On June 16th, the Boston Athletic Association (B.A.A.) announced registration updates and information pertaining to both the 2026 and 2027 editions of the Boston Marathon presented by Bank of America. Most notably, the B.A.A. imposed time penalties onto certain downhill marathons.
“The B.A.A. annually reviews Boston Marathon qualifying rules and procedures to ensure that athletes are competing and applying for Boston Marathon entry without substantial advantages over fellow athletes. Working with data scientists and reviewing applicable results data from 2022 through the present, the B.A.A. has analyzed studies and findings which show that athletes qualifying at courses with at least 1,500 feet (457.2 meters) of net-elevation drop between start and finish receive a substantial time advantage over qualifiers from events with less than 1,500 feet (457.2 meters) net-elevation drop.
Starting with registration for the 2027 Boston Marathon, qualifying results from any course with a net-downhill of 1,500-feet (457.2 meters) or more will incur a time adjustment to results, (known as an ‘index’) upon being submitted for Boston Marathon registration.
The below adjustment in rules will go into effect starting with the 2027 Boston Marathon qualifying window, which will open September 13, 2025.
“As the sport of marathoning has increased in popularity and the demand for a place in the Boston Marathon has reached record levels, the B.A.A. has continued to analyze race results from events across the world,” said Jack Fleming, B.A.A. President and Chief Executive Officer. “The new downhill course adjustments are the next step in our evolving Boston Marathon registration process. We wanted to give athletes and events ample time to prepare in advance of the 2027 Boston Marathon registration period. We know athletes plan their qualifying marathons well in advance.”
Net-Downhill Definition: The B.A.A. defines net-downhill as the difference in elevation between the start and finish points of an event. 1,500 feet is equal to 457.2 meters.” – Boston Marathon Website
Many athletes travel to downhill marathons in hopes of earning Boston qualifying times. A downhill favorite amongst Chicago runners is the Jack and Jill Marathon, which occurs in July of each year in North Bend, Washington and touts a 2,000 foot elevation drop along the 26.2 mile course.
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This course will now incur a 5:00 penalty onto the finishing time of athletes. For example, a runner who finishes with a 3:40 will have a 3:45 qualifying time to submit for entry in 2027 and 2028.
Verified qualifying times from any course with a net-downhill of between 1,500 and 2,999 feet (457.2 meters and 914.1 meters) will incur a five-minute (+5:00 minutes) time adjustment to results once submitted to the B.A.A. for review.
Verified qualifying times from any course with a net-downhill of between 3,000 and 5,999 feet (914.2 meters and 1,828.5 meters) will incur a ten-minute (+10:00 minutes) time adjustment to results once submitted to the B.A.A. for review.
Any course with a net-downhill of 6,000 feet (1,828.6 meters) or greater will not be allowed for Boston Marathon qualifying purposes.
The REVEL race series offers multiple downhill events with just under 6,000 feet of elevation loss. The REVEL Big Cottonwood Marathon is held in Murray, Utah in September of each year and provides runners with a whopping 5,242 feet of elevation loss throughout the marathon course.
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A finisher of this course would be hit with a 10:00 penalty onto their qualifying time for 2027 and 2028 submissions. There are two other marathons in the REVEL series with similar drops.
The B.A.A. has stated that this standard is in place for only 2027 and 2028 at this time and will be reevaluated to assess if the standard should be continued or not.
One of the likely reasons for this change is the sheer inability of the Boston Marathon to increase their capacity numbers. There is simply not a staging area capable of holding more than 30,000 runners, and with the race taking place on a weekday, staggering start times more would likely not be possible. Additionally, the roads that the course runs on are narrow and not capable of supporting an increased capacity of runners.
With the historical significance of the Boston Marathon, changes are not easy to make. The course, date, and timing are nearly carved in stone. I don’t see the B.A.A. changing the charity allowances, nor do I think this would be beneficial to the charities that benefit so greatly from the marathon each year.
The B.A.A. has lowered the qualifying time standard twice over the last ten years, and yet runners keep getting faster and are qualifying at higher rates than ever. This appears to be a new way to reduce the number of runners that qualify through earning BQT’s.
An additional change announced is the registration timing for the 2027 Boston Marathon. Registration for the 2026 Boston Marathon will occur over five days, September 8 through 12, 2025, which is the practice that has been in place historically.
The 2027 Boston Marathon qualifying window will open on Saturday, September 13, 2025 – one day after Registration Week for the 2026 event closes. The qualifying window will remain open through 2027 Boston Marathon Registration Week in September 2026, with exact dates to be announced later.
It will be interesting to see if notification of entry is made on a rolling basis, or if applications will be held throughout the year and notification given after the window closes. I expect we will receive further information about the new process as we get closer.
For now, we can follow our same protocol for 2026. The application window will be open from September 8th – 12th and downhill marathons will be accepted without a penalty. But, heads up, changes are a coming.
