Olympic Marathon Preview Part One

There is a resurgence in long distance running in the U.S. Americans are beginnning to get back into the thick of things. For decades now the Kenyans and Ethiopians have been dominant, with the Brazilians and some Europeans in the mix.

2004 was a big step for American running Meb Keflezighi took the Silver Medal in Athens in the Men's Marathon and Deena Kastor took the women's Bronze.

Now attention is focusing on Bejing in 2008. The men's marathon qualifying race will be Nov. 3 in New York City, the day before the NYC Marathon. Then men will start in Rockefeller Plaza, head to Times Square, then on the Central Park, for 5 loops.

I'm going to spend a few posts on who will be in the mix for the three qualifying spots.

12 of the men gunning for the spots come from the Hansons-Brooks Team.

http://www.hansons-running.com/odp/about_us.htm

The Hansons brothers operate running specialty stores in Michigan. They have developed a team of men and women to live and train together.

The approach realized in the Hansons-Brooks Distance Project incorporates the following four principles:

Create an opportunity for successful college athletes to continue training beyond their college years.

Provide an environment in which training can be the focus of those post-collegiate athletes (without the financial necessity of working full time or chasing after money in road races).

Develop a center for those athletes to train together as a team.

Incorporate the team members in local community activities to foster an excitement in the sport of distance running, and motivate future distance runners.


Of the 12 men competing in the trials the best shot is Brian Sell. Here is a sample of Brians accomplishments in the last few years:


2nd at USATF Championships 10 mile (road) 2005
1st place Shamrock Shuffle (2004/2005)
1st place USATF 25K (2005)
Member of the 2005 USATF World Championships marathon team
1st place US Half Marathon 2006
4th place Boston Marathon in a PR 2:10:55 2006
Reed’s Lake 10k Champion 29:02 2006
Chicago Distance Classic Champion 1:04:25 2006
6th place Chicago Marathon in a PR 2:10:47 2006
1st place USATF 25k championships 2007

Pretty impressive. Sell will be a top contender for a spot to Bejing.

Charlie