Posted: June 22, 2006

Athletics: U.S. Olympic Trials Marathons Awarded To Boston & New York

From David Monti

© 2006 Race Results Weekly, all rights reserved RaceResultsWeekly.com

INDIANAPOLIS (22-Jun) -- USA Track & Field, joined by representatives of the Boston Athletic Association and the New York Road Runners, announced here that the U.S. Olympic Team Trials for the women's and men's marathons would go to Boston and New York City, respectively.

"This is a significant day for the sport of long distance running," said Glenn Latimer, chairman of USATF's Men's Long Distance Running committee. He said that there would be a huge benefit for the sport having these Trials held on the "big stage" of Boston and New York.

Both Marathon Trials will be held on criterium courses near the dates of the 2008 BAA Boston Marathon and the 2007 ING New York City Marathon. The women's Trials will be held Sunday, April 20, 2008, one day before the 112th BAA Boston Marathon; the men's Trials will be held on Friday, November 2, 2007, two days before the 38th ING New York City Marathon. Both Trials will use the finish lines of the established commercial marathons, both part of the five-race World Marathon Majors series.

"The BAA is very proud to be hosting this great event," said Guy Morse, Executive Director of the BAA whose organization had bid for either the men's or women's Trials.

"This will be a tremendous celebration of American long distance running at its finest," said Mary Wittenberg, President and CEO of New York Road Runners. She added, "This is something we think will be incredibly good for the sport and especially for the athlete."

The other cities which bid for the Trials were Minneapolis/St. Paul, Minn., and Akron, Ohio. The last two Trials were held in Birmingham, Ala., for the men and St. Louis, Mo., for the women, and received tepid media coverage. USATF had made it known that they wanted these trials to be held in major media markets to increase the visibility of their top athletes. Both Meb Keflezighi (silver) and Deena Kastor (bronze) earned Olympic Marathon medals in Athens in 2004.

"We had some unprecedented interest in the Olympic Trials this go around," said Jim Estes, USATF Long Distance Running Programs Manager. "We had some really good bids. It shows with how everything worked out."

Each Trials race will offer $250,000 in prize money, but the respective prize money purses have not yet been determined.

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