Northwest/West Boston qualifiers



S

Sheri

Guest
Greetings,

I'm looking to qualify for Boston this year. I'm hoping to do a January or February qualifer,
preferably in the Northwest or Western region.

So far, I'm thinking maybe the Phoenix R&R, Las Vegas, Pacific Shoreline, Desert Classic, or
Napa Valley.

Any feedback on race courses and timing is greatly appreciated - I'm not sure if all the February
races can get a 2004 slot? Also, I'll need all the help I can get, so a flat/fast course would be
very helpful.

Thanks in advance.

Cheers! Sheri
 
sheri wrote in message <[email protected]>...
>Greetings,
>
>I'm looking to qualify for Boston this year. I'm hoping to do a January or February qualifer,
>preferably in the Northwest or Western region.

Sorry I can't help you Sheri, but I can say I'm looking for about the same info, but I'd be happy
for anywhere in the states.

What I'd like to know first is what is the last day someone can run a BQ?

Thanks, -2k
 
Sheri,

Tucson Marathon is the answer. http://www.tucsonmarathon.com/ Apprx. a 4500 foot elevation drop over
the length of the course (largest decline I know of)...first 1/2 of the course is largely downhill.
The course/race is a BQ and the fastest USAT&F course hands down. Date is Dec. 7 and will get you in
Boston '04.

Good Luck,

Andrew....
 
sheri wrote:
>> Greetings,
>>
>> I'm looking to qualify for Boston this year. I'm hoping to do a January or February qualifer,
>> preferably in the Northwest or
Western
>> region.
>>
>> So far, I'm thinking maybe the Phoenix R&R, Las Vegas, Pacific Shoreline, Desert Classic, or Napa
>> Valley.

>> Cheers! Sheri

Sheri - I used to live in Phoenix and can't imagine anyplace in town that would have any hills, so
it should be flat - fast wil depend on course layout and I haven't looked at the map. As to Las
Vegas, I ran it last year - the first 8 miles is uphil (only about 300 feet total elevation gain),
the next 10 miles is downhill ( a fairly good grade) and the rest is flat. Completely straight for
the first 20 miles and only a few turns after that. Start easy on the uphill, push on the down hill
and cruise home and it could be fast. I'm not familiar witht he others you mention, but I think I
read that Napa and Pacific Shoreline have hills. Anything called Desert Calssic should be fast.

If you look forward to next year, check out St. George, Utah (2500 feet elevation loss) or Long
beach (30 feet total elevation change for the entire course) - either should be fast.

Bruce
 
>Sorry I can't help you Sheri, but I can say I'm looking for about the same info, but I'd be happy
>for anywhere in the states.
>
>What I'd like to know first is what is the last day someone can run a BQ?

In theory, at least, the day before the 20,000th entrant signs up. The Web site (www.baa.org) says
entries are accepted until the race is full.

I'm told the Motorola Marathon in Austin, Texas, is fast. It's February 15. It's fairly popular
hereabouts as a "last chance" qualifier. I'm shooting for a BQ there myself this time round, though
I'm aiming for Boston 2005, not 2004.

The Cowtown 'thon, Feb. 28 here in Fort Worth, will have a flatter course this year, I'm told. The
preliminary course description includes long flat stretches along the river multi-use paths.
Probably not as fast as Austin, but I doubt we'll be seeing any more winning times in the 2:50s.

Also it appears the Houston 'thon Jan. 18 is a popular qualifier. I strongly suspect it'd be flat,
that being bayou country and all.

The Boston Marathon site also lists Disney World, Jan. 11.

--
Brian P. Baresch Fort Worth, Texas, USA Professional editing and proofreading

If you're going through hell, keep going. --Winston Churchill
 
Hmm... I checked the site. Must have changed relatively recently. I had investigated Austin as a BQ
race about a couple of months back and (according to the rules at the time) the cutoff date was
prior to the race date. Now, it seems there is no set cutoff date. Sure will open up a few more race
possibilities. Damn!!! If it weren't for this PF I developed, Austin would be a good geographic
choice for me.

Brian Baresch wrote: (snip)

> In theory, at least, the day before the 20,000th entrant signs up. The Web site (www.baa.org) says
> entries are accepted until the race is full.

The generation of random numbers is too vital a task to be left to chance.
 
>Hmm... I checked the site. Must have changed relatively recently. I had investigated Austin as a BQ
>race about a couple of months back and (according to the rules at the time) the cutoff date was
>prior to the race date. Now, it seems there is no set cutoff date. Sure will open up a few more
>race possibilities. Damn!!! If it weren't for this PF I developed, Austin would be a good
>geographic choice for me.

Bleah! I hope you get that cleared up soon.

Interesting about the change in timing -- this year some friends of a friend of mine used Austin to
try to BQ for 2003, they'd done White Rock or Tucson or one of those in December and not made it so
it was a "last chance" thing. So Austin was a BQ race early this year. Dunno why they changed it,
though the way it is now makes sense at least. (Maybe they expect the race to fill up before the
cutoff date so they don't need it.)

--
Brian P. Baresch Fort Worth, Texas, USA Professional editing and proofreading

If you're going through hell, keep going. --Winston Churchill
 
You might want to take another look at the race profile. It is still a pretty good drop though.

Steve W.

[email protected] (Globaldisc) wrote in message
news:<[email protected]>...
> Sheri,
>
> Tucson Marathon is the answer. http://www.tucsonmarathon.com/ Apprx. a 4500 foot elevation drop
> over the length of the course (largest decline I know of)...first 1/2 of the course is largely
> downhill. The course/race is a BQ and the fastest USAT&F course hands down. Date is Dec. 7 and
> will get you in Boston '04.
>
> Good Luck,
>
> Andrew....
 
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