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Boston Qualifiers in the USA/Canada - 2004

The Boston Marathon is the only mass-participation marathon that requires qualifying times and those times become goal times for many runners. The times are, to some extent, age-graded, with those 35 and over given easier standards.
See: Boston Marathon Qualifying Times

We're often asked what courses are good Boston qualifying courses and where do people qualify for the Boston Marathon. While there is no specific answer for each individual, and while different races may be easier or harder in any given year due to weather or other factors - following is a factual list of those marathons that have the highest percentage of Boston Marathon qualifiers in their field and those with the largest overall number of qualifiers.

Note that different years may show different results as weather, course changes and other factors can affect the performance of a race from year to year.

The marathons below had the highest percent of Boston qualifying finishers in 2004. These courses will undoubtedly be among those ranked the fastest of all courses - but there are other factors that might cause a marathon to appear on this list or to cause a race to fall off this list. For a point-to-point course, a tailwind or headwind might make the difference from one year to the next. Some races (such as Boston itself) simply attracts faster runners, so the fact that a marathon is on this list might be an indication of the type of runner it attracts even more than the quality of its course. But, you can be sure that any marathon on this is not slow.

Rank	Marathon	Boston Qualifiers	Qualifying Percent*
1.	Bay State Marathon (10/17/04 - Lowell, MA)	171	34.4%
2.	Sugarloaf Marathon (5/16/04 - Carrabassett Valley, ME, ME)	86	31.0%
3.	Mohawk-Hudson River Marathon (10/10/04 - Albany, NY)	119	29.2%
4.	Steamtown Marathon (10/10/04 - Scranton, PA)	428	29.0%
5.	Clarence Demar Marathon (9/26/04 - Keene, NH)	81	28.0%
6.	Tucson Marathon (12/5/04 - Oracle, AZ)	272	27.6%
7.	California International Marathon (12/5/04 - Sacramento, CA)	724	24.9%
8.	Forest City Road Races Marathon (5/9/04 - London, ON)	75	24.7%
9.	Rocket City Marathon (12/11/04 - Hunstville, AL)	186	24.3%
10.	Harrisburg Marathon (11/14/04 - Harrisburg, PA)	100	23.8%
11.	North Central Trail Marathon (11/27/04 - Sparks, MD)	70	23.6%
12.	Wineglass Marathon (10/3/04 - Corning, NY)	126	23.3%
13.	Erie Marathon at Presque Isle (9/12/04 - Erie, PA)	76	23.3%
14.	Grand Rapids Marathon (10/31/04 - Grand Rapids, MI)	107	23.0%
15.	Newport Marathon (6/5/04 - Newport, OR)	129	22.8%
16.	Coeur d' Alene Marathon (5/30/04 - Coeur d'Alene, ID)	58	22.3%
17.	Niagara Falls International Marathon (10/24/04 - Niagara Falls, ON)	191	22.2%
18.	City of Trees Marathon (11/7/04 - Boise, ID)	63	21.5%
19.	WhistleStop Marathon (10/9/04 - Ashland, WI)	93	21.3%
20.	Capital City Marathon (5/16/04 - Olympia, WA)	98	21.3%
21.	Mississauga Marathon (5/16/04 - Mississauga, ON)	240	20.9%
22.	Tybee Marathon (2/7/04 - Tybee Island, GA)	52	20.8%
23.	Jacksonville Marathon (12/19/04 - Jacksonville, FL)	173	20.7%
24.	Maine Marathon (10/3/04 - Portland, ME)	155	20.5%
25.	Bayshore Marathon (5/29/04 - Traverse City, MI)	200	20.3%
26.	Hartford Marathon (10/9/04 - Hartford, CT)	253	20.2%
27.	B&A Trail Marathon (3/7/04 - Severna Park, MD)	49	20.2%
28.	Mystic Places Marathon (10/24/04 - East Lyme/Niantic, CT)	134	20.0%
29.	St. George Marathon (10/2/04 - St. George, UT)	881	19.9%
30.	Columbus Marathon (10/17/04 - Columbus, OH)	803	19.7%
*This list is limited to marathons with 250 or more finishers and percentages calculated ignore finishers over 6:00.

The races that have the most Boston Marathon qualifiers are, obviously, going to be skewed to those that have the most participants. Below is a list of the races that qualified the most people for Boston in 2004.

Rank	Marathon	Finishers	Boston Qualifiers
1.	Chicago Marathon (10/10/04 - Chicago, IL)	33,033	3,552
2.	New York City Marathon (11/7/04 - New York City, NY)	36,513	2,544
3.	Boston Marathon (4/19/04 - Boston, MA)	16,743	2,097
4.	Philadelphia Marathon (11/21/04 - Philadelphia, PA)	6,193	1,197
5.	St. George Marathon (10/2/04 - St. George, UT)	4,587	881
6.	Columbus Marathon (10/17/04 - Columbus, OH)	4,310	803
7.	Honolulu Marathon (12/12/04 - Honololu, HI)	22,314	745
8.	Austin Marathon (2/15/04 - Austin, TX)	5,238	732
9.	California International Marathon (12/5/04 - Sacramento, CA)	2,963	724
10.	Twin Cities Marathon (10/3/04 - Minneapolis/St.Paul, MN)	7,304	719
11.	Rock 'n' Roll Marathon (6/6/04 - San Diego, CA)	16,369	678
12.	Houston Marathon (1/18/04 - Houston, TX)	5,383	626
13.	Portland Marathon (10/3/04 - Portland, OR)	5,838	601
14.	Rock 'n' Roll Arizona Marathon (1/11/04 - Phoenix, Scottsdale & Tempe, AZ)	9,482	595
15.	Richmond Marathon (11/13/04 - Richmond, VA)	3,211	578
16.	Ottawa Marathon (National Capital Race Weekend) (5/30/04 - Ottawa, ON)	3,585	570
17.	Marine Corps Marathon (10/31/04 - Washington, DC)	16,379	538
18.	Detroit Free Press International Marathon (10/24/04 - Detroit, MI)	3,514	514
19.	Grandma's Marathon (6/19/04 - Duluth, MN)	6,750	507
20.	Vancouver International Marathon (5/2/04 - Vancouver, BC)	4,399	467
21.	Disney World Marathon (1/11/04 - Orlando, FL)	9,371	453
22.	Steamtown Marathon (10/10/04 - Scranton, PA)	1,489	428
23.	Cincinnati Flying Pig Marathon (5/2/04 - Cincinnati, OH)	4,348	386
24.	Vermont City Marathon (5/30/04 - Burlington, VT)	2,268	368
25.	Victoria Marathon (10/10/04 - Victoria, BC)	2,228	353
26.	Dallas White Rock Marathon (12/12/04 - Dallas, TX)	3,171	341
27.	Toronto Marathon (10/17/04 - Toronto, ON)	1,957	332
28.	City of Los Angeles Marathon (L.A. Marathon) (3/7/04 - Los Angeles, CA)	17,306	311
29.	Baltimore Marathon (10/16/04 - Baltimore, MD)	2,352	303
30.	Seattle Marathon (11/28/04 - Seattle, WA)	2,262	281