City seeks USOC marathon trials

Chattanooga officials have submitted a letter of intent stating the city plans to bid to host the 2020 U.S. Olympic team trials for the marathon.

“We’re at the very beginning stages. There’s a lot of work to be done,” Chattanooga Sports Committee president Tim Morgan said Friday.

The city still must formally submit the bid, which must be done by March.

The men’s and women’s races will be held on the same day early in 2020. The date has not been finalized.

Three other cities — Atlanta, Orlando, Fla., and Austin, Texas — also plan to submit bids, USA Track & Field announced Friday.

“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,” USATF CEO Max Siegel said in a release. “We look forward to taking the Olympic Trials to a new city to select one of the world’s best Olympic marathon teams.”

The event will add to a growing list of national and international sporting events in the city, Morgan said.

“When you have the tools in the shed, why not get them out and put them to work?” he added.

A selection committee will announce the chosen site this spring. It then must be approved by the United States Olympic Committee.

The event will be in addition to existing marathons in the area and will not take the place of any of the current races, Morgan said.