Americans who can't break 2:10 wrote:
15k fan wrote:
love that front page coverage, oh wait, none
no Huddle this year sadly, where are all the big names, who you got?
Further proof that USATF puts too much into too many distance running championships with negligible results in terms of developing world beaters or even just a healthy sport. Have a road mile, 5K, 10K, half and marathon champs and call it good. Allows more (prize $, comped travel for qualified athletes) to be put into the half and marathon champs. Hell, have two half and marathon champs per year.
I would argue that what they need is a USATF Roads Tour, with three tiers of races:
-USATF Road Tour Races:
-have to have a minimum # of athletes given travel and accommodations (6 per gender)
-have to have a minimum amount of prize money ($10,000/gender) at least 5 deep
-top-6 athletes earn Road Tour Points based on their finish (10-7-5-3-2-1)
-must test 4 athletes (men's/women's winner, 1 random/gender)
-can be any distance (mile to marathon)
-approx. 16 of these races per year, with approx. 4 5k or shorter, 4 half marathon or longer, and 8 between 5k and half marathon
-USATF Roads Tour Landmarks:
-have to have a minimum # of athletes given travel and accommodations (12 per gender), with right of first refusal for those spots being reserved for the most recent USATF 10,000m, 5,000m, and XC champions, plus the top-5 finishers in last year's overall tour standings and the top-2 in the same Major last year
-have to have a minimum amount of prize money ($20,000/gender) at least 8 deep
-top-8 athletes earn Road Tour Points based on their finish (20-15-12-10-8-6-4-3-2-1)
-must test 8 athletes (men's/women's winner and runner-up, 2 random/gender)
-will be four of these races per year: one 10k, one half marathon, one additional short-distance major (10k or shorter, to be a mile every even-numbered year), and one additional long-distance major (longer than 10k, to be a marathon every odd-numbered year)
USATF National Championships:
-have to have a minimum # of athletes given travel and accommodations (20 per gender), with right of first refusal for 10 of those spots being reserved for the most recent winner of the USATF 10,000m, 5,000m, and XC champions, plus the top-5 finishers in last year's overall tour standings and the top-2 in the same National Championship last year
-have to have a minimum amount of prize money ($40,000/gender) at least 12 deep
-top-12 athletes earn Road Tour Points based on their finish (30-25-20-15-12-10-8-6-4-3-2-1)
-must test 10 athletes (men's/women's top-3, 2 random/gender)
-will be four of these races per year: one 10k, one half marathon, one additional short-distance major (10k or shorter, to be a mile every odd-numbered year), and one additional long-distance major (longer than 10k, to be a marathon every even-numbered year)
To be eligible for the USATF Road Tour Title, an athlete must score in at least 5 races, 2 of which must be 10k or shorter and 2 of which must be longer than 10k. An athlete's placing in the overall standings will be determined by their total points earned in all USATF Road Tour races in that calendar year. $100,000 of prize money should be awarded to the top 5 finishers in USATF Road Tour Standings in each gender each year ($50,000/$25,000/$15,000/$7,500/$2,500).
Honestly, though, now that I look at this, I wonder whether USATF needs to be involved, or whether the PRRO races, Houston, CIM, Twin Cities, P3R, Grandma's, Falmouth, Beach to Beacon, Wharf to Wharf, etc should just do something like this on their own if they could ever coordinate . . .
