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Best Boston Marathon Qualifiers for 2026

Best Boston Marathon Qualifiers

It's here! Our annual list of the year's
best marathons to help you qualify for the Boston Marathon.

2026 IS HERE!


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9/28 Update: The B.A.A. has announced the 2027 Boston Marathon qualifying cut-off time: 5:17 under the qualification standard.

25,630 applicants were accepted and 8,019 applicants who achieved Boston qualifying times were not accepted.

Boston Qualifying Cut-off Time Prediction Contest



The 2027 contests have ended.

Winner notifications are in progress.

2027 Contest Results Update

The B.A.A. announced a qualifying cut-off time of 5:17 for the 2027 Boston Marathon. We had 10 people correctly predict 5:17 in the main contest and 6 people correctly predict 5:17 in the Second Chance Contest.

We are in the process of notifying the winners. Because multiple entrants correctly predicted the cut-off time, the winners are being determined using the contest tie-breaker: who came closest to predicting the number of qualified applicants who would not be accepted. The actual number was 8,019.

How close was the running community?

The average cut-off prediction from the main contest was 5:06 — just 11 seconds from the actual 5:17 cut-off. The average prediction in the Second Chance Contest was 5:04, only 13 seconds away.

Last year, the average of all predictions was an incredible 1 second from the eventual 2026 cut-off time of 4:34.

We'll have more announcements soon about the contest winners and Boston Marathon qualifying.

Thank you to everyone who participated in this year's Boston Qualifying Cut-off Time Prediction Contests. Final winner announcements will be posted after the tie-breakers are completed and winners are notified.


To help you out with your prediction, we've compiled some statistics on Boston qualifying:

  • Historical BQ Cut-offs & Number of non-Acceptances

  • Historical Boston Qualifying Times (1970-2027)

  • Data on the number of qualifiers for the 2027 race as well as links to previous years data.

  • Data on Boston Qualifying from 2014-2026.


    • Second Chance Contest — Closed

    Qualifying Cut-off Time
    (Time under current BQ)



    Tie Breaker
    (Number of qualifiers who registered, but did not meet cut-off time):

    First name:

    Last name:

    Email Address:




    Names and email address are only used to notify entrants of the winners or for contest updates. This information will not be shared with 3rd Parties other than awarding prizes. However, if you would like to receive our Newsletter, we have a sign-up form at the top our our website pages.




    Second Chance Contest Prize

    Winner

    $25 Digital Visa Gift Card

    $25 USD Digital Visa Gift Card


    Contest Closed — Winner Notification in Progress





    Contest Rules:

    Both the original prediction contest and the Second Chance Contest are now closed. The B.A.A. announced a 5:17 qualifying cut-off time for the 2027 Boston Marathon.

    Original contest entries remain unchanged and are separate from Second Chance entries.

    Winners will be determined using the following criteria:
  • The winner will be the person who submits a valid entry that is closest to the qualifying cut-off time announced by the B.A.A.
  • In the event of a tie(s), the order will be determined by the entrant that is closest to the number of qualifiers who registered for Boston 2027, but did not meet the cut-off time.
  • If the B.A.A. does not release information on the number of qualifiers who did not meet the cut-off time or if a tie still exists, the order will be determined by the order of when the entry was received.

    •
  • The winner of the Second Chance Contest will receive a $25 Digital Visa Gift Card.
  • The results of the contest are at the sole discretion of FindMyMarathon.com.
  • Questions? Send us an Email

    • Historical Boston Qualifying Stats

    2027 qualifying results have been updated with the B.A.A. announced cut-off time and non-acceptance total.