With the World Marathon Majors either canceled or limited to elite runners because of the coronavirus pandemic, opportunities to race are hard to find. 

To fill the gap, an elite marathon designed for runners from or training in North America will be held Dec. 20 on the Gila River Indian Reservation in Chandler.

The field will be limited to 50 men and 50 women and already is drawing interest from some top-20 finishers at the U.S. Olympic Trials marathon held in February. 

The 26.2-mile race will not be open to spectators for safety reasons but is expected to be televised or streamed online.

“The goal is to give athletes a chance to showcase their talents and give them motivation to train,” said Josh Cox, one of the leading agents in the sport who lowered his American 50K record on top of winning the 2011 Rock ‘n’ Roll Arizona Marathon. “It’s cool to be able to put it together. We’re aiming for some fast times.”

Perhaps state record times, currently 2:10.33 for men (Haron Toroitich, 2004) and 2:30.39 for women (Teyba Naser, 2010), both from RnR Arizona.

Cox and Northern Arizona Elite coach Ben Rosario are among the race organizers with Big River Race Management to handle staging. Prize money still is to be finalized for what is being called The Marathon Project 2020.

Automatic entry is available to top-25 finishers at the Olympic Trials in Atlanta, U.S. citizens running under 2:13 (men) and 2:28 (women) since January 2017 and Americans finishing in the top 15 at a World Marathon Major in 2018 or 2019.

After that, the field will be filled next month via provisional qualifiers.

“I love the idea of a flat, fast marathon in the winter,” said two-time Olympian Desiree Linden and 2018 Boston Marathon champion, who was fourth at the 2020 trials. “I need to see how I feel coming off what I have lined up in October and will make a decision then.”

Men expected in the invitational field include Augustus Maiyo (fifth at the Olympic Trials), Marty Hehir (sixth), Collin Bennie (ninth), Matt McDonald (10th), Scott Fauble (12th), Brendan Gregg (14th), Josh Izewski (17th) and Scott Smith (19th). Fauble and Smith train with NAZ Elite.

On the women’s side, the field is expected to include 2016 Boston and two-time Chicago champion Atsede Baysa, Stephanie Bruce (sixth at the Olympic Trials), Kellyn Taylor (eighth), Julia Kohnen (10th) and perhaps Linden, an Arizona State Athletic Hall of Famer. Baysa is an Ethiopian who trains in Colorado Springs. 

Bruce and Taylor train with NAZ Elite. Their training partner Aliphine Tuliamuk won the Olympic Trials to qualify for the Tokyo Olympics, the first Olympian to come out of Rosario’s Flagstaff group. 

Abdi Abdirahman of Tucson also qualified for Tokyo and his fifth Olympics with a third-place trials men’s finish. 

The race will be held on a 4.3-mile loop course near Rawhide Western Town. Cox said sites in southern California also were considered but that “chances of it getting canceled due to COVID were a lot more likely” in California than in Arizona.

“There is another shot for these runners to provide value to their sponsors,” during what was supposed to be an Olympic year, Cox said. “It’s a carrot out there to show they can perform at a high level. It’s hard to keep motivated when you get really fit and have nowhere to race. It’s like telling a kid in school to study hard but they’re never tested.”

Of the World Marathon Majors, Tokyo was held in March for elites and London will be the same Oct. 4 with the elite field that includes Sara Hall of Flagstaff. The Boston, Berlin, Chicago and New York City marathons were canceled, the latter in what was to have been its 50th anniversary.

The Rock ‘n’ Roll Arizona Marathon still is scheduled for Jan. 17 although registration has yet to re-open.

MORE: Marathon trials champion Tuliamuk torn between health care and running during pandemic

MORE: Building Team Arizona for Tokyo Olympics: Local connections in Summer Games

Reach the reporter at [email protected] or 602-444-8053. Follow him on Twitter @jeffmetcalfe.

Support local journalism: Subscribe to azcentral.com today.