The Marathon scene in Oregon is better. Both Portland and Eugene are pretty flat and fair courses with biggish crowds. Aside from one year, the Rogue Valley race is quality too, though it's down hill it's not absurdly so.
Yes, Oregon is better and BC is better. But as a resident of the Seattle suburbs to get to either place I have to drive several hours and reserve a hotel. Not a huge deal but not ideal. I've only done one marathon but I decided if I was going to travel I might as well go all the way to Houston (which was a perfect race for chasing a fast time - 10/10 recommend).
Findmymarathon did a write up that compared the BQs in last running of the down hill marathons and what if the 5/10 minute penalties were imposed.
basically 3600 BQs were run in these races. 1500 would not qualify with the new penalty. Half of the BQs that would not make the new cut were in just 2 races.
They breakdown all the races. I didn’t know there were so many of these races.
Learn how new Boston Marathon qualifying rules for 2027 may impact runners on downhill courses. Find out which races are affected and what adjustments matter most.
What are you complaining about, you guys all travel to other states for your marathons anyway.
There are a grand total of two affected marathons in Colorado, with a combined 500 finishers and ~35 Boston qualifiers last year. And one of them (Aspen Valley) could easily adjust its course to descend 150' less and become compliant.
I was actually talking about when I did Denver Rock'n Roll many years ago. I'm sure sea level would have given me that extra half hour I needed to qualify.
You're also missing the point; if they're going to penalize easy courses they should reward hard courses, like pretty much every other marathon in Colorado. Not that I actually care; it's their race, they can do what they want, and I'm too old and injured to qualify now anyway.
I hear this argument because there are plenty of other factors that impact marathon times besides elevation like pacing, nutrition, weather, altitude, etc. But that's why they set the mark at 1500 feet. That's plenty generous imo. I think they could've been more aggressive in lowering that but it acknowledges that some of those other factors exist. Most people can reasonably take 2-3 (or more) cracks at a BQ during the qualifying window. Chances are you can get a decent weather day for one of them or get down to sea level. So we're not adjusting the marathon you ran in the heat because you can likely get in a better race. Once you run one downhill race you get the benefits of that race, no matter how many cracks at it another runner takes on more honest courses. What BAA is controlling is that nobody is running way faster than they should because they're running down a mountain & someone else isn't. A 1500 ft. drop course is still way faster than a flat one so people can still game the system to some extent. 5min & 10min additions seem like not enough for the next two tiers. So it doesn't rule out any of those races from still being viable options. If you can't use a +5 race to BQ then you're not BQing on a flat course either. The 5/10min marks are still more generous than a flat course imo. Under the old rules, the people right on the cutoff line on honest courses were the ones being hurt the most. Now if people want to use those really downhill courses they need to be closer to having the ability to BQ anywhere. Isn't that the point? People who were barely getting in on those courses can do plenty, in terms of training, to try to make themselves more competitive. If they're not willing to do that then that speaks to them knowing that this loophole always existed for qualifying. BAA is trying to line up the fastest runners. Two runners, A & B, run 2:58 & 2:59 marathons, respectively. Runner B ran their time @ NYC. Runner A ran their time @ a Revel race. In their heart of heart I don't think Runner A thinks that's a better performance than what Runner B did. They lost 5k feet in their race. A 3:08 adjustment is more than fair. Anyone just focused on total time is kidding themselves.
I'm not trying to pick on anyone or call anyone out but there have been some women in the Boston Marathon elite field that BAA took with downhill marathon times. They weren't able to come close to those times on race day & took spots from others who could've been considered for those opportunities.
