Boston 2027 Cutoff Is 5:17: 8,019 Qualifiers Miss Out

To get into the 2027 Boston Marathon on time, you needed to be 5 minutes, 17 seconds under your qualifying standard, the B.A.A. announced on September 29.

33,649 qualifiers applied during registration week. 25,630 have been accepted or are being processed, and 8,019 qualified but won't run. Of the 25,630, 24,630 beat the cutoff and 1,000 were chosen in the new random Boston Qualifier Selection, which drew only from qualifiers who were not faster than 5:17.

How 5:17 compares

Sources: the B.A.A.'s 2026, 2025 and 2024 acceptance announcements. The field is 30,000 official entrants each year.

Applications rose by 400 from last year and the cutoff got 43 seconds tougher. The random draw's 1,000 places come out of the same 30,000, which leaves fewer for the fastest-first queue.

Who the draw let in

All 1,000 drawn runners qualified but missed the cutoff, so under last year's system every one of them would have been turned away. The B.A.A. hasn't published how many applicants were in the draw pool.

The downhill time index, also new this year, added 5 or 10 minutes to times from steep downhill courses before any of this sorting began. The B.A.A. says 240 accepted qualifying times came from courses that received the adjustment.

If you were under by less than 5:17

The 2028 qualifying window opened September 19 with the same standards. If you're looking for a fall or winter race to try again, our Boston qualifier index lists races with verified qualifying courses and upcoming dates.