Austin vies for ’20 race trials

Bids from all four cities contending are due by March 19.

The city of Austin wants to be the site of the U.S. Olympic marathon trials in 2020.

Austin is vying with three other cities to be host to the trials, which were in Houston in 2012 and Los Angeles in 2016. The marathon has been included in every Olympics since the modern-day competition was revived in Greece in 1896.

Also contending for the trials are Orlando, Fla.; Atlanta; and Chattanooga, Tenn.

“To have four new bidders for the Olympic trials marathon speaks to the attractiveness of the property and the support for our increasingly successful American marathon corps,” said Max Siegel, CEO of U.S. Track and Field. “We look forward to taking the Olympic trials to a new city to select one of the world’s best Olympic marathon teams.”

Bids are due by March 19, and a USATF site selection committee will assess the bids. The USATF board of directors will pick the host city sometime in the spring after gaining the approval of the U.S. Olympic Committee.

The Texas capital already sports the successful Austin Marathon, which has been run every year since 1992. More than 17,000 participated in the 2016 event, which also had a half marathon and a 5-kilometer race. This year’s marathon, which is produced by High Five Events, is set for Feb. 18.

The city’s bid probably will feature the current 26.2mile Austin Marathon course, which stretches south from 45th Street to Ben White Boulevard.

The U.S. marathon trials will be a one-day event that determines the qualifiers for the men’s and women’s races at the 2020 Tokyo Games. The trials are held early in an Olympic year.