Kathrine Switzer is an expert commentators for Boston Marathon coverage on a local TV station. I’ve been meaning to post the following about extensive statements she made regarding Boston qualifying times.
In the broadcast, Switzer went on for quite a while about how she’s quite sure the BAA is going to change the qualifying times again. In this incarnation, it won’t be by adding minutes to the current times, but will be based on age-graded formulations. She claimed—with great certainty I might add—the qualifying times for older athletes will be loosened up quite a bit. (She mentioned up to 6 hours for runners 60+, if I recall.)
She said the BAA wants to do this because the science behind, and calculations used in age-graded tables is now reliably reflective of what happens to performance as we get older. She also said it responds to an aging population who wants to keep running. She also said that she felt quite sure the changes would be made “soon.” In BAA time, that could be the next century! Who really knows?
The qualifying times weren’t even started until the early 70s, and were only meant to keep numbers down. The BAA felt the course could not handle more than a few thousand people. Then the whole notion of "qualifying" took on a life of its own, morphing in the minds of runners into the performance badge it is today. Maybe another chapter of qualifying history is about to be written.
Anyone else know anything about these supposed changes?
