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Interview Excerpts: Mary Wittenberg and Glenn Latimer discuss the Olympic Trials

Posted October 15th, 2007 at 1:50 PM by Adam Jacobs

Section: News & Results, Marathons, Olympics, Special Features, Interviews

Last week, the New York Road Runners hosted the first of a three part series of teleconferences about the about the November 2 U.S. Olympic Men’s Marathon trials in New York City.

In the first installment, the media had the opportunity to speak with NYRR CEO and President Mary Wittenberg and USATF Men’s Long Distance Running Chair Glenn Latimer. The following excerpts feature May and Glenn’s thoughts on a few of the keys topics:

On the Central Park course:

Mary: This is a rolling course, and this is a course that we expect to be full of spectators. The ability to find the right balance of restraint in the early laps to run strong at the end, coupled with being out there hard and fast enough to beat this field, is going to be the hard dynamic. It is a fine line the athletes are going to have to run. Those two elements are what makes the course unique. It rolls the whole way, and I think on those last two laps, they’re going to feel that.

On this course and how it prepares athletes for Beijing:

Glenn: The reason we chose New York is the timing of the event, to allow the guys to fully prepare, and that it’s a testing course. If the guys are to race flat out, in my opinion it’s a 2:09, 2:10 course. I think the race will be won in 2:11, 2:12. What we didn’t want to do was go somewhere where it was hot and humid, where you beat up their bodies so that they then had to do that twice. What you do is you try to pick your best guys and then give them all the best support we’ve got.

Mary: The way that New York will best prepare the athletes for the Olympics is they will be surrounded by hype, media, lots of pressure. This is not going to be low key in any way, shape or form. They’re going to be on a huge stage, and they’re going to have all the pressure that comes with that. I think that hype will help the eventual team when they get to Beijing next year.

On the reaction of the Hansons-Brooks athletes and coaches following their 26.2K simulation run on Monday, October 1:

Mary: We have been quite purposeful in building up how hard this course is. The reality is, it is an extremely fair course. This is a course that these guys can handle, but the last thing we wanted was to have the athletes not ready for the course. I think that they’ve done their jobs well now. They have all worked hard, knowing it was not a flat course, to get in here and to study it. We kind of overhyped, and if they all think it’s easier on Saturday afternoon, that’ll be great news. But it’s a good solid fair course.

On some of the darkhorses:

Glenn: I’ve been going to Olympic Trials races since 1984, and this is the one that’s got the real buzz about it. Everybody’s intrigued as to what will happen. Will it be the experienced or the new guys? There’s always somebody that we’ve never thought of. We’ve had Trent Briney, who did really well last time. We’ve had the Kyle Heffners in the past. There are usually a couple of the favorites who make the field, and one other. There will be 120 or so toeing the line on November 3, and we’ll see if history repeats itself, who that unexpected one is.

On the Olympic Trials race staying in the same place every year:

Mary: We would love nothing more than to be the home of the Olympic Trials and have New York be known for that. It’s not our call; there’s a lot of commercial reality around whether or not that would ever be possible. I think it would be a benefit for the sport to settle into two major cities, but that’s obviously a New York Road Runners perspective. This event is a big, big deal. Holding the Olympic Trials is part of a much bigger strategy, and the much bigger includes making sure kids throughout the United States are paying attention. We’re not going to clear that hurdle by a lot this year. It’s the first time here. It’s going to take awhile to build it. But what we should be looking to build this to is just like the Olympic Games, where kids and adults look forward to the Olympic Trials. Then years later, those kids say, “I’m now running to get in the Olympic Trials because when I was eight years old, I saw it.” That just hasn’t been the case to this point, but hopefully we’re turning the tide in moving the race here this year.

Glenn: We’re starting to put American distance runners into finals at World Championships, and hopefully at the Olympic level now. The standard has improved. We’ve brought it back to an acceptable level, and it continues to improve. So now there are people excited about a Dathan Ritzenhein or a Ryan Hall or a Meb Keflezighi or a Khalid Khannouchi or whoever that is. This is a first step in elevating the sport and getting into the big market, which gets people energized and excited.

On hosting the Olympic Trials now as opposed to 2004:

Mary: The athletes are at a whole different level now than if we would have hosted this race in 2004. We like to bring the Derek Jeters and the A-Rods of our sport. We didn’t want the ‘B’ team, we wanted the ‘A’ team. And that is what we will see in New York.

On promoting those runners in New York and around the nation:

Mary: I think from the organizer prospective, we have to look at this in a couple of different ways. We’re trying to build a fan base while building media relations at the same time. We are finding, by and large, that the athletes are willing to work with us to help promote the sport. If we give them the opportunity and give them a platform, they can promote the sport.

Via: NYRR