Houston gets BOTH US Marathon Trials!!

Old XC Dad wrote:

Would you trade a chance of running in the Olympic Marathon for $200-$300K in hand plus prize money?

Um, YES.

Good Choice wrote:

I'd guess there'd be a people's 10k, 1/2, Full so we can all get an official time in while we are in town.

Hunh??

It's about time America got to have a major meet. I'm sick of Boston, New York, N.E. Jamaicans, Eugene acting as a the septic tanks for our sport.

Fitz/NER wrote:

I'd venture the decision has more to do with New York & Boston being unwilling to eat another $1.25 million to stage the trials.

Sponsorship conflicts with the USOC were never resolved after the last trials in NY & Boston (basically, the USOC didn't budge).

The USOC doesn't have an energy sponsor so Houston (Chevron) is sitting pretty.

Wrong. The USOC just signed up BP:

Adam Goucher ftw.

Yanqui wrote:

It's entirely about money. Absolutely nothing else.

______________________________

That is exactly all it is about

Am I the only one who thinks it doesn't really matter where it is held? Minneapolis, Portland, Fargo....it will be interesting anywhere.

wish it was nyc wrote:

so the Houston trials are approximately 7mos prior to the Olympic Marathon? NYC would have been November 2011 and Boston would have been April 2012?

I would have assumed the best for the athletes is NYC, just based on the amount of time in between the events.

I live in NYC so I wanted the trials here but I really like having the men and women at the same time and I also assume the course in Houston isnt as challenging as 4 loops of Central Park.

I don't know anything about the financial packages for the athletes .... just as a resident of NYC, I wanted them here - it was such an amazing event to watch and I'm bummed I wont see them in 2011.

I like the timing of when the trials are. It gives track guys like Ritz no excuse not to race the world track champs in August of 2011. Since its in January you have plenty of time to do a marathon build up as opposed to it being in early November. Also, it may deter people like Hall from trying to squeeze another marathon in like he did with London in 2008. The total focus can be on preparing for the Olympics. Finally, in regards to Boston in April, in my opinion the 4 months between a April and August marathon is too short for an elite level runner to recover to run their best. So to me January seems like perfect timing. Not too close or too far away from the Olympics.

halfer wrote:

in my opinion the 4 months between a April and August marathon is too short for an elite level runner to recover to run their best.

Didn't seem to bother Wanjiru.

I am shocked at some of the responses my comment garnered. If anybody thinks that there is going to be more money and media hype put into the event in Houston than in New York, they are badly mistaken.

Wejo, in your own "inside story," Houston Marathon Director Steve Karpas said himself that "he did not feel the Houston bid was financially superior to New York's".

I wish Houston well, and hope the trials turn out to be a success, but turning down New York was a mistake.

Houston's bid was superior to NYC's. NYC was not going to come up with as much loot as Houston did.

runBen wrote:

I wish Houston well, and hope the trials turn out to be a success, but turning down New York was a mistake.

Indeed. Looks like a bunch of jealous country side ppl got together to "kick this arrogant NYC in the balls".

Honestly, smart choice b/c NYC doesn't f ucking care about small things like marathon trials.

Looking forward to see the fast Africans again come November!

"NYC doesn't f ucking care about small things like marathon trials"

Oh, really? I was in Central Park for the trials and recall seeing the route lined with thousands of fans and massive media coverage. The New York Road Runners even paid for ads in the New York subways that I saw for weeks before the event.

And as for this whole, "Houston treats its athletes like rock stars" excitement, I sure hope they do, because it will hard to top what Mary Wittenberg has done for athletes in New York.

bronxator wrote:

Honestly, smart choice b/c NYC doesn't f ucking care about small things like marathon trials.

As Wejo said, the key will be live TV coverage. If there is none again then press exposure for Houston will be limited. During the NY olympic trials the New York Times wrote a series of articles leading up to the event. Since the Times has more than double the Houston Chronicle's circulation and is syndicated worldwide it's hard to see how the Houston trials will get better press....

HUGE mistake. This is like the NFL moving the Super Bowl to Cornhusker Stadium in Nebraska. What the USATF is saying and why the USATF has no vision goes like this: We will settle for being a medium sized fish in a small pond. We will continue to cater to existing runners instead of taking our product mainstream. The trials in Boston and New York were amazing and a giant step forward. We just took 10 giant steps back.

We don't have a Wanjiru. We don't even have a Kebede.

$$$$$ wrote:

halfer wrote:

in my opinion the 4 months between a April and August marathon is too short for an elite level runner to recover to run their best.

Didn't seem to bother Wanjiru.

Don't imagine that NYC doesn't care. The NYRR is mighty pissed off about this.

lagsun wrote:

bronxator wrote:

Honestly, smart choice b/c NYC doesn't f ucking care about small things like marathon trials.

As Wejo said, the key will be live TV coverage. If there is none again then press exposure for Houston will be limited. During the NY olympic trials the New York Times wrote a series of articles leading up to the event. Since the Times has more than double the Houston Chronicle's circulation and is syndicated worldwide it's hard to see how the Houston trials will get better press....

Well, unlike NYC the trials in Houston won't have to compete as much for tv or newspaper space with the tail of the regular season in the NFL (it'll be the playoffs, with only 2-4 games on that weekend) or college football games rife with BCS implications. Unlike with Boston, the trials in Houston won't have to compete as much for tv or newspaper space with the late season NBA battle to get to the playoffs. Or MLB opening day and all the early season hype. It'll be midseason for NHL and NBA and fairly early in-conference season for college hoops. So there'll probably be a bit more room in the mainstream sports media to squeeze in OT coverage than with NYC or Boston.

Jackson James wrote:

Am I the only one who thinks it doesn't really matter where it is held? Minneapolis, Portland, Fargo....it will be interesting anywhere.

I agree. Who gives a crap.