Chicago Marathon qualifying times.
Chicago runs the friendliest door of the majors: meet your time-qualifier standard and your spot can be guaranteed outright — no rolling cutoff to outguess. The full 2026 grid is below, verified against the official application page, with each row priced in VDOT and half-marathon readiness.
How Chicago Marathon qualifying works
Chicago's time-qualifier program is guaranteed entry: submit a verifiable finish at or under the standard for your age group and division, from a marathon completed inside the window (marathons completed on or after January 1, 2024), and the application process can guarantee your place. The bands start at 16 — younger than Boston's or New York's — and run through all 11 groups in the tables below, rendered exactly as published.
A dating note, stated plainly: these are the standards for the 2026 Bank of America Chicago Marathon (October 11, 2026) — the most recent cycle officially posted. As of 2026-07-30, application information for the following year had not been published. This page carries no guesses about the next cycle; when new application information posts, the table is re-verified against the source and regenerated.
The standards ladder
Men
| Age group | Standard | VDOT required | Half in range |
|---|---|---|---|
| 16-34 | 2:50:00 | 57.3 | 1:21:20 |
| 35-39 | 2:55:00 | 55.3 | 1:23:52 |
| 40-44 | 3:00:00 | 53.5 | 1:26:19 |
| 45-49 | 3:10:00 | 50.2 | 1:31:12 |
| 50-54 | 3:15:00 | 48.7 | 1:33:38 |
| 55-59 | 3:25:00 | 45.9 | 1:38:32 |
| 60-64 | 3:40:00 | 42.1 | 1:46:09 |
| 65-69 | 3:55:00 | 38.9 | 1:53:34 |
| 70-74 | 4:15:00 | 35.2 | 2:03:37 |
| 75-79 | 4:30:00 | 32.8 | 2:11:11 |
| 80+ | 4:50:00 | 30 | 2:21:17 |
Women & non-binary
Bank of America Chicago Marathon publishes identical standards for the women's and non-binary divisions; the table below serves both.
| Age group | Standard | VDOT required | Half in range |
|---|---|---|---|
| 16-34 | 3:20:00 | 47.2 | 1:36:12 |
| 35-39 | 3:25:00 | 45.9 | 1:38:32 |
| 40-44 | 3:30:00 | 44.6 | 1:41:01 |
| 45-49 | 3:40:00 | 42.1 | 1:46:09 |
| 50-54 | 3:50:00 | 39.9 | 1:51:08 |
| 55-59 | 3:55:00 | 38.9 | 1:53:34 |
| 60-64 | 4:15:00 | 35.2 | 2:03:37 |
| 65-69 | 4:30:00 | 32.8 | 2:11:11 |
| 70-74 | 4:45:00 | 30.6 | 2:18:59 |
| 75-79 | 5:00:00 | 28.7 | 2:26:32 |
| 80+ | 5:20:00 | 26.4 | 2:36:52 |
Standards verified against chicagomarathon.com on 2026-07-30 — the tables above render them unmodified. Registration systems change; the source page is authoritative.
Reading your row: the standard is the official requirement; the VDOT is the fitness it demands on the scale behind every page of this site; the half-in-range column is that same fitness expressed as a half marathon — run one at or under it and you have evidence, months out, that your row is realistic. Each standard links the nearest goal page at or under it on our marathon ladder for the full training treatment of that time.
The guarantee is earned in training.
Chicago will hold the door if you bring the time — and the time is a training problem, which is the product: Why Not aims a marathon block at your Chicago row's VDOT and re-prices it after every run. A full year costs less than the cheapest month of human coaching.
Build my qualifying blockQualifying vs. entry
Guaranteed means guaranteed here, and that is what sets Chicago apart — but it is earned through the application's verification requirements, not just the finish line: the time must be at or under your row, at a certified race, with results the organizers can check. Applicants without a guaranteed path are entered in the drawing. What Chicago spares you is the auction: there is no fastest-first cutoff moving underneath you. Your row is the whole test.
Where do you stand against your row?
Enter a recent race plus your age and division, and this compares your VDOT against the one your Chicago row demands — score, requirement, gap. Computed locally; nothing stored or sent anywhere.
Chicago Marathon qualifying FAQ
One standard per age group per division, published on the official application page and rendered exactly in the tables above — verified against chicagomarathon.com on 2026-07-30. Chicago’s bands start at 16, younger than Boston’s or New York’s.
Yes — that is Chicago’s distinction among the majors. A verifiable finish at or under your row, from a certified marathon inside the window, can guarantee your spot through the time-qualifier application. Applicants denied guaranteed entry are placed in the drawing.
The 2026 Bank of America Chicago Marathon (October 11, 2026). As of 2026-07-30 the following year’s application information had not been posted, so this page carries the most recent official cycle and no guesses — it is re-verified and regenerated when the source updates.
They are computed by this site, not published by the race: each standard runs through the Daniels–Gilbert formulas for the VDOT it requires, and that fitness is expressed as an equivalent half marathon — a readiness test you can run well before race day, with Daniels’ caveat that equivalence assumes marathon-specific training.
Every number on this page is computed from our own implementation of the Daniels–Gilbert formulas published in Daniels' Running Formula (Jack Daniels & Jimmy Gilbert) — the same library the Why Not app runs. Nothing is transcribed from the book's tables, and this site is not affiliated with or endorsed by the authors. Equivalent times assume you train appropriately for the target distance; that caveat is Daniels' own.
A coach for the price of a coffee run.
A human marathon coach runs $100 to $300 a month and rebuilds your plan when you email them. Why Not runs the same Daniels VDOT engine behind every number on this page and adapts after every workout. A full year of the app costs less than the cheapest month of human coaching.
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