Ask Jim Estes or Glenn for the requirements to host a trials, many of the idiots here are back to square one, the folks at USATF have the athletes interests much more protected than one might think!I.E., rooms blocked, fluids contracted, funding for camps & training stipends (appearance or incentive not to run another marathon, etc), travel for A qualifiers, and all the perks for a trials qualifier are all in the packages or they are not seriously considered.
A much better question: Is it fair that the women and men could be both at Boston with 145 women of which maybe 15-12 get the A (which is easier than the men's A by any table conversion, oh, and 80 will come from 2:45-2:47) and yet 90-110 men and 10-15 will likely have the Olympic A Standard and potentiall have the field with the Olympic Games B standard. For example the same perks for 2:39:59 as 2:19:59, but two efforts that are worlds apart. Not to mention the same things for 2:46:50 and 2:21:50 (totally different people with men still at this level training twice to threee times per day and a 2:46:50 woman could be just off pregnancy and run 40-60 miles on 7 trainings a week for this effort, not really a top teir athlete). Look the US born best efforts Al Sal 2:08 and Deena 2:21, ok, this is 13 minutes. We can even go as far as Kahlid 2:05 and Deena 2:21, still just 16 minutes. The world records are 2:04:55 and mid 2:15, so 10 minutes again. Take these three and combine and the best conversion is 11:40 or for arguments sake 12 minutes.
Ok, 2:39 female which equals a male running, 2:27 gets her way paid. A female going 2:47, which is a 2:35 for a male is getting an entry and some perks? Wow, what a disparing phenomenon! Literally, most of the Hanson guys could run 2:35 for a long run in training and 2:27 likely in a tempo run. This is where the whole combined trials sucks big d..k! The Women's LDR are selling themselves so short and have such a 1984 feel to there sport that has change dramtically since 2000, when the no name from Alaska won and so many were shocked!
When the expectations are at 2:47, you lose no one if you take that to 2:40-42, where is should be minimium. There was talk of 2:45, but the women's leadership changed and too many old timers were involved who have never broken 2:40 and think they are decent. What woman at 2:46 is going to develope to 2:25-2:29 (competitive in champ races)? Answer, NONE! Why? Because by not elevating the expectations, the athletes will not train harder. I am sure that 90% of the 2:46 qualifiers could easily run 2:39-40 if they had to do it and train 10-12 times per week. Most 2:46 gals work full time and have no problem paying $2,500 to be a part of the trials, so the travel incentive does not elevate expectations!
If the women want to have one person within 6 minutes of Deena (hell, they gave Aish an award last year for running 19 minutes slower than Deena, totally ridiculous, 2:40 is not a great debut for a sub 32:30 10k runner), the women should raise the level of expectations to 2:34-36 A standard and 2:40-42 B standard, which on the easiest conversons are close but still slower than 2:20 and 2:22. When you have a min expectaton of 2:47, you get loads of people at 2:45-46. When the men have an expectation on athletes at 2:22, you get loads of guys on a fast course/ good weather in Austin (besides J Jurch) who are relatively unknown running close to a 2:15:00 Olympic Games A standard. If 2:36 is the A again for the women, I predict purely on the expectatons they have set on that group to produce maybe 8 people that could be on the team if not a lower number.
On the other side, if the men have 2:15 again there will be easily 15-25 people there. Not to mention if the IAAF World Champs standard of 1 B if you sent 2 A (s) would mean anyone under 2:18 with a top 3 finish has a chance at the team. The men's leadership is way more advance in asking men to perform a great standard to be there, it is not right to have both trials in the same place, period. Read hard Glenn's interview, he does not want to showcase the men with the 20-30 really elite guys and 10-12 contender for the team in the same place as the Deena, Jen, Blake, and Colleen show. I mean the women have 4 who can run fast. Deena is the best US distance runner ever. Jen proved in 2004 she can get it done at the trials, so really the women should just have a race off between 44-45 year old Colleen and Blake to see who they send to China. Honestly, Deena and Meb should have return tickets with medal in hand and the trial shoud be for two spots. Think about it!