Which Marathons Are Too Downhill for Boston 2027?

Published July 25, 2026 · Estimates, updated each registration cycle

Short answer: if you qualified on a REVEL race, St. George, or another steep point-to-point downhill, your time is the kind Boston will now discount. On July 22, 2026 the Boston Athletic Association confirmed that for the 2027 race it will adjust qualifying times run on courses with a net elevation drop greater than 1,500 feet (457.2 meters). If your course drops less than that, nothing changes for you.

What the 1,500-foot rule actually says

The threshold is net drop, not total descent. A rolling course that climbs and falls but finishes near the same elevation it started has a small net drop, even if it felt hilly. A point-to-point course that ends thousands of feet below the start has a large net drop, and that is what the BAA is targeting. Steep net-downhill courses produce faster clock times for the same effort, so the adjustment treats those times as slightly slower than the number you crossed the line on. The math is published and tiered: a net drop of 1,500 to 2,999 feet adds 5:00 to your submitted time, 3,000 to 5,999 feet adds 10:00, and a course dropping 6,000 feet or more is not allowed for qualifying at all. The adjustment applies to times submitted during Registration Week, September 14 through 18, 2026.

Courses that clearly cross the line

These are the marathons runners pick specifically for a fast downhill time, and their net drops sit well past the threshold. The figures below are approximate and worth checking on each race's official course page:

• The REVEL series (Mt Charleston, Big Bear, Rockies and the rest), built around long canyon descents of roughly 3,000 to 5,000 feet. Far over the line.
• St. George Marathon in Utah, a classic qualifier with a net drop around 2,600 feet.
• Other steep canyon races in the mountain west that market a big drop as the selling point. If the elevation profile is a near-straight line downhill, assume it is affected.

None of these stop being certified, and unless the drop reaches 6,000 feet your time still counts. It just counts as five or ten minutes slower than the clock, which matters most when the cutoff is tight. Our central estimate for the 2027 cutoff is about 5:15 under the standard, which is an estimate and not a BAA figure, so a discount of even a minute could move a borderline application from in to out. See how fast BQ courses compare for the wider picture.

Courses that stay at full value

Flat and gently rolling marathons are unaffected. The California International Marathon (net drop near 340 feet), Grandma's in Duluth, and the big flat city races like Chicago, Berlin and London all sit comfortably under 1,500 feet, so what the clock shows is what your application shows. Boston's own course, for reference, has a net drop of only about 450 feet. If your goal is a clean, full-value qualifier, these are the safe picks; see the best flat BQ marathons.

The Washington rail-trail races are the most commonly misjudged of all. Jack and Jill's Downhill and the Light at the End of the Tunnel share the same corridor, starting near 2,578 feet and finishing near 1,696 feet for a net drop of roughly 882 feet. Despite the downhill branding they sit well under the threshold and are submitted at full value; see the Jack and Jill's course review.

What to do if you ran a downhill race

First, do not panic and do not assume your qualifier is worthless. The rule discounts the time, it does not disqualify it. Second, find your course's official net elevation drop. If it is under 1,500 feet you are unaffected, and several races with a downhill reputation, such as Mountains 2 Beach, sit closer to the line than people assume, so check the real number rather than the reputation. Third, if you are over the line, aim for a bigger raw buffer to absorb the discount, or bank a second qualifier on a flat course. For the full mechanics, see the downhill rule explainer.

The safest way to read your own situation is to run your finish time and age through the predictor. It shows your buffer against the standard and how that buffer would have fared against thirteen years of real cutoffs. Just remember the tool does not yet model the downhill adjustment, so if you qualified on a steep drop, treat its odds as a best case.