Lanni Marchant is being kept out of the field in the Olympic marathon for no good reason.

Marchant has met not only the Olympic qualifying standard for the marathon but also the even tougher Athletics Canada standard. She is the Canadian marathon champion and record-holder.

It’s one thing to say, “Oh, but she might not finish in the top 12, and the national Own the Podium program ties sports funding to top-12 finishes in international competition. So let’s not send her to Rio.”

It’s quite another to tell her, that even though she’s going to be there anyway competing in the 10,000 metres, that she can’t take a shot at the marathon. A shot she earned fair and square. She would not be displacing anybody else.

As Michael Doyle, editor-in-chief of Canadian Running magazine wrote recently on the cbc.ca website, “If we aren't interested in letting our best marathoner try, then what's the point of the Olympics?”

--Please sign this petition urging the Athletics Canada Board of Directors to immediately reverse their decision keeping Lanni out of the marathon, so she can be prepared for this important competition.