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Boston Qualifiers in the USA/Canada - 2005

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 2005. 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.	Clarence Demar Marathon (9/25/05 - Keene, NH)	99	37.1%
2.	Mohawk-Hudson River Marathon (10/9/05 - Albany, NY)	130	37.0%
3.	Bay State Marathon (10/16/05 - Lowell, MA)	171	31.4%
4.	Tucson Marathon (12/4/05 - Oracle, AZ)	291	28.1%
5.	Steamtown Marathon (10/9/05 - Scranton, PA)	388	27.3%
6.	Boston Marathon (4/18/05 - Boston, MA)	4,650	26.5%
7.	California International Marathon (12/4/05 - Sacramento, CA)	784	24.6%
8.	Rocket City Marathon (12/10/05 - Hunstville, AL)	193	24.0%
9.	Hyannis Marathon (2/27/05 - Hyannis, MA)	59	23.6%
10.	Harrisburg Marathon (11/13/05 - Harrisburg, PA)	112	23.4%
11.	Jacksonville Marathon (12/18/05 - Jacksonville, FL)	186	22.7%
12.	Forest City Road Races Marathon (5/8/05 - London, ON)	57	22.6%
13.	WhistleStop Marathon (10/15/05 - Ashland, WI)	125	21.5%
14.	Grand Rapids Marathon (10/30/05 - Grand Rapids, MI)	129	21.5%
15.	North Central Trail Marathon (11/26/05 - Sparks, MD)	69	21.5%
16.	Louisville Marathon (10/16/05 - Louisville, KY)	62	21.5%
17.	Niagara Falls International Marathon (10/23/05 - Niagara Falls, ON)	202	21.4%
18.	Victoria Marathon (10/9/05 - Victoria, BC)	402	20.9%
19.	Glass City Marathon (4/10/05 - Toledo, OH)	63	20.9%
20.	Quebec City Marathon/Marathon des Deux Rives (8/28/05 - Quebec City, QC)	158	20.8%
21.	Marshall University Marathon (11/13/05 - Huntington, WV)	74	20.6%
22.	Newport Marathon (6/4/05 - Newport, OR)	129	20.4%
23.	Lincoln Marathon (5/1/05 - Lincoln, NE)	180	20.1%
24.	St. George Marathon (10/1/05 - St. George, UT)	868	19.7%
25.	Capital City Marathon (5/15/05 - Olympia, WA)	92	19.7%
26.	Mystic Places Marathon (10/23/05 - East Lyme/Niantic, CT)	107	19.1%
27.	Kiawah Island Marathon (12/10/05 - Kiawah Island, SC)	179	19.0%
28.	Philadelphia Marathon (11/20/05 - Philadelphia, PA)	1,113	19.0%
29.	City of Trees Marathon (11/6/05 - Boise, ID)	50	18.9%
30.	Bayshore Marathon (5/28/05 - Traverse City, MI)	199	18.8%
*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 2005.

Rank	Marathon	Finishers	Boston Qualifiers
1.	Boston Marathon (4/18/05 - Boston, MA)	17,549	4,650
2.	Chicago Marathon (10/9/05 - Chicago, IL)	32,995	3,725
3.	New York City Marathon (11/6/05 - New York City, NY)	36,872	2,968
4.	Philadelphia Marathon (11/20/05 - Philadelphia, PA)	5,887	1,113
5.	Marine Corps Marathon (10/30/05 - Washington, DC)	19,110	980
6.	Grandma's Marathon (6/18/05 - Duluth, MN)	6,885	909
7.	St. George Marathon (10/1/05 - St. George, UT)	4,610	868
8.	California International Marathon (12/4/05 - Sacramento, CA)	3,249	784
9.	Rock 'n' Roll Marathon (6/5/05 - San Diego, CA)	15,934	744
10.	Honolulu Marathon (12/11/05 - Honololu, HI)	24,219	702
11.	Houston Marathon (1/16/05 - Houston, TX)	5,727	679
12.	Portland Marathon (10/9/05 - Portland, OR)	7,201	658
13.	Las Vegas Marathon (12/4/05 - Las Vegas, NV)	8,186	627
14.	Columbus Marathon (10/16/05 - Columbus, OH)	3,786	612
15.	Detroit Free Press International Marathon (10/23/05 - Detroit, MI)	3,553	611
16.	Ottawa Marathon (National Capital Race Weekend) (5/29/05 - Ottawa, ON)	3,232	562
17.	Rock 'n' Roll Arizona Marathon (1/9/05 - Phoenix, Scottsdale & Tempe, AZ)	7,166	560
18.	Austin Marathon (2/13/05 - Austin, TX)	4,967	546
19.	Richmond Marathon (11/12/05 - Richmond, VA)	3,532	537
20.	City of Los Angeles Marathon (L.A. Marathon) (3/6/05 - Los Angeles, CA)	19,985	528
21.	Vancouver International Marathon (5/1/05 - Vancouver, BC)	4,012	490
22.	Victoria Marathon (10/9/05 - Victoria, BC)	1,958	402
23.	Steamtown Marathon (10/9/05 - Scranton, PA)	1,426	388
24.	The San Francisco Marathon (7/31/05 - San Francisco, CA)	4,873	356
25.	Cincinnati Flying Pig Marathon (5/1/05 - Cincinnati, OH)	3,741	344
26.	Dallas White Rock Marathon (12/11/05 - Dallas, TX)	3,076	330
27.	Vermont City Marathon (5/29/05 - Burlington, VT)	2,460	326
28.	Toronto Waterfront Marathon (9/25/05 - Toronto, ON)	2,030	323
29.	Disney World Marathon (1/9/05 - Orlando, FL)	7,726	319
30.	Las Vegas International Marathon (1/30/05 - Las Vegas, NV)	2,188	301