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2012 USA Olympic Team Trials Marathon - The Women's Race
by John Elliott
The Improvement in American Women's Marathon
For years women's marathoning in the USA has stood behind men's in prestige or depth. That second-class status was beginning to change in 2011 as an unprecedented number of women began to post world-class times, more than ever before had bested the 2:30 mark in the marathon and times in the low to mid 2:20s were almost becoming commonplace.
photo: Scott Winnier/MarathonGuide.com
Desiree Davila starts to pull the field
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American women's marathoning had reached a new level leading up to the 2012 Olympic Trials. In past years it had taken a 2:30 finish to make it onto the Olympic team (the best prior third finish at a Trials was 2:29:57 in 2004); but for 2012 all of the women were saying they expected it to take a 2:24-2:26 finish to make the team. For those who don't know women's marathoning well - that difference between 2:30 and 2:26 is a world of difference.
Training Groups Lead to Success
Part of the success in women's running has been the success of the American training group system. And as much as the 2012 Olympic Trials Marathon - Women's race was to be a test of the women against each other, it would also be a measure and display of the success of the various training groups. Most of the favorites were part of these groups and spoke glowingly of their experiences: Desiree Davila had long been nurtured by the Brooks-Hansons Project with impressive results; Kara Goucher was on the comeback trail and recently switched to join Jerry Schumacher's Nike Oregon Track Club Elite and spoke of the importance and benefit of training with rival Shalane Flanagan. Amy Hastings and Deena Kator had improved and excelled while with the Mammoth Track Club. And Stephanie Rothstein had developed into a sub-2:30 marathoner with the help of McMillan's Team USA Arizona.
photo: Scott Winnier/MarathonGuide.com
Amy Hastings briefly leads the pack
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The Race
The women went off on a terribly slow first mile of 6:11 during which it appeared that all of the nearly 200 runners in the field were squashed together. After the race, Flanagan and Goucher told us that they enjoyed the slow pace and hoped it would continue - they wanted to push off the pain of the marathon as long as they could. But Desiree Davila - one of the most experienced marathoners and the woman with the fastest best time in the field - told us that she didn't like the pace and didn't want the race to get soft, she had to break some of the other runners before it would go too far. And Davila took the lead in the race and set the pace as the number of competitors in the lead group dwindled from 12 to 8 to 7 to 6 to 4... And the final four contenders in the race looked strong: Desiree Davila (Brooks-Hanson), Amy Hastings (Mammoth Track Club), Shalane Flanagan and Kara Goucher (both Nike OTC Elite).
Amy Hastings was the first to fall back and then Kara Goucher was back behind the leaders Davila and Flanagan. It was an interesting pair: Davila was a true workhorse and had run a number of marathons including a 2:22:38 at the 2011 Boston Marathon, 2:26:20 at the 2010 Chicago Marathon and 2:27:53 at the 2009 World Championships Marathon). Flanagan had just one marathon under her belt, a 2:28:40 at the 2010 New York City Marathon - but though her past marathon time and experience were less than Davila's she is America's fastest 10000m runner and had even garnered and a 10000m Bronze Medal at the 2008 Olympics. If Davila couldn't shake Flanagan with a long, sustained hard pace - Flanagan could surely outkick Davila.
photo: Scott Winnier/MarathonGuide.com
Shalane Flanagan victorious
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The Finish
Ultimately, Flanagan was able to stay with Davila and kick into a new gear to win the Trials in 2:25:38. Desiree Davila was second in 2:25:55, Kara Goucher stayed strong to finish third in 2:26:06. Amy Hastings, who was slightly outclassed, ran an excellent personal best to finish fourth in 2:27:17.
History is Made
Most amazing about these finishes is that the top four women all ran faster than the previous Olympic Trials Marathon record - Colleen De Reuck's 2:28:25 win at the 2004 Olympic Trials Marathon. The pre-race predictions of the women, that it would take a 2:24 to 2:26 finish to make the team turned out to be true. And with these top finishes, we see that American women's marathoning has advanced to a place it has never been before.
photo: Scott Winnier/MarathonGuide.com
The 2012 Olympic Team Selected
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Top Finishers & Prize Money:
1. Shalane Flanagan - 2:25:38 - $74,000 ($50,000 + $20,000 + $4,000)
2. Desiree Davila - 2:25:55 - $63,000
3. Kara Goucher - 2:26:06 - $52,000
4. Amy Hastings - 2:27:17 - $21,000
5. Janet Cherobom-Bawcom - 2:29:45 - $15,500
6. Deena Kastor - 2:30:40 - $10,000
7. Clara Grandt - 2:30:46 - $8,000
8. Alissa McKaig - 2:31:56 - $7,000
9. Dot McMahon - 2:32:16 - $6,000
10. Magdalena Lewy Boulet - 2:33:42 - $4,000
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