NYRR Relaxes Standards for New York Marathon

Just in case you didn’t get an email from NYRR, it seems NYRR is relaxing the standards for guaranteed entry to the New York Marathon.  That being said, there is nothing relaxing about these paces.  For example, let’s say you were the 46 year old male president of the Taconic Road Runners — to get into Boston you’d need a 3:25.  To get into New York, you’d need a 3:05.  To which you’d reply “Impossible!”.  But you can also qualify with a half.  The same Taconic president, who as we know often writes about himself in the third person, would need a 1:28 half.  Which is about three and half minutes faster than his PR.  Which he ran on a downhill course, measured short, with a strong tail wind, riding a skate board.

You can get into New York many other ways, such as 9+1 or the lottery.  All the ways to get in are listed here.  But here are the time qualifiers:

Time Qualifiers  

The time-standard qualifying window for the 2015 TCS New York City Marathon is January 1?December 31, 2014. The total number of time-qualifier spots is to be determined. All runners who meet the time standards in the 2014 TCS New York City Marathon or in an NYRR half-marathon will be eligible for guaranteed entry. The remaining time qualifier spots will be filled on a first-come, first-served basis until the cap has been reached; details and times are below.

2014 NYRR-eligible races: 2014 Fred Lebow Manhattan Half, 2014 NYC Half, 2014 More Magazine/Fitness Magazine Women’s Half-Marathon, 2014 Brooklyn Half, 2014 Staten Island Half, 2014 Grete’s Great Gallop, 2014 TCS New York City Marathon

In order to claim your guaranteed entry, you must submit your application and pay the 2015 processing and entry fees during the application window (PLEASE NOTE: The application will open on January 15, 2015, and will close one month later, on February 15, 2015.). You are not automatically placed in the race. Guaranteed entries that are not submitted during this time period are forfeited.

A limited number of time-qualifier spots will be available to runners who meet the time standards in a non-NYRR race. These spots will be filled on a first-come, first-served basis until the cap has been reached. If you meet the time standards in a non-NYRR race, you will be required to complete the non-guaranteed entry application, to indicate on the application that you are applying as a time qualifier, and to provide your finishing time and the name of the 2014 race. Results must be verifiable online.

The time-qualifying standards are as follows (runners only); all times run must be at least as fast as the posted time:

Men’s Standards:

Women’s Standards:

*Age on November 1, 2015.

About the Time Standards

The TCS New York City Marathon is known for being an extremely diverse race, and at New York Road Runners, we pride ourselves on offering many methods by which runners can gain entry. To continue to promote this diversity, we are excited to announce our decision to increase the number of runners who will be able to earn guaranteed entry by meeting time standards. To celebrate our most competitive athletes, we have also decided to relax those standards.

In reviewing entries from nearly a decade of New York City Marathon history, we found that the percentage of time qualifiers has been inconsistent across the different age categories; qualifying by time was tougher for runners in certain age groups. We intend for our new standards to offer equal access to our most competitive applicants across all age categories and to allow the highest possible percentage of runners from each category to earn guaranteed entry into the TCS New York City Marathon. We have also considerably increased the number of athletes who can qualify by time.

(source)