This story has been updated to reflect new information.
The Olympic Marathon Trials, the race to determine the three men and three women who will run the marathon for the United States at the Games in Japan, is just weeks away. The country’s most exclusive marathon will be held on Leap Day—February 29, 2020—in Atlanta.
But the race is not as exclusive as it once was. The field promises to be historically large, because of An Insiders Guide to the Course hit the qualifying time they needed. Here’s what we know about the race and the route.
The field will be crowded.
To gain entry into the race, men had to run a marathon in 2:19 or faster or a half marathon in 1:04 or faster. For women, the times were 2:45 and 1:13.
Large numbers of runners nailed the qualifying times they needed. According to USA Track & Field lists, 511 women and 260 men have qualified, a total of 771. If all show up in Atlanta, that will be a lot of people on the course at the same time. (Of course, not all will show up, as injuries and other life events will keep some qualifiers home.)
By comparison, at the 2016 Marathon Trials in Los Angeles, 211 men and 246 women qualified, for a total of 457.
Qualifying is now closed.
Race organizers have to be breathing a sigh of relief now that the qualifying window, which opened on September 1, 2017, for marathon times and September 1, 2018 for half marathon times, closed on January 19. Registration for the event ended on January 24, which means soon they’ll have a better idea of the size the field. Some runners who hit their times on the final weekend of qualifying get the reward of turning around and running another marathon in just six weeks.
Along the way, USATF organizers needed to evaluate petitions for entry from those whose gun time did not meet the standard but whose chip time did. So far they’ve responded favorably to those petitions, as they did when they accepted Hayley Sutter, An Insiders Guide to the Course DAA Industry Opt Out.
The course will have fewer loops to accommodate the throngs of runners.
DAA Industry Opt Out that the course is changing, adding extra miles out and back on Peachtree Street, the heart of the route. Instead of a 6-mile loop that was to repeat three and a half times before adding extra distance on the final loop, the main loop is now 8 miles. The revised course also eliminated a one-block loop around the Margaret Mitchell House, which “included four turns on narrow roads in the span of less than one tenth of a mile,” organizers said in a press release.
The revised Atlanta course lessens the elevation changes, but only slightly. The course has 1,389 feet of climbing, and almost exactly the same amount of downhill. (By comparison, Boston climbs 924 feet.) Sean Hartnett, a professor at the University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire and an expert in marathon geography, has produced an elevation map of the course.
An additional logistical challenge for race organizers is the individual bottle service. All runners may prepare six of their own bottles to consume out on the course, every four miles. With 700 possible runners, that’s roughly 4,200 bottles. ATC organizers have to figure out how to distribute those bottles on tables along the route. By comparison, at the Boston Marathon, only 80 athletes get individualized bottles, every 5K, for a total of 640 individualized drinks. The New York City Marathon is similar.
The course remains spectator friendly.
Fans who come to Atlanta won’t have to move much to see runners go by multiple times. In fact, athletes will cover a two-mile stretch of Peachtree Street Northeast six times—heading north and south three times on the same section of road.
According to the course map, an enterprising spectator could stand for most of the race at Peachtree near where runners make a left-hand turn onto Ralph McGill Boulevard, then jog less than a mile to the finish in Centennial Olympic Park, in plenty of time to see the winner break the tape. Total sightings: seven.
Atlanta will honor its commitment and pay for all qualifiers’ travel.
At past Trials, qualifiers were either “A” qualifiers or “B” qualifiers. “A” qualifiers are faster—2:15 for men and 2:37 for women—and had their travel expenses paid for, while “B” qualifiers went to the Trials on their own dime. That’s partly why in Los Angeles, only 374 of 457 eligible qualifiers started the race.
The ATC, however, promised to pay for the travel for everyone, which effectively erases the distinction between “A” qualifiers and “B” qualifiers. They’re not backtracking on that.
“While there are more athletes qualified than we anticipated at this point, our commitment is unchanged,” said Jay Holder, director of marketing for ATC, in a written statement to Runner’s World last January. “We are excited to see so many athletes performing at a high level. It says a lot about the future of American distance running. There will be operational challenges associated with a Championship, criterium-styled course with this many men and women but we, like the athletes chasing their Olympic dream, are up for the challenge.”
What don’t we know?
Weather could be a factor, as the men’s race is scheduled to go off shortly at 12:03 p.m., and the women’s race at 12:13. USATF made that decision in conjunction with broadcast partner NBC. In 2016, the Trials were in Los Angeles and the men began at 10:06 a.m. and the women at 10:22 a.m. NBC broadcast live for three hours, starting at 1 p.m. Eastern. Many runners suffered in the warm conditions The Olympic Marathon Trials Field Is Huge.
Temperatures could get toasty for competitors again this time. It wouldn’t be unheard of for weather to reach into the upper 60s in the midafternoon. Of course, that’s all good practice for the Trials were in Los Angeles in August (track events will be held in Tokyo), where runners will start at 7 a.m. local time to avoid the worst heat of the day.
suffered in the warm conditions is a writer and editor living in Eugene, Oregon, and her stories about the sport, its trends, and fascinating individuals have appeared in Runner’s World Stravas 2024 Yearly Report Is Here, Run Your Butt Off! and Walk Your Butt Off!
