We like to recognize great accomplishments at the Tobacco Road Marathon! When you cross that finish line with a Boston Marathon qualifying (BQ) time or a personal best (PR for personal record), ring our celebratory bell so we can all share in your accomplishment! The bell is just beyond the finish line.After you make it through the finish line, collect your medal, and refuel at our post-race party, stop by our awards table. We have a special Boston Qualifying t-shirt for you. Be proud of your accomplishment, we sure are!
The Tobacco Road Marathon had the MOST QUALIFIERS of any marathon in North Carolina in 2019 and is #53 on findmymarathon.com's list here.
We have an impressive percentage of BQ times. Take a look at some of the statistics from 2019 from https://findmymarathon.com :
| Marathon | % of runners who BQ |
|---|---|
| Peak to Creek* | 22.2% |
| Tobacco Road | 16.6% |
| Wilmington (Wrightsville Beach) | 15.5% |
| RDC** | 14.5% |
| Outer Banks | 8.4% |
| Ellerbe | 7.8% |
| Emerald Isle | 7.3% |
| Cannonball Greensboro | 7.1% |
| Charlotte | 6.6% |
| Oak Island | 6.6% |
| Asheville | 5.8% |
| New River | 5.2% |
| COO | 4.9% |
| Valentines Day Massacre | 4.2% |
| All American | 3.1% |
* Peak to Creek has about 2800 feet (that's over half-a-mile) of vertical drop. That makes for a different race.
** RDC runs on essentially the same course on the same American Tobacco Trail, just with a different start/finish point.
In some years, we have had nearly 20 percent of Tobacco Road Marathon runners qualify for the Boston Marathon. That's why our event, conducted on the fast, flat American Tobacco Trail is known as a "Boston Qualifier."
Qualifying standards for the Boston Marathon are posted on their site and are defined by the Boston Athletic Association.
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