How the Chicago Marathon’s Qualifying Times Reshaped Its Field

A final look at how runners at the race have changed over the years

Photo by Chad Veal — CC BY-SA 4.0

Last month, the Chicago Marathon announced that it would introduce new qualifying times for next year’s race.

The stricter qualifying times seemed shocking at first glance. Chicago has, in recent years, had a reputation as the “easy” World Marathon Major to get into.

In my initial analysis of the qualifying times, I found that these new times would a) reduce the number of runners qualifying (duh) and b) balance the difficulty of the qualifying times between age groups.

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In a subsequent analysis of the historical data, I found that the number of runners qualifying for Chicago had increased — and that the increase was amplified by the introduction of new qualifying times in 2018.

That analysis left me with two lingering questions:

1. Did the 2018 qualifying times — which made it easier for masters runners to qualify — reshape the field of the Chicago Marathon?
2. Has the increase in the number of runners qualifying for Chicago translated into…