2021 Boston Marathon cutoff predictions

cutoff wrote:

under a bridge wrote:

What did you expect the window to be? I don't know why anyone would've thought that the April 2022 race wouldn't have to include at LEAST the fall season before COVID.

If they’re going to let Sept 2019+ qualifiers register again in 2022, why not just defer the 2020 race to 2021, and then everyone after Sept 2019 gets to run in 2022?

Instead, those runners get to qualify for two Bostons from one race, while the 2020 people get screwed.

That would make the most logical sense. Instead there are many of us who were accepted to the 2020 race who are on the outside looking in while people who hit the time in what will likely be a 6 week or so window who get to do both 2021 and 2022. Not sure what BAA was thinking here.

Chrisfilm wrote:

cutoff wrote:

If they’re going to let Sept 2019+ qualifiers register again in 2022, why not just defer the 2020 race to 2021, and then everyone after Sept 2019 gets to run in 2022?

Instead, those runners get to qualify for two Bostons from one race, while the 2020 people get screwed.

That would make the most logical sense. Instead there are many of us who were accepted to the 2020 race who are on the outside looking in while people who hit the time in what will likely be a 6 week or so window who get to do both 2021 and 2022. Not sure what BAA was thinking here.

Yep. My qualifier was in the spring of 2019 so I can't use it for 2022, so I need to run another qualifier before (I guess) October 11 to use for 2022. And I will once again be competing with people who will age up using their times from fall 2019 through fall 2020. It's also frustrating that the BAA won't tell us when the registration period is so I can figure out when to run my fall marathon.

My thoughts exactly. What was once the premier athletic event has now turned into 'just another social event' - for T-shirt and medal chasers. For $7,500 one can snag a medal (with its bragging rights) and take care of a little 'virtue signaling'.

alkfjkdaj wrote:

Chrisfilm wrote:

That would make the most logical sense. Instead there are many of us who were accepted to the 2020 race who are on the outside looking in while people who hit the time in what will likely be a 6 week or so window who get to do both 2021 and 2022. Not sure what BAA was thinking here.

Yep. My qualifier was in the spring of 2019 so I can't use it for 2022, so I need to run another qualifier before (I guess) October 11 to use for 2022. And I will once again be competing with people who will age up using their times from fall 2019 through fall 2020. It's also frustrating that the BAA won't tell us when the registration period is so I can figure out when to run my fall marathon.

I hear you man. I'm assuming I need a race the weekend of Oct 10, so that's what I'm basing my training schedule against. Not sure why we're the lucky few who have to qualify twice, but thems the cards.

Chrisfilm wrote:

alkfjkdaj wrote:

Yep. My qualifier was in the spring of 2019 so I can't use it for 2022, so I need to run another qualifier before (I guess) October 11 to use for 2022. And I will once again be competing with people who will age up using their times from fall 2019 through fall 2020. It's also frustrating that the BAA won't tell us when the registration period is so I can figure out when to run my fall marathon.

I hear you man. I'm assuming I need a race the weekend of Oct 10, so that's what I'm basing my training schedule against. Not sure why we're the lucky few who have to qualify twice, but thems the cards.

I'll be running the Mohawk Hudson River Marathon in Albany that weekend for this very reason. Flat/downhill and fast, albeit quiet

I’m officially a squeaker

https://ibb.co/HCJY6ZV

these posts always make me laugh... ignorant bitterness at it internet best!

when you take over the BAA you can do the race however you want.. until then, perhaps you should keep your idiocy to yourself? just a suggestion

you do know that until recently, 'invited' runners from the municipalities, sponsors, and clubs that provide volunteers got more bibs than the charities do?

earth shattering news wrote:

I’m officially a squeaker

https://ibb.co/HCJY6ZV

Congrats, but if you are in the 35-39 category then you only had to run 3:05 to qualify no? So with the cutoff of 7:47 you still had 5 minutes up your sleeve, only needed a 2:57:13

not me wrote:. The BAA values the 5-hour plus charity runners more than the sub-3:00 people.

Rightfully so.

Maxinquaye wrote:

earth shattering news wrote:

I’m officially a squeaker

https://ibb.co/HCJY6ZV

Congrats, but if you are in the 35-39 category then you only had to run 3:05 to qualify no? So with the cutoff of 7:47 you still had 5 minutes up your sleeve, only needed a 2:57:13

I always shoot for the faster qualifying time It doesn’t feel right to qualify just because I’m a year older. That’s a year more running and experience. But yeah you’re right.

earth shattering news wrote:

Maxinquaye wrote:

Congrats, but if you are in the 35-39 category then you only had to run 3:05 to qualify no? So with the cutoff of 7:47 you still had 5 minutes up your sleeve, only needed a 2:57:13

I always shoot for the faster qualifying time It doesn’t feel right to qualify just because I’m a year older. That’s a year more running and experience. But yeah you’re right.

That's all well and good but you ain't a squeaker.

earth shattering news wrote:

Maxinquaye wrote:

Congrats, but if you are in the 35-39 category then you only had to run 3:05 to qualify no? So with the cutoff of 7:47 you still had 5 minutes up your sleeve, only needed a 2:57:13

I always shoot for the faster qualifying time It doesn’t feel right to qualify just because I’m a year older. That’s a year more running and experience. But yeah you’re right.

Yeah I see what you are getting at. I am 48 and although it really means nothing I am somehow more satisfied that my 2:48 would get me into the race regardless of my age...

cutoff wrote:

Instead, those runners get to qualify for two Bostons from one race, while the 2020 people get screwed.

Used to always be able to do this. I think the qualifying window ran from October 1 of two years prior until February before the race (i.e., October 1, 1989 - February 28, 1991 for the 1991 race). There was even a race called The Last Train to Boston Marathon in Maryland that was held the last week of February, only about six weeks before the race. Hit your time, mail in your registration, and six weeks later you're at Boston. No need to register seven months in advance. If you ran a fall qualifying race after October 1, you would qualify for the race for the next two years.

under a bridge wrote:

I was a 2020 qualifier and it certainly doesn’t feel like I got screwed. See some of you in October.

I’ll be there too but I have the empathy to see that the way the BAA handled it screwed over thousands of 2020 entrants unnecessarily.

I have empathy I just don’t view anyone as having been screwed by BAA.

Has the BAA informed any of you that you did not get in (either via email of portal) or are you inferring from the announcement?

For those of you who didn't get in, it has to be difficult, but you fulfilled a goal to get a BQ and for that you should be proud. You also have time to get back at it. Good luck.

Boston41 wrote:

Has the BAA informed any of you that you did not get in (either via email of portal) or are you inferring from the announcement?

For those of you who didn't get in, it has to be difficult, but you fulfilled a goal to get a BQ and for that you should be proud. You also have time to get back at it. Good luck.

Yes they sent emails and I got one. I've qualified for Boston before and not gotten in, and I never felt "screwed" by the BAA. 2020 would have been my first Boston. I had a nice buffer, I wasn't a squeaker. This time I feel screwed because it's as if they took my entry and handed it to someone else. It's not the end of the world, there are way more important things going on and this is truly a first world problem. However I'm angry right now at this moment - it will pass but I'm going to own that. It's not a given I will qualify again due to health problems.

[quote]alkfjkdaj wrote:

This time I feel screwed because it's as if they took my entry and handed it to someone else.

What? It's not as if they did that at all.

At the very least, allowing people to age up in the intervening year and a half was a terrible decision. Some people who didn’t qualify for 2020 were able to get into 2021 using the same “qualifying” race, but because they aged up in the intervening year and a half they got an extra 5, 10, or 15 minutes, and now jumped ahead of people who actually did qualify for 2020. If your time wasn’t a BQ when you ran it, it shouldn’t become a BQ just because some more time has passed.