what are my chances of getting into boston marathon

You can do that. I did the exact same thing last year.

newton wrote:

Boston is going to fill up before the -5min mark. 4,000 entries yesterday, maybe half that today. My guess would be 9,000-10,000 from the -10min group. That leaves 7,000-8,000 spots for the -9.59 folks. Cutoff will be around -6min.

The rest of the entries will go to those who couldn't finish last year, 5,000, plus charity runners, 9,000.

quite wrong

so wrong, i think you're out of touch with reality

the -10 group is nowhere close to twice the size of the -20

michiganrunner48 wrote:

not knocking the Boston marathon but it used to be much harder to qualify. I remember when it used to be 2:50 open runners and 3:10 for 40 and over men. Different time and age but Boston is the superbowl of marathons. It is prestigious!

It also "used to be" 3:30 for everyone. Calm down.

4,000? wrote:

was 4,000 a guess or is the tally available somewhere?

supposedly came from a BAA spokesman.. reported on RW

in the past ~75% of any group registers on the first day

10,500 in as of last night after the first day of -10s

no doubt all the -5+ folks will get in

some folks next week will be disappointed

The field will fill on Monday. Maybe -4min?

citgo wrote:

The field will fill on Monday. Maybe -4min?

the numbers aren't too far off from registration numbers for 2012 and that year the cut-off was 1:14

a couple of stats guys who post on RW are now saying somewhere between 2:00 and 3:00

Too many charity runners, they should have their own "Boston" at a different time.

newton wrote:

Boston is going to fill up before the -5min mark. 4,000 entries yesterday, maybe half that today. My guess would be 9,000-10,000 from the -10min group. That leaves 7,000-8,000 spots for the -9.59 folks. Cutoff will be around -6min.

The rest of the entries will go to those who couldn't finish last year, 5,000, plus charity runners, 9,000.

[quote]Walter White wrote:

Too many charity runners, they should have their own "Boston" at a different time.

[quote]

when you become king of the BAA, you can start one

until then, the BAA can put on it's race how they see fit... and they've done pretty well for 117 years

[quote]Walter White wrote:

Too many charity runners, they should have their own "Boston" at a different time.

[quote]

I agree strongly. There are a billion other marathons that can be run for charity. Why would anyone even want to admit they ran Boston as a charity runner?

Walter White wrote:

Too many charity runners, they should have their own "Boston" at a different time.

newton wrote:

Boston is going to fill up before the -5min mark. 4,000 entries yesterday, maybe half that today. My guess would be 9,000-10,000 from the -10min group. That leaves 7,000-8,000 spots for the -9.59 folks. Cutoff will be around -6min.

The rest of the entries will go to those who couldn't finish last year, 5,000, plus charity runners, 9,000.

To show just how wrong this prediction is: 11,300 total have registered during this week through yesterday.

And registration opened today for the -5 group.

And it will open on Monday for everyone with a BQ.

Peace Out wrote:

I agree strongly. There are a billion other marathons that can be run for charity. Why would anyone even want to admit they ran Boston as a charity runner?

Maybe because there are thousands of runners who are more open-minded and generous with their time, energy, and money that you are?

When you and Mr. White take over the BAA, you can get rid of the charity runners - and all the millions of dollars of donations that go with them.

Simple calc of the 20% of spots for charity runners is 7200 charity runners. A $5000 each, that's $36M. Not a bad bit of change for charity. Who says a major event like the marathon should not give back to the city?

Compare that to the $5M in registration fees the rest of the field will bring in.

There is nothing wrong with running for a charity, but they should have to register like everyone else. It is getting more difficult to get into some of the bigger and better races these days and seeing runners being forced out to make room for chartities is not fair to runners who have made the races so popular.

BackBayCoder wrote:

Simple calc of the 20% of spots for charity runners is 7200 charity runners. A $5000 each, that's $36M. Not a bad bit of change for charity. Who says a major event like the marathon should not give back to the city?

Compare that to the $5M in registration fees the rest of the field will bring in.

Only problem with your math is that the 20% figure for "non-qualifiers" (which will be 30% this year, according to a BAA spokesman) is not all charity runners - there are as many or more corporate and municipal entries: Hancock, adidas, the towns along the way, etc...

"The Boston Marathon reserves approximately 20 percent of the race’s 27,000 spots for charities, sponsors, local running clubs, and other groups affiliated with the race. Of that 20 percent, approximately 2,500 entries go to charity runners who don’t have to meet a qualifying standard."

OK, I pulled the article. So only $12.5M or 7% of overall race entries for charity. A pittance, but it will still make a helpful difference for a lot of people.

However, the part that might/should vex runners trying to qualify are the rest of the 13% of entries that are going to local groups and sponsors to assuage them. Those people are neither running for a charity, nor qualifying. Then again, the last time I was a BAA member on their B team, I recall we had the option to just be waved into the marathon. Must be nice being the king of the BAA.

jwd wrote:

go ahead and get a hotel room, if you haven't already

Most hotel reservations can be cancelled with no penalty. You should book a hotel room even if you are BQ-1:30 just in case.

Plane tickets are another story.

I have a BQ - 8 and submitted on Friday at 10 AM and got the acceptance-letter yesterday at 16 PM. I'm sure they have a ton of registrations to go through and I'm sure they still have a bunch from Friday they haven't processed yet.

A friend with a -6 BQ go his confirmation yesterday. Looks like we're going to see registration on Monday afterall. Website say's they'll open Monday. Not exactly the overwhelming number of registrations I was expecting.