Week 1

Friday, September 21

A Look at the Top Entrants

Though the Trials race is too close to call, expect to see these athletes in the hunt

More than 160 men have qualified to compete in the 2008 U.S. Olympic Team Trials – Men’s Marathon in New York City on November 3. In this field, the top tier consists of two experienced campaigners and an exciting new talent, while the second tier has an old lion, a former champion, and a throwback to a previous era.

It is an open race with many possible outcomes, but history does not suggest a return of the 2004 team of Alan Culpepper, Meb Keflezighi, and Dan Browne. Although five men have notched consecutive top-three Trials finishes since the Trials format was instituted in 1968, never have the same three men formed two consecutive Olympic squads. [More]

Thursday, September 20

The Course

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Wednesday, September 19

Lighting the Fuse

1976 Men's Olympic Marathon Trials

The Bill Rodgers Running Center in Boston's Faneuil Hall Marketplace was pulsing with the energy of marathon week, crammed with finishers from the previous day's 110th running. And there at a table in the corner sat the eponymous owner himself, signing autographs and offering congratulations to one and all.

On one of the store's TVs, a rare tape of the 1976 Men's Olympic Marathon Trials was playing. Grainy and discolored, it featured the confrontation between the two undisputed leaders of American marathoning at the time—Rodgers, the national record-holder, and Frank Shorter, the reigning Olympic marathon champion—as they battled for Olympic berths in Eugene, Oregon, on May 22, 1976. [More]

Tuesday, September 18

Chasing Glory Begins

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Monday, September 17

Into the Spotlight

It promises to be the ultimate weekend in marathon running. The 38th ING New York City Marathon on Sunday, November 4, will culminate with a $1,000,000 prize, to be divided between the two inaugural World Marathon Majors series champions. And the day before, the city will also host the 2008 U.S. Olympic Team Trials – Men’s Marathon in Midtown Manhattan and Central Park. It is marathoning on a scale and scope befitting the great city of New York itself.

“Our sport has been growing in every way, building toward this pinnacle,” says Mary Wittenberg, president and CEO of New York Road Runners (NYRR), who brought the Trials to New York. “The Trials, the World Marathon Majors, and the New York City title, each means a lot. Wrapped into one, it’s going to be a blockbuster, a marathon extravaganza beyond anything our sport has seen before.” [More]