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Boston Marathon Will Have Full Field Of 30,000 In 2022 And All Must Be Vaccinated

BOSTON (CBS) – The Boston Marathon will have a full field of 30,000 participants next year for the 126th running of the race. All athletes must be fully vaccinated and have proof before the race on April 18, 2022.

The Boston Athletic Association made the announcement Tuesday afternoon.

"To be considered fully vaccinated participants must have completed a vaccination series of a World Health Organization-certified vaccine prior to bib number pick up (Friday, April 15)," the B.A.A. said in a statement. "Any registered athlete who cannot provide proof of vaccination will not be allowed to participate in the race. Entries will not be deferred, refunded, or transferred to a future race. Requests for a medical exemption will be reviewed individually."

The field in this year's race, which was run in October for the first time ever due to the pandemic, was significantly smaller with just 18,252 athletes, the smallest field since 2002. Nearly 15,400 finished. The 2019 race had more than 31,500 participants.

Registration for the 2022 marathon opens on Monday, November 8 at 10 a.m. and closes on November 12 at 5 p.m.

The B.A.A. says the qualifying window for runners began on September 1, 2019 and will close on November 12.

You can find the qualifying standards here.

You can watch live coverage of the Boston Marathon on WBZ-TV and CBS Boston.com on Monday April 18, 2022.

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