2027 Boston Marathon registration opens Monday, September 14, 2026, beginning a five-day registration window for runners who have earned a qualifying time.
Qualifier registration runs from September 14 through September 18, 2026, through the Boston Athletic Association’s Athletes’ Village. Applications close at 5 p.m. Eastern on Friday, September 18. Registration is not first-come, first-served, which means there is no advantage to submitting an application the minute registration opens.
The 131st Boston Marathon will take place Monday, April 19, 2027.
If you earned a Boston qualifying time during the current qualifying window, here is what you need to know before 2027 Boston Marathon registration begins.
When Does 2027 Boston Marathon Registration Open?
Boston Marathon qualifier registration opens September 14 and remains open through September 18.
Anyone who has achieved a valid qualifying time for their age and gender category can submit an application during the registration window. The qualifying standards are determined using your age on April 19, 2027, rather than your age when you ran the qualifying race.
You can find the official registration information through the B.A.A. Boston Marathon athlete information page and the complete standards through the B.A.A. Boston Marathon qualifying page.
The qualifying window began September 13, 2025.
What Are the 2027 Boston Marathon Qualifying Times?
For runners ages 18 through 34, the 2027 Boston Marathon qualifying standards are 2:55 for men and 3:25 for women and non-binary runners.
The standards increase by age group. For example, runners ages 40 through 44 need 3:05 for men and 3:35 for women and non-binary runners, while runners ages 50 through 54 need 3:20 and 3:50 respectively. The B.A.A. publishes the complete age-group table on its qualifying page.
Running the published BQ standard does not guarantee acceptance.
After registration closes, the B.A.A. verifies applications and ranks runners according to how far they ran under their qualifying standard. If applications exceed the available qualifier field, a Boston Marathon cutoff will determine who receives direct acceptance.
The Boston Marathon Cutoff Still Exists
The 2027 Boston Marathon cutoff will not be known during registration week.
For the 2026 race, 33,249 qualifiers applied and 24,362 were accepted, producing a cutoff of 4 minutes and 34 seconds under the published standards. Thousands of runners who officially qualified did not receive entries.
That process continues for 2027, although runners now have one additional opportunity if they miss the cutoff.
I wrote a deeper explanation of the new 2027 Boston Marathon qualifier selection process when the B.A.A. announced the change in July.
What Is the New Boston Qualifier Selection?
Beginning with the 2027 race, qualified runners who apply during registration week but miss the final cutoff will automatically become eligible for the new Boston Qualifier Selection.
The B.A.A. plans to randomly select approximately 1,000 additional qualifiers from that group. There is no separate application for the drawing.
Calling it a Boston Marathon lottery can get confusing because it is not an open lottery like the systems used by several other large races. You must already have a valid Boston qualifying time and submit a qualifier application between September 14 and September 18.
The change arrives during a year when marathon entry systems have been getting plenty of attention. The Paris Marathon is moving to a lottery for 2027 as demand for major races continues to climb.
New Downhill Marathon Rules Apply for 2027
Another major change begins with this registration cycle.
Boston qualifying times from courses with 1,500 to 2,999 feet of net elevation loss receive a five-minute adjustment, while courses dropping 3,000 to 5,999 feet receive a 10-minute adjustment. Marathons with at least 6,000 feet of net elevation loss cannot be used as Boston qualifiers.
That adjustment affects both whether your result qualifies and how far under your standard your application is ranked.
Not every downhill marathon receives an adjustment. For comparison, the California International Marathon has far less net elevation loss than the 1,500-foot threshold. I ran CIM in 3:19:57, and CIM remains unaffected by the new indexing rule.
When Will Boston Marathon 2027 Applicants Find Out?
The B.A.A. says all qualifier applicants should receive an acceptance or non-acceptance notification by early October 2026.
For anyone sitting on a BQ right now, the big date is September 14. You do not need to race other qualifiers to the registration website Monday morning, but you do need to submit your application before the window closes at 5 p.m. Eastern on September 18.
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Questions for you:
Have you run the Boston Marathon? Are you registering for the 2027 race?