Ficker Competes at Olympic Marathon Trials
Austinite is trying to get to Beijing.
By Lee Nichols, 8:12AM, Sun. Apr. 20, 2008
If you're reading this on Sunday morning, April 20: Austin's Desiree Ficker, an accomplished triathlete, is in Boston trying out for the U.S. Olympic team in the marathon. As I write this, at 8:14am, the race is at the 11-mile mark and Ficker is in contention to make the team. The top three finishers will go to Beijing. A runner from Oakland, Calif., has a huge lead, about a minute and a half ahead of the rest of the field, but Ficker is in the chasing pack of about 12 athletes, running right beside Deena Kastor, the 2004 Olympic bronze medalist. You can watch the race live online by going clicking here, and you can track Ficker's position in almost real-time by going here.
Update: Shortly after I originally posted this, Kastor made a surge that broke up the pack, and she went on to win. Ficker held on to the lead pack for about half of the 26.2 miles, but finally fell off the pace in mile 14. She finished in 79th place in a very respectable 2 hours, 48 minutes, 11 seconds. And she came away with one great bit of trivia that she can share with her friends: She finished about one minute ahead of 50-year-old Joan Samuelson, the winner of the first-ever women's Olympic marathon back in 1984.
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Lee Nichols, Dec. 29, 2009
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Track & Field, Desiree Ficker, U.S. Olympic Marathon Trials
