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"the field will be fill with predominately young men before, speaking generally now, most women and older runners of either sex ever have the opportunity to register."
I disagree. First, it's widely understood that women are NOT 30 minutes slower than men anymore. To recognize that change landscape each of the women's BQs should have been lowered by 10 minutes rather 5. So the ladies caught a break there.
Next, in order for men OR women to register for Boston 2013 in Week 1 they'll need to be almost 11 minutes faster than in 2012. (5 min. for the BQ drop, 59 secs. with the elimination of grace time, and a another 5 min. for Week 1 access) Those 11 minutes — as a % of BQ — is greater for an under- 35 runner than it is for an under-60 runner.
Also, older runners can parlay another hidden advantage. I'll cite one such example: in the fall of 2011 a 58-yr. old man runs a 3:50. (4 min. too slow for admission to Boston 2012) But because of the 18-mo. qualifying window, that same runner is instantly 5 min. UNDER the revised 60-65 BQ, and thus eligible to register in Week 1 for Boston 2013 at age 59. Meanwhile, a 28-yr old man would need to find a way to lower their BQ time a FULL 11 minutes in order to register during Week 1.
So the blanket assertion that Boston will fill more quickly with younger male runners seems highly unlikely to me. We'll see in 2 years.
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