Boston Marathon

Massachusetts, USA

Date: 18 April 2022 • Entry cost: £187 • baa.org/races/boston-marathon

Want to compete with the world’s biggest pack of high-performance marathon runners? Boston is the race for you. Just getting to a standard where you are able to register is super tough. To pound the streets at this iconic event, you’ll need a qualifying time of three hours for the marathon, if aged 18-34. The time limit increases by five minutes for every successive five-year age bracket. Weather can be brutal in April on the Atlantic coast, with 2013’s competitors racing through storm winds and rain.

Still have hope for a fast new PB? Put it on ice until Heartbreak Hill at mile 20, then reassess.

Heartbreak Hill got its name in the 1936 race, when leader Ellison Brown slowed down and was overtaken on the climb by Johnny Kelley, who patted him on the back as he passed. Brown, infuriated, clawed back his lead and won.