Carnage in Orlando by the numbers

Blame Max. He always gets paid. Hot weather marathons are stupid. This one was still to warm of weather.

Three women went under the old trials record.

That's because of the quality of the field on both sides, not the conditions. The start list was by far the deepest ever in trials history. Obviously some will do better than others in various conditions.

If this field had competed at 7:00 AM then the results would have been much better from the top down. No way this race was even close to the conditions the Chicago marathon had in October.

isn't this similar "carnage" to boston? as in a lot of people check the box to qualify/pr, and then run boston (or in this case the trials) with little to no pressure to PR.

Maybe Zach Panning and others would have gotten the Olympic standard…

All that courage and praise for nothing in return. The governing body does no favors for its athletes who invest so much time and money into a sport that has little to no return. They can’t even start the race earlier to give our athletes a better shot at recovering faster for another big training block for the Olympics??

Good grief, this shows you they really don’t give a sh*t. Who here really think Zach or someone else still wouldn’t have stayed on pace with the much cooler temps and less sun beating down on them?

The trials are not supposed to be a PB fest. It’s supposed to pick the team that’s most able to do well in Olympic-style competition. The best way to gauge that is to have them run in the conditions they are most likely to encounter in the summer Olympics. Mission accomplished.

It’s called the Trials for a reason.

Men’s Olympic marathon starts at 8am. Paris sunrise in mid August is 6:30am. MEANING: it is still relatively cooler as compared to around noon, which is when these athletes were still racing in Orlando as it was several hours after sunrise and during the hottest time of the day.

Paris climate is similar to that of the Pacific Northwest, meaning that while the summer weather is still comparable to Orlando’s winter weather, starting at a similar time like 8am would have been the most predictable to Paris marathon start.

8am start would have not only been a more accurate “trial” simulation, it would have resulted in better performances by people like Panning who could have easily made it if he ran 3-4 seconds per mile slower during the middle portion.

So yes, you’re trying to use logic but the fact of the matter is that USATF screwed over our athletes to increase watching numbers while decreasing the chances of simulating Paris Marathon 8am start time conditions.

Point taken about start time in relation to sunrise. I agree, it should have been 90 minutes after sunrise like it will be in Paris. On Saturday in Orlando, that would have been 8:43 am.

That’s why it was a flat loop course?

How many started the race?

I had a great time in Orlando. Hopefully though Orlando will never get the trials again. The race sure cater to the athletes and not the fat cats that were stuffing their face with free food while most of the athletes were suffering in the heat. Had they started earlier we may have seen sub 2:08 and maybe sub 2:20. Surely not as many DNF's. You would think the way the course was laid out it would have been an advantage for coaches. The police made it impossible to get anywhere near the athletes and to get back and forth around the course. The marathon is Surely not the friendliest spectator sport in Orlando.

Yeah I was told that 65-68 degree weather, direct sunlight and moderate humidity were pretty good conditions for a marathon and that the heat wouldn't be a problem. Right here on this very website I was told that.

the weather thread, pre-race. worth re-reading.

Most posters felt the weather was good and not hot.

I was born in Florida and raised in Louisiana and went into races knowing I would have an advantage on an eighty degree day. The weather in Orlando was perfect at 8:00 for me but not so sure for athletes from up north or Utah. It felt warmer than 72-74 at the finish. Not sure what the heat index was.

If they want start times that are good for both racing and watching they need to just always do the trials out west

you are not qualified to be sent to a warm weather race if you can't prove it by doing well in a warm weather race.

A 46yo woman went 2:33 and placed pretty well. She must have known how to race in warm weather.

Is this all a moot point? Will anyone male or female finish in the top 20 at the Olympics?

It has been a fairly mild winter. They couldve picked a Midwestern or Northeastern course and it would have felt like a November-ish run.

Roberta Groner was 6th is the World Championships in horrible conditions, she is a good heat runner. Her PR is 2:29 so still over minutes off of that.