Boston Marathon 2027

Monday, 19 April 2027 · Boston, United States

In the RunningChecked 2 October 2026Read the sources

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Qualifying and entry

You need a qualifying time from a certified, outdoor marathon run inside the qualifying period, which for 2027 opened on 13 September 2025. The standard depends on your age on race day. Men aged 18 to 34 need 2:55:00, and women and non-binary runners in the same group 3:25:00. Each older group gets more time, up to 4:50:00 and 5:20:00 for 80 and over.

A qualifying time only lets you apply. For 2027 the organiser received 33,649 applications in registration week, 14 to 18 September. It took those who beat their standard by 5 minutes 17 seconds or more. The B.A.A. also introduced a random selection for 1,000 eligible qualifiers who missed that cut-off. Its 29 September announcement said selection was in progress; it did not establish that every place had already been allocated. A time from a course with a net drop of 457 m (1,500 feet) or more now has 5 or 10 minutes added before it is ranked.

Entries are non-refundable and can't be transferred or deferred, except under the pregnancy and postpartum policy.

Getting to Boston

Boston's airport is Logan, across the harbour from downtown. From the terminal curb, the Silver Line SL1 bus runs to South Station, and it's free in that direction, according to Massport. It includes a free change onto the Red Line. The other way in is a free airport shuttle to Airport station on the Blue Line. The Blue Line meets the Green Line at Government Center and the Orange Line at State.

The subway in Boston is called the T. You can pay with a contactless card or phone at the gate. In 2026 a single subway fare was $2.40. The transit authority, the MBTA, sold a 7-day pass for $22.50 covering the subway, buses and the inner commuter rail zone.

On race day in 2026, Copley station was shut all day. The MBTA sent people to Arlington on the Green Line, Hynes Convention Center, Prudential, or Back Bay on the Orange Line. Bikes, including folding ones, were banned from the subway all day.

Where to stay in Boston

Your race morning starts at the buses beside Boston Common and ends on Boylston Street in Back Bay, where the expo is too. A bed in or near Back Bay keeps the buses, the finish and the expo all close. In 2026 your gear bag went in at Boylston and Berkeley Streets on the way to the bus. Check the walk from your room to the Charles Street buses before you book; the organiser gives no walking times.

Staying out in Hopkinton saves you the bus, but parking there was very limited in 2026. The only runner parking was at 52 and 80 South Street, first come, first served, with a shuttle to the village from 7:00 to 10:15. Free buses ran back from Boston to Hopkinton between 12:00 and 19:00, from Columbus Avenue between Berkeley and Clarendon Streets.

Collecting your number 2026 details

By early April you get an email with your bib number and a digital pick-up pass. You take the pass and a government photo ID to the expo at the Hynes Convention Center. Photocopies and digital ID aren't accepted, and nobody can collect for you.

In 2026 the expo opened on the Friday from 10:00 to 19:00, Saturday 9:00 to 19:00 and Sunday 9:00 to 18:00. It's free and open to the public. The 2027 hours aren't published yet.

Your bib comes inside a one-gallon clear plastic bag, and that bag is the only one allowed on the buses and in Hopkinton. You also get the clear gear bag for the finish.

Race morning 2026 details

You hand in your gear bag before you get on a bus, because nothing is carried from Hopkinton to Boston. The gear check was on Boylston and Berkeley Streets, two blocks past the finish line, open 5:45 to 9:15. Clothes you leave in Hopkinton are given away.

Buses loaded on Charles Street by bib colour. Red bibs, wave 1, started loading at 6:45. White and blue loaded from 7:30, yellow and green from 8:00, and orange from 9:00. You show your bib to board, and the last bus left Boston Common at 9:30.

The buses stop at the Athletes' Village at Hopkinton Middle and High School, which has water, Gatorade and portable toilets. You leave the village in groups by wave and corral, then walk 1.1 km (0.7 miles) to the start on Main Street. A mid-pack runner in wave 3 would have loaded at 7:30, left the village between 9:45 and 9:50 and started at 10:28.

You can drop back to a later wave, though never into the first corral of that wave, and you can't move forward. Backpacks and hydration vests are banned. A waist pack up to 13 by 38 by 13 cm (5 by 15 by 5 inches) is allowed.

The course 2026 details

The route follows Route 135 from Hopkinton through Ashland, Framingham, Natick and Wellesley, then Route 16 to Newton Lower Falls. It turns right at the fire station onto Commonwealth Avenue and climbs through the Newton hills. It bears right at the reservoir onto Chestnut Hill Avenue to Cleveland Circle. Beacon Street takes you through Brookline and Kenmore Square, and the last turns are right onto Hereford Street and left onto Boylston.

The organiser's 2026 course map is a PDF, and it offers no course file to download.

The organiser gives the start as 145 m (475 feet) and the finish as 5 m (16 feet), a net drop of 140 m. The first 6.4 km (4 miles) fall 89 m, so it's easy to go out too fast. The Newton hills come between miles 17.5 and 21. On the organiser's mile-by-mile profile, the course rises from 16 m at mile 16 in Newton Lower Falls to 70 m at mile 21. The last of the hills, Heartbreak Hill, accounts for 26 m of that in the 21st mile. From there the road falls 61 m to Brookline by mile 24.

Water and Gatorade were at every mile from mile 2 on both sides of the road in 2026, with portable toilets at every aid station. Maurten gels were at mile 11.8 at the Wellesley town line, mile 17 in Newton and mile 21.5 just after Boston College.

Where to watch 2026 details

Weather in Boston in April

Hopkinton at 10:00, when the first wave starts, has been anywhere from 7 °C to 15 °C on race day. These are the last five race days at 10:00 and at 13:00, measured at the start.

The 2024 race reached 20 °C by 13:00, and 2026 had the coldest start and the strongest wind of the five.

Afterwards 2026 details

The finish line closed at 17:30, so the roads in all eight towns could reopen. You still got a medal after that, but your time was listed as a post-race participant, not an official finish. On Boylston Street you received water, your medal, a foil blanket and a food bag.

You collected your gear bag from the same area on Boylston and Berkeley Streets from 11:30 to 18:00. The Family Meeting Area was on Stuart Street between Berkeley and Clarendon Streets, with meeting points by the first letter of your surname.

Other race weekends

Boston Marathon is part of the Abbott World Marathon Majors. The series' other races with a guide here are TCS New York City Marathon, Tokyo Marathon, TCS London Marathon, Sanlam Cape Town Marathon, TCS Sydney Marathon, Berlin Marathon and Bank of America Chicago Marathon.

The next races with a guide

TCS London Marathon24 and 25 April 2027 · London, United Kingdom Haspa Marathon Hamburg25 April 2027 · Hamburg, Germany Madrid Marathon25 April 2027 · Madrid, Spain

All race weekend guides

Sources

Written from the organiser's published information and the app's own race data, checked on 2 October 2026.

If something here is wrong or out of date, tell us.