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Boston Qualifiers in the USA/Canada - 2009

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 2009 (year-to-date). 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 (4/20/09 - Boston, MA)	9,844	43.2%
2.	Mohawk-Hudson River Marathon (10/11/09 - Albany, NY)	252	34.9%
3.	Bay State Marathon (10/18/09 - Lowell, MA)	523	33.5%
4.	Road2Hope Hamilton Marathon (11/1/09 - Hamilton, ON)	272	33.5%
5.	Pocono Mountain Run For The Red Marathon (5/17/09 - Pocono Mountains, PA)	122	30.0%
6.	Steamtown Marathon (10/11/09 - Scranton, PA)	522	28.1%
7.	Wineglass Marathon (10/4/09 - Corning, NY)	209	27.0%
8.	St. George Marathon (10/3/09 - St. George, UT)	623	25.9%
9.	Green Mountain Marathon (10/17/09 - South Hero, VT)	73	24.4%
10.	Royal Victoria Marathon (10/11/09 - Victoria, BC)	584	23.4%
11.	Grand Rapids Marathon (10/18/09 - Grand Rapids, MI)	321	23.2%
12.	Foot Traffic Flat Marathon (7/4/09 - Portland, OR)	59	23.0%
13.	Newport Marathon (5/30/09 - Newport, OR)	155	22.8%
14.	B&A Trail Marathon (3/1/09 - Severna Park, MD)	56	22.6%
15.	Eugene Marathon (5/3/09 - Eugene, OR)	363	22.3%
16.	Mississauga Marathon (5/10/09 - Mississauga, ON)	303	22.0%
17.	Marshall University Marathon (11/1/09 - Huntington, WV)	74	21.3%
18.	Towpath Marathon (10/11/09 - Cleveland/Akron Area, OH)	98	20.7%
19.	Columbus Marathon (10/18/09 - Columbus, OH)	818	20.5%
20.	Harrisburg Marathon (11/8/09 - Harrisburg, PA)	181	20.1%
21.	WhistleStop Marathon (10/10/09 - Ashland, WI)	177	20.1%
22.	Bayshore Marathon (5/23/09 - Traverse City, MI)	263	19.3%
23.	Quebec City Marathon/Marathon des Deux Rives (8/30/09 - Quebec City, QC)	165	19.1%
24.	Lakefront Marathon (10/4/09 - Milwaukee, WI)	348	18.8%
25.	Blue Nose International Marathon (5/17/09 - Halifax, NS)	49	18.4%
26.	Toronto Marathon (10/18/09 - Toronto, ON)	343	18.3%
27.	Des Moines Marathon (10/18/09 - Des Moines, IA)	235	18.1%
28.	Snickers Marathon Energy Bar Marathon (3/7/09 - Albany, GA)	101	18.0%
29.	Santa Clarita Marathon (11/8/09 - Santa Clarita, CA)	59	17.8%
30.	Yakima River Canyon Marathon (4/4/09 - Yakima, WA)	72	17.8%
*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 2009.

Rank	Marathon	Finishers	Boston Qualifiers
1.	Boston Marathon (4/20/09 - Boston, MA)	22,849	9,844
2.	New York City Marathon (11/1/09 - New York City, NY)	43,250	5,591
3.	Chicago Marathon (10/11/09 - Chicago, IL)	33,475	4,268
4.	Marine Corps Marathon (10/25/09 - Washington, DC)	20,882	1,312
5.	Twin Cities Marathon (10/4/09 - Minneapolis/St.Paul, MN)	8,429	1,306
6.	Portland Marathon (10/4/09 - Portland, OR)	8,093	926
7.	Columbus Marathon (10/18/09 - Columbus, OH)	4,076	818
8.	Rock 'n' Roll Arizona Marathon (1/18/09 - Phoenix, Scottsdale & Tempe, AZ)	6,440	803
9.	Rock 'n' Roll Marathon (5/31/09 - San Diego, CA)	13,291	721
10.	St. George Marathon (10/3/09 - St. George, UT)	2,516	623
11.	Houston Marathon (1/18/09 - Houston, TX)	5,345	604
12.	Disney World Marathon (1/11/09 - Orlando, FL)	14,927	597
13.	Royal Victoria Marathon (10/11/09 - Victoria, BC)	2,571	584
14.	Ottawa Marathon (National Capital Race Weekend) (5/24/09 - Ottawa, ON)	3,449	557
15.	Richmond Marathon (11/14/09 - Richmond, VA)	3,785	538
16.	Detroit Free Press International Marathon (10/18/09 - Detroit, MI)	3,780	525
17.	Bay State Marathon (10/18/09 - Lowell, MA)	1,561	523
18.	Steamtown Marathon (10/11/09 - Scranton, PA)	1,889	522
19.	Pittsburgh Marathon (5/3/09 - Pittsburgh, PA)	3,439	422
20.	Vancouver International Marathon (5/3/09 - Vancouver, BC)	2,926	421
21.	Toronto Waterfront Marathon (9/27/09 - Toronto, ON)	2,846	417
22.	Rock 'n' Roll Seattle Marathon (6/27/09 - Seattle, WA)	5,602	416
23.	Austin Marathon (2/15/09 - Austin, TX)	4,141	411
24.	City of Los Angeles Marathon (L.A. Marathon) (5/25/09 - Los Angeles, CA)	14,061	409
25.	Vermont City Marathon (5/24/09 - Burlington, VT)	2,340	404
26.	Grandma's Marathon (6/20/09 - Duluth, MN)	5,890	391
27.	The San Francisco Marathon (7/26/09 - San Francisco, CA)	5,036	382
28.	Cincinnati Flying Pig Marathon (5/3/09 - Cincinnati, OH)	4,203	372
29.	Eugene Marathon (5/3/09 - Eugene, OR)	1,715	363
30.	Lakefront Marathon (10/4/09 - Milwaukee, WI)	1,884	348