The Boston Athletic Association will soon look at whether to revise the Boston Marathon registration system for the 2016 edition of the race.

"We annually review our registration process, our systems, trends in the industry, and we factor our qualifying times and field size," B.A.A. Executive Director Tom Grilk wrote in an email to Runner's World Newswire. "We will review all of these components again this fall."

Last week the B.A.A. announced that more than 1,900 time qualifiers would be excluded from the 2015 marathon because the number of qualifier applications exceeded the number of qualifier spots available. That occurred even though, with qualifiers accounting for roughly 80 percent of the 30,000-runner field, the 2015 marathon will include more qualifiers than any previous Boston except the 100th running in 1996.

Starting with the 2013 marathon, the B.A.A. made qualifying times 5:00 faster in the hope that all qualifiers would be able to register. Qualifier spots for 2013 remained open after the initial two-week registration period in September 2012. The qualifier field didn't fill until after the first weekend of October, thereby allowing runners to use early fall marathons as qualifiers.

For the 2014 marathon, which Grilk characterized as "in many ways a singularity," more than 2,900 qualifiers were excluded.

After last week's news about excluded qualifiers, many runners asked anew whether the B.A.A. should tighten the qualifying standards or look at other ways to ensure all qualifiers can register.

"What we did not know until this month was the level of interest among qualifiers for 2015," Grilk wrote. "We will now work to analyze trends in the sport to follow the participation of marathoners, especially those who achieve our qualifying times. We have a sense that the visibility of the 2014 race, combined with the support from the sport and other marathons, has led to increased interest in runners wishing to run Boston."

Grilk said the B.A.A. thinks that, since the faster qualifying standards were announced in 2011, "we are seeing marathoners -- veteran and new -- training and racing and meeting these more stringent times."

The qualifying window for the 2016 race opened on September 13; the standards are those in place since the 2013 race. The B.A.A. hasn't announced the registration dates for the 2016 race. The size of the field for the 2016 race also hasn't been set, "though we would expect it to be similar to next year's race," Grilk wrote.

Scott Douglas Scott is a veteran running, fitness, and health journalist who has held senior editorial positions at Runner’s World and Running Times.

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