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.

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Boston Marathon Qualifying Races – Most Likely To Qualify – 2025 Note: Partial Year Results (2025 is ongoing)

The marathons below had the highest percent of Boston qualifying finishers in 2025 (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	Houston Marathon (1/19/25 – Houston, TX)	1,285	17.0%
2	Louisiana Marathon (1/19/25 – Baton Rouge, LA)	156	13.2%
3	Carlsbad Marathon (1/19/25 – Carlsbad, CA)	105	9.2%
4	Maui Oceanfront Marathon (1/19/25 – Launiupoko Beach-Lahaina, Maui, HI)	15	5.9%

*This list is limited to marathons with 250 or more finishers, or 60 or more qualifiers regardless of size. Percentages calculated ignore finishers over 6:00.

Boston Marathon Qualifying Races – Most Qualifiers 2025 Note: Partial Year Results (2025 is ongoing)

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 2025.

Rank	Marathon	Finishers	Boston Qualifiers
1	Houston Marathon (1/19/25 – Houston, TX)	7,562	1,285
2	Louisiana Marathon (1/19/25 – Baton Rouge, LA)	1,201	156
3	Disney World Marathon (1/12/25 – Orlando, FL)	12,486	147
4	Carlsbad Marathon (1/19/25 – Carlsbad, CA)	1,157	105

Trying to qualify for Boston in 2025? We have your back! We partnered with Runzy to help. Train 1:1 with an elite running coach for just $39/month. Mention “MarathonGuide” for a special discount. Learn more.