I’ll be glued to the Olympic Trials Marathon tomorrow morning. This year’s Two Rivers Valentine’s Day Runs getting the blessing of the Patron Saint himself with the scheduling on Sunday. Good Clean Living.
Linda urged me to dazzle you with my prognosticate skills, keep it current she said. “No one wants to hear about the old days” were her exact words. But I’ll offer you a peak behind the scenes if you continue, the Trials through another lens altogether.
Every December for 10 years. Listening. Discussing and debating. Deciding. The USA Olympic Marathon Trials Standards. And, as part of an athlete’s rights of USATF membership, the opportunity to appeal near misses to the WLDR Executive Committee. Every December for 10 years. Heartbreaking stories mostly but some truly bizarre ones too. I was a perfect 0-for-never, you either run the standard, or you don’t.
Ever couple of years, sitting with the Race Directors of the NYC Marathon, Twin Cities Marathon, Boston, Akron, St. Louis, all the USATF Bigs. Brokering deals for our athletes, always an eye to jumping the prize money- it was a mere $175,000/gender when I took over the Champs program. How much? How to split? And trying to keep everyone happy. Now long ago and far away.
The ’08 Site Selection Committee. Visiting the bidding cities, hearing their best pitch for the athletes. Boston brings in Mitt Romney to have supper with the committee. His success with the Winter Olympics a boost to their own bid.
Trials weekend in St. Louis ’04. Learning from Boston Race Director. First time introduced to the “Closed System” approach to road race management. Later sitting behind a desk at the athlete declarations table. In order to race you must first check in and “declare” your intent, tight ship and all. During the process, Chief Legal Officer out of Indy helps me measure logos, using a simple cardboard template, to make sure all the i’s and t’s of burdensome bureaucracy are satisfied.
The ’08 Site Selection Committee. Late ’06 and early ’07. Visiting the bidding cities. Hearing their best pitch for our athletes. Boston brings in Winter Olympic whiz and presidential candidate Mitt Romney, has supper with us and boosts an already solid bid.
Trials weekend in Boston ’08. I pass up a trip to Paris. To see four years of dedicated efforts turn into the most successful Trials to date. Privileged to once again work alongside the master, now on his own turf. The Olympic Trials Marathon on Sunday, follow that with the Boston Marathon on Monday. One that all future Trials would be modeled after and judged by.
Until Houston ’12 when my old buddies Steven Karpas and Brant Kotch fulfilled a promise they made me in the hotel lobby in Boston years earlier. They topped it!
Los Angeles ’16. Prize purse now $600,000. The craziness around marketing and uniforms now blown into a 1 page USOC Rule 40 that left me slack jawed with legalese. But that just mere warm up for USOC Rule 50. An 87 page pdf tome that I passed on.
13 men have scratched, including Abdi One of the true characters on the US road scene for the last 16 years (I first worked with him at the Senior Bowl 10K in Mobile Alabama, 2000). 15 women have scratched including Deena and Mary Akor, they too from my era thus long in the tooth and gray of temple.
Now that all the work is done…….
GIDDYUP!
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