2015 Boston Marathon expected to have field of 30,000 runners

Runner's World Newswire reports that the Boston Athletic Association secured provisional approval for a field of 30,000 for next year's race.

According to Scott Douglas, B.A.A. Executive Director Tom Grilk received word from eight municipalities along the marathon route.

"At some level [the field size] is official," Grilk said the morning after presenting the plan for a 30,000-runner field to officials in Hopkinton, where the marathon starts.

A field of 30,000 would be an increase of 3,000 over typical recent years. This year's race had a field of 36,000, which was a one-time increase to accommodate the surge in interest following the bombings at the 2013 marathon.

Grilk said the likely increased field size for 2015 stemmed from the thought, "Can we accommodate some more qualifiers? Let's do it one step at a time. There's not an underlying subtext that this is a test" to annually increase the field size.

Registration opens September 8 for time qualifiers, with non-qualifiers able to register at a later date.