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NEW YORK - The countdown to the men's 2008 U.S. Olympic Team Trials -
Men's Marathon begins in New York City this weekend with a New York Road
Runner (NYRR) sponsored training camp. NYRR will host 10-20 athletes who
have qualified for the November 3, 2007 trials at this year's marathon
in order to provide them with a preview of the trials weekend activities
and course.
The Olympic Trials course will start outside the famed Rockefeller
Center in the heart of Manhattan and finish at the historic Tavern on
the Green in Central Park, New York Road Runners president and CEO Mary
Wittenberg announced Thursday.
Wittenberg was joined by USA Track & Field CEO Craig Masback and leading
U.S. distance runners Khalid Khannouchi, Abdi Abdirahman, and Jorge
Torres at a news conference at Tavern on the Green. Next year's Olympic
Trials race will take place the day before the ING New York City
Marathon 2007, making for a marathon doubleheader.
"New York City will be the center of the marathon world next November
with America's best long distance runners kicking off a spectacular
marathon weekend," said Wittenberg. "We have put together a fan-friendly
race course and national TV coverage to roll out the red carpet for our
country's best men, who are now among the best runners in the world."
After starting in front of Rockefeller Center at 49th Street and Fifth
Avenue, athletes will head up the Avenue of Americas to Central Park
where they will enter through Columbus Circle and begin the course's
criterion loops; one four-mile circuit followed by four identical
five-mile circuits, finishing on the Park's west side at the historic
Tavern on the Green.
"New York has been the site of some of history's top men's marathon
performances," said Masback. "Having the 2008 Olympic Marathon Team
Trials in a city with such a tremendous running tradition, and with some
of the world's best race organizers, is only fitting. We look forward to
what will be a first-class event for our most elite distance runners as
they begin their Olympic journeys."
A media package featuring national broadcast coverage and live web
streaming was also announced as part of an innovative broadcast package.
The start will be shown live nationally on NBC's "Today Show" beginning
at 7:35am and the race will be streamed in its entirety via the Web at
www.NBCSports.com . In addition, a 30-minute
highlight show will be broadcast nationally on NBC on Saturday afternoon
at 1:30 p.m. EST. A total prize money purse of $250,000, provided by New
York Road Runners, was also announced.
Currently 120 men have met the standards
USATF.org to compete in the trials by virtue of performances
at the marathon distance as well as track performances for 5,000 and
10,000 meters, the most since the 1996 Olympic Trials in Charlotte, N.C.
In the greatest showing of male qualifiers since 1984, 44 men qualified
at the LaSalle Bank Chicago Marathon on October 22 with 20 "A" standard
qualifiers. The men's qualifying window will be open until October 7,
2007.
For more information on the 2008 U.S. Olympic Trials Marathon, visit
www.usatf.org.
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