2016 Olympic Marathon Trials Athlete Review

Trials Volunteer thank you for your time. I want to say all the volunteers were great and I couldn't have been happier with how helpful and friendly they were. I think most of my gripes and those of others were with the organizing group and USATF. I'm also glad to see someone besides the athletes bring up the issue with no plans for dropping out on the course. They told us during the tech meeting drop out at the Start/Finish but on a day with conditions like we experienced that may not be possible. Things can go south in a hurry.

Also to anyone suggesting it was the right thing to leave the start time when it was to simulate Rio's conditions I completely disagree. The race could have been much safer if it was started earlier. You don't put the athletes in a dangerous situation just to simulate potential conditions in a future race. Numerous athletes needed medical attention after the race or after stopping and I doubt this would have been as big of an issue if the race was started earlier when it was cooler. The reason for not starting it early was solely a TV decision. I cannot imagine it would have affected viewership much if the race was shown on tape delay.

Also there is no guarantee and athlete who performs well in heat one day will always perform well in hot conditions, same goes for an athlete who performs poorly. Dathan ran pretty well in Beijing in 08 but dropped out this weekend. Shalane was top 10 in London but barely made it home Saturday.

femaleOTQ wrote:it reeked of manure and pot.

USC in a nutshell. I know there are hard working kids at that school, but the drugs/drinking is evident when one is at the fast food places along Fig near the sorority/fraternity houses.

Thank you so much! The volunteers were amazing. I'm glad you shared your experience. I was actually happy that you all got a tee shirt. That is why I put it in my positives. I just wish there had been more gear that said Marathon trials to purchase. I never heard any complaints about volunteers while I was there. Actually the opposite. All the runners I talked to were very appreciative.

femaleOTQ wrote:

Ustala wrote:

Where was that exactly?

It was actually in the middle of my last water stop. The ambulance was parked right after Table 5 (in my hazy state, I thought they were tearing down the water tables early).

I saw this too. Not the defibrillation, but the ambulance was leaving the water stop right as I was coming upon the first few tables...

Don't worry the race will go one just fine with out you. You'd probably complain anyway.

I want to make a suggestion that the USATF/Nike/whoever (Sketchers... thanks Meb!) should send a nice T-shirt in the correct size to every participant. They deserved it for doing the work to get into the trials. It is not too late to correct this oversight.

peopleoffuller wrote:

Olympic Trials Athlete wrote:

B. What is your local race? I would like to also never recommend any one run it based off your ringing endorsement.

Don't worry the race will go one just fine with out you. You'd probably complain anyway.

Out of curiosity is the race you are talking about wharf to wharf? That's the only race I know that has elites stay at people houses. If this is indeed the race you are talking about then I think it's fair to say that certain things like water stations may not be neccessary because its a 6 mile race. Whereas for a marathon especially the trials where runners are killing themselves to get to the line certain additional things should be provided like fluid stations and something to eat/drink at the finish line.

femaleOTQ wrote:

The USC portion was disappointing. Why were we running on rocks/potholes, and hopping on/off of curbs? I second what someone said - it reeked of manure and pot.

Whoever designed the course was an idiot.

run with the wom wrote:

I want to make a suggestion that the USATF/Nike/whoever (Sketchers... thanks Meb!) should send a nice T-shirt in the correct size to every participant. They deserved it for doing the work to get into the trials. It is not too late to correct this oversight.

+1 What a great idea! Maybe some copyright stuff to worry about, but I like it.

My girl Katja Goldring killed it! Picked up 40 people over the last 14 miles to get ninth. A+

Olympic Trials Athlete wrote:

Although they never mentioned extra water on the course, I just assumed there would be. That is on me. I should have asked, and been aware of that. I think one more station could have made a big difference. I was pouring a lot of my water on me to try and cool off. It would dry very quickly though in that dry air. My mouth felt like a desert the whole time. I never cramped, which was the only saving grace.

OTA,

Late to this thread, so sorry if this was already mentioned. I was running around various parts of the course, spectating, and saw several tables marked Neutral Water Station. These tables were loaded with bottles of Desani water. They weren't in the center of the road like your special aid tables, but were along the curbs in both directions. Did you not see those?

Congrats on persevering on less-than-ideal conditions out there!

Yeah like a lot of copy write stuff.

Olympic Trials Athlete wrote:

run with the wom wrote:

I want to make a suggestion that the USATF/Nike/whoever (Sketchers... thanks Meb!) should send a nice T-shirt in the correct size to every participant. They deserved it for doing the work to get into the trials. It is not too late to correct this oversight.

+1 What a great idea! Maybe some copyright stuff to worry about, but I like it.

disaster

Course- too many turns, no electrolytes late in the race. 27 speed bumps in the last 5 miles. treatment of B level runners. Making them pay $300 per night. No T-Shirt for OT runners. VIP tent at finish for CEO's, OT runners kicked out. charging for rides from airport.

take the OT's back to NYC, Houston or Boston. Anything but LA.

Based on the responses her from the subs.I wonder why the USATF goes through the bother of having a trials. This isn't like the early 90s when the US would maybe send 1-2 marathoners.

Fact is before the race, you could pick the winners on both squads from a list of Maybe 10 men and 10 women.

An given the level of petty complaints from people like "Olympic Trials Athlete" it's not worth it. I mean, that person complain about stupid stuff' "I didn't get a shirt." "People didn't prepare me for the heat." "it was on national free television, but they should have change the time at the last minute"

I would consider scraping the whole idea. It's not worth it any more.

I understand the sacrifice they had to make (if they weren't begin for $$ on go fund me) But I don't look to them for inspiration. I couldn't pick them out of a empty mall.

peopleoffuller wrote:

blah blah

Spoken like a true basement dweller.

Blame the source wrote:

2020 qualifying times 2:13 A. 2:16 B. 62:00 for HM (also B)

Treat the A like royalty and let the B find their own way.

Limit the qualifying window to 12 months before the event.

This would of brought in Estrada and Chelenga and Rupp and they were the only HM that added any excitement to the field.

It would be easier for the LOC to provide services to the 15 A athletes and limit the field to 50-75 athletes. A reasonable number to take care of properly and still provide for all.

USATF faced this same problem in 2007 in New York and found that the whiners came from those that were the back qualifiers. They eliminated the B qualifying standard in 2012.

A and B standards are gone now per the IAAF. Look into that.

I had a whole list of positive things I put before any negative. You seem to only dwell on the negative. I titled the post review. Reviews often have both positives and negatives. It would be disingenune of me to sit here and thank the LOC and the USATF for letting some low level athlete, who you seem to think I am, in the race to begin with. How do you even know I'm not an A qualifier? I happen to know for a fact that girls and guys alike who had real shots at making the team have a lot of the same complaints I do. I know you are just a troll, so this is the last time I will respond to your nonsense.

fellow Q wrote:

Did you qualify through the Half? Yep.

Ed Torres said that the half qualifier is going to significantly change. The only purpose will be to include potential Olympians and guys that can help sell the event. Rupp and Chelenga and Estrada but not 30-50 guys running 63:30-65:00 in Houston.

Thinning the HM qualifiers will change the way people do business

USATF bylaws require that USATF standards not be tougher than IAAF standards because the Ted Stevens Amateur Sports Act has been interpreted in such a way to mandate this.

The IAAF only has a marathon standard, no half marathon standard. So USATF could eliminate qualifying by the half if they wanted, but obviously that would be a bad idea. But can they make the half standard tougher? Yes, absolutely. Will that shrink the field? Maybe somewhat, but it's a pretty big qualifying window, some of the athletes who only had a half marathon standard would probably get the full marathon standard if they needed to.

The size of the field is not the issue. Legitimate safety concerns have been raised that affected the best athletes, not just the people at the back of the pack. Galen had to suck water from towels. Shalane had to get IV fluids after the race. This isn't simply a case of "the wannabes are whining about stupid shit that doesn't matter."

The safety of all participants should be a priority. Telling participants to only drop out near the start/finish line is insane. Telling athletes you'll add bottled water to the north station and then not doing it is unacceptable.

Max Siegel made a business decision. He made it really clear that having the marathon in LA made more financial sense for USATF and that is why he went against LDR's recommendation. He needs to hear from athletes and coaches about these aspects of the race, the things that he isn't thinking about because he's not a former marathoner, he's a guy whose job is to sell sponsorships.