ROAD RUNNING NEWS ROUND-UP
By David Monti
(c) 2011 Race Results Weekly, all rights reserved (Used by permission)

(09-Dec) -- Here is the latest news from road running events which has crossed your editor's desk:

FLANAGAN, GOUCHER TUNE-UP FOR MARATHON TRAILS IN MIAMI:

Olympians Shalane Flanagan and Kara Goucher will tune up for next month's USA Olympic Marathon Trials in Houston by running the inaugural Dodge Latin Music Miami Beach Half-Marathon on Sunday, Competitor Group, Inc., announced.

Flanagan, the 2008 Olympic bronze medalist at 10,000m, and Goucher, the 2007 IAAF World Championships 10,000m bronze medalist, are favorites to make the USA Olympic Marathon team. Flanagan, who finished second at the ING New York City Marathon in her debut at the distance in 2010, is ranked #5 by qualifying time for the Trials (2:28:40), while Goucher is ranked #2 with her 2:24:52 from Boston last April.

"To see America's two brightest distance stars on the road at the same time will be a true treat for Miami Beach," said Competitor Group's Senior Vice-President Tracy Sundlun through a news release. "Many in the running community, myself included, are very much looking forward to seeing them run in one of their last significant tune-ups before the U.S. Olympic Marathon Trials and their first time racing together since Kara joined Shalane's training group and began working with Jerry Schumacher, who has been Shalane's coach since 2009."

Other members of Schumacher's Nike Oregon Track Club group, based on Portland, Ore., will also be running in Miami, including Brent Vaughn, Tim Nelson and Simon Bairu. Both Vaughn and Nelson will, like Flanagan and Goucher, be tuning up for the Trials. Bairu, a Canadian, will run the Chevron Houston Marathon the day after the Trials and also hopes to qualify for the London Olympic Marathon.


383 ATHLETES HAVE QUALIFIED FOR THE USA OLYMPIC TRIALS MARATHON

A robust total of 383 athletes have qualified for the 2012 USA Olympic Marathon Trials next month in Houston, despite tighter qualifying standards when compared to 2008. Website MarathonGuide.com counts 158 men and 225 women as qualifying for the 2012 race, compared to 179 men and 181 women who had qualified for the 2008 Trials, an increase of 6%.

On the men's side, all qualifying athletes are considered "A" qualifiers (all expenses paid to the race), while on the women's side there are 45 "A" qualifiers and 180 "B." Men had to run either 2:19:00 for a full marathon, 1:05:00 for a half, or 28:20.00 for 10,000m to qualify. Women had to run either 2:39:00 in a full marathon to receive an "A" qualifier (or 2:46:00 for a "B"), or a 1:15:00 half-marathon, or a 33:00.00 10,000m.

On the men's side there were 344 total qualifying marks, while there were 411 on the women's. The 2009 USA Half-Marathon Championships in Houston was the race which produced the most male qualifiers (19), while the 2009 USA Marathon Championships in Minneapolis produced the most female qualifiers (28). Seven men and 24 women qualified at the California International Marathon last Sunday.

Visit MarathonGuide.com for more data on Trials qualifiers.


BMW BERLIN MARATHON CLOSES GENERAL ENTRY PROCESS AT 40,000

SCC Events, organizers of the BMW Berlin Marathon, have already closed their general entry process for their Sept. 30, 2012, race with 40,000 runners. This is the earliest-ever sell out in the history of the race. Organizers are holding back 1000 charity entries which are still available, as well as some entries through authorized tour groups. Registration had opened on Oct. 20. More details are available at http://www.berlin-marathon.com


HERVIS PRAGUE HALF-MARATHON ALREADY HALFWAY FULL

Registrations for the Hervis Prague Half-Marathon, scheduled for Saturday, March 31, are on record pace, according to race organizers, Prague International Marathon, s.r.o. Over 6500 athletes have already signed up for the race part of the RunCzech.com series which also includes the Volkswagen Prague International Marathon. Last year's half-marathon had 6127 finishers.

"We are enthusiastic about the growing interest in our running events," commented Miroslav Jiřík, the series marketing director. "Our aim is to motivate as many people as possible to run and to add running to their everyday activities. In the future with the RunCzech.com project we want to get the Czech people on their feet and prove that the Czech Republic is the best place for running."

More information is available at www.runczech.com.