Houston to Host 2012 Olympic Marathon Trials

The City of New York and the New York Road Runners who hosted the somewhat infamous Men’s Olympic marathon trials before the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games are a little less than thrilled with some news today. If you recall, it was in those trials that Ryan Shay tragically passed away, five and a half miles into the race. The city was hoping that they would again be given the trials for the 2012 London games, however USATF has granted the trials to the city of Houston.

One point in favor of Houston was the $1.7 million in private and public funds that were put up for the event. Here is what NYRR CEO, Mary Wittenberg had to say:

“As an organization fiercely committed to our sport and our athletes, I have to be honest and say that we are disappointed by today’s announcement that both Trials races will be in Houston. It seemed such a win-win to split the genders and to give the fans of two markets the chance to experience the Trials in an up-close-and-personal way. The NY and Boston Trials were unqualified successes. It would have been nice for at least one of us to have had the chance to build on that success and to capitalize on the momentum of the last Trials.

“For us at NYRR, our commitment to our athletes and our sport has always gone way beyond any one day. All of us at NYRR were, however, hoping to have the chance to work with USATF and the USOC to make the very most of that one Trials day for the good of our athletes and our sport. We will look forward to continuing to host our American athletes often throughout the year at NYRR events.”

With this, Houston becomes the first city to host both the Men’s and Women’s marathon trials.  The event will be held on January 14, 2012 on a course that has put up some fairly fast times in the past. The top three finishers in each race will go on to represent the United States in the 2012 Summer Olympic Games in London.

HOUSTON COURSE RECORDS
Men: 2:07:37 Teshome Gelana Etana, 2010
Women: 2:23:53 Teyiba Erkiso Waka, 2010