USATF changes 50km worlds team selection criteria 3 months before window closes

Washed-up Grad Student wrote:

Its also frustrating because I (and I assume a number of other runners) planned our schedules around the old rules. It wasn't cheap to fly to long island and run that 50k. I was sick during my 2:17 (lated discovered it was COVID) - if I had waited to recover or run at a faster course with a pack I could have potentially PRed. I decided to race because I wanted to make sure I was on a record eligible course (CIM is not record eligible because of its point-point downhill). Now they tell me it doesn't matter?

Stuff like this makes it extremely difficult for amateur athletes to branch in to the ultra world. It feels a little bit like they've modified the rules to keep me off the team (their emails to me were also pretty rude). I wonder if the rules would have been modified if one of their usual darlings had been the one to auto-q.

Mondayrunner wrote:

Washed-up Grad Student wrote:

Its also frustrating because I (and I assume a number of other runners) planned our schedules around the old rules. It wasn't cheap to fly to long island and run that 50k. I was sick during my 2:17 (lated discovered it was COVID) - if I had waited to recover or run at a faster course with a pack I could have potentially PRed. I decided to race because I wanted to make sure I was on a record eligible course (CIM is not record eligible because of its point-point downhill). Now they tell me it doesn't matter?

Stuff like this makes it extremely difficult for amateur athletes to branch in to the ultra world. It feels a little bit like they've modified the rules to keep me off the team (their emails to me were also pretty rude). I wonder if the rules would have been modified if one of their usual darlings had been the one to auto-q.

50k is not really the ultra world. If you want to do a real ultra do a 100k road race.

Washed-up Grad Student wrote:

Quoted from USATF:

2) Minimum qualifying performance standards for auto qualification and considerationMale: 50 km Road or Track - Sub 3:00:00; Marathon Road - Sub 2:22:00
Female: 50 km Road or Track - Sub 3:33:00; Marathon Road - Sub 2:45:00

3) Automatic selection will be given to the first U.S. Male and first U.S. Female at the following races, provided minimum performance standards are met (see 2 above)

2022 Heckscher (Caumsett) 50K (USATF National 50K Championships), February 27, 2022
2023 Heckscher (Caumsett) 50K (USATF National 50K Championships), March 5, 2023
Mad City 50K, April 23, 2022

When I emailed to confirm my auto-qualification, I was told they would be changing the criteria to require that my win at the 2022 USATF National 50k Championships be done in a time under 3:00 in order to count for automatic qualification.

It seems dishonest to change the criteria so late into the process and in a direct response to an athlete achieving the old standards. This does not give me much hope for the politics of the committee-chosen "at large" bids.

Makes Paper wrote:

Washed-up Grad Student wrote:

Quoted from USATF:

When I emailed to confirm my auto-qualification, I was told they would be changing the criteria to require that my win at the 2022 USATF National 50k Championships be done in a time under 3:00 in order to count for automatic qualification.

It seems dishonest to change the criteria so late into the process and in a direct response to an athlete achieving the old standards. This does not give me much hope for the politics of the committee-chosen "at large" bids.

No. 3 already seems to require that you win the 2022 championship under 3:00 to be automatically "selected" (not "qualified"; that would seem to fall under No. 2). So how would what you describe be a "chang[e] to the criteria"? Unless you're saying what you've quoted above IS the change. If that's so, when did this appear? (there's no date that I can find on the USATF page)

Washed-up Grad Student wrote:

Makes Paper wrote:

No. 3 already seems to require that you win the 2022 championship under 3:00 to be automatically "selected" (not "qualified"; that would seem to fall under No. 2). So how would what you describe be a "chang[e] to the criteria"? Unless you're saying what you've quoted above IS the change. If that's so, when did this appear? (there's no date that I can find on the USATF page)

No. 3 states that if you win the championship you are automatically selected provided that the minimum performance standards in No. 2 are met. The minimum performance standards are 3:00 or 2:22. I met those minimum performance standards via a sub 2:22.

Their claim is what you are saying, that the standard needs to be attained in the championships to count. This is not stated anywhere. Furthermore, it’s a bit unclear why the minimum performance standards would include a marathon time if they needed to be achieved in the championship races which are all 50km.

The USATF website has not been updated yet, but they emailed edited rules to me. The rules have added a new bolded sentence saying the championship must be won in under 3:00 to count.