Our thoughts about registration for the the 2012 Boston Marathon

Like many of you we are disappointed that the management of the Boston Marathon choose to exclude the 2011 fall marathons from qualification for the 2012 Boston Marathon.

The tightening of the qualification standards and the use of a rolling entry system will no doubt please some and anger others.  It is hard to see that it will do much to change the dynamics of registration, other than to skew the front of the field to the faster side.  Historically tightening the Boston qualification standards has not decreased the size of the field - rather it has only served to increase the desirability to qualify.  We have little doubt that it will once again "sell out" and rather quickly.

Given that, we are extremely puzzled, and as we said disappointed, that the Boston management team  decide to make the registration date open on September 12th.  This date needlessly excludes nearly all of the fall marathons.  The date could just as easily have been December 1st or even January 1st.  Regardless of the date the event will sell out in the allotted 8 or 9 days.

By excluding the fall marathons they have spoiled the traditional marathon training cycle (at least here in North America).  Most of our runners and I'm sure many of you, train for the fall marathons in hopes of qualifying for the following year's Boston Marathon.  After running a fall BQ it's time for a little R&R and then starting in January we get ready for Boston.

Also because the Fall Marathons are excluded most of the runners will be using qualifications 12 or more months out of date.  We're not sure what affect that will have, but it can't be good.

So...  what about Baystate - it is still your best opportunity to qualify for Boston, all be it - for 2013.  We still have the fastest course in Massachusetts and one of the top five fastest in North America.  We still expect about a third of our runners will post up BQs on race day.  We are still one of only four club run marathons in New England.  We deliver a great running experience because we are runners - and we've gone though all that you do to run a marathon.  In fact, many of our main contributors have run Baystate to qualify for Boston - so we know what it takes and we'll help get you there.

What will 2013 hold?  What we hope is that the management of the Boston Marathon corrects their "mistake" and moves the 2013 registration date back to include the fall marathons.

In the meantime - come run Baystate and get your 2013 BQ ticket punched!