 39 (3:10 for men, 3:40 for women)
• 40 to 49 (3:20 for men, 3:50 for women)
• 50 to 59 (3:35 for men, 4:20 for women)
• 60 to 69 (4:00 for men, 5:00 for women)
• 70 to 79 (4:30 for men, 5:55 for women)
• 80-plus (5:25 for men, 6:10 for women)

New York City Marathon

Running among the 50,000 participants through the Big Apple’s five boroughs is a goal of many marathoners, but the hard truth is that the NYC drawing is extremely selective. For the 2019 race, taking place on Sunday, November 3, less than 9 percent of runners who registered without a time-qualifier were selected via the drawing. To snag your spot in the 2020 race, you can start by aiming for the 2019 time standards below.

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Here are the current time standards for NYC, broken down by age group:

• 18 to 34 years old (2:53 for men, 3:13 for women)
• 35 to 39 (2:55 for men, 3:15 for women)
• 40 to 44 (2:58 for men, 3:15 for women)
• 45 to 49 (3:05 for men, 3:38 for women)
• 50 to 54 (3:14 for men, 3:51 for women)
• 55 to 59 (3:23 for men, 4:10 for women)
• 60 to 64 (3:34 for men, 4:27 for women)
• 65 to 69 (3:45 for men, 4:50 for women)
• 70 to 74 (4:10 for men, 5:30 for women)
• 75 to 79 (4:30 for men, 6:00 for women)
• 80-plus (4:55 for men, 6:35 for women)

NYC is also the only marathon major on this list that accepts half marathon times as qualifiers. Here are the 13.1-mile times you have to hit to secure a spot, according to your age:

• 18 to 34 (1:21 for men, 1:32 for women)
• 35 to 39 (1:23 for men, 1:34 for women)
• 40 to 44 (1:25 for men, 1:37 for women)
• 45 to 49 (1:28 for men, 1:42 for women)
• 50 to 54 (1:32 for men, 1:49 for women)
• 55 to 59 (1:36 for men, 1:54 for women)
• 60 to 64 (1:41 for men, 2:02 for women)
• 65 to 69 (1:46 for men, 2:12 for women)
• 70 to 74 (1:57 for men, 2:27 for women)
• 75 to 79 (2:07 for men, 2:40 for women)
• 80-plus (2:15 for men, 2:50 for women)

London Marathon

About 40,000 runners line up for this 26.2-miler in the heart of the U.K., and it kicks off this year on Sunday, April 28. Like the other major marathons, runners from the U.K. and abroad alike can register for the lottery, which opens around the first week of May every year.

Like NYC, this marathon is incredibly selective: this year, a record 414,168 runners—347,876 of whom were U.K. residents—registered for one of the 40,000 spots. Unfortunately, the only ways for non-elite U.S. citizens to score an automatic bib are entering via the lottery or running for charity; only U.K. residents can time-qualify for this event. If you are from the U.K., however, you have a decent window of time to have hit a qualifying race. The number of time-based entries was capped at 6,000 for 2019 (3,000 for each gender).

If you are a U.K. resident, here are the “Good for Age” time standards, broken down by age group:

• 18 to 39 (3:00 for men, 3:45 for women)
• 40 to 44 (3:05 for men, 3:50 for women)
• 45 to 49 (3:10 for men, 3:53 for women)
• 50 to 54 (3:15 for men, 4:00 for women)
• 55 to 59 (3:20 for men, 4:05 for women)
• 60 to 64 (3:45 for men, 4:30 for women)
• 65 to 69 (4:00 for men, 5:00 for women)
• 70 to 74 (5:00 for men, 6:00 for women)
• 75 to 79 (5:15 for men, 6:20 for women)
• 80-plus (5:30 for men, 6:40 for women)

Tokyo Marathon

Around 38,000 runners raced through Japan’s capitol on Sunday, March 3, of this year. Though the Tokyo Marathon is the youngest of the major world marathons—it debuted in 2007—it has grown increasingly popular through the years, because of its fast and flat, albeit often rainy, course. Those interested in competing can register for general entry in August (for the 2019 race, the application window was between August 1 and August 31) and will be notified if they have been selected by mid-September.

If you live outside of Japan and are fairly quick, you might qualify for the “Run as One” Semi-Elite overseas field, which is capped at 300 runners (the percentage of males and females selected varies). To apply for the 2019 Run as One, participants had to run their time-qualifying race in 2017 or 2018 on specific courses.

Here are the current qualifying time standard ranges, broken down by gender:

• 2:21:01 to 2:45:00 (men)
• 2:52:01 to 3:30:00 (women)

Berlin Marathon

If you are aiming for a PR, Berlin might be your best shot. In 2018, the blazing fast course produced its eleventh world record (eighth for men) when Eliud Kipchoge broke the tape in 2:01:39, shaving off 1 minute 18 seconds from the previous mark. Kipchoge’s performance continued the city’s history of witnessing breakthroughs in men’s marathon times, having hosted the first marathons sub-2:05, 2:04, 2:03 and now sub-2:02.

Here are the time standards you need to nail in order to test your own record in Berlin, broken down by age group:

• Age 18 to 44 (2:45 for men, 3:00 for women)
• Age 45 to 59 (2:55 for men, 3:20 for women)
• Age 60 and up (3:25 for men, 4:10 for women)