Jake Schmitt and Clara Peterson both stamped their tickets to the U.S. Olympic Marathon Trials with their fast performances at the Giant Race Half Marathon this weekend. Schmitt surged away early to win in a time of 1:04:51, while Peterson followed the perfect pace setting of Bay Area Track Club teammate Magdalena Lewy-Boulet to finish second, in 1:14:31. Chris Chavez grabbed 2nd place on the men’s side, with a time of 1:05:28.
Schmitt and Armen Vartanian, who would go on to finish 3rd, pushed the pace early with a 4:48 opening mile. Chavez followed six seconds back. The two leaders stayed together through the 5 mile mark, when Schmitt broke away and never looked back. Chavez locked into a steady 5:00 mile pace and slowly reeled in Vartanian. The Olympic Marathon Trials men’s qualifying standard is 2:19 for the full marathon, 1:05 for the half marathon, or 28:30 for the 10K. Both Schmitt and Chavez have now achieved the qualifying standard. They’ll both be racing again at the San Jose Rock n’ Roll Half Marathon in October.
Peterson and Lewy-Boulet ran together the entire race, finishing with the identical time. For Peterson, it was especially sweet to get under the 1:15 Olympic Trials qualifying standard a few months after giving birth. The men’s and women’s Olympic Marathon Trials will be held in Houston, on January 14, 2012.
