The past year has not been a good one for Austin road races. There are increasing objections by area churches to Sunday races, the city has upped the cost of police protection, use of the roads and is seeking to limit the number of courses that can be used. Toss in the Parks Department proposed  fee on training groups that use Austin’s parks and trails and it’s clear that the future of some road races is tenuous at best.

The impact has already been felt. The Freedom 5000 on July 4th went from an uncomplicated out-and-back course along Cesar Chavez to a closed course on the Austin State School grounds. Why? Simple economics. The Cesar Chavez course would have cost the race organizers at least $10,000 which was prohibitive for a relatively small race. The cost for using the State School was a mere donation to the school.

And now, what would have been the 4th  Cops and Joggers 5-K on July 26th, has been cancelled because of “city regulations” and the costs of putting it on. Left unsaid, but perfectly clear is the costs the city mandates--namely the road closures, barricading and permitting—were just too great. I don’t know exactly how much the cost of putting on the Cops and Joggers were, but an educated guess places it in the $12-15,000 neighborhood. That’s a pretty pricey neighborhood for a small race. The irony of the whole thing—of course—is the beneficiary of the Cops and Joggers was the cops themselves (the Peace Officers Memorial Foundation).

Expect more races—especially the smaller ones—to go the way of the Cops and Joggers and Freedom 5000. Either go to a closed course with minimum expenses or close down. The added expenses the race that solider on will now have to foot will be passed down to you. Natch.

This, in a word, sucks. And it jeopardizes our running and racing community which is one of the best in America. Our town, which prides itself on having a race practically every weekend of the year. is now in danger of losing many of them.

Mayor Will Wynn has gone on record numerous times as saying one of his goals before leaving office is to see Austin rated as the fittest city in America by the magazines that compile those ratings. As arbitrary as the ratings are, it would be a great goal to attain.

Unfortunately,  the city of Austin, instead of encouraging more road races, is putting so many obstacles in the way of races that I’m afraid that many will go the way of the Cops and Joggers (DNF).

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1. The Pure Austin Fitness XTERRA on Sunday at Emma Long Park is completely sold out. A stop on the XTERRA national series, this is the first year Austin will host the off-road triathlon which will be a qualifier for the regionals. About 160 triathletes will tackle the rugged course, starting with a 1000-meter swim in Lake Austin, followed by a 14-mile mountain bike ride and finishing with a five-mile run on both the lake banks and the cliffs above the lake. “People are looking for new ways to challenge their abilities while complementing their fitness goals and XTERRA is the perfect fit for these people,” says race Andrea Fisher. They’ll certainly get their fill of that on the rugged Emma Long terrain. For more info, call Andrea at 731-4766.
2. The Silicon Labs Marathon Relay has confirmed that it will offer a $100,000 bonus to any team of five runners that breaks two hours in its 26.2-mile relay on September21st. That’ll be a tough nut to crack—the world record is 1:57:06 and the American is 1:59:08—but a team of national-caliber runners could threaten it. The bonus money isn’t limited to Americans either. International runners are also welcome to take a go at breaking two hours.
3. The inaugural Rock 'n' Roll San Antonio Marathon and Half has announced the “Texas Showdown” for its November 16th race. The Showdown is only for Texans with marathon PRs faster than 2:47 for guys or 3:15 for the gals. If you run faster than that, there’s money in it. And the first Texan—male and female—gets $2000 for the marathon and $1000 for the half.  In addition, any Texan who runs faster than 2:31 (guys) or 2:56 (gals) gets a $350 bonus. In the half, there’s $350 for runners faster than 1:08:30/1:17. The caveats are pretty simple. You must be a permanent Texas resident since November 1, 2007 and register for the Showdown with the elite athlete coordinator for Elite Racing, Matt Turnbull (mturnbull@competitorgroup.com). Elite is also offering comp entries to Texans who have run 2:43/3:07 in the past 12 months. “We are looking forward to hosting the best runners from the State of Texas,” said Lucy Diaz who is managing Rock 'n' Roll San Antonio. “This is going to be a world-class race and is sure to attract many athletes and visitors to San Antonio.”
4. One of our favorite Burundians—Bernard Manirakaza—is starting to give serious consideration to running his first marathon. Bernard is looking for one this fall (San Antonio? White Rock?) and thinks he can run in the 2:17-2:18 range first time out. I don’t doubt it.
5. Joshua Keena, who made his marathon debut last February at the AT&T Austin marathon in 2:332:34, is hoping to be named to the All-Army team and run the Marine Corps Marathon in Washington in October. Keena, a Major in the Army working on a Ph.D. at UT, won the ARA 30-K last January.
6. Registration has opened for one of the most fun relays in town: The Zilker Relays on August 29th at 6:30 p.m. Four-runners each do two loops of the soccer fields for a 2 ½-mile leg apiece. The post-race party is well worth the price of admission with a free beer garden, great music and an awesome spread from Tacodeli. It doesn’t get any better than this. Go to  www.zilkerrelays.com or call Raul Najera at 326-1600 for more info. The race will also signal the first time use in Austin of the ChronoTrack disposal timing chip.
7. BTW: Paul Perrone, who founded the Zilker Relays and still co-directs it, is leaving our fair city once again. Perrone, who left town a few years ago for Baltimore to become national sales director for Fila, is moving to Boston where his rep agency works with Karhu Shoes which has an American office there. I doubt Perrone will be able to exchange his Spurs seasons tickets for Celtics.
8. Frank Livaudais has “only” run eight marathons this year, but, just to keep busy, he’s thrown in a few triathlons and ultramarathons. The latest: The Rattlesnake 50-K last weekend in West Virginia which crushed his quads so badly he could barely walk for several days afterward. Three weeks before that, he did the Coeur d’Alene Ironman. Next up is the Carrollton (Michigan) Marathon on July 27th. And then my favorite: Humpy’s Big Life Marathon in Alaska. How does he find these things?
9. A local biotech company (Rules-Based Medicine) is looking for some guinea pigs…er, marathoners training for AT&T Austin in February to participate in a study. The 4-5 month study will look at new proteins (biomarkers) that are related to stress and recovery in endurance athletes. Says Sam LaBrie, a local runner and VP of Rules Medicine, says the stress of marathon training to similar to a military boot camp and first deployment. By The goal of the study is to develop some guidelines for the recruits going through boot camp. The catch is you have to donate at least seven blood samples during the course of the study. The testing service usually goes for $3200, but it’s free if you volunteer. If you’re interested, you can call Sam at 835-8026, ext 287 or email him slabrie@rulesbasedmedicine.com. If you want to apply for the study, here’s a form you have to fill out: http://www.surveymonkey.com/s.aspx?sm=M3ztAf_2bNtrrPUpaBjj23OQ_3d_3d.
10. Word on the street is that USATF has settled on a new president and CEO. The man is Bill Schmidt, the 1972 Olympic bronze medalist in the javelin and a former executive at Gatorade, who will replace Craig Masback who left USATF in January to work for Nike. Schmidt, 60, is the president of his own company—Pegasus Sports Marketing—in Knoxville. Coincidentally, Masback has been added to the NBC team which will be covering Olympic track-and-field in Beijing. Before taking over USATF, Masback worked as a commentator for NBC at the ’92 and ’96 Olympics.

Have any news for me? (It doesn’t have to be entirely true.) If you do, email wish@runtex.com with it.