Woman runs 2:42:55 at Houston Marathon, turned down for Olympic Trials because she was in Corral B

Corral B started 13 minutes after Corral A. The Houston Marathon organizers essentially held her back for 13 minutes, guaranteeing her gun time would be over 2:45. Just let this woman into the Trials, for goodness sake.

Why do the USATF go by gun time? Chip time seems fair to everyone.

Good grief USATF always finds a way to fk things up. And Houston was chincey with later entries, they would not give them space in the elite corral even if they had fast times unless they were submitted months in advance.

colorunner123 wrote:

http://citiusmag.com/erin-gregoire-2020-us-olympic-marathon-trials-appeal/

This is pretty ridiculous. The woman's name is Erin Gregoire. She ran 2:42:55 at the Chevron Houston Marathon on Jan. 19. That was her chip time. But she was forced to run from Corral B, so her gun time was only 2:54:54. Apparently, she won't be allowed to run the trials. Here's the statement from the USATF:

“Erin’s differential for the gun time is too much of a gap for us to overcome. It truly pains me not to be able to give her this opportunity but we can not deviate from our selection procedures by that much. All of the appeals that have been granted were under a 10 second differential from the 2:45:00 gun time...”

The right call was made here - awards and qualifications are almost universally made on gun time.

Lesson - if you're looking for a competitive result - crowd up to the front of the race or earn your spot there.

It's absurd to use gun time for OTQ purposes.

I get that gun time has to be supreme when it comes to prize money; you have to know when you're in the race that the order you cross the line is what matters.

It also makes sense to use gun time for actual Olympic qualifying time, since otherwise you get in a situation where you're quibbling over seconds. (Even pros have gun and chip times that aren't identical.) Plus once you're at that level, it's pretty much guaranteed that you're going to have access to a clear start.

But once we start talking about running 2:45, it's just not realistic for those runners to be very close to the starting line, at least in major races. Refusing to accept chip times just creates an incentive for everyone who's trying to OTQ to crash the start line and stand in front of a whole bunch of people who will actually be running faster than them.

One more reason on the long list of why Houston is a sh!thole city.

Ernest wrote:

The right call was made here - awards and qualifications are almost universally made on gun time.

Lesson - if you're looking for a competitive result - crowd up to the front of the race or earn your spot there.

Houston is actually very strict and won’t let you into the A corral without it on your bib. Her mistake was she could’ve essentially jogged a half marathon before Houston to qualify for their A corral as the standard isn’t that high to get in.

She petitioned to be included in the A coral and Houston refused. What more could she do? And it wasn't as if she qualified by 2 seconds. She was clearly under the standard.

Lame decision. USATF could have easily justified letting her in, but they chose not to.

If they hold a corral for 13 minutes, isn’t that a second gun time?

That is ridiculous. You are saying the only way to be get to the top is to be at the top.

Any race that has waves has to go by chip time. Think of heats in track. If you have heats, you don't pick the winner of the race from the fastest seeded heat. You pick the winner from all the results.

USATF has to honor chip time for qualification for any race with waves/heats.

It is very easy to sneak into the A corral at Houston. You just wear a shirt over your bid and slip through when the crowd really starts piling in.

Totally dumb move on Houston's part to not let her in the A corral. It is not the elite start. Everyone in the A corral piles in behind the elite start just before the race starts. There are about 8000 people in the A corral. Most are running paces that are 8 min mi or slower. There is absolutely no issue in letting faster runners in the A corral at the last minute.

And totally dumb move on the US Olympic committee. They need to take chip time for qualifiers. Sh$t happens trying to get to the starting line. Sometimes you get there just before the race starts and have to line up behind a few thousand people. It is totally dumb to keep people out of the trial just because they did not line up close enough to the starting line.

UsedToBeFast wrote:

Ernest wrote:

The right call was made here - awards and qualifications are almost universally made on gun time.

Lesson - if you're looking for a competitive result - crowd up to the front of the race or earn your spot there.

Houston is actually very strict and won’t let you into the A corral without it on your bib. Her mistake was she could’ve essentially jogged a half marathon before Houston to qualify for their A corral as the standard isn’t that high to get in.

They also close the A corral significantly before the race starts. Like 20 minutes before. And really you need to get there 30 minutes before or Corral A will be full up and you won't be able to get anywhere near the front. Hard to stay warm/loose in that crowded corral, and you can't use the restroom anymore at that point.

The ADP corral is awesome, though.

run about wrote:

If they hold a corral for 13 minutes, isn’t that a second gun time?

Logically, it should be, it's essentially a different race.

colorunner123 wrote:

Here's the statement from the USATF:

“Erin’s differential for the gun time is too much of a gap for us to overcome. It truly pains me not to be able to give her this opportunity but we can not deviate from our selection procedures by that much. All of the appeals that have been granted were under a 10 second differential from the 2:45:00 gun time...”

To the USATF: Those appeals that were granted with under a 10 second differential were for performances that were about 2 minutes inferior to this woman's time. It would not be a slippery slope type situation to let her in.

Who?

USATF:

I would like to work with you to make sure she is not denied first start access from any US championship moving forward and I will look to make sure she is accepted into any elite field of our championships and will do whatever I can to assist her.

someone with her credentials should already be in “‘any elite field of our championships”

so congrats on this empty attempt of an apology USATF

Gotta disagree with you Ernest. Erin isn't concerned about prize money or her place in the race. She was trying to earn a qualifying time for the Olympic trials marathon. The USATF policy on gun vs chip states that it's purpose is to preserve competition. Erin was looking for a time.

So she is being penalized for playing by the rules. This could be a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for Erin. (Not saying she won't be able to qualify in 2024, but one never knows what the future holds.) I hope the Trials organizers will reconsider.