Securing a spot in the 2025 Boston Marathon has become more challenging than ever, with runners needing to finish 6 minutes and 51 seconds faster than the qualifying standard for their age and gender. According to the Boston Athletic Association (BAA), this unprecedented cutoff marked a historic high as competition intensified for a chance to race in the prestigious event.
Out of 36,393 runners who met the qualifying times and applied for entry, only 24,069 were accepted, leaving 12,324 hopefuls without a place in the race. The BAA has already announced stricter qualifying standards for future marathons, signaling an ongoing trend towards more exclusive entry.
“The sport of marathoning is seeing record participation and increasingly faster performances,” said Jack Fleming, CEO of the BAA. “We can’t accommodate everyone, but we extend our gratitude and respect to all who pursued their dream of being part of the 2025 race.”
Although the field size remains capped at 30,000 participants, the BAA has raised the percentage of spots for qualifiers to 80%, an increase from 73.4% in 2024. In the previous year, only 22,019 qualifiers were accepted, causing frustration among many runners.
This year’s 6:51 cutoff was only surpassed by the 2021 marathon, when a reduced field size due to COVID-19 protocols led to a stricter 7:47 cutoff. The use of cutoffs began in 2014, with the smallest being 1:02 in 2015 and the largest, before 2021, being 4:52 in 2019. In 2018, the BAA lowered qualifying standards by 5 minutes across the board in response to rising demand for spots in the race.
For the 2020 race, which was ultimately canceled due to the pandemic, qualifiers needed to be 1:39 faster than their age-group standards to make the cut. The pandemic also resulted in no cutoffs for the 2022 and 2023 events, as fewer qualifying races were available during that period. However, in 2024, demand surged again, with a cutoff of 5:29 and more than 11,000 runners missing out on entry.
The increasing difficulty in qualifying reflects the Boston Marathon’s continued status as one of the most coveted and competitive marathons in the world. For many runners, just making it to the start line is an achievement in itself.
