Dream mile qualification disagreements

What about runners at altitude/ just adjust the times like the NCAA? Your two cents make sense to me though. The whole point of racing on a track is that the times speak for themselves. A qualifying system disadvantages kids who come from stacked regions/areas.

If they were the 14 best milers in the country they would make it through their prelims.

Time trailing is not the same as racing. The dream mile should have a way to reward proficient racers.

So I guess none of you have ever tried to run a international shoe company where the idea being is to get as much exposure for your product as you can starting on the local level.

Myself and one of my athletes were invited to the Adidas Dream 100 a couple of years ago and I was impressed with the way that the organizers of the meet handled all of the travel, food and hotel arrangements as the main organizer had to deal with a major spring storm that threw all travel into disarray.

The following year I was at the Simplot Games and in the Adidas Shoe store I found this same organizer doing the merchandising of all the Adidas shoes and products in the store.

What I gleaned from this was that the Adidas meet main organizers job was to sell shoes but more importantly the Adidas company brand name by marketing them and it the best way possible. Whether that meant bringing all the top talent in the country and the world to New York City so that they could compete in the Adidas Grand Prix meet or by making sure the shoes that were being sold at a high school indoor track meet in Pocatello, Idaho were being displayed the best way to maximize exposure of the product.

The qualifying meets are just another chance for Adidas to market their products and also gain attention to the Adidas Grand Prix Meet and track and field.

There are only 5 qualifying meets for the Dream Mile which has 14 participants. So that makes 9 qualifiers that are chosen based on prior times and the resume they bring with them.

My question is, what is wrong with that?

lemonejuice wrote:

I don't like the system where they have dream mile qualifying meets.

Don't like it, simple. Start a meet, put up all the money and then you can pick the fields as you want. Until then adidas can do what ever they want and I am sure they care very little if at all that you are unhappy.

adidas pays the bills, adidas makes the rules.

learn to race wrote:

If they were the 14 best milers in the country they would make it through their prelims.

Time trailing is not the same as racing. The dream mile should have a way to reward proficient racers.

What makes you think a guy who runs a tactical 4:13 w/ a 57 last lap can keep up w/ the boys who are running 60's every lap at the Dream Mile? It should be the fastest 14 times, no they might not be great racers, but they can keep w/ the fast pace, the whole point of the dream mile is to get fast times, get boys under 4:00 and 4:05... Girls under 4:40 and 4:43...

I'm with the OP, the system for picking these athletes is rigged, why do we have a confirmed 4:49 1600m runner going to the dream mile, but a 4:41 1600m girl hasn't been been confirmed yet?

As has been said: the Dream Mile is a marketing event and not a championship as the New Balance meet aims to be. The regional qualifying spots are provided as an incentive to have top competition attend those additional Adidas meets. They want a buildup to the Grand Prix meet.

There is obligation for Adidias to accept anybody to the meet. They invite who they want.

If you think New Balance Nationals is anything other than a marketing event for New Balance, you're wrong there.

Every kid there becomes a damn NB billboard as they walk around with their backpacks for the next year, at least.

Why else do you think there's "emerging elite" or multiple heats of any event? They want as many people to have a chance to qualify as possible.

Skip Bounds wrote:

If you think New Balance Nationals is anything other than a marketing event for New Balance, you're wrong there.

Every kid there becomes a damn NB billboard as they walk around with their backpacks for the next year, at least.

Why else do you think there's "emerging elite" or multiple heats of any event? They want as many people to have a chance to qualify as possible.

This is also true ^^

NB does a much better job if anything compared to Adidas and it's promotion of the dream mile and qualifying meets

The best kids in the nation aren't going to swarm to a qualifying meet, especially if the meet is more than 3 hours away, plus on top of that, only the winner gets to go, so it's very risky if your kid has a slightly bad race and gets 2nd in a tactical race

The local elites are going to go to their respective local "big meets" whether it's a qualifying meet or not... The same kids that went to the Kansas Relays back in 09 will be the same kids that go now, same as Mt Sac Relays, and Raleigh Relays, nothing much changed with it being a qualifier...

There's kids all over the nation dreaming to go to NB Nationals, who are willing to go to from California to North Carolina or New York, just to say they went to "Nationals", NB made so much more money after adding in more events, emerging elite and what not, I see their back packs everywhere

These Dream Mile qualifying meets are useless to me, and no Adidas doesn't have an obligation, but this is the whole reason the thread even started, to try and argue why the Dream Mile should reevaluate their selection system, which in my opinion needs to be fixed

I for one don't want to see a 4:12 or 4:52 miler who qualified in a regional meet, look like their jogging it in at the Dream Mile, I want sub 4:05 and sub 4:43 material there on the starting line, trust me we have plenty, but the sad part is many of them will be laying on the couch in a couple of weeks wondering why they didn't get invited

Name a sub-4:05 miler who will be sitting on the couch this year.

Know your facts before you post. The New Balance Nationals indoors and out are not owned or operated by New Balance. New Balance is the title sponsor (did you know the meet was once the Nike Outdoor Nationals and before that the adidas Outdoor Championships?). The meet is owned and run by the National Scholastic Athletics Foundation which is a non-profit. Google them and read about them.

I don't get the problem. Track has been doing things this way, forever. 5 heat winners and the 9 fastest times.

If you are in Cali, you might have good enough weather and competition to run fast in several different meets but most places the weather in May can be a roll of the dice. Have you tried to set a PR in the pouring rain? Or do you put it off and try to PR with the guy behind you running 4:16?

Matthew Novak - 4:06 did not get in.

Also has a 1:52/9:13, I think he would have been top-5.