Boston 2021 Cutoff Could Soar

quitwhining wrote:

The only reason why the cut-off was only 1:39 was because the BAA added an additional 1,500 entrants. The cut-off likely would have been 2min+. I'd say they increase it for the 125th running and we'll see a similar cut-off for 2021. In another year or two the BAA will have to tighten the standards another 5 minutes.

No the standards are not fair across gender or age groups, too bad. Life it's fair. Deal with it.

I would guess some marathons being canceled across Asia could help keep the 2021 cutoff a little lower, but suspect 3 minutes plus is still in the cards unless they jump the field bigger than they have for 2020.

Stumbling in wrote:

This is depressingly 100% true.

The Vaporfly is making everyone a BQ marathoner.

In order to compete with these guys a runner will need to fork over the money and buy the trampoline shoes.

The sport of distance running is in a sad state.

I won't deny that vaporflys may play a part, but I also think the popularity of running (and specifically road racing) is increasing. With more people attempting a BQ, it is inevitable that more will achieve the standard. For example, my dad ran his first marathon this past year, hitting the standard pre inflation cut off.

However, I think the hype the VFs and eliubs sub 2 marathon could be a big catalyst behind this increase in hype/popularity

The shoes are not available to everyone. They don’t come in my size.

If you think the times are unfair for men, just register as a transgender female. Problem solved.

Philip Exeter CC wrote:

How many on the men's side under 3:05? I suspect not many, but lots of the hobby jogger women 3:30+

Stop complaining about woman and run faster! My 49 year old wife broke 3 hours on Boston...sure a guy working hard enough can do it!

stop your whining and run faster wrote:

Philip Exeter CC wrote:

How many on the men's side under 3:05? I suspect not many, but lots of the hobby jogger women 3:30+

Stop complaining about woman and run faster! My 49 year old wife broke 3 hours on Boston...sure a guy working hard enough can do it!

i think he wasn't complaining about women but about sexist organizers who are breaking the law and discriminating based on sex. It's way easier for women to qualify and that's not runners' fault. It's a criminal offense committed by those people who organize the event.

Just wait until 2020 Boston is cancelled and everyone’s registration is deferred to 2021. Could be madness trying to get in. ?

marafun wrote:

Well, the weather was perfect for both Chicago and NY. Maybe it's not all the shoes.

Exactly. The shoes existed in end of 2017 and 2018, why weren't those years as fast as 2019?

And if it is related to the shoes, how many people that got 4% were just wearing trainers before? Any shoe that's 50% lighter is going to be faster than what you were using previously. I imagine a high percentage of people running north of 3 hours wear trainers, so switching to a real racing shoe like 4% will obviously make you faster.

WhyRegisterHere? wrote:

PHUK Boston. Phuk bucket-listers. Phuk millennials. This race was the greatest before being puffed up into absurdity.

Ok Boomer

Baltsu wrote:

stop your whining and run faster wrote:

Stop complaining about woman and run faster! My 49 year old wife broke 3 hours on Boston...sure a guy working hard enough can do it!

i think he wasn't complaining about women but about sexist organizers who are breaking the law and discriminating based on sex. It's way easier for women to qualify and that's not runners' fault. It's a criminal offense committed by those people who organize the event.

In looking at last years Boston finishers...there are still more men than women in the race! So although the time appears to be harder for men (and I somewhat agree) there are clearly still more men meeting their time than are women meeting their times. So stop whining and run faster! I don't think any laws have been broken by BAA. If they had only 1 standard for the marathon (no age based or gender based entries) there would be 30,000 men and maybe 50 women. Is that really what you want the race to be??

The shoes definitely help. I coach several hobby jogger type marathoners. Before the Vaporflys, I'd always try to talk them into getting a pair of shoes for workouts and races. They would run everything in the same, heavy trainers.

Since the Vaporfly, nearly all of them have purchased the shoe and run a few minutes faster than normal.

I don't think it's the specific shoe but a large amount of people starting to race in actual racing shoes.

SouthernFriedRealist wrote:

The shoes definitely help. I coach several hobby jogger type marathoners. Before the Vaporflys, I'd always try to talk them into getting a pair of shoes for workouts and races. They would run everything in the same, heavy trainers.

Since the Vaporfly, nearly all of them have purchased the shoe and run a few minutes faster than normal.

I don't think it's the specific shoe but a large amount of people starting to race in actual racing shoes.

It’s rather uncomplicated, it’s both.

THOUGHTSLEADER wrote:

SouthernFriedRealist wrote:

The shoes definitely help. I coach several hobby jogger type marathoners. Before the Vaporflys, I'd always try to talk them into getting a pair of shoes for workouts and races. They would run everything in the same, heavy trainers.

Since the Vaporfly, nearly all of them have purchased the shoe and run a few minutes faster than normal.

I don't think it's the specific shoe but a large amount of people starting to race in actual racing shoes.

It’s rather uncomplicated, it’s both.

It's kinda amazing that Nike has managed to sell a bunch of hobbyjoggers on racing shoes.

I wish the standards were based on the percent that you beat your qualifying time by, this would be far more accurate. Beating your time by 3 mins is a lot bigger deal at 3 hours than 4 hours (1.67% vs 1.25%)...