Competitive Women's Field Ready for Kaiser Permanente Napa Valley Marathon
Posted Monday, 25 February, 2008
NAPA, Calif. - (February 22, 2008) - In 1984, when Joan Benoit Samuelson won the Olympic gold medal in the very first Olympic Games marathon for women, the Kaiser Permanente Napa Valley Marathon was already six years old. And, in Napa, women were already competing at the 26.2-mile marathon distance - just as they had since Kathrine Switzer broke the female gender "barrier" at the Boston Marathon in 1967.
For the 30th Kaiser Permanente Napa Valley Marathon on Sunday, March 2, Benoit Samuelson will, appropriately, be on hand as a group of focused women pursue their own "Olympic" dreams in an Olympic year.
Their individual goals?
To be on the starting line for the 2008 U.S. Olympic Team Trials - Women's Marathon, which will take place in Boston on Sunday, April 20.
The Trials race will select the three women for the U.S. Olympic marathon squad that will compete at the 2008 Summer Olympic Games in Beijing, China in August. For these Napa Valley Marathon entrants, though, simply toeing the line at the Trials with women who will contend for a spot on the U.S. Olympic team is their ultimate athletic objective. The talented women will run the Napa Valley Marathon as a "last chance" qualifying attempt for the Trials.
"Qualifying for the Marathon Trials is a goal that women definitely put out there, and people, by nature, try to achieve their goals," said Benoit Samuelson, 50, who has qualified for each of the seven U.S. Women's Olympic Marathon Trials races since 1984. "For a woman who's competitive, the Marathon Trials is a logical goal. That's the reason these women are coming to Napa."
Relatively few long distance runners have the ability or dedication to make it to the U.S. Olympic Marathon Trials. Approximately 125 of America's top female distance runners will participate in this year's women's Marathon Trials race. Specifically, at Napa, half a dozen women will aim for a finishing time that is 2 hours, 47 minutes flat or faster, the "B" standard set by USA Track & Field to qualify for the Trials. The women's "A" standard is 2:39:00 (which awards travel and lodging expenses for the Trials to the women who achieve it).
The qualifying window for the Trials began on January 1, 2006. It will end on March 23, 2008, just three weeks after this year's Napa Valley Marathon. Women seeking a Trials qualifier, in a marathon with an excellent chance for fair weather, have two final opportunities in California: the Napa Valley Marathon and the City of Los Angeles Marathon (on the same day as Napa).
For the hopeful women who will run the fast Napa Valley Marathon course, just landing a spot at the Trials will validate their own, personal Olympian efforts. All of the aspirants have previously run marathon times within striking distance of the 2:47 standard. If they can achieve it, a personal "gold medal" will be theirs. They will gladly pay their way to the Trials.
Shaluinn Fullove, a former track and field and cross country competitor at Stanford University, is intimately familiar with trials and tribulations. In the early spring of 2005, the 30-year-old Palo Alto, Calif. resident was diagnosed with thyroid cancer. After receiving a thyroidectomy and radiation treatments, Fullove eventually resumed serious training and recorded a time of 2:51:06 at the 2006 LaSalle Bank Chicago Marathon. Now, Fullove will compete at the Napa Valley Marathon with a goal of qualifying for the Trials.
"It's been a longtime goal. It's taken two years to get here," said Fullove, who works as a marketing manager for Google Inc. "I was really shocked when I was diagnosed with cancer. For someone who's used to being really healthy, and takes pride in being fit, it really rocked my world. Now, I'm ready for this (Napa). Hopefully, it's just the beginning."
Ginger Reiner of Cambridge, Mass. will come to Napa with a goal of flying back home as an Olympic Trials qualifier.
"It would be an honor to toe the line with some of the best women runners in the U.S. and race the Trials right in my hometown," said Reiner, 30, a Boston high school math teacher who regularly trains on the Trials course. "I'm glad that there are several women at Napa who will be going for the same time."
Reiner places high in road races and triathlons. She placed third in her age group, and 39th overall, at the 2004 Ironman Triathlon World Championships in Hawaii. Her best time to date in a solo marathon is 2:49:18.
Dr. Kari Bertrand of Gilroy, Calif. will contend for the women's title at Napa while attempting to qualify for her second consecutive U.S. Women's Olympic Marathon Trials. Bertrand competed in the 2004 Trials while she was ten weeks pregnant. She received permission from a physician (herself) to do that. The 2:46:47 marathoner specializes in Obstetrics-Gynecology.
Caroline Annis has already qualified for her second consecutive Marathon Trials. Annis, 27, of San Francisco, will run Napa as a training run. Annis' personal marathon best of 2:43:46, recorded at the 2005 Boston Marathon, is the fastest time among the female entrants at Napa. Annis will run "right on qualifying pace" to encourage the other women, according to her coach, Tom McGlynn. McGlynn also coaches Fullove and Claudia Becque (Chicago) who is another Trials aspirant entered in the Napa Valley Marathon.
"Napa is the perfect course to qualify on," said McGlynn about the point-to-point 26.2-mile race route that runs the length of the famed Napa Valley wine-growing region. "You don't have sharp turns on the course. There aren't a lot of long straight stretches where you can see miles ahead. Rather, the road meanders, so it's psychologically stimulating."
McGlynn, a resident of Burlingame, Calif., has intimate knowledge of Napa's course.
At last year's Napa Valley Marathon, men's winner Steve Sundell of Redwood City, Calif. qualified for last November's U.S. Men's Olympic Marathon Trials with a finishing time of 2:21:03 the fastest men's mark at Napa since 1988. Sundell's training partner McGlynn placed second and also qualified for the Trials.
The 2008 Kaiser Permanente Napa Valley Marathon, however, will feature women, spotlighting their personal quests for excellence.
Among the 2,300 runners entered in this year's marathon, 45 percent are women. According to the Running USA Road Running Information Center, females compose 40 percent of the estimated 410,000 finishers in all U.S. marathons annually. That's a fair progression from Benoit Samuelson's heyday in the 1980s when only about 10 percent of marathon participants were women.
"Given an opportunity, women are going to knock at the door and open it and run through," said Benoit Samuelson. "Running is a very accessible sport for women, especially for working mothers who want to participate in recreational sports, or be fit."
Benoit Samuelson plans to accompany Napa Valley Marathon participants - at least partway through the race - as a training run in preparation for the Olympic Marathon Trials. She will also deliver the event's keynote address on Saturday, March 1 at 1:00pm at the Napa Valley Marriott Hotel & Spa (race headquarters).
Benoit Samuelson has already announced that the 2008 Trials will be her last one, ending a superlative Olympic career.
Time to pass the baton to up-and-coming women aiming for their first Olympic Trials.
The Kaiser Permanente Napa Valley Marathon starts on Sunday, March 2 at 7:00am sharp in Calistoga on the Silverado Trail near the intersection of Rosedale Road. The race finishes at Vintage High School in Napa. Top runners are expected to reach the finish between 9:15am and 9:30am. Runners will receive official times up until 1:00pm when the course closes.
MORE INFORMATION: visit: www.NapaValleyMarathon.org
MEDIA CREDENTIALS: Contact Mark Winitz, Media Relations, (650) 799-3319, winitz@earthlink.net
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