Anyone who has attempted to get into the NYC Marathon for a while knows that New York Road Runners has put in more varied methods for entry than probably any other marathon. One of those methods -- which is most beneficial to people who live in the vicinity of NYC -- is the 9+1 Program. In short: for those people who are members of the NYRR who finish in any nine of NYRR's events and volunteer at any one of NYRR's events during the calendar year, they get a guaranteed non-complimentary entry into the NYC Marathon the following year.
When I first started out marathoning, this was how I got into my 2nd NYC Marathon -- in the predecessor that didn't include the "+1" part. It wasn't difficult to enter the various races, so fulfilling the base requirement was a breeze. For some number of years now, though, it's gotten insanely difficult to be able to register for nine races -- despite how many NYRR puts on throughout the year -- and maybe even more difficult to land a spot volunteering at one of them.
So, NYRR has announced changes to the 9+1 Program.
In short, NYRR members will enter a drawing to be a "9+1 Passholder." Those who are selected pay a fee to be pursuing the 9+1 method of entry for the given year, and will be supported in terms of being able to gain entry into the necessary races and volunteer opportunity.
There are lots of other membership-related changes that are being instituted simultaneous with this. Most notably that there will no longer be varying tiers of membership with different sets of perks depending on the level. Definitely go to the above link to read all of the different ins and outs.
