Boston is closed

Drop the Q times 5 minutes for all male AGs and 8 minutes for all female AGs. If it isn't sold out by February 1st, let people who qualified under the old standards in.

You are welcome

this is ridiculous. i agree with what others have said. the time standard must be lowered by 10 or 15, or they have to guarantee entry based on certain times. the race is now no different than any other.

as for other good races, come up to burlington vt and race our marathon end of may. it's a great marathon!

wowpow wrote:

this is ridiculous. i agree with what others have said. the time standard must be lowered by 10 or 15, or they have to guarantee entry based on certain times. the race is now no different than any other.

as for other good races, come up to burlington vt and race our marathon end of may. it's a great marathon!

I have! It is an excellent event. Very good crop of runners for a smaller marathon. Well managed race. No hassles of the big city races. Everything is so green and beautiful in the midst of Vermont spring. Maybe Vermont City Marathon will become the place to go for all those who used to want to run Boston.

I don't understand what lowering the time standard will do other than fill the race up with different runners. That would NOT solve anything.

The race may take a little longer to close, but you'll still have angry people who didn't get in because they waited to long bitching about the standards. Right now there are probably 10-20,000 pissed off qualifiers or soon to be qualifiers from MCM, NY, etc, plenty of runners to fill it. What's the difference between a sell out in 8 hours and 8days and 8 weeks? You're still gonna have people miss out and bitch after it closes at some future arbitrary date.

They give everyone's qualifying time 18 months of life, so people running MCM, NY and other upcoming will just have to wait till 2012. That was clearly a risk they opted to take when they chose their fall marathon.

Increasing the field size by adding a 3rd wave is quite possibly no feasible due to pre-race capacity availability in Hopkinton.

I'm curious what you guys mean by "its becoming a joke", "it's watered down" etc.

gansettnative wrote:

Not the big city race but the ONLY way in is to qualify. A runner's race.

http://www.gansettmarathon.com

looks like a good race

My recommendation

1. Tighen the standards across the board - unlikely they will do that

2. Lottery with qualifying time with those who have run 20 minutes below the qualifying time getting automatic entry and the rest of the spots left are lottery entries.

Allow enough time for those who have a qualifying time to enter the lottery. Maybe have the enter the lottery registration window be open for two weeks.

I would support/understand having people who have run it 10 or more times and who have a qualifying time to given more chance to enter through the lottery or even an automatic entry.

Do you really need all this explained to you? Really?

i think you are wrong that the event would fill up if the times are lowered.

as an extreme example, if they lowered the times by 45 minutes, there wouldn't be enough people to fill the event.

lower the qualifying time will definitely help.

and, frankly, the women's qualifying times are ridiculously slow.

I guess the toughest among us will all just run Fukuoka instead.

Amy Seth, yeah, I think I do. Especially the "becoming a joke" part. ; )

Wowpow, 45 mins? Hahaha. Love it.

BAA needs to toughen their eligibility standards by at least ten minutes.

happy chap, i think i know why you're happy--ignorance is bliss, eh chap!

remember when this was a race, and not an event?

If I had a top 100 I`d petition the BAA for entry. They can not be so bullheaded to exclude front of the race runners.

Same for the 2:28 guy get in touch with the BAA. it is in their best interest to have someone come across the line between the money guys& the semipros runners in the teens and the pack of 3 hour dudes and dudettes.

ahhhhh wrote:

remember when this was a race, and not an event?

I remember that. That was back when they didn't offer prize money. They people insisted that they do in order to "join the modern era" and it became all ABOUT the money.

Welcome to the modern era. You people created this Frankenstein of a race. Now live with it.

Why not like it was in the 70's? 3:00 or less for men under 40, 3:30 or less for all women and masters men. That's it. Make it simple, make it exclusive again.

Also--remember that race in Ohio, the "Last Chance for Boston" marathon? It was run in February, supposedly to give you one more chance to qualify before Boston filled up, usually in March. Funny! I think they held it two years ago. Now? Not so much.

I start work at 6am, and don't have a cushy white collar job where I can play on the computer all day. I have to wait til I get home and try to sign up the old fashioned way. I was all prepared to sign up, and was surprised it filled up so quickly. It's getting to be a "lottery" system where you just have to cross your fingers and wait to see if you get in. It's sad, because most of these people running Boston are just running it, not racing it. Average times have slowed down drastically in the last decade for avg. finish, and it's getting to the point where there are onle a few hundred going under 3 hours, the rest "jogging" in. Oh well, time to look into Kenosha or Rockford, I guess.

OK, some of you are a bit put off by the close-out. Here is another take. I am a new runner by most standards. My first in 06. I have worked hard, had nearly 2 years of injury and if that isn't enough for you, I have a very debilitating disease that detroys my joints! So, this runner has EARNED her way in! Q-time? 4:00, I did 3:59:20! So there! Nothing worse than smug runners...you aren't the only ones out there. For some of us, walking is a miracle! How about being a source in inspiration?