NYRR are crybabies

what is your address?

From the article linked above:

...

Wittenberg called that approach short-sighted and said the two interests should not be mutually exclusive.

"I think the Trials will be fine by the athletes this time," Wittenberg said. "Houston will do a good job. I think it will be fine but it won't be great. We were at a point after being at the bottom of the barrel where we made some quantum leaps. This is not going to be a quantum leap for the sport.

I think it's a leader's job, USATF's job and our job, to make sure the Trials work for the athletes, but to also look beyond. Athletes can only look at their four years or eight years or even that one day. Our job as leaders is looking longer term. It's got to be in the best interests of the athletes in the context of what's best in the long run for the sport and the athletes. I think there is a balance there that needs to be better struck.

"What's going to happen four years from now?"

That was a pretty crappy thing for Wittenberg to say about Houston. I hope Houston blows it out and has the best trials ever and put NY to shame.

Mary comes off as a real bitch in that article.

run dog run wrote:

"Houston will do a good job. I think it will be fine but it won't be great. We were at a point after being at the bottom of the barrel where we made some quantum leaps. This is not going to be a quantum leap for the sport.

Yes, and the ONLY place that can do a GREAT job is NY, led by of course, the GREAT Mary.

The only place that can ensure a QUANTUM leap is Mary and the NYRR.

What a load of self righteous horseshit. Typical for them.

Hmm...Logan's gang didn't even inform the NYRR of the decision until thew announcement was being made.

You guy's like the way Logan comes off in the article?

Who's actually made a contribution to distance running in this country, and who hasn't?

of course, the most prominent marathon in the country is Houston's. who's ever heard of new york or boston?

Clowns of the Purple Sage wrote:

Hmm...Logan's gang didn't even inform the NYRR of the decision until thew announcement was being made.

You guy's like the way Logan comes off in the article?

Who's actually made a contribution to distance running in this country, and who hasn't?

It's not a binary world, baby. It's possible for NYRR to come off sounding whiny and self-important and for Logan to have the diplomatic skills of Idi Amin.

Clowns of the Purple Sage wrote:

Who's actually made a contribution to distance running in this country, and who hasn't?

Actually, a lot of people make contributions to distance running in the US, it's just that the contributions NY makes are more important and the only ones that matter.

NYRR has invested in elite American and international distance running more than any other road race organizer I can think of. They don't need to have balanced fields for their races, or prize money at all. They don't need to put up money for pacemakers and top Americans at the Cardinal Invite and Brutus Hamilton, but they do. Certainly it ingratiates the American elites and their management with the NYRR, but it's also a service to the sport. They're doing much more than the US federation and this decision signals that Logan either doesn't understand that, doesn't give a shit, or both.

I did not say that a lot of people did not make contributions to distance running. It's just that Doug Logan is most certainly not one of them.

New York knew what needed to get done with the bid and wasn't willing to do it, end of f***ing story. The women's trials in Boston were horseshit, I'm not sure why anyone would want to go back there. Houston is an up and coming marathon with a very enthusiastic group who is going to pour everything they have into making sure that the trials are great. The timing is great, the course is similar to London, the weather will be the closest of the three cities to London in August, the bid is fantastic.

Mary just sounds bitter in this article. We all know why Meb is talking up New York, pretty much has to. Same for Abdi and Kara. Did any athlete comment in that article who hasn't run in the New York city marathon? And why the f*** does no one want to run Berlin?

Of course NYRR think they're entitled to whatever they want -- it's New York, the center of the universe. It's the typical New York attitude that nothing important exists outside of New York.

But I can't believe there would be so much whining for attribution in the press about losing a competition. Not very dignified.

I was very happy to be able to watch the 2007 men's OT marathon in Central Park and would have liked to see the next one, but I agree that she comes off like a petulant little brat here.

Congrats to Houston, and I hope they do a great job hosting.

If NY upped their bid to $1 million, that should have been enough to get one of the two Trials, which is all they wanted anyway. The notion of having both Trials in the same place may or may not be good, but going into this process, it was one that NO ONE outside of Houston had.

I don't think it's a leap to perceive that Logan, in this article and in this decision, is doing at bit of "look who's boss" assertion at NY's expense.

As for why only marathoners who'd run NYC were quoted in the article, well, that's because virtually all the elite Americans have. The only one I can think of who hasn't is Desiree Davila.

And to the guy who asked why no one wants to run Berlin...Berlin makes no attempt to have an elite field that's more than three or four deep, tops.

I heard one of the Hansons talking about this 4 years ago. The NYRR give a great deal of money to the training groups.

Why do they do it through USATF? Why not just give it to the training groups? When did they first start donating to more groups that just Mammoth?

Here are the answers. The NYRR started donating money to all of the training groups DURING the bidding process for the 2007-8 Trials. NY had a bid in for the trials and in an attempt to "bribe" the selection committe they gave money to USATF to give to these groups. This made USATF look like they were doing something for development and put the NYRR in a favorable light when determining the winning bid for the 2007-8 trials. If the NYRR had given the money directly to the groups, then USATF would not look good. It worked and they received the trials. The Hansons called bull shit and have never accepted any of this dirty money.

While I agree that Mary sounds a bit like a sore loser, she is looking out for her business interests. She has every right to feel disappointed, especially if USATF didn't even tell her that they didn't get it an hour before it was announced Houston received the bid.

This raises another question...do any of the sport's major players actually want to work with USATF? The simple answer is no. Hosting an Olympic Trials is big-time, and there will always be bidders for it, but road racing in the United States has become an amazing business venture thanks to many strong organizations and individuals, none of which are USATF and their leadership. USATF is a complete joke when it comes to promoting the activity and sport of road racing. It's fairly obvious that Mr. Logan feels road racing really doesn't matter from USATF's perspective.

Honestly, this should tell Mary and NYRR that they don't need USATF, or the Olympic Trials, to keep building their brand and influence in American road racing. They've done more for road racing in the United States over the past five years than anyone else, by far.

Mary is very uncomfortable with being told NO. This is true with athletes and agents as well. She gets pissed when she loses an athlete.

There's a rumor going around that a guy had called Mary W. about a joint venture. She blew him off to deal with someone else that the NYRRC. After 3-4 months he could never get a call back after half a dozen calls.

Guess what? The caller was advisor to the federation and committee and pulled all for Houston because she blew him off.

Lesson here, Mary, you never know who you are talking to.

I like the part where she says that the trials should be in New York because everyone is used to doing marathons in November, not January. Meanwhile, the Olympic Marathon is in August, which is not exactly a "traditional" marathon date either.

This will be good for the sport.

NYC and Boston just "assumed" they were the picks.

Well, this is a wake-up call.

Step up your game.

Keep entertaining the Kenyans and not the American hopefuls? (outside of the big names)

This is what you get.