Houston should be the permanent home for the USATF half championship and for the marathon trials. No other half in the US has shown such a strong commitment to US runners and international competition. A fixed half championship is great for US distance runners so they can reliably plan their fall/spring racing. Same for the US marathon trials. No other race has as good infrastructure (hotels/conference facilities, etc.) and experience at delivering a quality race year after year.
You're from Houston, right? Your brief sounds sensible, but would a broad survey of athletes and coaches reveal widespread support for such a proposal? Perhaps. As a fan, I would support it, for the reasons you listed and for the simple fact that travelling to Houston from most anywhere in North America is relatively easy & affordable.
The short term memory of people is crazy. Like there are hundreds of distance runners out there to cheer for who weren't coached by a guy arrested for EPO possession + pressured athletes he coached into taking injections. Sadly anticipating the 2025 chat of "excited to see how Houlihan does on her half-marathon debut - will be fascinating to see how her AR caliber track talent translates to the roads!"
+1
But sadly, wejo is openly wondering whether it should be forbidden to ever mention that ridiculous cheat on BTC threads.
Just a technical question: If Dibaba had gotten popped 4 years ago, is it possible that we wouldn't have heard about it? I mean, it's interesting, 4 years.
Quite possible. As we just learned, both ADAK and USADA kept some bans secret, and even AIU kept Shelburrito's provisional ban secret against their own pro-transparency policy.
Marathon field announced today. I wonder how many more hours away?
Bit disappointing it’s still unannounced
At last, it’s here. And the quality comes in a 2.13.xx guy. If you can run 60.02 for the half, you should be able to be at 63.20 halfway here and have a slight negative split to finish with the 2.06 and 2.07 guys
51st Annual Chevron Houston Marathon Elite Field Announcement A national record chase in the women’s field and one of the fastest men’s field in race history HOUSTON – January 4, 2023 — The 51st Chevron Houston Marathon women...
Just a technical question: If Dibaba had gotten popped 4 years ago, is it possible that we wouldn't have heard about it? I mean, it's interesting, 4 years.
Her last race was almost exactly 4 years ago. Dec 31st 2018.
That's why secret bans are so toxic and bad for the sport. Someone sits out four years and they could genuinely have had awful health issues and injury, but because we know secret bans are a thing fans plausibly wonder if that exact four year gap is a little too convenient.
https://www.usada.org/sanction/eliud-ngetich-accepts-doping-sanction-2/ USADA announced today that Eliud Ngetich, of El Doret, Kenya, an athlete in the sport of track and field, has accepted a two-year period of ineligibili...
The main players each have a fair share of blame for the sordid business of doping that has sullied the image of Kenya. The Anti-Doping Agency of Kenya has sanctioned another 31 athletes.