FAQ

The race director or race management can tell you if a course is certified. For a complete list of certified courses in the U.S.A. check USA Track & Field. In Canada check Athletics Canada. Internationally, an extensive calendar of races is listed at the Association of International Marathon and Road Races website, with indication of courses that are not certified.

After you submit your application, you'll receive an e-mail confirming that we've received your application. Verification of your qualified time can then take up to five weeks as the results from your qualifying race are verified.

Once we verify your time, you'll receive a second e-mail that confirms your entrance into the Boston Marathon.

No. The B.A.A. is only extending a special invitation to participate in the 2014 Boston Marathon to 2013 Boston Marathon starters who reached and were recorded at the half marathon checkpoint or later but did not have the opportunity to cross the finish line on Boylston Street.

For application into the Boston Marathon, applicants must provide the name and date of the Marathon at which they qualified, and their official finishing time. The B.A.A. will verify all qualifying times before granting acceptance into the race.

SUNDAY, OCTOBER 7 (RACE DAY)

6:30 - 8:15 AM Pre-race activities, baggage check near White Stadium in Boston's Franklin Park.

8:30 AM START

10:30 AM Awards Ceremony

11:00 AM Course closes

12:00 PM Finish area and facilities close

For your convenience, an ample number of port-a-johns will be placed on Franklin Park for use before and after the race. Please use these facilities. Participants are requested to respect the surrounding private and public property by using the port-o-johns provided. Also, port-o-johns will be placed near each fluid replacement station on the course (at every other mile, beginning at mile 2). See the course map here.

Official Boston Marathon Merchandise will be on sale at the John Hancock Sports & Fitness Expo, several Boston sporting goods stores, in Copley Square Park and at the Family Meeting Area after the race. For more information, go to www.baa.org. Before or after race weekend, merchandise may be ordered online or via mail-order directly from our licensees. Some of them may also have limited amounts of previous years’ merchandise available. To see a list of official Boston Marathon licensees and their products go to our Shop page.

Yes, the event will engage the U.S. Anti-Doping Agency (USASA), in accordance with the international Standards of Doping Control, to test selected athletes who earn prize money. Athletes who participate in the B.A.A. Half Marathon may be subject to drug testing in accordance with the USADA Protocol for Olympic Movement Testing (USADA Protocol). USADA will be responsible for conducting comprehensive drug testing, as well as the adjudication of positive findings. Athletes with positive drug test results will have their cases adjudicated according to the USADA Protocol and will be penalized, if appropriate, according to applicable IAAF or World Anti Doping Agency rules. Such penalties may include, but not be limited to, a period of ineligibility from competition, as well as disqualification from past competitions and cancellation of awards and prizes previously awarded. Any substance taken by an athlete is at his/her own risk and may result in a positive sample. BEWARE: some nutritional supplements, prescription, cold medicines and over-the-counter medications contain prohibited substances. Information regarding specific drugs and substances may be obtained by calling the USADA Drug Reference Line at 1-800-233-0393, or by visiting www.usantidoping.org or www.888athlete.org.

The 13.1-mile, rolling course combines both a looped and out-and-back route, beginning and ending near White Stadium (also known as Schoolboy Stadium) in Boston's Franklin Park. Past participants in the B.A.A. Half Marathon should note this important change. Essentially, the course has been flipped from past years. From Franklin Park, the race heads North to the Forest Hills Overpass and the Arborway, running adjacent to the Arnold Arboretum. The course turns right at Pond Street and continues North-bound onto the Jamaicaway (which becomes the Riverway), along Jamaica Pond and the other ponds and waterways that comprise Boston's Emerald Necklace. As the Riverway intersects with the Fenway, the race reverses direction with two left turns that sends runners South-bound on the Riverway.

After crossing over Huntington Avenue via overpass, there's a sharp right turn onto River Road in Brookline, followed by a sharp left turn onto Pond Ave. As the course hugs the western border of the Emerald Necklace, it turns left on Francis Parkman Drive, and then turns right on the Arborway and heads back adjacent to the Arboretum, over the Forest Hills Overpass, and into Franklin Park on Franklin Park Drive. In Franklin Park, the race turns right on Circuit Drive/N Jewish War Veterans Drive, and continues in a southward direction into the park for about a mile, before a hairpin turn reverses the course back on the same road.

The course passes the entrance/exit to the park on the left, and continues northward on Circuit Drive/N Jewish War Veterans Drive towards the Franklin Park Zoo. After a right turn on Pierpont Road, the race enters the Zoo for a quick counter-clockwise loop, and exits with a right turn onto Pierpont. Just before Pierpont intersects with Seaver Street, the course cuts across the park in a Western direction and turns right onto Playstead Road, before a finish near White Stadium. Please note that the course will remain open for two hours, 30 minutes after the start. Participants unable to complete the race within that time period will be asked to finish the race on the sidewalk. Timing will conclude 2:30:00 after the start. Go to map of the course.

The overall 2012 Boston Marathon field is approximately 2 and 1/2 minutes faster than in any previous year. Therefore,  all wave breaks have been adjusted for this year. We cannot change anyone's seed or wave assignment.

Here are the comparisons from last year to this year: 

2011 Break between Wave 1 and 2 – 3:22:41      
2011 Break between Wave 2 and 3 – 3:45:57  

2012 Break between Wave 1 and 2 – 3:19:10
2012 Break between Wave 2 and 3 – 3:43:48