Boston Marathon Announces In-Person Race Registration for 2021

It was unclear at first if 2021 would be a mirror of 2020 and just as many events would be postponed as last year, but things are definitely looking up. Vaccines continue to roll out and Massachusetts continues to move forward in its phases of reopening, resulting in some exciting event announcements.

Get your running shoes ready: the Boston Marathon hits the streets on October 11.

The 125th Boston Marathon will open registration for the in-person race on Tuesday, April 20 through Friday, April 23, 2021, allowing 20,000 entrants. Quite the difference from years past, but it’s certainly better than nothing, and the B.A.A. will also be holding a virtual marathon over race weekend, which will be opened to the first 70,000 registrants. Registration for the virtual race opens March 30.

Get our free mobile app

Tom Grilk, President and C.E.O. of the B.A.A. made a statement in a recent press release saying, “The B.A.A. has been working in close coordination with our local, city, and state partners to establish an appropriate field size that will allow for social distancing throughout the course, especially at the start and finish. In addition to a smaller field than in previous years, we will have significant additional protocols in place to ensure participant and public health. We are committed to making the oldest annual marathon in the world as safe as possible in October.”

Due to the different circumstances, registration for the in-person 2021 marathon is not first-come, first-served, and all qualifiers may register at any point during the registration window due to the shorter timeline.

The selection process will remain the same and the qualifying window for this year’s race opened in September of 2018. The press release also notes that “Achieving a qualifying time does not guarantee acceptance of entry and The B.A.A will not predict a ‘cut-off’ time.”

The standards and model may have changed for 2021, but getting a chance to finally move forward with the 125th Boston Marathon is good news for all marathon runners.

For more information or to register for the event, visit the B.A.A’s website.

LOOK: Milestones in women's history from the year you were born

Women have left marks on everything from entertainment and music to space exploration, athletics, and technology. Each passing year and new milestone makes it clear both how recent this history-making is in relation to the rest of the country, as well as how far we still need to go. The resulting timeline shows that women are constantly making history worthy of best-selling biographies and classroom textbooks; someone just needs to write about them.

Scroll through to find out when women in the U.S. and around the world won rights, the names of women who shattered the glass ceiling, and which country's women banded together to end a civil war.

Source: Boston Marathon Announces In-Person Race Registration for 2021