SerpApi.Org
For runners who have hit a Boston qualifying time and still missed the race, 2027 is bringing a small but very real second chance.
Starting with the 2027 Boston Marathon, the Boston Athletic Association will introduce a Boston Qualifier Selection, a random drawing for approximately 1,000 additional runners who meet their qualifying standard but don’t clear that year’s cutoff.
A BQ still won’t automatically mean a Boston bib. The fastest qualifiers in each age and gender group will continue to get first priority, and yes, the cutoff will still exist. But starting with the next race, some runners who land on the wrong side of that cutoff will have another shot instead of an immediate no.
Qualifier registration for the 2027 Boston Marathon, scheduled for April 19, 2027, will run from September 14 through September 18, 2026. Any runner who has achieved the qualifying standard for their age and gender can apply through the BAA’s Athletes’ Village platform during that window. Registration isn’t first-come, first-served, so there’s zero need to treat it like a Ticketmaster queue. Applications will remain open until 5 p.m. ET on September 18.
After registration closes, the BAA will check qualifying times and sort applicants by how far under the standard they ran. The fastest runners by age group and gender will be accepted first, and that process will set the cutoff.
The second-chance pool opens from there. Qualifiers who miss the cutoff will automatically be entered into the Boston Qualifier Selection, where about 1,000 runners will be chosen at random.
“The Boston Marathon annually welcomes the highest performing athletes, and we are internationally known for our qualifying standards,” Jack Fleming, president and CEO of the BAA, said. “With the increasingly fast times in our sport, our random Boston Qualifier Selection gives all those who have met the standard for their age group a chance to run Boston.”
The BAA expects that not every qualifier will be accepted because of field size limits. The odds in the random selection will depend on how many qualified runners apply during registration week, and all 2027 qualifier applicants will find out whether they made the field by early October 2026. For the 2026 Boston Marathon, the BAA received 33,249 total applications, and 24,362 were accepted, which means that 8,887 qualifiers did not receive entry into the race.
There is one more change tucked into the 2027 registration cycle. For the first time, qualifying times submitted from courses with more than 1,500 feet of net elevation drop will receive time index adjustments. The BAA also set the next qualifying window: Runners can begin chasing a 2028 Boston qualifier on September 19, 2026, the day after 2027 registration week closes.
Boston is still going to be Boston, and plenty of runners with BQs will still get left out. But for about 1,000 qualifiers who did the hard part and still missed the cutoff, the rejection email may no longer be the end of their story.
