For years, savvy runners looked for downhill marathons to help solidify their chances of nabbing a BQ time. Then, in 2025, the Boston Athletic Association (BAA) announced new net-downhill course procedures for Boston Marathon qualifying races . Starting with the 2027 qualifying window, times completed on marathon courses with a net downhill of 1,500 or more feet will be subject to a time adjustment of five minutes. The change was made, according to the BAA , because researchers found athletes who qualified on a course with a net elevation drop—this is where the total elevation loss on a course is larger than the elevation gain—of 1,500 feet or more from start to finish receive a substantial time advantage over those who qualified on a course with less than 1,500 feet. The new system was put in place to even the playing field for hopeful BQers. Because of this, some popular races, particularly those with a net downhill of 6,000 feet or more, lost their status as Boston qualifiers.…