Why doesn’t Boston have a qualification half marathon? Would you do it ?

I would not support it. A half and a full are totally different and too many people can run a good half and bomb in the full marathon. I think people should have to prove themselves in the full marathon. Maybe if they made the half marathon much harder like 1:15 so only a few people could hit it that would be okay.

just my take wrote:

I would not support it. A half and a full are totally different and too many people can run a good half and bomb in the full marathon. I think people should have to prove themselves in the full marathon. Maybe if they made the half marathon much harder like 1:15 so only a few people could hit it that would be okay.

You sound like such a douche lol... literalist .025% of all runners run a 1:15 man. 80 % of women who try can easily qualify for Boston quit acting like it’s some rare hard thing.

Because you are qualifying for a full marathon, not a half

Just make it way harder than the full qualification.

For males:

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sub 120 for +80

I think what the OP is actually trying to ask is:

"Why doesn't Boston hold a half marathon race that one has to run a certain qualifying time to enter? It could be as prestigious a race as the Boston Marathon. It might have qualifying times similar to the NYC half marathon, such as under 1:22 for men ages 18-35. I've asked various friends if they would be interested in such a race, and all of them love the idea."

Hello?!? You can OTQ for the marathon using a half marathon time. So I think it makes sense to have a hard standard (like NYC) for the half.

Yea but Boston isn't the Olympic Trials. That half standard is really just there so someone like Rupp can run the Trials if they want to give the marathon a go.

Boston also doesn't need a half standard. They're turning people away. They are in a position where they just need to keep lowering their marathon standard to give them the field size they need.

Seems you are the only one who understood OP's point.

They don’t because no one cares about a half marathon. It is a contrived race distance used to suck money from people who can’t complete a marathon, but who want the medal and T-shirt. And then they take all of the bananas and drink all the beer at the finish.

just my take wrote:

I would not support it. A half and a full are totally different and too many people can run a good half and bomb in the full marathon. .

This.

The marathon is also about metabolic efficiency, but not really for a half. Which is why some heavier dudes can run a decent half but not a decent 'thon. Large dudes burn more calories when they run, which means they'd have issues with the dreaded "wall."

London does this. You can qualify for championship start (the pen behind the elite start) with a 1:15 half (1:30 for women)

Wasn’t there a half that tried to do something like this in San Diego or somewhere that required qualifying times to run?

What happened to that event?

OP- Somehow no one understood your question.

My guess as to why Boston (the geographic region) or the BAA (the club that puts on the Boston Marathon) does not have a half marathon requiring a qualifier is because the demand doesn't seem to exist at the same level. The BAA Half in the fall is popular, but it's not the same as the marathon.

If there were a historically significant HM in a major city I could see someone creating the demand, and maybe I'd even consider racing it, but that doesn't seem to be the case. Check out some of the Japanese HMs if you're personally looking for a fast half that needs a qualifier.

Unfortunately, outside of a rare few races, the demand just doesn't exist at a level that a race could be economically viable while excluding participants.

I could see a half or more likely a ten miler being successful as a goal race with a required time to enter being successful. I would say it would have to be somewhere that is already a tourist destination like near Disney world or Disneyland so it is an excuse to travel to that area for the family.

They already have races. through Disney that charge a lot.

It would take a good race director to put it together and spend a good sum to market it for about the first five years to get it going.

It is a lot of extra work than putting together a normal half or 10 miler. The only way it would work if is a city would seen this vision and also take it on and help with the costs and promotions. Otherwise it just would not be worth it.

Dhaidhjdhdjd wrote:

I’ve randomly asked friends if they would do it and everyone collectively loves the ideas. Why doesn’t Boston do a qualification half with the same prestige as the full? Standards similar to NYC like sub 1:22 half for men 18-35

Yeah...why don't they just stand up a race out of nowhere that has the same prestige of the oldest annually run marathon in the world? Should be no big deal to create that out of no history.

Also...everyone loves the Super Bowl. Why don't we have 2 of those a year?

PS...BAA already organizes a half marathon in the fall if you want to run it.

Obviously the reason is this, but I have to say it would be awesome if they did a half-marathon course that was basically just the second half of the Boston Marathon. Feels like all of the historic and notorious parts of the course would be part of that ~ Wellesley, Newton Hills, finish on Boylston etc.

english professer wrote:

Dhaidhjdhdjd wrote:

I’ve randomly asked friends if they would do it and everyone collectively loves the ideas. Why doesn’t Boston do a qualification half with the same prestige as the full? Standards similar to NYC like sub 1:22 half for men 18-35

Yeah...why don't they just stand up a race out of nowhere that has the same prestige of the oldest annually run marathon in the world? Should be no big deal to create that out of no history.

Also...everyone loves the Super Bowl. Why don't we have 2 of those a year?

PS...BAA already organizes a half marathon in the fall if you want to run it.

Globber wrote:

Wasn’t there a half that tried to do something like this in San Diego or somewhere that required qualifying times to run?

What happened to that event?

Meb's brother put that one on in the fall of 2015 or 2016, I think, with the idea of developing it into a race like OP envisioned, but it only took place once. Name was something like USA Half Marathon Invitational San Diego. Turnout looked ok for a first year, but it didn't look to me like much of a destination race - there wasn't much going on around it. I liked the idea, but not enough to fly to San Diego to run it in the first year.

Dhaidhjdhdjd wrote:

I’ve randomly asked friends if they would do it and everyone collectively loves the ideas. Why doesn’t Boston do a qualification half with the same prestige as the full? Standards similar to NYC like sub 1:22 half for men 18-35

Because the backlash they get from people who run qualifying times and still do not get in is more than enough without increasing the pool of eligible runners by perhaps an order of magnitude?