Three of the approximately 200 women toeing the line at this Saturday’s US Olympic Trials Marathon will be wearing the green and grey of Battle Road Track Club. Katie DiCamillo, Alexandra (Sasha) Varanka, and Keely Maguire have all earned their chance to compete for a spot on the US Olympic Marathon team over the last two and a half years.
DiCamillo hit the qualifying marks multiple times but with PRs within the last year in both the full (2:37:59, Los Angeles) and the half (1:12:50, Philadelphia) she’s currently at the top of her game. In 2012, Katie competed in the 10k at the trials but this will her first marathon trials.
Varanka was initially a heartbreaking 19 seconds off the mark (2:43:19) at Chicago in 2014. After fighting through injuries to make another attempt at Grandma’s in 2015 and coming up short again, it looked like she might have to wait another 4 years for her shot. When USATF relaxed the standard to 2:45:00 (previously 2:43:00) this past December, Sasha was one of 39 women that had her dream realized.
Maguire made her half debut this past November at a low key race in Newburyport where her time of 1:17:31 was good enough to not only beat all of the other women but also win the race outright. A month and a half later she took almost 4 minutes off of her time to easily dip under the standard (1:15:00) with a time of 1:13:49 in Jacksonville. The trials will be Keely’s marathon debut.
The race will be broadcast live on NBC Saturday, February 13th at 1 PM EST. Be sure to tune in to cheer Katie, Sasha, and Keely on!