Boston and New York front-runners to host '08 Olympic Trials
Boston and New York are the front-runners to host the next United States Olympic Marathon Trials, which are expected to be awarded this month. ''If it's New York or Boston, it would be the right place at the right time," said Mary Wittenberg, race director of the New York City Marathon. ''Those are big stages."
Minneapolis-St. Paul and Akron, Ohio, are the other two contenders for the Trials, which will determine the teams for the 2008 Games in Beijing. Boston and Akron are bidding for either the men's or women's trials. New York is contending only for the men's event and the Twin Cities only for the women's.
Though both Boston and New York would stage the Trials as a prelude to their annual marathons, the races would be held on special loop layouts to fulfill USA Track and Field's desire to have a fast course that would allow the top three finishers all to meet the ''A" standard for the Olympics.
Boston, which would hold the Trials April 20, 2008, the day before its traditional holiday event, would begin and end the race at the usual finish line on Boylston Street at the Boston Public Library. After a 2.4-mile segment that would pass the Public Garden, the Boston Common, and the State House, the race would include four approximately 6-mile loops on both sides of the Charles River, modeling the format used for the Tufts 10K for Women.
New York, which would hold the Trials two days before its November 2007 race, would use a loop course within Central Park that reverses the former route of the US 8K Championships and ends at the usual spot next to Tavern on the Green.
While the Boston Marathon frequently was used as an Olympic selection race between 1908 and 1960, its hilly topography ruled it out when the US federation went to one-site trials in 1968. But when a criterium-style layout was made the preferred choice this time, Boston was back in the mix.
The selection committee also will have to decide whether it wants a November date, which would have the Trials more than nine months before the Olympic event. Akron and the Twin Cities, which hold their annual marathons in the fall, have proposed April dates, which leaves New York as the only autumn bidder. ''There are always opinions about when the best time is," said Jim Estes, USATF's long-distance running manager. ''I don't think [a fall date] has been an overwhelming concern for anybody."
