50 Best Non-Downhill Boston Qualifiers in 2023

We know that downhill marathons are not for everyone, so we compiled a list of the best non-downhill Boston Marathon qualifiers in 2023 to go with our 50 Best Boston Qualifiers list.

Midwestern states are well represented in our list with 17 races making the list led by Michigan (5) and Ohio (4). Pennsylvania (4), Massachusetts (4), Virginia (3) and Oregon (3) also have several races in the list.

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50 Best Non-Downhill Boston Qualifying Races in 2023

RACE NAME	RACE NAME
1. Indianapolis Monumental Marathon	26. Charlevoix Marathon
2. Chicago Marathon	27. Hartford Marathon
3. Glass City Marathon	28. Newport News One City Marathon
4.  Eugene Marathon	29. White River Marathon
5. Baystate Marathon	30. Mississippi River Marathon
6. Grandma’s Marathon	31. Hyannis Marathon
7. Bayshore Marathon	32. Louisiana Marathon
8. Erie Marathon	33. Millennium Meadows Marathon
9. Carmel Marathon	34. York Marathon
10. Last Chance BQ.2 Marathon (Illinois)	35. Rocket City Marathon
11. Santa Rosa Marathon	36. Newport Marathon (Oregon)
12. Cheap Marathon	37. Cleveland Marathon
13. Richmond Marathon	38. Wilmington Marathon
14. Philadelphia Marathon	39. Vermont City Marathon
15. Last Chance BQ.2 Marathon (Michigan)	40. B&A Marathon
16. Houston Marathon	41. Foot Traffic Flat Marathon
17. Jersey City Marathon	42. Beantown Marathon
18. Harrisburg Marathon	43. Buffalo Marathon
19. Columbus Marathon	44. Rehoboth Beach Marathon
20. Shamrock Marathon	45. Grand Rapids Marathon
21. Cape Cod Marathon	46. Ohio River Road Runners Club Marathon
22. Tobacco Road Marathon	47. Charles River Marathon
23. Spring Chance BQ.2 Marathon	48. GO! St. Louis Marathon
24. The Woodlands Marathon	49. Jekyll Island Marathon
25. North Central Rail Trail Marathon	50. Bemidji Blue Ox Marathon

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More Resources

Want to view which marathons have the highest percentage or most Boston Marathon Qualifiers?
Highest Percentage of Boston Qualifiers (2023)

Number and Percentage of Runners who have Qualified for the 2025 Boston Marathon.
Number and Percentage of Runners who have Qualified for the 2024 Boston Marathon.

Last year’s 50 Best Boston Marathon Qualifying Races

View the current Boston Marathon Qualifying Times and the historical cut-off times.

Our Criteria for the Top 50

The criteria used to determine our list of the best Boston qualifying races is a combination of:

• The percentage of finishers who ran Boston Marathon qualifying times for their age group,
• The total number of finishers achieving BQ standards, and
• Our PR Score** for the 2023 race.
• We did not include the Boston Marathon in our rankings.

**The Personal Record (PR) Score utilizes the course profile, elevation, and race time weather to create a score that can be compared to other marathons to determine at which race you could expect to run faster. The higher the score, the faster the race.