Boston Marathon

Tie your laces tight and forget about shortcuts: here, we don't cheat the legend. The Boston Marathon is a star running event. 42.195 km of asphalt that you don't trample on by chance. You have to have earned it, proven it, run it, bled it, and timed it. So if you qualify, you're part of a very exclusive club—the club of runners who have a date with history.

What you'll find there:

• A single format: 42.195 km that takes you from Hopkinton to Boylston Street using only the strength of your legs and your mind;
• A unique popular fervor, with nearly 500,000 spectators gathered along the entire course;
• A strict and merciless qualification: times must be met to the nearest hundredth of a second, and a progressive selection process to separate the best from the very best.

Course Focus:

Don't be fooled by the downhill gradient. The Boston Marathon is anything but a free course. The invisible climbs, the tricky descents, and especially the formidable Heartbreak Hill at the 32nd kilometer make this race more of a test of endurance than a record-breaking ground. Moreover, the official rules prohibit validating world-class performances here. Too much downhill. Too much wind. Too much of everything.

But that's not the point. The real thrill is this legendary crossing of New England, this passage through Wellesley and its "scream tunnels," this final straight on Boylston Street that everyone dreams of one day running. Boston is a pilgrimage. A consecration. A finish line that counts more than the clock.

3 (very) good reasons to participate:

• Because nothing beats the thrill of qualifying for Boston;
• To experience a historic marathon that has been running since 1897, and whose every meter exudes tradition, glory, and achievement;
• To write your name where so many others have left it before you, in a race where Bobbi Gibb defied the rules, where Kathrine Switzer broke barriers, and where runners write a new page in an already legendary story every year.

So, are you ready to experience the most iconic marathon in the world? Boston awaits you.