Boston Marathon 2015

drquirky

Ok. This is my hometown marathon. I've never run it. In 2015 I will. I can't wait. I figured I'd start the thread now and get discussion going on entry/ other particulars as well as create a space to put forward my semi ranty opinions on Boston's best bars/ neighbourhoods/ restaurants/pizza.

Who else is thinking about Boston in 2015? I promise to be a really good boards tour guide/ drinking companion to anyone who makes the trip (unless I think you're a douche) :D:D

adrian522

So pretty much the only way into this is to run a qualifying time?

May have to wait till I'm in the 40+ age bracket.

menoscemo

adrian522 wrote: »

So pretty much the only way into this is to run a qualifying time?

May have to wait till I'm in the 40+ age bracket.

Sportstravel Interntional have 20-25 guaranteed entries every year as the recognised Irish agent. I travelled over with the group this year and it is very reasonable (cheaper than anything I could find by myself). I would highly recommend them.
I had already arranged my own entry so they cut that from the fee.
The only bug with this is you will be assigned a corral right at the back after all the qualifiers so if you are going for any kind of time you will have a lot of people to get through. Mind you the standard is still quite high.

opus

I'm thinking about it myself, used to work for a US company based in Hopkinton so was there more than once.

Do you need to find a specific 'Boston Qualifier accredited' marathon or do they all count?

TRR

drquirky wrote: »

Who else is thinking about Boston in 2015? I promise to be a really good boards tour guide/ drinking companion to anyone who makes the trip (unless I think you're a douche) :D:D

I'm considering it. To be honest all those stupid Boston strong slogans and muppets claiming they'd taken the finish line back have pissed me off though. Hate stupid rhetoric like that. Will keep an eye on flights. Has ecoli got the BQ time yet or is he still chasing it

Calvin Johnson

When would you have to run the qualifying time by for the 2015 race?

RacoonQueen

Calvin Johnson wrote: »

When would you have to run the qualifying time by for the 2015 race?

September 2014

blockic

drquirky wrote: »

Ok. This is my hometown marathon. I've never run it. In 2015 I will. I can't wait. I figured I'd start the thread now and get discussion going on entry/ other particulars as well as create a space to put forward my semi ranty opinions on Boston's best bars/ neighbourhoods/ restaurants/pizza.

Who else is thinking about Boston in 2015? I promise to be a really good boards tour guide/ drinking companion to anyone who makes the trip (unless I think you're a douche) :D:D

Nice one! I'm definitely in also. I see where TRR is coming from thou, it's getting a bit annoying but hopefully it will ease off a bit now after this year.

Plus, you have to run it at least once if ya can!

Looking forward to getting the tour DrQ.

menoscemo

TRR wrote: »

I'm considering it. To be honest all those stupid Boston strong slogans and muppets claiming they'd taken the finish line back have pissed me off though. Hate stupid rhetoric like that. Will keep an eye on flights. Has ecoli got the BQ time yet or is he still chasing it

As a thanks for your motivational message on Sunday night I brought you back a Boston Strong t-shirt :pac:

Killerz

opus wrote: »

I'm thinking about it myself, used to work for a US company based in Hopkinton so was there more than once.

Do you need to find a specific 'Boston Qualifier accredited' marathon or do they all count?

Tralee worked for me for 2014. I believe Limerick and possibly Waterford were also accepted for this year's race.

TRR

menoscemo wrote: »

As a thanks for your motivational message on Sunday night I brought you back a Boston Strong t-shirt :pac:

Great can't wait to wear it!

Toblerone1978

Are you guaranteed an entry once you meet the qualifying time? Or is a case of quickest in your category in first?

As you can guess, I'm borderline, barely inside the qualifying time for my category!

ger664

Going myself and my better half. I got a qualifying time in Sevillie with 3+ minutes to spare.

From what I can gather, once the race is approved by the national athletic federation (AAI permit in our case) and measured by an accredited AIMS measurer then the time will be accepted.

TFBubendorfer

Toblerone1978 wrote: »

Are you guaranteed an entry once you meet the qualifying time? Or is a case of quickest in your category in first?

As you can guess, I'm borderline, barely inside the qualifying time for my category!

No, you are not guaranteed a place. If there are more applicants with a BQ than open places then it depends by how much spare time you had over your qualifying time.

At least that's the system that has been used recently. This year was different because of last year's events, of course.

menoscemo

TFBubendorfer wrote: »

No, you are not guaranteed a place. If there are more applicants with a BQ than open places then it depends by how much spare time you had over your qualifying time.

At least that's the system that has been used recently. This year was different because of last year's events, of course.

This year you had to be about 2min30 under BQ but as you say it was a bit of an exception. The year before everyone got in and there were still places available a month after registration opened.
Yes they operate a staggered entry system. Those who have qualified by over 20 minutes get to enter first then 10, 5 and then everyone else.

drquirky

TRR wrote: »

I'm considering it. To be honest all those stupid Boston strong slogans and muppets claiming they'd taken the finish line back have pissed me off though. Hate stupid rhetoric like that. Will keep an eye on flights. Has ecoli got the BQ time yet or is he still chasing it

Agreed. i'm running it to reclaim the finish line from all those hobby jogging, pink hatted ****heads. I could go into a rather lengthy diatribe how Boston, starting with the red Sox WS win in 2004 suddenly became a very trendy city and a bunch of the blow in students who over run the place starting wearing pink Red Sox hats, going to games and were pretending they'd been following the team their whole lives etc etc…

I could also rant about how "Boston Strong" to me isn't an entire city/metro area cowering in their houses for 36hrs because two disaffected teenagers blew up a couple of unsophisticated pipe bombs (these happen in taillight all the time btw)

No I won't rant but I am gonna post a video of what "Boston Strong" looked like in my childhood

or even better-

All I can promise is a great course, fantastic support- great pizza, cold beer and a good time for all who come along!

opus

Killerz wrote: »

Tralee worked for me for 2014. I believe Limerick and possibly Waterford were also accepted for this year's race.

Cool, Tralee qualifies me this year but I've a slightly faster time from the Dresden marathon last Oct which I think is eligible as well.

yaboya1

I'm hoping to run a qualifying time for this in Berlin on September 28th.
Is that too late for the 2015 race? (I'm guessing yes?)

menoscemo

yaboya1 wrote: »

I'm hoping to run a qualifying time for this in Berlin on September 28th.
Is that too late for the 2015 race? (I'm guessing yes?)

For 2013 the places didn't fill up very quickly at all. As far as I remember Digger and CL got in off their boston times but the registration closed soon after. That would be unusual as the previous years and this year the registration closed immediately and some qualifier missed out.
Is your Seville time not good enough? Bear in mind the age brackets are valid for the day you will run boston not the age you were when you ran your Q time.

yaboya1

menoscemo wrote: »

Is your Seville time not good enough?

No. I need a sub 3:05.

menoscemo wrote: »

Bear in mind the age brackets are valid for the day you will run boston not the age you were when you ran your Q time.

Still no good. What age do you think I am?? :eek:

TFBubendorfer

yaboya1 wrote: »

I'm hoping to run a qualifying time for this in Berlin on September 28th.
Is that too late for the 2015 race? (I'm guessing yes?)

The qualifying window is open until the conclusion of registration, most likely in September again, though they have not announce the exact dates yet as far as I know.

Last year Berlin would have been a week too late, chances are it will be too late again.

Calvin Johnson

Don't worry Yaboya, we can do it together in 2016

FBOT01

yaboya1 wrote: »

No. I need a sub 3:05.




Still no good. What age do you think I am?? :eek:

There are some advantages to being an Auldfella......3:13:22 in Dublin 2013 gives me BQ for 2015:)

rom

When can I enter? also is there an option to defer if needed?

ecoli

TRR wrote: »

Has ecoli got the BQ time yet or is he still chasing it

I have 2 :cool:

Promised myself I wouldn't do a spring marathon and that Boston had no appeal to me but this is slowly changing.

Calvin Johnson

Why did Boston have no appeal to you?

average_runner

menoscemo wrote: »

Sportstravel Interntional have 20-25 guaranteed entries every year as the recognised Irish agent. I travelled over with the group this year and it is very reasonable (cheaper than anything I could find by myself). I would highly recommend them.
I had already arranged my own entry so they cut that from the fee.
The only bug with this is you will be assigned a corral right at the back after all the qualifiers so if you are going for any kind of time you will have a lot of people to get through. Mind you the standard is still quite high.

I did the same thing with New York last year with this crowd. Found them great, great hotel, plenty of advice, things organised if you want to do them, if not, its ok. It was a holiday for us also at the time, so we mainly did our own thing as we had loads to get in.

ecoli

Calvin Johnson wrote: »

Why did Boston have no appeal to you?

I dunno it just seemed like other marathons ticked the box for usual draws for people

Qualifying standard - I think if the prestige of it being a factor with me Fukuoka would be the one I would be looking towards

History - Despite it being the oldest marathon I am a bit young too have actual memories of the duel in the Sun or the likes of Boston Bill or Neil Cusack. For me London has more of an appeal in this regard with McKiernan, Tergat and Geb as well as producing the highest calibre field year in, year out.

Time - If I was running for a PB plenty of races closer to home alot faster

Crowd - Probably not the same but still having people you know along you home marathon has a unique quality

Again this is slowly changing but these were initial reasons why it didn't appeal as much as others

dukeraoul

FYI

Sept 8th is the date registration begins!

I'd post the link hut I'm a "new user" so can't lol

Check the BAA's website though - Sept 8th EST and a field size of 30,000

Still on for this - can't wait!

WithCheesePlease

yaboya1 wrote: »

I'm hoping to run a qualifying time for this in Berlin on September 28th.
Is that too late for the 2015 race? (I'm guessing yes?)

I was hoping the same, but with registration opening 3 weeks earlier on the 8th we will probably be out of luck.

opus

Reminder that entries open today at 3pm if I've converted 10am ET correctly. There's a handy calculator on their website that tells you which day you can register based on your b'day & qualifying time - http://www.baa.org/races/boston-marathon/participant-information/athlete-registration/registration-calculator.aspx