highway to hell wrote:
What value is there in holding two separate races for men and women? Why have they been separate and how common is that?
Two separate races probably yields more net coverage for the events. As it is now, one newspaper article covers the results of the trials. Separate races have been the tradition for a long time. Kind of innovative for Houston to go after both actually. I don't think any of us saw it being awarded that way.
What is the intrinsic value of having the trials in Boston when it is not associated with the Boston Marathon,as opposed to say the intrinsic value of having it in Houston, Dallas, Charlotte, Atlanta, LA, Seattle, etc?
Having the races in Boston or NY probably brings a bigger ready made audience in the form of marathon participants. NY clearly has a lot more of these than Houston and one could probably argue that Boston participants (and Boston natives) are more likely to come out for the race. Finally, like it or not, NYC is a media center and that's got to be worth something.
The big factors it seems is that Houston was awarded the trials based on cost to USATF (not that there's anything wrong with that) and the timing which truly is better for the athletes. I think you can make a good argument, however, that NY or Boston would have gotten more exposure for the event.