How many Boston Marathon runners qualified and how many ran for charity?

April 22, 2008 6:07 AM

Is there any way to find out the percentage of Boston Marathon runners that qualified for the race vs. the percentage that gained entry through other means (charities and such)?
posted by csimpkins to Sports, Hobbies, & Recreation (8 answers total)

The only numbers I can find on the website make it seem as if the number of charity runners is pretty low:

The B.A.A. accepts a limited number of new organizations each year, each to receive 15 waivers per year for a period for up to three years. These entries do not require a qualifying time but do require that runners acknowledge that they can complete a marathon within 6 hours and will abide by all other B.A.A. rules and regulations.

There are only about 25 organizations shown on that page. More than 25,000 runners started yesterday.

That would make a very small percentage of charity runners. I think that number must be incomplete.
posted by OmieWise at 6:35 AM on April 22, 2008

On here if you scroll down to the course map it opens a flash window and under the "fun facts" it says 1000 participants representing 16 charities.
posted by lilkeith07 at 6:42 AM on April 22, 2008

Thanks! Both great answers and exactly what I needed!
posted by csimpkins at 7:37 AM on April 22, 2008

According to yesterday's Wall Street Journal, there were "1,275 so-called 'charity runners.'"
posted by Andy's Gross Wart at 7:43 AM on April 22, 2008

Don't forget corporate and technology sponsors. I work for Hewlett-Packard as a technology sponsor we are granted 75 waivers each (according to an internal press release). I imagine there are other corporate sponsors that are offered similar deals.
posted by mmascolino at 7:45 AM on April 22, 2008

My brother ran it a few years ago via a corporate waiver; I would not be surprised if that number is higher than the number of charity waivers. I counted 40 contributers and sponsors, and if each gets 75 waivers that would be 3000.
posted by TedW at 9:07 AM on April 22, 2008

+1 That there are probably a lot more corporate waiver runners than charity. Last year I received a waiver for the NY Marathon from ING. If I recall correctly, there were about 150 available. TedW's suggestion sounds more than plausible.
posted by s01110011 at 9:32 AM on April 22, 2008

From Gina Kolata's article on getting into Boston in todays NYT: "only 1,275 of 25,000 in the race ran for nonprofit groups like the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society’s Team in Training."
posted by OmieWise at 12:05 PM on April 24, 2008