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Boston Qualifiers in the USA/Canada - 2008

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 2008. 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.	Boston Marathon (4/21/08 - Boston, MA)	8,707	39.7%
2.	Bay State Marathon (10/19/08 - Lowell, MA)	452	38.0%
3.	Mohawk-Hudson River Marathon (10/12/08 - Albany, NY)	170	32.0%
4.	Road2Hope Hamilton Marathon (11/2/08 - Hamilton, ON)	152	31.1%
5.	Newport Marathon (5/31/08 - Newport, OR)	179	28.8%
6.	California International Marathon (12/7/08 - Sacramento, CA)	1,445	28.2%
7.	Steamtown Marathon (10/12/08 - Scranton, PA)	438	28.0%
8.	Wineglass Marathon (10/5/08 - Corning, NY)	152	27.8%
9.	Tucson Marathon (12/7/08 - Oracle, AZ)	268	27.2%
10.	Grand Rapids Marathon (10/19/08 - Grand Rapids, MI)	326	25.3%
11.	Victoria Marathon (10/12/08 - Victoria, BC)	496	24.9%
12.	Snickers Marathon Energy Bar Marathon (3/1/08 - Albany, GA)	86	24.3%
13.	Rocket City Marathon (12/13/08 - Hunstville, AL)	254	22.9%
14.	Hyannis Marathon (2/24/08 - Hyannis, MA)	88	22.3%
15.	Columbus Marathon (10/19/08 - Columbus, OH)	841	22.1%
16.	Coeur d' Alene Marathon (5/25/08 - Coeur d'Alene, ID)	60	21.6%
17.	Louisville Marathon (10/19/08 - Louisville, KY)	55	21.6%
18.	Regina Queen City Marathon (9/7/08 - Regina, SK)	95	21.4%
19.	Pocono Mountain Run For The Red Marathon (5/4/08 - Pocono Mountains, PA)	88	21.3%
20.	North Central Trail Marathon (11/29/08 - Sparks, MD)	80	20.8%
21.	St. George Marathon (10/4/08 - St. George, UT)	1,004	20.7%
22.	Towpath Marathon (10/12/08 - Cleveland/Akron Area, OH)	77	20.7%
23.	Tybee Marathon (2/2/08 - Tybee Island, GA)	64	20.4%
24.	Green Bay Marathon (5/18/08 - Green Bay, WI)	325	20.3%
25.	Santa Clarita Marathon (11/2/08 - Santa Clarita, CA)	64	20.2%
26.	Mississauga Marathon (5/11/08 - Mississauga, ON)	271	20.0%
27.	Manchester City Marathon (11/2/08 - Manchester, NH)	86	20.0%
28.	Glass City Marathon (4/13/08 - Toledo, OH)	56	19.9%
29.	Rockford Marathon (5/18/08 - Rockford, IL)	63	19.9%
30.	Ottawa Marathon (National Capital Race Weekend) (5/25/08 - Ottawa, ON)	618	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 2008.

Rank	Marathon	Finishers	Boston Qualifiers
1.	Boston Marathon (4/21/08 - Boston, MA)	21,963	8,707
2.	New York City Marathon (11/2/08 - New York City, NY)	37,790	5,011
3.	Chicago Marathon (10/12/08 - Chicago, IL)	31,343	2,110
4.	California International Marathon (12/7/08 - Sacramento, CA)	5,198	1,445
5.	Philadelphia Marathon (11/23/08 - Philadelphia, PA)	7,230	1,241
6.	Marine Corps Marathon (10/26/08 - Washington, DC)	18,219	1,157
7.	Twin Cities Marathon (10/5/08 - Minneapolis/St.Paul, MN)	7,979	1,086
8.	St. George Marathon (10/4/08 - St. George, UT)	5,030	1,004
9.	Columbus Marathon (10/19/08 - Columbus, OH)	3,872	841
10.	Portland Marathon (10/5/08 - Portland, OR)	7,856	807
11.	Rock 'n' Roll Arizona Marathon (1/13/08 - Phoenix, Scottsdale & Tempe, AZ)	6,453	795
12.	Rock 'n' Roll Marathon (6/1/08 - San Diego, CA)	16,373	720
13.	Houston Marathon (1/13/08 - Houston, TX)	5,592	656
14.	Ottawa Marathon (National Capital Race Weekend) (5/25/08 - Ottawa, ON)	3,241	618
15.	Rock 'n' Roll San Antonio Marathon and 1/2 Marathon (11/16/08 - San Antonio, TX)	7,525	601
16.	Grandma's Marathon (6/21/08 - Duluth, MN)	6,856	599
17.	Honolulu Marathon (12/14/08 - Honololu, HI)	20,058	568
18.	Detroit Free Press International Marathon (10/19/08 - Detroit, MI)	3,515	528
19.	Austin Marathon (2/17/08 - Austin, TX)	4,646	517
20.	Victoria Marathon (10/12/08 - Victoria, BC)	2,039	496
21.	City of Los Angeles Marathon (L.A. Marathon) (3/2/08 - Los Angeles, CA)	16,941	488
22.	Vancouver International Marathon (5/4/08 - Vancouver, BC)	3,060	452
23.	Bay State Marathon (10/19/08 - Lowell, MA)	1,192	452
24.	Steamtown Marathon (10/12/08 - Scranton, PA)	1,573	438
25.	Cincinnati Flying Pig Marathon (5/4/08 - Cincinnati, OH)	4,725	428
26.	Disney World Marathon (1/13/08 - Orlando, FL)	12,951	364
27.	Toronto Waterfront Marathon (9/28/08 - Toronto, ON)	2,457	363
28.	Hartford Marathon (10/11/08 - Hartford, CT)	1,894	358
29.	Vermont City Marathon (5/25/08 - Burlington, VT)	2,379	357
30.	Las Vegas Marathon (12/7/08 - Las Vegas, NV)	3,517	339