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.