In an unprecedented move, USATF awarded a joint men's and women's Olympic marathon trials to a single event. On January 14th, the marathon trials will be held in Houston as part of the Houston Marathon weekend. It will be a great way for Houston to celbrate the 40th anniversary of their signature event.
After a few down years of the event around 2000, the event has really rebounded in the last couple of years with some 2:07 winning times and the 1/2 marathon has had some super fast times as well.
Never before have the men's and women's trilas been held in the same location. Houston did host the women's trials for the 1992 Olympics. But, from a running perspective, that seems like a lifetime ago.
For more info on the announcement, see the USATF release at http://www.usatf.org/news/view.aspx?duid=USATF_2010_03_01_06_18_01
or the LetsRun.com announcement at http://www.letsrun.com/2010/houstonkarpas0301.php
There are also a couple of stories about the reactions of Boston and New York (the other prime bidders) (and the hosts of the 2008 trials races for women and men) at http://www.letsrun.com/2010/olymarathon0302.php
and http://racingnews.runnersworld.com/2010/03/a-brief-chat-with-guy-morse-and-glenn-latimer.html
Some interesting insight into what happens at the top end to get the big tickets events like the olympic trials.
The Muddy Buzzard
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