Two Recommended Reads

• RR#1 Fantastic read on Patrick Sang who compares the high he gets from coaching to being on drugs He also offers his one key to coaching success, “The biggest teacher to me is the feedback mechanism from the athlete. It can take a few months, maybe even just one month, to learn that.”
• RR #2 Jeff Hollobaugh takes an in-depth look (4,000+ words) at the greatness of the Florida program and head coach Mike Holloway Holloway’s Florida men have been top 3 at NCAA for 9 straight years, winning 4 titles including the last 2. However, the women’s team is prett good as well and for the first time in his 11 years coaching both teams, both teams won the SEC outdoor title in the same ear. “It was amazing, man. Absolutely amazing.”

News From Europe

• Callum Hawkins will race for 1st time since CG collapse against Mo Farah at Vitality London 10,000 next Monday
• 15+ minutes: Ato Boldon interviews Belgium’s world and Olympic heptathlon Nafissatou Thiam
• 50 days to go until World Juniors in Finland The Finns are trying to be environmentally friendly and will be giving the athletes tap water, not bottled water as their tap water is so clean it’s way cleaner than bottled water.
• 30% third of British athletes report they have seen ‘unacceptable behaviour’ 17% of them say they’ve experienced.
• Former European indoor 3k champ Bob Verbeeck of Belgium, now an event promoter, says athletics’ strength lies in its variety “Yes we’ll have the javelin going on the same time as a 100m or 10,000m, which are different sports fitting into one sport. But what we need to do is translate that better. We can’t have the assumption that people know what’s going on. As far as telling the story, we need to do a better job. Also it’s important how we mix in the ‘show element’ of the sport.”
• Irish marathon Olympian Lizzie Lee says the marathon is made for older women “Marathon is not a young women’s game. That’s because it is so mental as well as physical,” says the 37-yr old.
• And Australia: 50 + athletes remain in Australia after Commonwealth Games illegally Another 200 are tring to stay in some form or fashion in a legal matter.

NCAA News

• The Oregonian: Few Chances Left To Say Goodbye To Historic Hayward Field The stadium (as is) hosted its last Oregon state meet over the weekend, will host Pre this weekend, NCAAs in June and “then an era will end.”
  *Register Guard’s Austin Meek: “The pride of Oregon is on display at Hayward Field”
  *Ken Goe: “Debate About The New Hayward Field Is Unlikely Ever To End”
• Washington Head Coach Greg Metcalf Steps Down After “Having Agreed To A Mutual Separation With The University” Metcalf: “I have decided that it is in the best interest of the program for me to step down.”
  *MB: Metcalf steps down from coaching at University of Washington
• Men’s Pre-Regionals NCAA Rankings No changes to the top-4 as with Florida, Texas A&M, Texas Tech and Georgia on top. Oregon moved up to 5th.
• Women’s Pre-Regionals NCAA Rankings Southern California and LSU still 1-2, but Georgia moved up from 5th to 3rd and Oregon from 3rd to 5th.
• Event-By-Event Top-10 Marks From The NCAA Weekend
• The Bowerman Post-Conference Champs Men’s Watchlist
• The Bowerman Award Post-Conference Champs Women’s Watchlist

News From The IAAF

• Valerie Adams To Serve As The Official Starter For The IAAF Run 24:1 Series The IAAF Run 24:1 is a series of 24 one-mile runs that will be contested around the world to celebrate Global Running Day on 6 June.
• Need A Job? Paris 2020 European Championships Is Hiring
• IAAF Ratifies 66:11 Women’s Only Half-Marathon WR By Netsanet Gudeta Kebede They also ratified Poland’s 3:01.77 men’s 4×400 record from World Indoors, although this isn’t the WR anymore as Texas A&M ran 3:01.39 for 2nd place at NCAA Indoors.
  *MB: Only track could have a dumb rule like this. Texas A&M loses 4 x 400 but gets credited with the WR

Distance News

• The Guardian: Mo Farah Claims He Was Frequently Drug Tested At His African Training Camps Farah says he was tested every two weeks when he was training in Ethiopia ahead of the London Marathon and that it included blood and urine. Doping aside, Farah reveals that he’ll most likely be running either NYC or Chicago in the fall.
• Good Read: FastRunning.com: Is Jakob Ingebrigtsen Peaking Too Soon?  Robbie Britton writes that Norway’s athletes have a “prerequisite for burnout” and compares Ingebrigsten’s path to US high school/college athletes.
• Interesting Interview Format: Carrie Tollefson Talks With Gabriele Grunewald While On A Run Grunewald talks about coaching Chip Gaines for his first marathon and gives an update on her cancer treatment. They’re a little out of breath, but the audio is fine.

Manchester Great CityGames

• Double World Silver Medalist Marie-Josee Ta Lou Beats Allyson Felix Over 150m At Manchester Street Race Ta Lou’s 16.60 was the seventh-fastest straight 150m of all-time. In the men’s 100, GB’s Harry Aikines-Aryeetey ran 10.35 to beat Richard Kilty by .02.
• Poland’s Damian Czykier Gets Surprise Win Over World Indoor Champ Andrew Pozzi And WR Holder Aries Merritt In Great CityGames 110H Bershawn Jackson won the 200 hurdles and said that the loss of his 53-year-old father in 2016 is behind his decision to retire (again) at the end of this year.
  *Recommended Read: Article From February Where Bershawn Jackson Explains His Decision To Come Back For One More Year Jackson says he spoke with Bernard Lagat, Mo Farah, Sanya Richards and Justin Gatlin when seeking retirement advice.

NOP Returns To Chicago 2018

Galen Rupp Will Return To Defend His Title At The 2018 Chicago Marathon Jordan Hasay will be back as well after her third place 2:20:57 run last year.
*MB: Breaking: Galen Rupp WILL defend his Chicago Marathon title in 2018

More Doping Updates

• WADA Maintain RUSADA Suspension After No Progress Made WADA director general Olivier Niggli said, “There was no need for a vote and there was no proposal. There is no change.”
• European 5,000 Champ Ilias Fifa Among Banned For 4 Years For Doping Fifa is among five Spanish athletes to get a ban in connection with drug trafficking scandal Operation Chameri.
• RUSADA Director General Wants Moscow Laboratory To Open So They Can Become Compliant Again Allowing access to the samples stored there is one of the requirements for reinstatement Russia still hasn’t met.
• Kenyan Olympic Committee President Paul Tergat Calls For Action To End The “Cancer” Of Doping Tergat said, “We must stop sweeping it under the carpet under the guise of confidentiality and expose it for what it is.”
• Former Indian Olympic Sprinter Anand Menezes Wants The Country To Do More To Eradicate Doping In The Buildup To The Asian Games He might want to check his info though as he said, “Apart from a ban, there is a provision of imprisonment to such athletes in America and Europe.”
• RUSADA And The Russian Athletics Federation Sign Agreement To Help Prevent Anti-Doping Rules Violations The agreement includes ensuring access for doping control officials to all Russian sport venues.
• Report Reveals That Athletes At The 2018 Pyeongchang 2018 Winter Olympics Were Worried About Sample Tampering Apparently a couple of athletes were so concerned they broke their sample bottles after screwing the lids too tightly.