runners applied but were shut out.
Why? Numerous factors conspired against runners who have bettered their qualifying standard, but by only a relatively narrow margin.
First, the field size was reduced from 30,000 entrants to 20,000 to conform with COVID-19 safety standards. Of those 20,000, it was thought that roughly 16,000 bibs were reserved for qualifiers, and 4,000 were designated for those running for charities and other invitational entries. Today’s announcement from the BAA said that only 14,609 runners got in with a qualifying time.
No matter what you need to improve in your running life,
No entrants to the 2020 race were allowed to defer until 2021, so everyone who wanted to run this year had to re-enter. In addition, the qualifying period for this year’s race spans years it was open from September 15, 2018 until registration closed on April 23.