Alan Culpepper running in the 2004 US Marathon trials (© Getty Images)
Alan Culpepper, Meb Keflezighi and Dan Browne qualified for the 2004 U.S. Olympic Team by finishing 1-2-3 Saturday at the 2004 U.S. Olympic Team Trials – Men’s Marathon in Birmingham, Alabama.
Culpepper (Lafayette, Colo.), Keflezighi (Mammoth Lakes, Calif.) and Browne (Portland, Ore.) all passed then leader Brian Sell (Rochester Hills, Mich.) in the 21st mile. Culpepper held a small lead for the next two miles over Keflezighi before winning the race in 2:11:42 seconds, a five-second winning margin over Keflezighi. Browne finished in third place in 2:12:02, with Trent Briney setting a personal best by 8 minutes, 35 seconds, with his time of 2:12:35. Culpepper’s performance is the second fastest Trials winning time ever, second only to Tony Sandoval’s Trials record of 2:10:19 in Buffalo, N.Y., on May 24, 1980.
In winning the second marathon of his career and qualifying for his second Olympic team (10,000m in 2000), Culpepper won $60,000 in prize money, with Keflezighi taking home $35,000 and Browne pocketing $25,000 out of a total prize purse of $193,000. For participating in the Olympic marathon in Athens, Culpepper will earn an additional bonus of $25,000, Keflezighi will take home $22,500 and Browne will earn $20,000.
USATF
Selected Results
1. Alan Culpepper (Lafayette, Colo.), 2:11:42
2. Meb Keflezighi (Mammoth Lakes, Calif.), 2:11.47
3. Dan Browne (Portland, Ore.), 2:12:02
4. Trent Briney (Rochester Hills, Mich.), 2:12:35
5. Clint Verran (Rochester Hills, Mich.), 2:14:37
6. Scott Larson (Superior, Colo.), 2:15:03
7. Josh Cox (Murrieta, Calif.), 2:15:18
8. Eddy Hellebuyck (Albuquerque, N.M.), 2:15:36
9. Peter Gilmore (Menlo Park, Calif.), 2:15:44
10. Jason Lehmkuhle (St. Paul, Minn.), 2:16:27
11. Keith Dowling (Reston, Va.), 2:16:50
Drossin-Kastor pulls out of Cross to avoid injury
Indianapolis, USA - Elsewhere on Saturday, 7 February on the first day of the USA Cross Country Championships, there were wins for Charlie Gruber and Colleen De Reuck.
The men's 4km short course race was won by Gruber, taking his first ever national title in a time of 11:14, while former South African De Reuck won the women's long race (8km) in a time of 26:16 ahead of Katie McGregor (26:47) and Ann Marie-Schwab (27:33).
However, the main news centred on reigning women's World Cross Country silver medallist Deena Drossin-Kastor, who pulled out of the women’s long race to preserve fitness in her bid for selection for the Athens Olympic Marathon at the upcoming women's Olympic trials on 3 April.
Drossin-Kastor feared the nature of cross-country running, with the course set to be muddy and hard on the body, might have caused an injury.
“When I ran on the course yesterday, I really didn't think it was that bad, but I'm not willing to take risks right now,'' said Kastor on Saturday.
“Any other year, there wouldn't have been a thought in my mind of not running. My focus this year is on the marathon trials and the marathon with the sole hope of medalling. I am trying to make the mature decision by not running today. The Deena of four years ago would've tried to power her way through this without a thought.''
“I love running cross country, and I absolutely love running in challenging conditions like today. I would normally thrive in conditions like these but I made a very conservative decision with the Olympic marathon trials coming up in April."
" It's a hard thing to watch this race, because my heart is really in cross country, but I have my mind set on the Olympic trials this year, and on the marathon. I didn't want to jeopardise it with any little twinges, even if it meant keeping me out a few days of training. If this had been any other year I would certainly be out here running. I've raced in far worse conditions than this, and I've had fun in it.''
