Weitzel & Garcia Run Under USA Olympic Trials Marathon Qualifying Standard at Bakline's McKirdy Marathon

photo credit: Dave Hashim @Dhash on instagram

Eddie Garcia and Jason Weitzel

Sporting their hardware.

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Greenville Track Club-ELITE's Jason Weitzel and Eduardo "Eddie" Garcia ran personal bests of 2:15:55 and 2:17:09, respectively to run under the USA Olympic Trials Marathon standard of 2:18:00 on Saturday morning. The Bakline McKirdy Micro Marathon was set-up for athletes to have an opportunity to achieve the USA Olympic Trials Qualifying time and featured a limited field (sub-2:25 for men and sub-2:45 for women) of runners who had previous performances within range of the standard (2:18;00 for men & 2:37:00 for women). The course was billed as flat and fast and was conducted on a 2.946 mile loop around the lake in Rockland Lake State Park, Valley Cottage, NY. 

One of the featured aspects of this unique event was that race organizer James McKirdy provided bottle service for every accepted athlete and there were over 39 tables set up along the route (in the pre-dawn darkness). Each athlete could have up to eight bottles (one per lap after the first loop). The weather conditions were almost perfect with the temperature at 50 degrees and very little wind, although a light rain appeared in the later stages of the race. Another positive was the excellent work of the pacers, who made major contributions to the outstanding performances and results.  

Jason (left) increasing the pace on the final lap. (@jporter_photo)

The finish: 2:15:55. (@jporter_photo)

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(@jporter_photo)

Weitzel and Garcia ran in a large pack of runners following pacer Henry Sterling with sub-2:18:00 as their primary target. They remained in that pack for seven of the nine loops of the course, before Jason increased his tempo to move ahead. He then covered the final loop at 4:58 per mile pace to knock a whopping 8:36 from his previous and only marathon performance. It also was a new program record for GTC-ELITE, supplanting the 2:17:18 by Joe Niemiec at the 2020 Chevron Houston Marathon. 

Garcia's time of 2:17:09 (gun time/2:17:06 chip time) was also under Niemiec's  program record and was a new national record for the US Virgin Islands. Eddie has dual citizenship and already held the record at 2:17:45. 

The race also offered a $20,000 prize bonus to be shared equally between the men and women achieving the USA OT standard (who were not previously qualified). There were 48 athletes (35 men and 13 women) who ran sub-2:18/sub-2:37, however some had previously qualified. 

Eddie fueling in final lap. (@jporter_photo)

New PB and US Virgin Islands' National Record. (@jporter_photo)

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Greenville Track Club-ELITE was established in 2012 and is in its second decade as a post-collegiate, Olympic-development program. The program produced four qualifiers for the 2016 USA Olympic Trials Marathon in Los Angeles, one qualifier/participant for the 2019 Pam American Games Marathon in. Lima, Peru, three qualifiers/two participants for the 2020 USA Olympic Trials Marathon in Atlanta, GA and one qualifier and participant in the 2021 USATF Olympic Track & Field Trials in the 3000m Steeplechase. The program's runners set four South Carolina State road race records in 2020 (5K, 15K and Half Marathon--twice) and three (15K, 10-Mile and 20K) in 2021. GTC-ELITE also produced the South Carolina Men's 2020 Long Distance Runner of the Year. 

​The program is sponsored and supported by the 51-year-old Greenville Track Club, ASICS, Joy Real Estate (Adopt an Athlete partner), generous individual contributors and partnerships with Performance Therapy, Carolina Spine and Rehab, Roll Recovery products, FinalSurge (on-line training log), ElliptiGO, NormaTec Recovery Boots, Cocoa Elite recovery products, UCAN energy products, Coach Bob Williams Pace Calculator, the DorsiFlex (stretching device), the MOBO board (balance & mobility), On Pace Wellness (nutrition coaching) and LEVER Movement (treadmill body weight support). The club is a proud and active member of both the Road Runners Club of America and USATF.​