calendar icon Nov 14, 2024

Boston Marathon Qualifiers - Most Common and Most Popular Qualifying Marathons


Boston Marathon Qualifying Races - Most Likely and Largest Qualifiers

Year: 2024 | 2023 | 2022 | 2021 | 2020 | 2019 | 2018 | 2017 | 2016 | 2015 | 2014 | 2013 | 2012 | 2011 | 2010 | 2009 | 2008 | 2007 | 2006 | 2005 | 2004 | 2003

Boston Qualifiers in the USA/Canada - 2024

The Boston Marathon is the only mass-participation marathon that requires qualifying times and those times become goal times for many runners. The times are, to some extent, age-graded, with those 35 and over given easier standards.
See: Boston Marathon Qualifying Times

We're often asked what courses are good Boston qualifying courses and where do people qualify for the Boston Marathon. While there is no specific answer for each individual, and while different races may be easier or harder in any given year due to weather or other factors - following is a factual list of those marathons that have the highest percentage of Boston Marathon qualifiers in their field and those with the largest overall number of qualifiers.

Note that different years may show different results as weather, course changes and other factors can affect the performance of a race from year to year.

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Boston Marathon Qualifying Races - Most Likely To Qualify - 2024

Note: Partial Year Results (2024 is ongoing)

The marathons below had the highest percent of Boston qualifying finishers in 2024 (year-to-date). These courses will undoubtedly be among those ranked the fastest of all courses - but there are other factors that might cause a marathon to appear on this list or to cause a race to fall off this list. For a point-to-point course, a tailwind or headwind might make the difference from one year to the next. Some races (such as Boston itself) simply attracts faster runners, so the fact that a marathon is on this list might be an indication of the type of runner it attracts even more than the quality of its course. But, you can be sure that any marathon on this is not slow.

Rank Marathon Boston
Qualifiers
Qualifying
Percent*
1 2024 U.S. Olympic Team Trials - Men's Marathon (2/3/24 - Orlando, FL) 150 100.0%
2 2024 U.S. Olympic Team Trials - Women's Marathon (2/3/24 - Orlando, FL) 117 100.0%
3 Last Chance BQ.2 Chicagoland Marathon (9/7/24 - Geneva, IL) 150 70.8%
4 Last Chance BQ.2 Grand Rapids Marathon (9/8/24 - Grand Rapids, MI) 121 66.6%
5 Spring Chance BQ.2 Marathon (4/13/24 - Geneva, IL) 79 56.8%
6 Charles River Marathon (9/8/24 - Boston, MA) 104 51.2%
7 Georgina Marathon (9/8/24 - Georgina, ON) 140 42.2%
8 REVEL Mt Charleston (4/6/24 - Las Vegas, NV) 703 41.6%
9 Light at the End of the Tunnel Marathon (6/9/24 - North Bend, WA) 340 40.5%
10 Erie Marathon at Presque Isle (9/8/24 - Erie, PA) 397 39.2%
11 Boston Marathon (4/15/24 - Boston, MA) 9,814 38.8%
12 Tunnel Vision Marathon (8/11/24 - North Bend, WA) 235 35.5%
13 The Cheap Marathon (4/20/24 - Derry, NH) 139 35.5%
14 Tunnel Lite Marathon (9/8/24 - North Bend, WA) 280 34.3%
15 Sugarloaf Marathon (5/12/24 - Carrabassett Valley, ME) 181 34.3%
16 Jack and Jill's Downhill Marathon (7/28/24 - Hyak to Tanner, WA) 211 31.0%
17 Baystate Marathon (10/20/24 - Lowell, MA) 313 29.5%
18 Ventura Marathon (2/25/24 - Ventura, CA) 260 27.1%
19 Eugene Marathon (4/28/24 - Eugene, OR) 779 26.7%
20 REVEL White Mountains (5/5/24 - Conway, NH) 432 26.4%
21 Lake Wobegon Trail Marathon (5/4/24 - St. Joseph, MN) 86 26.2%
22 Jack and Jill's Downhill Saturday Marathon (7/27/24 - Hyak to Tanner, WA) 200 25.3%
23 Mountains 2 Beach Marathon (4/28/24 - Ojai, CA) 411 25.2%
24 Albany Marathon (formerly the Snickers Marathon Energy Bar Marathon) (3/2/24 - Albany, GA) 62 24.9%
25 Phoenix Marathon (2/10/24 - Mesa, AZ) 626 24.6%
26 Steamtown Marathon (10/13/24 - Scranton, PA) 206 23.6%
27 Rockies Marathon (6/1/24 - Denver, CO) 211 23.3%
28 Sri Chinmoy Marathon (8/23/24 - Nyack, NY) 78 22.7%
29 Indianapolis Monumental Marathon (11/9/24 - Indianapolis, IN) 1,231 22.6%
30 Road2Hope Hamilton Marathon (11/3/24 - Hamilton, ON) 143 22.4%
31 B&A Trail Marathon (3/24/24 - Severna Park, MD) 63 22.1%
32 Fredericton Marathon (5/12/24 - Fredericton, NB) 80 21.9%
33 Marathon P'tit Train du Nord (10/6/24 - Saint-Jerome, QC) 447 21.9%
34 Jersey City Marathon (4/14/24 - Jersey City, NJ) 437 21.9%
35 Super Marathon (6/22/24 - North Bend, WA) 80 21.7%
36 Carmel Marathon (4/13/24 - Carmel, IN) 306 21.4%
37 The Santa Rosa Marathon (8/25/24 - Santa Rosa, CA) 164 21.3%
38 Mt. Nebo Marathon (9/7/24 - Payson, UT) 61 21.2%
39 Harrisburg Marathon (11/10/24 - Harrisburg, PA) 109 20.8%
40 Mohawk-Hudson River Marathon (10/13/24 - Albany, NY) 103 20.2%
41 Bayshore Marathon (5/25/24 - Traverse City, MI) 254 19.6%
42 Chicago Marathon (10/13/24 - Chicago, IL) 9,338 19.2%
43 New England Green River Marathon (8/25/24 - Greenfield, MA) 57 18.8%
44 Marathon de Rimouski (9/8/24 - Rimouski, QC) 59 18.7%
45 Wineglass Marathon (10/6/24 - Corning, NY) 322 18.6%
46 Charlevoix Marathon (6/15/24 - Charlevoix, MI) 90 18.5%
47 One City Marathon (3/3/24 - Newport News, VA) 80 17.7%
48 Houston Marathon (1/14/24 - Houston, TX) 1,252 17.5%
49 Long Island Marathon (5/5/24 - East Meadow, NY) 97 17.4%
50 Grandma's Marathon (6/22/24 - Duluth, MN) 1,232 17.2%

*This list is limited to marathons with 250 or more finishers, or 60 or more qualifiers regardless of size. Percentages calculated ignore finishers over 6:00.


Boston Marathon Qualifying Races - Most Qualifiers 2024

Note: Partial Year Results (2024 is ongoing)

The races that have the most Boston Marathon qualifiers are, obviously, going to be skewed to those that have the most participants. Below is a list of the races that qualified the most people for Boston in 2024.

Rank Marathon Finishers Boston
Qualifiers
1 Boston Marathon (4/15/24 - Boston, MA) 25,530 9,814
2 Chicago Marathon (10/13/24 - Chicago, IL) 52,129 9,338
3 New York City Marathon (11/3/24 - New York City, NY) 55,527 5,900
4 Houston Marathon (1/14/24 - Houston, TX) 7,164 1,252
5 Grandma's Marathon (6/22/24 - Duluth, MN) 7,533 1,232
6 Indianapolis Monumental Marathon (11/9/24 - Indianapolis, IN) 5,625 1,231
7 Marine Corps Marathon (10/27/24 - Washington, DC) 16,180 886
8 Eugene Marathon (4/28/24 - Eugene, OR) 2,988 779
9 REVEL Mt Charleston (4/6/24 - Las Vegas, NV) 1,707 703
10 Toronto Waterfront Marathon (10/20/24 - Toronto, ON) 6,264 689
11 Phoenix Marathon (2/10/24 - Mesa, AZ) 2,633 626
12 Twin Cities Marathon (10/6/24 - Minneapolis-St.Paul, MN) 6,787 586
13 Ottawa Marathon (National Capital Race Weekend) (5/26/24 - Ottawa, ON) 4,776 530
14 City of Los Angeles Marathon (L.A. Marathon) (3/17/24 - Los Angeles, CA) 20,450 491
15 Vancouver International Marathon (5/5/24 - Vancouver, BC) 6,067 487
16 Rock 'n' Roll Marathon (6/2/24 - San Diego, CA) 10,952 466
17 Marathon P'tit Train du Nord (10/6/24 - Saint-Jerome, QC) 2,041 447
18 Jersey City Marathon (4/14/24 - Jersey City, NJ) 2,000 437
19 REVEL White Mountains (5/5/24 - Conway, NH) 1,683 432
20 Columbus Marathon (10/20/24 - Columbus, OH) 3,583 430
21 St. George Marathon (10/5/24 - St. George, UT) 3,889 412
22 Mountains 2 Beach Marathon (4/28/24 - Ojai, CA) 1,654 411
23 Erie Marathon at Presque Isle (9/8/24 - Erie, PA) 1,022 397
24 Toronto Marathon (5/5/24 - Toronto, ON) 2,975 365
25 Light at the End of the Tunnel Marathon (6/9/24 - North Bend, WA) 852 340
26 Wineglass Marathon (10/6/24 - Corning, NY) 1,816 322
27 Baystate Marathon (10/20/24 - Lowell, MA) 1,075 313
28 Carmel Marathon (4/13/24 - Carmel, IN) 1,450 306
29 Tunnel Lite Marathon (9/8/24 - North Bend, WA) 830 280
30 Ventura Marathon (2/25/24 - Ventura, CA) 979 260
31 Detroit International Marathon (10/20/24 - Detroit, MI) 3,657 255
32 Bayshore Marathon (5/25/24 - Traverse City, MI) 1,306 254
33 Big Sur International Marathon (4/28/24 - Carmel, CA) 3,424 250
34 Tunnel Vision Marathon (8/11/24 - North Bend, WA) 680 235
35 Austin Marathon (2/18/24 - Austin, TX) 4,047 230
36 Pittsburgh Marathon (5/5/24 - Pittsburgh, PA) 3,585 230
37 Victoria Marathon (10/13/24 - Victoria, BC) 2,212 229
38 Big Cottonwood Marathon (9/14/24 - Salt Lake City, UT) 1,468 219
39 Glass City Marathon (4/28/24 - Toledo, OH) 1,329 214
40 Rockies Marathon (6/1/24 - Denver, CO) 921 211
41 The San Francisco Marathon (7/28/24 - San Francisco, CA) 5,672 211
42 Jack and Jill's Downhill Marathon (7/28/24 - Hyak to Tanner, WA) 700 211
43 Napa Valley Marathon (3/3/24 - Napa, CA) 1,435 206
44 Steamtown Marathon (10/13/24 - Scranton, PA) 901 206
45 Hartford Marathon (10/19/24 - Hartford, CT) 1,648 202
46 Shamrock Sportsfest Marathon (3/17/24 - Virginia Beach, VA) 2,004 201
47 Jack and Jill's Downhill Saturday Marathon (7/27/24 - Hyak to Tanner, WA) 815 200
48 Las Vegas Marathon (11/3/24 - Las Vegas, NV) 2,137 188
49 Utah Valley Marathon (6/1/24 - Provo, UT) 1,207 185
50 Cincinnati Flying Pig Marathon (5/5/24 - Cincinnati, OH) 4,057 184

Trying to qualify for Boston in 2025? We have your back! We partnered with Runzy to help. Train 1:1 with an elite running coach for just $39/month. Mention "MarathonGuide" for a special discount. Learn more.


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