Detroit Freepress half marathon screws over OTQ

The quandry is whether the race is too cheap or the fee too exhorbitant.

My opinion is the Usatf tries to extort money from these citizen races not to help the elite runners but to put up a larger barrier to competition. It is not the races responsibility to be a qualifying race for an organization that wants to charge them to do so.

The Usatf should do the right thing and let this girl run.

Although you're entitled to your own opinion, it's not really weird at all. The U.S. only starts at 10:30am and runs the 2nd half of the full marathon course. The International Half starts with the marathoners at 7am. and runs the first half of the marathon course. I've run all 3 and I've had a passport for 10 years as do the majority of people (2,100) who run the US only half.Many people have passports but choose to get up later, watch the leaders come out of the tunnel at the 8 mile point, the half way point and the finish before they start their race. The also get to avoid the bridge and the tunnel which DO take a toll on runners. If you haven't ran it, then you wouldn't understand it. The passport has very little to do with it.As for the female runner...let her run!!!!!!

HardLoper wrote:

The Detroit half marathon is weird because there are two courses. One of them goes under the tunnel to Canada (as does the marathon course) but they offer one that stays on US soil (for people who don't have a passport). I am guessing maybe one was certified and the one she ran wasn't, hence the confusion?

Detroit Sucks.

This article from Jan. 26th regarding a member of the Columbus Running Club who ran a OTQ on a unsactioned course in 2014, and somehow USATF granted her the opportunity to run? Seems to be a similar situation as Rachel which doesn't seem fair

http://columbusrunning.com/Home/Murphy

christmasroll wrote:

This article from Jan. 26th regarding a member of the Columbus Running Club who ran a OTQ on a unsactioned course in 2014, and somehow USATF granted her the opportunity to run? Seems to be a similar situation as Rachel which doesn't seem fair

[quote[Kaulen decided to take another shot at her appeal to USATF. By this time it was mid-December, and the Trials were only two months away. Not expecting to be allowed in, she continued to train for the upcoming indoor track season. Then, on January 20th, exactly one month after she contacted USATF, Laura received the good news—she would be in the field for the 2016 Olympic Trials Marathon.[/quote[

From what I heard Rachel put an appeal through USATF as well

Someone needs to do the right thing and let Rachel run!

Thanks for looking into this, Rojo. Maybe if this situation draws some attention, it could help her chances? Here's to hoping.

162430 wrote:

Thanks for looking into this, Rojo. Maybe if this situation draws some attention, it could help her chances? Here's to hoping.

I'm not really sure what should be done.

The question I had is if I was running would I know it had to be done at a sanctioned race?

I wanted to see if USATF made this obviously clear. The Trials qualifying page VERY CLEARLY says the race must be sanctioned. It's underlined as shown here:

Now, once I saw that, the only question I really had was, "Has that page always looked like that or did USATF add it after this became an issue?" Does anyone know.? Wayback machine only lists a September 2015 version of the page which is the same:

If USATF always made it that clear, then this is on the race and/or Rachel. Sure USATF could just let her in but that's a precedent that may hurt them financially.

Here's my question. What about crowdfunding it? If we raise $10,000 and donate it to USATF, will USATF let her in? Like can we pay to basically get the race sanctioned for that year after the fact??

The thing is if the event declines the insurance, the national sanctioning fee is only $50 as explained here:

So would that mean we'd only need to raise $5000 - $50 plus 4950 for the Michigan USATF?

Regardless, how hard can it be to raise $10,000 if we title the page correctly?

If we pull this off, hopefully she'll wear the letsrun.com singlet.

I'll email usatf.

Let's do it Rojo! Keep us updated.

I agree that if it was clearly stated, then it is on the race and/or Rachel. However, I hope that they will make an exception and let her run anyways! It would be awesome to see her in the LRC singlet.

I do not know Rachel, but she was very friendly when I met her at the Great Lakes Relay this summer and she does a lot of recruiting in my area (mid-Michigan) because she is the assistant coach for the NJCAA national champions right down the road (Lansing Community College).

312Runner wrote:

Let's do it Rojo! Keep us updated.

I've emailed them.

In reality, I don't think anyone really is to blame. Society is always trying to blame people for everything. USATF has it's requirements, Rachel didn't know about them and Detroit doesn't want to pay.

As mentioned, races have the option to get a Sanction without the insurance for a fraction of the cost - often, just a few hundred dollars.

But what I see as being more important is that competitive runners need to be proactive. You are independent contractors that need to know the rules and requirements for qualifying for events and for record ratification.

It is unfortunate but too many athletes have lost records and qualifying spots in events due to their lack of knowledge.

Become a student of your event....all aspects.

Since USATF was willing to back sanction the whole race, but Free Press balked at that, could they back sanction just Rachel for whatever amount of money? Could be a way to save face and have a little feel-good story.

Rachel should bandit the race if the usatf doesn't come through

A lot of times you don't know you're about to run a big pr. You know you'll pr, but you're expecting a few seconds, maybe you're doing a distance you haven't done in a while and then you qualify for the trials. You didn't even worry about whether a race was sanctioned or what not b/c you weren't expecting to run so well. Ut seems to me that Detroit should pony up and pay for the sanctioning to save face. No elite runners are going to attend this event again if they do not.

edward teach wrote:

No elite runners are going to attend this event again if they do not.

This is the unfortunate truth. With the Grand Rapids marathon (one weekend after Detroit) seemingly gaining steam I can see Detroit losing some to them. (Not to mention, the yearly competition with Chicago and other fast fall marathons.)

Of course, I s'pose it comes back to "how much are the elites worth to a marathon?". If Detroit wants to continue on like most other major marathons they will just cut back on the elite experience and add a few more Elvis impersonators and selfie stations for the masses.

Michigander Flown South wrote:

edward teach wrote:

No elite runners are going to attend this event again if they do not.

This is the unfortunate truth. With the Grand Rapids marathon (one weekend after Detroit) seemingly gaining steam I can see Detroit losing some to them. (Not to mention, the yearly competition with Chicago and other fast fall marathons.)

Of course, I s'pose it comes back to "how much are the elites worth to a marathon?". If Detroit wants to continue on like most other major marathons they will just cut back on the elite experience and add a few more Elvis impersonators and selfie stations for the masses.

Hey man, Elvis is a crucial part of the aid station. Since Detroit only pays 4 grand to the 'thon winner anyway, you might as well enjoy the show instead of trying to run fast amirite?

Michigander Flown South wrote:

edward teach wrote:

No elite runners are going to attend this event again if they do not.

This is the unfortunate truth. With the Grand Rapids marathon (one weekend after Detroit) seemingly gaining steam I can see Detroit losing some to them. (Not to mention, the yearly competition with Chicago and other fast fall marathons.)

Of course, I s'pose it comes back to "how much are the elites worth to a marathon?". If Detroit wants to continue on like most other major marathons they will just cut back on the elite experience and add a few more Elvis impersonators and selfie stations for the masses.

Probably the Elvis impersonators. I made the mistake of running the Detroit marathon a week after Chicago in 2011. You should have seem the field day the locals had. There were broken car windows everywhere from the sudden influx of people with money parking in bad areas. This was particularly prevalent near the Marathon Relay checkpoints.

With so many great fall marathons, why would you waste your time with this sub-standard event? Makes no sense.