Two runners who thought they had qualified for the 2028 U.S. Olympic Marathon Trials have learned that their times will not be accepted. Caitlin McGinley, 29, won the women's race at the Baystate Marathon in Lowell, Massachusetts, in a personal best of 2:36:08, while Spencer Friske, 32, won the men's race in 2:15:05, almost three minutes faster than his previous best. The men's Trials standard is 2:16:00, and McGinley's run came with 52 seconds to spare, a year after she missed the mark by 12 seconds with a 2:37:12.
The news arrived the day after the race. USATF told both winners that Baystate does not hold a USATF sanction, and the governing body requires a qualifying marathon to be both certified and sanctioned. Certification relates to the course, which must be accurately measured and meet limits on elevation loss; Baystate's course is certified. Sanctioning relates to the event itself, covering adherence to USATF and World Athletics rules, safety commitments and liability insurance. According to reporting from LetsRun, USATF estimates the cost for an event of Baystate's size at around $2,000, reduced by about $500 with proof of private insurance, and Baystate has not held a sanction since 2020.
USATF's Jay Holder described the outcome as unfortunate but said standards and sanctioning requirements are typical in Olympic sport. He said retroactive sanctions are generally granted only when a race has missed a single year, not when it has gone unsanctioned for several, and that the federation has applied the rules consistently this cycle, including to the Marine Corps Marathon. That precedent is a recent one: Tessa Barrett won last year's Marine Corps Marathon in 2:34:11 in a race without a sanction, and went on to qualify with a 2:30:11 at the California International Marathon instead.
The case is complicated by an apparent inconsistency. Annie Heffernan qualified for the 2024 Trials using a time from the 2023 Baystate Marathon. Holder said he could not speak to that decision because neither he nor the current head of long-distance running was at USATF in 2023, but confirmed the organisation is looking into it. LetsRun reported that an appeal for the 2026 results was unsuccessful and that the decision is unlikely to change. Race director Glenn Stewart did not respond to the website's request for comment.
For the runners, the practical consequence is a second attempt rather than the end of the road. The qualifying window for the St. Louis Trials remains open until early 2028, so McGinley is expected to try again, while Friske has said he will prioritise his wife's qualifying attempts. USATF says it has sent a fact sheet on sanctioning to RunningUSA, Road Race Management and area associations, and will do more to raise awareness before the Trials. With the Marine Corps Marathon on Sunday, the episode is a reminder for amateur and sub-elite runners to check a race's sanction status, not only its course certification, before building a qualifying plan around it.