2008 OT marathon host named tommorow...

i'll agree with just about everything you say except for your reasoning behind not having the trials in november. if a guy takes 2 or 3 shots at qualifying and doesn't get it then, that 4th try most likely isn't going to make much of a difference. i think the fall date is terrible because it'll make our top athletes choose between the world championships and the olympic trials. add in the fact that it's 10 plus months away from the olympic marathon and a lot of variables come into play such as the possibility of our qualifiers running in a spring marathon and the possibility of getting hurt during that long stretch of time. too much can change during that period of time. i do think new york would do a great job putting on the trials. they did a phenomenal job with the cross country championships in february and were very athlete and fan friendly. no matter what, the decision needs to be made public so that our runners can plan accordingly. 18 months until the trials if held in november 2007 is not that far away.

(1) what makes a date "too far?" are you worried that meb is going to slack off from nov to the games? for the guys who run for a living, who likely will be the 3 qualifying, having a nov date actually gives them time to recover and then make some more money racing in the winter and spring.

(2) so the couple of hundred family members who will be watching should be the driving factor here? why do families of oly marathon qualifiers possess a gene that prevents them from traveling and watching athletic events on fridays? it didn't seem to be much of a problem for the families of all the ncaa basketball players who played on fridays in this year's ncaa tournament. what is a "lousy spectator situation." i watched the past oly marathon trials on the internet and i thought that seeing just about nobody watching the races in person to be pretty lousy. you could set up an ant f***ing session in nyc and people will come out to watch it.

(3) i forgot that nyc has this weird phenomenon that causes reporters sent here to cover events to altogether miss them because of all the distractions. it happens every year with the marathon.

(4) yes, cp is a terrible place for a 4-lap marathon. it has rolling hills to keep the race honest and would allow people to see the runners at least 8 times (if you run across the park each time the runners pass). care to elaborate how cp is worse than any other venue?

i do agree that having it on a friday is not great. it would be MUCH better to have it the saturday before the marathon. there will be many more people watching if that is the case because only the hardcore running fans will watch if it is on a friday (and we know that the number of such people isn't exactly large in nyc). the park was jammed this weekend because of the spring weather and nothing was going on. stick the trials in there and it will be bursting with people.

Some people pretty high up in the process have contacted me and hopefully I'll be able to post more explaining how the process works. There are a lot of good people involved in the process and after seeing the names on the list (a lot of athletes and ex athletes) i'm optimistic a good decision will be made. But I'm not 100% sure how the process works and have written back to get clarification and to see if I can post what they sent me. So check back on Thursday or Friday.

Wejo, Why can't they or you, publish the list? I call bullshit. Half the people on the list will tell you they didn't know they were there.

The decision was made by at most 3-4 people and a vote of approval was never sought.

So when is this announcement?

Bump

They won't publish the list because it's a secret. SSSSSHHHHHHHHHH! It would also be hard to explain that only 3 people were actively involved in the process.

plus size wrote:

They won't publish the list because it's a secret. SSSSSHHHHHHHHHH! It would also be hard to explain that only 3 people were actively involved in the process.

You're wrong. Here we go:

4lorn wrote:

simpsons_ wrote:

it was not a done deal two years ago. not even close.

Correct, it was closer to three years.

new york huh? we'll see.

new york, done deal

bump in light of recent events

based on the last line of that article linked to on the front page, I'd have to guess it's probably NY. I really wish it was Boston, but that's cause I'm hoping to qualify and need the extra time. If the guys who have a shot of making the olympic team don't care whether it's november or april, then I guess it really doesn't matter. the trials are about them, not about the also rans.

Meb, Sell, Verran, and Culpepper all would prefer a March or April date. I asked them at the John Hancock Press Conference. Although they all said it wasn't a big deal either way.

You hit the nail on the head. It doesnt matter to the athletes.. They just want a well organized, professional event. Both Boston and NYC can give them that. It also isnt about the B guys and girls. They should jut be happy getting there.

ugly truth wrote:

based on the last line of that article linked to on the front page, I'd have to guess it's probably NY. I really wish it was Boston, but that's cause I'm hoping to qualify and need the extra time. If the guys who have a shot of making the olympic team don't care whether it's november or april, then I guess it really doesn't matter. the trials are about them, not about the also rans.

I love the search engines on this site.

Committee wrote:

Scott,

The committee was a front. I have talked with several folks that were part of the sub committee's that think that New York on a Friday before the New York Marathon would be horrible. Many of them have expressed this to the folks on the selection panel. IT DOES NOT MATTER. Finke, Estes and Latimer have decided that they want it in New York and Mary Wittenberg has paid big for their votes. I guarantee the mens will be in New York. The process is crooked.

That was a post from April. Over 2 months before it was announced. What a sham our sport is.

That was a post from April. Over 2 months before it was announced. What a sham our sport is.[/quote]

Please elaborate. I don't know why this is a surprise to anyone. The recent award of the OT's and national champs to Eugene shows that our sport cares nothing about fairness, precedent or anything resembling a "bid process". The sport is run by a handful of incompetent asswipes who do what they want when they want. To make matters worse, it is the asswipes who are not in the old boy network that are the most ignorant and as a result, the most dangerous. Read: Latimer, Finke, Estes, Phillips. All evidence pointed to New York from as early as October of 2003. Those that pointed out the shady side of the dealings have been dealt with and are no longer active in the sport.