I'm a big Hansons fan and this is not a bash thread!
It seems like despite there great financial deal, they haven't drawn anyone with big-time college credentials, have had significant departures and STILL have not developed a legit womens team.
Has Hansons lost some momentum they had?
What's next for them?
bump
whats next for them? probably a couple of tuneup races, but i think it is fair to say this year the focus is the november 3rd marathon trials.
I would say no. I think the problem that they have is that so many of their athletes have limited themselves to the marathon. This means they have very limited opportunities to show off. I have yet to see their group have a bad marathon. I thought there women ran awesome this year at Boston and then they had the winner at San Fran. I believe that is all of the marathoning that they have done this year. I was suprized they didn't have their men run a marathon this spring but I will wait until November before I am critical of that decision. Both O'Brien and Morgan are on the WC team as well. This means that 40% of the mens marathon team will be Hansons. 60% of the previous mens WC team was Hansons athletes.
Have the Hansons' ever had a BIG name on the team? NO, because the team is about athletes putting in the time to develop. For example, Verran and Sell the two best men have been on the team for more than 5 years. That means their women should be coming together right about April 2008.
Now the new money on the line should in theory bring in some bigger names, but this is a marathon group. What fresh faced college woman wants to focus on the marathon? Most of these women want to play in the 10k for a few years.