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2010 Virgin London Marathon Announces Stellar Elite Fields
Reigning London and World Marathon Major Champions Sammy Wanjiru and Irina Mikitenko will defend their titles in what looks to be again the world's toughest marathon fields. Two top challengers on the women's side are '09 Bank of America Chicago winner Liliya Shobukhova of Russia and '09 World Champ Bai Xue of China along with a ton of either aging or rising stars. On the men's side it's a stacked deck with World Champ Abel Kirui (left), Half Marathon sensation Zersenay Tadese, Kenyan record holder Duncan Kibet and once-unbeatable Martin Lel. Top Americans at this point are Deena Kastor returning to the course where she set her 2:19 American record in 2006 and Abdi Abdirahman.

LetsRun.com's The Week That Was Last week was a hodgepodge type of week in the running world but thankfully we have you covered. Our observations are short and all over the place, but nearly all running fans will have at least something that interests them. We talk about a wide range of characters including Sammy Wanjiru, Günther Weidlinger, Angela Bizzarri, Usain Bolt, Tyson Gay, Alberto Salazar, German Fernandez, Ryan Vail, Tim Montgomery, Caster Semenya, Aisling Cuffe, Lukas Verzbikas, Joe Rosa and others.

More News On Sammy Wanjiru

• Savas Sports Supplement Co. Terminates Wanjiru Sponsorship Deal Fortunately for Sammy, he made at least a million in appearance fees and winners' checks last year.
• Article on Sammy Wanjiru And His Quest To Become Greatest Marathoner Ever Wanjiru, still 23 years old, in some experts' minds might already be the greatest marathoner in history. But as far as world stature he is still way behind the great one, the Emperor Haile Gebrselassie.

Michael Johnson Blabs From Jamaica *Link Fixed

*Link Fixed Michael Johnson Says Bolt Should Shoot For Simultaneous 100, 200, 400 WRs; Says He Would Easily Beat Wariner (MJ Is Wariner's Agent)

Former 200m and current 400m world record holder MJ is in Jamaica with BBC producers to make a Usain Bolt documentary. Easy for him to say - MJ pronounces Bolt could beat Americans LaShawn Merritt and Jeremy Wariner at 400m this year without much training.
*More on Usain Bolt: Swedish And IAAF Doping Expert, Former High Jump Great Arne Ljungvist Says Usain Bolt Is Absolutely Clean

Johnson Joins Chorus In Saying USA Track And Field Is On Major Decline

Johnson did stop short of calling track and field "dead" in America, probably an astute decision given US athletes won more medals than any other country in '08 and '09. And how about this for proof of track's immense popularity in the US? Turkey Trot Participation Surged Again In 2009

Brief Chat With Philadelphia Marathon Champion, NC State Alum John Crews

Crews, 25, has run 3 marathons and won all 3, including his latest, a negative-split PR 2:17 win in Philly to become the first American winner since Cornellian Brian Clas in 2000. LetsRun's Employee #1 finished 7 minutes behind Crews in 2nd.

UNC Miling Star Brie Felnagle On Her Return - Video Interview

Former NCAA 1,500m champion, American record-holding DMR anchor and 4th-placer at NCAA cross-country Brie Felnagle fell off the radar last spring when she skipped the NCAA outdoor track season. She tells FloTrack she took time away due to burnout and is excited for her final outdoor season coming up.

Profile Of Australian Nikki Chapple Chapple had the best race of her career on Sunday when she won the Great Australian 15km.

Concise Recap Of Latest Pro XC Contests In Europe

Monday's Top-4 Distance Reads

1. Recommended Read: Brett Larner Answers LetsRun.com Message Board User - Compares US And Japan 18-22 y/o Distance Runners

JapanRunningNews' Brett Larner started a thread after 2009 Pre-Nationals comparing the NCAA runners to the comparably-aged Japanese runners who ran the Hakone Ekiden 20k trial. After receiving a lot of response from the LRC message boards who felt the honor and ability of American college runners was being questioned, Larner dug deeper to find stats on the best American and Japanese performances from 5,000m to the marathon by runners aged 18-22.

2. HS Junior Aisling Cuffe Runs To Tremendous 45-Second Win At Foot Locker Northeast

Perhaps more amazing than the margin of victory was the margin of the new course record. Cuffe lowered the CR 21 seconds despite a wicked windy day with reported 40mph gusts.

3. Interview With UVA's Catherine White

White transferred to her home-state school last year from Arkansas and finished 4th at this year's NCAA championships. Find out interesting facts such as how White planned on spending her Thanksgiving break and how slow she planned to jog her local 5k Turkey Trot.

4. 2010's Athens Marathon Will Be The 2,500th Anniversary Of The Legendary Pheiddipides' Terminal Run From Marathon To Athens

The tough Athens Marathon course will be open to about 10,000 entrants for its October 31, 2010 race, Pat Butcher reports.

Same Day In The Global Press - The True Journey Vs. The Shortcut

• Positive Thoughts Key To Top Athletes' Success This article is about the spiritual quest of the athlete and turning to positive thoughts to overcome challenges.
• Spanish Anti Doping Raids Find - To Nobody's Surprise - Many Top Cyclists/Athletes Possess EPO This article focuses on a race-walker Olympic medalist who decided to cheat, like many others, to gain superficial success.

Top Stars Pestered For Plans And Opinions

• Bolt Says Yohan Blake Will Be The Next Big Sprint Star Last week, he was saying it was Antiguan Daniel Bailey.
• Paula Again Asked by Press About Her Pregnancy Plans 35-year-old Paula is planning on having a second child next season, but don't worry Britons, she's still planning on going for the gold in the London 2012 Olympic Marathon!

Recommended Read: Joash Osoro Profile - UPortland Runner Adopted By American Family From Kenya

Transient Professional Athletes Struggle With Real Estate Market We thought this was an interesting read.

US Distance Runners In Action On Thanksgiving

LRC Photos From Meb Keflezighi's Appearance In The Macy's T-Giving Day Parade With Miss America Meb on the event: "My kids couldn't sleep, I couldn't sleep ... I was so excited, I thought I was running a major event this morning." Perhaps Meb asked Miss America questions such as, "Now that you are Miss America, what will you do to help solve the home foreclosure crisis?"

Manchester Road Race Searchable Results We are surprised how deep the men's field was.
*Top Results:
Men: 1. Haron Lagat 21:40; 2. Patrick Smyth 21:41; 3. David Jankowski 21:44
Women: 1. Alemtsehay Misganaw 25:26; 2. Amy Rudolph 25:27; 3. Teyba Naser 25:31

An NCAA Meet To Remember

LRC Prediction Contest Scores *DII Contest

Results: *Men's Ind. *Men's Team *Women's Ind. *Women's Team *LRC: Updated And Expanded Photos More coverage below.

Nike Coaching Award Goes To ... Alberto Salazar!

Salazar Named Nike Coach Of The Year By USATF Sure, it's a little comedic that it's an award sponsored by Nike, but Alberto Salazar has done a fantastic job coaching and mentoring Amy Yoder-Begley, Galen Rupp, Kara Goucher and Dathan Ritzenhein, to name a few.

LRC Threads: *Salazar - Named Nike Coach of the Year by USATF *Meb wins NYCM, Rowbury medals at Berlin WC, and Al Sal didn't coach them yet he gets NIKE Coach of the Year?

NCAA D1 XC Championships Results & Post-Race Media Coverage

Results: *Men's Ind. *Men's Team *Women's Ind. *Women's Team *LRC: Updated and Expanded Photos

LRC Prediction Contest Scores

Patrick Konchellah Dies at Age 44
The younger brother to 2x world champion Billy Konchellah and uncle to world champion Yusuf Saad Kamel, Patrick Konchellah was a Commonwealth Games 800m champion and finished 4th at the 1997 World Championships. As brother Billy pointed out, "The guy was a great athlete and ran faster than I did (1:42.98 personal best) and the country has lost one of its most gifted runners."

Autopsies For Three Deaths In Detroit Half Marathon Deem Natural Heart Failure Probable Cause

British 800m Runner Marilyn Okoro Gives Thoughtful Quotes On Caster Semenya
Okoro talks about what it was like to witness the Caster Semenya uproar unfold as the women prepared to enter the track for the Berlin WC 800m final.

Comedian Robin Williams Makes Joke About Rio's Tactics In Winning 2016 Olympic Bid - Sparks City's Ire News stations are replaying the clip in Rio de Janeiro and getting people riled up.

2 Days After Global Tim Montgomery Story ... Marion Jones Is Playing Basketball

Marion Jones Is Out Of Prison And Training For the WNBA

London Times Columnist Tells The Story Of Arranging The Prison Interview With Tim Montgomery
Another good read that follows two excellent stories on Montgomery (see below).

Previously: From World's Fastest Man To Prison - Two Of The Most Interesting Reads You'll Find All Year

Recommended Read Tim Montgomery Talks About His Relationship With Marion Jones

Montgomery pulls no punches in describing the real Marion Jones (not the cute, crying Marion Jones on Oprah). Really a fascinating read.

Recommended Read Tim Montgomery Talks About Why He Cheated, Life In Jail, His Regrets And Lessons

Montgomery describes dealing heroin and crack on the streets as a kid, being completely jealous of Maurice Greene (who he then claims was using drugs), and the rough stuff he went through as he moved from prison to prison.

Halls Gave Away Their NY Prize Money To Their New Charity

USATF Give 2009 Visa Humanitarian Award To Ryan And Sara Hall

Drugs And Sport

Pharmaceutical Company GlaxoSmithKline Will Pay £10 Million To Build/Operate Drug Testing Facility For London 2012

Some drug testing advocates are hailing the investment, but some are questioning what concessions might be made to the company after such a large gift.

100% Good Doping News: WADA Ready To Unveil Athlete Biological Passport Program On Global Scale

Tiger Woods Not Coming Clean

"Wild Thing" John Daly Urges Tiger Woods To Tell The Truth

Imagined conversation: "Tiger, and I'm speaking from experience here ..." - John Daly

Recommended Watch: Tiger Pulls Out of His Own Tournament

A great segment from Bob Ley's Outside the Lines compares Tiger, his fling and the cover-up to Bill Clinton and Monica Lewinsky. Also a former GQ mag writer talks about the last extensive sit-down interview with Tiger (10 years ago) and why Woods' PR people won't let reporters close to him anymore.

High School XC - Foot Locker Regional Highlights *NE Results *South Results *Midwest Results

*Northeast Results Aisling Cuffe wins NE regional by 46 seconds, sets 21-second course record.

*LRC Northeast Region Photos

*South Results Texan Craig Lutz just missed GTown star Andrew Bumbalough's course record running 14:36 in the South Region. Junior Chelsey Sveinsson (left) won the women's race. Sveinsson was 4th at Foot Locker nationals as a sophomore last year and now has qualified 3 times.

*LRC South Region Photos

*Midwest Results As expected, indoor track/triathlon star Lukas Verzbikas won the Midwest regional. Megan Goethals won the region for the 2nd straight year while senior Emily Sisson qualified for her 4th Foot Locker national championship race.

LRC Thread 1: Footlocker is going to have a "Big 4" all from a different region!!!
LRC Thread 2: Has Nike's NXN ruined Footlocker National?

International Weekend Racing Highlight:

Günther Weidlinger Wins Great Australian Run While Sammy Wanjiru Finishes 4th

Weidlinger is the man who owns every national record from 1,500m to marathon, including steeplechase. He ran 2:10 for the Austrian marathon national record 5 weeks ago while Sammy Wanjiru won the Chicago Marathon 7 weeks ago. Wanjiru was clearly not himself after arriving late to Australia because one of his children back in Kenya fell sick.

Surprise: Britain's "Retired" Hayley Yelling Makes Comeback A Few Weeks Before European Cross

Potentially Big NCAA Cross-Country News

*Washington Women's Assistant Kelly Strong Resigns After 7 Years Strong was the assistant to head coach Greg Metcalfe.

*LRC MBoard Thread On Kelly Strong Resigning

*Kendra Schaaf Wins Canadian Senior XC Title

Schaaf was runner-up at NCAAs for the University of Washington and added a senior Canadian crown to her 2 junior titles.

*Canadian Sheila Reid Basking In Villanova NCAA Team Title

Reid has come back from a torn labrum to lead Villanova to a team title. She talks about the team nature of the sport and coming back from a long layoff.

More HS: Nike Cross Regional Results Courtesy Of DyeStat

• Joe And Jim Rosa Go 1-2 At Nike Northeast
• Delaware's Tatnall Girls Win Nike Southeast
• Otis Ubriaco And Lizzie Predmore Win Nike NY Fayetteville-Manlius girls wallop Saratoga, which is considered one of the top 5 women's XC teams in the country (score 41-77).
• College Coaches Look Here: All Nike Xross Nationals Team And Individual Qualifiers Announced

Weekend International Results

• Ben Kipruto and Reuben Kosgei Sprint To 1-Second Final Margin In Florence Marathon
• World Champions Gebremariam and Linet Masai Win Comfortably In IAAF XC - Spain
• Ernest Kebenej Sets New Course Record In Nyeri Half Marathon - Kenya
• Mercy Cherono Wins 3rd Kenyan XC Series Race

International Races/News

• Interesting Marathon Debut: 2000 And 2001 Olympic And World Champ In The Steeplechase, Reuben Kosgei, Meets 2 Sub-2:10ers In Florence Kosgei attempted a marathon as a trial run earlier this year and stopped at 25k.
• XC Season, Pro Style - 2nd Major European XC Meet Is Sunday In Spain XC World Champs are in Poland coming up in 2010 before the next champs in 2012.
• No Fallout From Jamaican Berlin Training Camp Spat Asafa Powell and company will not be sanctioned for missing the JAAA pre-Berlin training camp. Originally, the JAAA was threatening to kick the whole MVP Sprint Club off the Jamaican Worlds team. Jamaica would have had about 6 fewer medals had the IAAF not stepped in.