Where to qualify for the Boston Marathon

If one of your goals this year is to qualify for the Boston Marathon, it is going to take a lot of dedication, hard work, and finding the right race. Fortunately there are several races out there that are known to be great races to earn your BQ.

 

Of course they all differ in timing, size, location, and cost. So, I took information from MarathonGuide.com, the Boston Marathon website, and my own research to put together this info graphic for a quick view of what I consider the top-eight best races to aim for your BQ.

 

You’ll be able to see when and where they’re happening, the percentage of runners who qualified for Boston in 2014, the total number of finishers, as well as the cost. Taking all that info into account you can find the perfect BQ race for you.

 

This list doesn’t include races that are already sold out for 2015 (Mountains 2 Beach Marathon — 25.2% BQ in 2014), those with less than 1000 finishers in 2014 (Erie Marathon — 33.4%), races outside the US (Victoria Marathon — 17.3%), or races that take place at significant altitude (Big Cottonwood Marathon — 19.4%). It also doesn’t include the Boston Marathon which of course is already sold out and will produce a high number of BQ performances (35+% in 2014).

 

Finally, it includes a little bit of my personal bias — so if I left out your favorite BQ race, feel free to let me know in the comments below!