BOSTON (AP) – The organizers of the Boston Marathon will bid on the 2008 U.S. marathon trials, an event that would be held on the weekend of the historic race but over a flat, fast, multiple-loop course.

Details haven’t been finalized because USA Track and Field, the sport’s governing body, hasn’t finalized the bid criteria. But the Boston Athletic Association, which hosts the world’s longest-running marathon, is hoping to hold both the men’s and women’s races here. They two have always been held at different sites before.

The BAA is planning to design a new, multiple-loop course that would likely finish on Boylston Street in Boston’s Back Bay. The race would be held on either the Saturday or Sunday before the Boston Marathon’s traditional Patriots Day Monday start.

Boston has served as the site for the U.S. men’s Olympic team several times, including the first time in 1908 and as recently as 1960. The women’s marathon trials have never been held in Boston.

The top three male and female finishers at the trials will qualify to represent the nation at the 2008 Olympics in Beijing, provided they also meet the Olympic qualifying standard.

USA Track and Field is expected to announce its criteria in January and make a decision sometime next year.