Boston’s New Lottery: What Are the Odds?

The mass field of participants at the 2026 Boston Marathon.

This week, the Boston Athletic Association made a big announcement about registration for the 2027 Boston Marathon: there would be a new lottery for runners who met their qualifying time but missed the cutoff time. They also announced the dates for registration: September 14 to September 18. This means that the weekend of September 12-13 … Read more

First Look at the 2026 Boston Marathon Entry List

Feature image from Governor Healy on Flickr. This week, the Boston Athletic Association released the entry list for the 2026 Boston Marathon. Athletes can log into Athletes’ Village to see their corral assignment, but that isn’t publicly available. The only information in the searchable entry list is a runner’s name, age, city, state, country of … Read more

Will Eliminating the Double Dipping Period Impact the Boston Cutoff?

The BAA announced two changes for registration for the 2027 Boston Marathon. The big headline was the downhill results index. The subtler change was the beginning of the qualifying period for the 2027 Boston Marathon – and the elimination of the double dipping period. For the last several years, the start of the next qualifying … Read more

2026 Boston Marathon Cutoff Announced: How Close Was the Prediction?

Today’s the day we’ve all been waiting for. The Boston Athletic Association announced the cutoff time for the 2026 Boston Marathon: 4:34. If you made it in, congrats! The outcome was slightly lower than I predicted, so I’m sure there are some happy and relieved runners out there who made it through by a hair. … Read more

What Do the Number of Applicants for the 2026 Boston Marathon Mean for the Cutoff?

This morning, BAA announced the cutoff for the 2026 Boston Marathon: 4:34. Read a preliminary analysis of the data they released here. This morning, the Boston Athletic Association released the number of qualified applicants for the 2026 Boston Marathon: 33,267. Which begs the immediate question – what does this mean for the cutoff time? Throughout … Read more

Frequently Asked Questions and Responses to the 2026 Boston Marathon Cutoff Time Prediction

The BAA released the number of applicants for the 2026 Boston Marathon: 33,267. Here’s a revised prediction that takes this new data into account. This evening, the registration period for the 2026 Boston Marathon comes to a close. After tracking data to project the likely cutoff time throughout the year, I published my final prediction … Read more

Final Prediction for the 2026 Boston Marathon Cutoff Time

The BAA has announced the number of applicants for the 2026 Boston Marathon: 33,267. That’s slightly lower than expected, suggesting that the cutoff will also be slightly lower than prediction. Here’s a revised prediction that takes these numbers into account. It’s finally here: registration week for the Boston Marathon. For the better part of the … Read more

2026 Boston Marathon Registration and Cutoff Time: Everything You Need to Know

Feature image by Massachusetts Office of Travel – CC BY-ND 2.0 The BAA released the number of applicants for the 2026 Boston Marathon: 33,267. Here’s a revised prediction that takes this new data into account. Registration for the 2026 Boston Marathon is this week – September 8 to September 12, 2025. The final qualifying race … Read more