> The bottom line of my argument is that the selection committee
> should either
> limit WC qualifying times only to courses that meet 185.5 (1m/km drop) or
> allow all course to count - this halfway rule smacks of political
> favoritism
> to Boston at the expense of other races that may have steeper
> hills but don't
> have deeper pockets.
>
>
> Jim Gerweck
> Running Times
>
Jim, that's way out of line. The Women's LDR Committee spent a lot of time
listening to our top athletes and examining the best ways to pick the 5
women who have the best chance to perform well at the World Championships.
We didn't spend a second thinking about Boston having deep pockets. Yes,
they have a lot of prize money but they also consistently have very tough
international competition. Any American woman doing well there deserves
respect. To say that we must have the same course standards for recognizing
1 marathon record holder and picking 5 U.S. team members is shortsighted in
my opinion.
- Linda Honikman, USATF RRIC and WLDR Exec. Committee
