I think that BOS marathon registration just BQ’d…8h is a reasonable time for a 114 year old, right?
-Tweet by @petfxr
Only if the marathon is female. It’s 7 1/2 [hours] for 114 yr old male
-Tweet by @LuckyRunner40
But age on race day is 115
-Tweet by @petfxr
[tweetmeme source=”luau” only_single=false http://www.URL.com]
Last night…no, check that, yesterday afternoon registration for the 115th Boston Marathon closed – 8 hours after it had opened. This was, by far, faster than last year’s record of several weeks, which had in turn shattered the previous record set the year before of a couple of months. Yup, if you had managed to BQ in the last 12 month months, but didn’t have phone or internet access yesterday, you are out of luck. True, you can run for a charity or get lucky like I did last year by having an Invitational Entry handed to you, but if you simply wanted to register, and you went to do it after work yesterday, it’s “Sorry Charlie.”
I was lucky. I got through on the computer at around lunch time. Next year, who knows if that will be early enough.
8 hours.
8 FRAKKING HOURS!!!
As excited as I am, I am now a little nervous. Another Twitter friend (@edschober) had the wisdom to point out, “[I] Bet the qualifying times for 2012 #bostonmarathon will be adjusted down…or they’ll triple the entry fee.” My sudden fear now is that after BQ’ing for 2011 and 2012, I may get UBQ’s (UnBostonQualified) for 2012. I understand the reasoning. Although Boston isn’t the sole reason people run marathons in the Fall, there is a large contingent of runners who work all Summer to run a marathon in the Fall with the hopes of qualifying for Boston in the Spring. Boston closing in 8 hours eliminated many of the Fall marathons, including the biggest one, New York City, from that equation.
If the BAA (Boston Athletic Association) doesn’t lower the times, you can bet that early fall marathons like Bay State and Smuttynose will continue to grow in popularity, possibly driving up prices across the board. I don’t know what the answer is. It probably makes more sense for the BAA to lower the time rather than raise the fees (though who knows, maybe they’ll do both).
One final thought – let’s stop bashing the charity runners for this. They only make up 5% of the field AND they do a lot of good. Quite honestly, Boston would have closed yesterday regardless of whether there were charity slots or not.
Bottom line is that in all likelihood, I am going to have to get faster…or older faster, and I think I’m okay with that…I just hope that if the BAA lowers the times, they keep it within striking distance.
UPDATED: One last “last thought” – if runners are going to get angry at other runners for Boston filling up so quickly, they should be looking at runners like me. Last year I was lucky enough to land an Invitational Entry and this year I was fortunate to qualify by a mere 1:40. Please leave the charity runners out of it.
Simply put, it may have the opposite effect. We’re in the middle of the largest running boom in history. More and more people are running and with the help of social media, BQ’ing is becoming a (hate to say it) “trendy” goal. However, recent events will more than likely just lead to the growth of other races. I mean, look at New York. They’re qualifying times are ridiculous! They still get 40,000+ runners every year and have resorted to a lottery for non-qualifiers (an overwhelming majority of the field).
I think people’s “perspective” will change about BQ’ing and Boston in general. People will react in one of two ways… It will become more popular because of the “challenge” of actually getting in. Or people will just stop caring as much and go elsewhere. I suspect in order to keep the “popularity” of the race and the enthusiasm high for it, the BAA might actually relax the standards by lettting people’s BQ times “stand” for longer (say 2, 3, even 5 years).
That’s how I see it.
I like that idea!
The amount of hate thrown at the charity runners is just sad. I thought I was ready for it after last year’s early close, but it’s even worse this year. I understand people are disappointed that they won’t get to run, but the level of vitriol spewed at the charity teams is just beyond the pale.
And to clarify, because I’ve seen a LOT of misinformation being perpetuated online, there are only about 1,500 charity runners out of the 26,000 registered runners. Those spots would probably have only lasted another hour yesterday if they were given to qualified runners.
In addition to the charity slots, there are somewhere around 3,000-4,500 invitational entries like the one Luau got last year. There may be some room for BAA to trim these, but they can’t get rid of them completely because these numbers are given out to sponsors, vendors, the towns, the MA police and emergency teams, running clubs, etc. In other words, they are given out as thank you notes for the people who actually make it possible for the marathon to happen. Again, trimming here wouldn’t do much to solve the problem.
As Doug has noted above, the solution has to come on the demand side, because there really isn’t any room to add supply. I think his idea of lengthening the qualification period might be the smartest (albeit counterintuitive) idea I’ve read so far.
Good point about the invitational entries. Without the “Thank You”s, the whole Boston Marathon event would not be nearly as good.
This is SO informative!! Thank you for writing this out… I just learned A TON.
Dear God can you stay in the moment and enjoy the fact that you BQ’d and not worry about 2012? I mean you have accomplished a great deal and the stuff you think about. Relax, enjoy, let us revel in your glory and excitement and have fun.
Oh and I don’t do cattiness either, so thanks for sharing the charity runners comments. WTG Luau:)
Oh, believe me, I’m enjoying the moment! I know that Boston 2011 is going to be very special to me! There will be tears shed at the starting line!
Not sure what the solution is, but I definitely don’t think its fair to the people running NY. It seems weird that the worlds biggest marathon is NO longer a Boston qualifier. Seems unfair to me. (Not that I had any chance in hell of qualifying!!!)
Well, it still can be, just for 2012.
dude, please don’t cry at the start… save that for the finish!
okay Alain…I am with you ! dude man up!
Ok..ok! You’re right!
It will indeed be interesting to see what the BAA does. Will they push back the registration date to be after Marine Corps, New York and Philly? Or even to after California International Marathon, which has/had the highest percentage of finishers hit BQ times? That would put registration in mid-December, which is probably too late for a mid-April race.
Will they raise the price? There’s no way they would triple it as Ed jokingly (?), but it would take a significant increase to really drive down demand. The entry fee is $130 now. If they bumped it up to $150, it would still sell out in under 10 hours. At $175, it probably *still* closes in under 24 hours. This is BOSTON! The mystique! The honor! People want IN! If you’ve tried for years and finally hit your BQ, you’re going to fork over the dough if you are in half a position to do so.
Will they lower the qualifying standards? That would be the simplest answer. They might drop down to the tougher standards that NYC uses. (I am SO screwed if they do!)
Will they go to a lottery among qualifiers? I don’t think they would do this just because it seems to out of character with the BAA, but it’s an option.
Will they increase the field? They had thousands more runners during the 100th anniversary (though many thousands were “bandits”). I’m sure they could bump up the field a bit, maybe by 5000, but that alone won’t have much impact on the fast closing — it’ll still close in <24 hours.
Lots of options. The only certainty is many, many runners will anxiously watch for word of what they decide.
P.S. Excellent point on the trickle-down effect this early closing may have on other fall races. I hadn't even thought about that.
Count me as one of those runners who anxiously watches…maybe they will leave it as it is…maybe this is exactly what they’ve wanted all along.
As a first-time Boston qualifier, I was (still am) absolutely heartbroken to learn registration closed in such record time. I made multiple attempts to register from 9:02AM onward, but responsibility to the day job precluded spending hours at task. Logging on at exactly 5:06PM to see “Registration Closed” was absolutely crushing.
Dismissing personal chagrin, I absolutely love that charity and invitational bibs are reserved. One of the most awesome things about running is that it’s an activity of unbounded challenge and commitment nearly all are welcome and able to embrace. Eliminating charity runners from Boston after standing history of their inclusion would be purely, distastefully, inexcusably elitist in all the wrong ways. The efforts put forth to raise a significant amount of money for whatever worthy cause must certainly count for something against whatever clock others are watching. Runners enter by different means, but all may be said to qualify.
Any anger I feel is toward B.A.A. – publicly anticipating (and promoting) “unprecedented interest,” and explicitly stating “those who have met the qualifying standards are encouraged to enter early” – the failure to test run the site’s ability to handle high traffic seems absurd. Frustration with the administrative side delivers (added) motivation to run a little faster (and drive a bit further) to join the renegade folks and other disappointed/disenchanted ranks in Naragansett…
I’m hoping to my lucky stars that I will find my way into a charity bib – there’s that chance alone that I’ll still get to run Boston 2011, and the benefit will extend beyond my own self-interest. Fingers crossed…and taking comfort that the trails & pavement beckon regardless.
I hope, from a selfish standpoint, that you will find a charity bib. I have been looking forward to toeing the line with you in Hopkinton and it would be a shame if you were not there. Best of luck.
[…] The following week was Bay State, with several friends shooting for BQ’s of their own (just in time…phew!), followed two weeks later by the Marine Corps Marathon with many getting together at Jon […]