Athletics: 2004 U.S. Women's Olympic Marathon Trials Recap

By Ryan Lamppa, Running USA wire

What a difference a quadrennium makes. Four years ago, the U.S. fielded only two entrants - Trials champions Rod DeHaven and Chris Clark - for the Olympic Marathon. Four years later, the U.S., after Saturday's exciting U.S. Women's Olympic Marathon Trials, will send a complete marathon team (three men and three women) to Athens this August.

And with five past Olympians, this team is arguably one of the best that the United States has qualified for the Summer Games. Alan Culpepper, Meb Keflezighi and Dan Browne earned trips to Greece last February in Birmingham, Alabama, while Colleen De Reuck, Deena Kastor and Jen Rhines punched their Olympic tickets over the weekend in St. Louis.

Over a criterium course in Forest Park, the women's Trials race produced plenty of drama and plot twists as Blake Russell tried to steal the race from the start, but was overcome by Trials favorite Kastor who took control of the race after 18 miles and later lost it at 24 miles to De Reuck who was seeking redemption from last year's "crash and burn" here at the USA Championship and finally, Rhines who passed Russell at 26 miles put together the marathon everybody in the sport expected of her.

For The Record
With her 2:28:25, De Reuck set a Trials record (previous record by Margaret Groos, 2:29:50 at Pittsburgh in 1988). In addition, the Boulder, Colorado resident who turns 40 on April 13 became the oldest female U.S. marathon champion and Olympic marathon team member.

Fast Company
For the first time at the same Women's OMT, three women ran sub-2:30, and overall their performances, 2:28:25 (De Reuck), 2:29:38 (Kastor) and 2:29:57 (Rhines) rank #1, #2 and #5 all-time at the Trials. Further, the top 7 finishers recorded the fastest times for place at the OMT. In addition, 26 Trials finishers set personal records (and 12 of the top 20) with Rhines registering the biggest time improvement (11 minutes and 19 seconds).

History Maker At St. Louis, Bev Docherty, 45, of St. Paul, Minnesota became the first six-time Olympic Marathon Trials finisher in history (male or female). Below are her Trials finishing times and places.

1984 = 2:45:33, 68th
1988 = 2:50:00, 82nd
1992 = 2:54:19, 57th
1996 = 2:59:33, 114th
2000 = 2:54:46, 72nd
2004 = 2:52:21, 68th

USARC Update
The U.S. Women's Olympic Marathon Trials also served as a national championship race and thus, as part of the 2004 USA Running Circuit, a USA Track & Field road racing series featuring USA Championships from 5K to the marathon, valuable Circuit points also were at stake.

At each USARC race, the first ten U.S. runners earn points (15 points for first, 12 for second, 10 for third, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2 and 1), and Circuit points at the USA Marathon Championships will be doubled. With her Trials win (worth 30 points), De Reuck holds the #1 spot with 45 points followed by Kastor (24 points) and Rhines (20 points). The next Women's USARC race is the Fifth Third River Bank 25K on May 8 in Grand Rapids, Michigan.

The 2004 USARC offers a record $818,700 in guaranteed prize money with a final $12,500 grand prix purse ($6000, $4000 and $2500) for the top three men and women point scorers overall.

Finally, like Birmingham for the men, the city of St. Louis embraced the U.S. Olympic Marathon Trials and the athletes who performed well before supportive crowds in Forest Park. Congratulations to Nancy Lieberman and Dave McGillivray and their staffs who together produced such a memorable event.