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We all know that to toe the line of the Boston Marathon, you have to hit a time standard—and a pretty tough one at that.
But for most of the major U.S. and world marathons, runners of all speeds have a chance to compete, as long as you’re among the lucky few whose names are drawn in a lottery or you agree to run for charity. If you’d rather not roll the dice or raise funds for a bib, however, you can aim to hit the qualifying standards set by the individual marathons.
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Here, we’ve broken down what it takes to time-qualify for some major marathons like Boston, Chicago, New York City, Tokyo, Berlin, and London.)
Our advice to helping you hit those times? Jot down your qualifying time on a Post-It note and stick it on your mirror for a bit of daily motivation. And whether you’re a seasoned marathoner or you’re just starting to train for your first 26.2, we have loads of training plans and tips to help you reach your goals.
Boston Marathon
Show up to any group run in a Boston Celebration Jacket, and you’ll immediately earn respect from your fellow runners. The 26.2-mile race from Hopkinton to Boylston Street—which this year has been postponed from April 19 to October 11, due to the pandemic—is one of the most prestigious marathons in the country, thanks to its strict time requirements.
You can learn more about the full registration process here, but there is one main thing to keep in mind: If you don’t run a qualifying time, it’s unlikely you’ll get in unless you run for charity. (About 80 percent of the 30,000 runners are time qualifiers.) In order to qualify for the 2021 race, runners would have had to hit their qualifying times on or after the qualifying window opened on September 15, 2018 and before February 2021. For the 2021 selections, the average pace you had to run was 1:39 faster than your qualifying time.
The qualifying window for the 2022 race is September 1, 2019 to a to-be-announced date this fall.
Qualifying times for the 2021 race were broken down by age like this:
- 18 to 34 years old (3:00 for men, 3:30 for women)
- 35 to 39 (3:05 for men, 3:35 for women)
- 40 to 44 (3:10 for men, 3:40 for women)
- 45 to 49 (3:20 for men, 3:50 for women)
- 50 to 54 (3:25 for men, 3:55 for women)
- 55 to 59 (3:35 for men, 4:05 for women)
- 60 to 64 (3:50 for men, 4:20 for women)
- 65 to 69 (4:05 for men, 4:35 for women)
- 70 to 74 (4:20 for men, 4:50 for women)
- 75 to 79 (4:35 for men, 5:05 for women)
- 80-plus (4:50 for men, 5:20 for women)
Chicago Marathon
Happening this year on Sunday, October 10, Chicago is favored by runners seeking fast times on a pancake-flat course lined with motivating crowds.
To secure guaranteed entry among the expected 45,000 runners taking part in the fall race, runners had to hit a time standard between January 1, 2019, and when registration closed this winter.
Here are the current time standards for Chicago, broken down by age group:
- 16 to 29 years old (3:05 for men, 3:35 for women)
- 30 to 39 (3:10 for men, 3:40 for women)
- 40 to 49 (3:20 for men, 3:50 for women)
- 50 to 59 (3:35 for men, 4:20 for women)
- 60 to 69 (4:00 for men, 5:00 for women)
- 70 to 79 (4:30 for men, 5:55 for women)
- 80-plus (5:25 for men, 6:10 for women)
New York City Marathon
Running among the 50,000 participants through the Big Apple’s five boroughs is a goal of many marathoners, but the hard truth is that the NYC drawing is extremely selective. For the 2020 race, which was supposed to take place on November 1, fewer than three percent of runners who registered without a time-qualifier were selected via the drawing. Because of the pandemic, that was even tougher for 2021, but that’s because of a limited field size and postponed entries for this year’s event. This year’s race takes place on November 7.
Here are the current time standards for NYC, broken down by age group:
- 18 to 34 years old (2:53 for men, 3:13 for women)
- 35 to 39 (2:55 for men, 3:15 for women)
- 40 to 44 (2:58 for men, 3:15 for women)
- 45 to 49 (3:05 for men, 3:38 for women)
- 50 to 54 (3:14 for men, 3:51 for women)
- 55 to 59 (3:23 for men, 4:10 for women)
- 60 to 64 (3:34 for men, 4:27 for women)
- 65 to 69 (3:45 for men, 4:50 for women)
- 70 to 74 (4:10 for men, 5:30 for women)
- 75 to 79 (4:30 for men, 6:00 for women)
- 80-plus (4:55 for men, 6:35 for women)
NYC is also the only marathon major on this list that accepts half marathon times as qualifiers. Here are the 13.1-mile times you have to hit to secure a spot, according to your age:
- 18 to 34 (1:21 for men, 1:32 for women)
- 35 to 39 (1:23 for men, 1:34 for women)
- 40 to 44 (1:25 for men, 1:37 for women)
- 45 to 49 (1:28 for men, 1:42 for women)
- 50 to 54 (1:32 for men, 1:49 for women)
- 55 to 59 (1:36 for men, 1:54 for women)
- 60 to 64 (1:41 for men, 2:02 for women)
- 65 to 69 (1:46 for men, 2:12 for women)
- 70 to 74 (1:57 for men, 2:27 for women)
- 75 to 79 (2:07 for men, 2:40 for women)
- 80-plus (2:15 for men, 2:50 for women)
London Marathon
This year, on Sunday, October 3, 50,000 runners will line up for this 26.2-miler in the heart of the U.K. (like Boston, this annual spring marathon was postponed due to concerns surrounding COVID-19). Similar to other major marathons, runners from the U.K. and abroad alike can register for the lottery. Typically, the ballot opens around the first week of May every year, shortly after the race in late April; however the ballot for the 2021 race opened on October 4, 2020 and closed on October 9.
Like NYC, the London Marathon is incredibly popular—and selective. Ahead of the 2020 race (which was ultimately canceled), a record 457,861 applicants—which was more than 10 percent increase in entries from 2019—registered for one of the 40,000 spots.
Unfortunately, the only ways for non-elite U.S. citizens to score an automatic bib are entering via the lottery or running for charity; only U.K. residents can time-qualify for this event. If you are from the U.K., however, you have a decent window of time to have hit a qualifying race. The number of time-based entries was capped at 6,000 for 2019 (3,000 for each gender).
If you are a U.K. resident, here are the “Good for Age” time standards, broken down by age group:
- 18 to 39 (3:00 for men, 3:45 for women)
- 40 to 44 (3:05 for men, 3:50 for women)
- 45 to 49 (3:10 for men, 3:53 for women)
- 50 to 54 (3:15 for men, 4:00 for women)
- 55 to 59 (3:20 for men, 4:05 for women)
- 60 to 64 (3:45 for men, 4:30 for women)
- 65 to 69 (4:00 for men, 5:00 for women)
- 70 to 74 (5:00 for men, 6:00 for women)
- 75 to 79 (5:15 for men, 6:20 for women)
- 80-plus (5:30 for men, 6:40 for women)
Tokyo Marathon
Though the Tokyo Marathon is the youngest of the major world marathons—it debuted in 2007—it has grown increasingly popular through the years because of its fast and flat, albeit often rainy, course. The 2020 race, held on March 1, was canceled for everyone but pro runners due to coronavirus concerns. Runners who were registered for the 2020 race are able to defer their entry to the 2021 race, but they will still have to pay entry fees.
Other runners interested in competing on October 17, 2021, had to apply between March 22 and March 31 for general entry.
If you live outside of Japan and are fairly quick, you might qualify for the “Run as One” Semi-Elite overseas field, which is usually capped at 300 runners (the percentage of males and females selected varies).
Here are the current qualifying time standard ranges, broken down by gender:
- 2:21:01 to 2:45:00 (men)
- 2:52:01 to 3:30:00 (women)
Berlin Marathon
If you are aiming for a PR, the Berlin Marathon, which will be held this year on September 27, might be your best shot. In 2018, the blazing-fast course produced its eleventh world record (eighth for men) when Eliud Kipchoge broke the tape in 2:01:39, shaving off 1 minute and 18 seconds from the previous mark. Kipchoge’s performance continued the city’s history of witnessing breakthroughs in men’s marathon times, having hosted the first marathons sub-2:05, 2:04, 2:03 and now sub-2:02.
To score a bib in the 2021 race, runners had to register in October 2020, and were notified whether or not they got into the race in December of last year. To time-qualify for the race, runners have to finish 26.2s at or beneath certain times within two years of registration day, though the 2021 race added an additional year because of the pandemic.
Here are the time standards you need to nail in order to test your own record in Berlin, broken down by age group:
- Age 18 to 44 (2:45 for men, 3:00 for women)
- Age 45 to 59 (2:55 for men, 3:20 for women)
- Age 60 and up (3:25 for men, 4:10 for women)
Hailey first got hooked on running news as an intern with Running Times, and now she reports on elite runners and cyclists, feel-good stories, and training pieces for Runner's World and Bicycling magazines.
