Commonwealth Games *Schedule/Results *Photos Of 5k *Stats - Fastest Times In CWG History *Distance Previews: *Men *Women
Friday: Nancy Langat Gets 1,500m Gold At Commonwealths Langat is the best 1,500m runner in
the world and she still unbelievably
has never broken 4:00. The Olympic Champ got it done in India. We hope she goes undefeated the rest of her career never breaking 4:00.
*After Commonwealths 1,500m Bronze For 21-Year-Old Stephanie Twell, Her Future Is Bright
More: 400: Botswana Gets Its First CWG Gold Ever Thanks To Amantle Montsho's 50.10 Win
10K: Grace Momanyi Of Kenya Wins 10k Gold At CWG
110H: English, Led By Andy Turner, Go 1-2-3
Decathlon: Canada's Jaime Adjetey-Nelson Wins Commonwealth Games Decathlon
More Pearson Debacle: Sally Pearson Goes Back And Sits In Stands To Watch Commonwealth Games 100m Medal Ceremony
*Detailed Look At Sally Pearson's Ordeal
*Australians Says DQ Of Pearson Was "Payback" From English
4 X 400: Former NAIA Dickinson State Stars Leading Bahamian 4 X 400 Team At Commonwealth Games
Thursday: Chaos On The Track:
Women's 100m: Sally Pearson Wins 100m At Commonwealth Games Only To Be DQed Hours Later The IAAF board DQed her for a false start even though she false started after another athlete. So 2 people were DQed on the same false start. Video of race at link above or on right hand side of page.
Men's 100m:
*MLF On Cloud 9 After 100m Silver At Commonwealths
Condoms Are NOT Clogging The Toilets At Commonwealth Games The message boards were all excited about all the sex going on at the Games. Guess it wasn't true.
Wednesday:
Uganda's Moses Kipsiro Starts Commonwealth Games Off With Gold At 5,000m Over Eliud Kipchoge The track action got underway and the highlight on day 1 was a gold by Uganda's Moses Kipsiro. Kipsiro is the guy who kept Matt Tegenkamp from getting a WC bronze in 2007 and in '08 and '09, he was 4th at the Olympics and WC. The non-Africans took spots 5-8, as Chris Thompson was 5th, Collis Birmingham
6th, Ben St. Lawrence 7th, and David McNeill 8th.
*Kenyan Papers Recap Of Men's 5,000 Kipsiro: "I wanted this badly, badly, badly and God has given me the gift."
*Nick Willis Trying To Acclimatize To Heat By Wearing Extra Layers Of Clothing While Training In Hong Kong
*New Zealand's Female National Record Holder Nikki Hamblin (4:05.93) Also Training In Hong Kong She used to be a Brit.
*Australian Wrestler Gives Finger To Judges In Middle Of Gold Medal Match And Is DQed
*Nick Willis Delays His Arrival To New Delhi After One Round Of 1,500m Is Removed The 1,500m final is not until next Tuesday. Semis are Saturday.
Good News (Bad) From The UK
- Good News: Soccer Teams That Want To Use London 2012 Olympic Stadium Must Keep The Track
- UK Not Likely To Bid For 2015 Worlds After Government Says It Won't Back Bid The bad news is hosting the World Championships in track is a money-losing proposition. As this second article says, "Even the World Championships lose money, relying on state and city governments to underwrite losses as the price of the global attention they bring." How much could the budget gap be? £25,000,000 ($40 million). Crazy. If we were the UK government, we wouldn't put up the money either.
European News:
- Lemaitre Is Voted European Athlete Of The Year
- Four Sub-2:10 Guys Are Running This Year's Athens Marathon On Its 2,500th Anniversary
- It's Official Olympic Marathon Loop Course Will NOT Finish In Olympic Stadium The course isn't following tradition, as organizers want a spectator-friendly loop course in the famous part of London.
Chicago Marathon Is Coming 10-10-10
In Anticipation Of Hopefully A Great Chicago Finish, The Science Of Sport Blog Looks At Fantastic Marathon Finishes Of Late
Sunday's Action
San Jose: Meb Tunes Up For New York With 1:01:45 Win In San Jose This was a glorified training run for Meb, as he had training partner Patrick Smyth with him for 10k and then was all alone. Up next for Meb - defending his ING NYC Marathon crown.
Blake Russell won the women's crown and 49-year-old Linda Somers-Smith
ran 1:13:31 for 2nd.
On The Boards: 1 Meb Keflezighi 1:01:45
Europe: Gilbert Chepkwony Runs 2:08:33 To Win Kosice Marathon, The Oldest In Europe At 87 Years
It's All About The Name: Coolboy Ngamole Wins S. African Marathon Champs In 2:16:19
The New Head Of USATF?
Bill Schmidt, Former VP Of Gatorade, Javelin Bronze Medallist In 1972, Would Accept USATF Job The board wants someone who knows something about the sport and has sports marketing experience. Schmidt meets the criteria.
3 Recommended Reads
- Mary Wittenberg Talks To Runner's World The interview is full of lots of great info.
i. She hints that another international and a US star will drop out of a fall marathon soon. We wonder who it will be?
ii. She reveals she's wining and dining the potential NY stars of the future, as Lisa Koll, Molly Huddle, Chris Solinsky, Matt Tegenkamp and Evan Jager will watch NY this year.
iii. She reveals Galen Rupp has been banned by Alberto from attending.
iv. She talks about Doug Logan. *Wittenberg Photo Gallery - The Science Of Sports Conjectures About Contador
- The Fastest Running Couple In The World?
The WSJ Profiles New York Contenders Gebre Gebremariam And Werknesh Kidane The WSJ is suddenly full of running articles. We loved this quote from Kidane on her start in the sport: "I run to get the sheep, to get the goat, to follow with them very fast, but I don't know the meaning of running."
Is Meb In Shape? We'll Start To Find Out Sunday As He Defends His San Jose Title
Financial/TV News
- UK Athletics Head Warns Govt. That London's Bid For 2015 World Championships Is Being Undermined By Lack Of Govt. Guarantee We have no idea why they'd need a govt. guarantee given the fact that all of the facilities will be there from 2012.
- After 27 Years, BBC Loses Rights To World Champs
- IAAF - Channel 4 Beats Out BBC
Fifth Avenue Mile Behind The Scenes
Story Of The Week!!! 4 college cross-country teammates from UMBC went up to NY to watch the 5th Avenue Mile. Before the day was over, they were holding the finishing tape and hanging out with some of their heroes. How did it happen? A GREAT read.
More Post-5th Avenue News:
*US Olympic Committee Profiles Shannon Rowbury
*Bernard Lagat Looking Forward To Big Marathon Payday In 2013
Say It Ain't So
Ryan Hall Pulls Out Of Chicago Marathon Philip Hersh of the Chicago Tribune broke this story. Hall isn't injuried; he's just had some subpar training and is out after his subpar race in Philly. We're surprised.
Pat Butcher: Patrick Makau Is Now The Man To Beat In The Marathon He's certainly the #1 in the world in our minds so far for 2010.
LetsRun.com's Endorses This Guy As Doug Logan's Replacement
South African Olympic Head Says He's Willing To Personally Clean Toilets To Insure India's Commonwealth Games Go On This guy clearly isn't afraid of getting his hands dirty and doing the grunt work. Certainly much better than what could be said of the old AAU guys.
*USOC Might Intervene If USATF Appoints Board Member CEO
Berlin Marathon *Live Thread *Splits
In Case You Don't Want To Know The Results
The Last Minute Of The 2010 Berlin Marathon:
***** **** Wins Berlin Marathon In Sprint Finish In 2:05:06 (Warning: We're about to reveal the winner's name) Despite
rain, Patrick Makau won the race in a sprint finish in 2:05:06 over Geoffrey Mutai as Bazu Worku was close behind. The rain prevented a world record attempt, but Makau has established himself as a marathon star. Aberu Kebede won the women's race by over a minute in a slow 2.23.58.
Toronto Waterfront Marathon: Kenneth
Mungara (2:07:57) And Sharon Cherop (2:22:42) Both Break Kenyan
All-Comers Record At Scotiabank Toronto Waterfront Marathon Canadian Reid Coolsaet ran 2:11:23 to make the Canadian Olympic standard by 6 seconds. Sharon Cherop got the women's winby 1 second over Tirfi Beyene with 2:22:43, which was faster than the winning time in Berlin.
*Message Board Discussion
Stop The Presses: Say it Ain't So: Menjo Loses At Lisbon Half Marathon, Mary Keitany Romps Races need to do a better job of promoting Menjo. We had no idea the LetsRun.com superhero was running. In case you have no idea what we're talking about, Menjo earlier this year soloed a 3:53 mile, a 12:55 5k, and the world-leading 10k.
Big Family News
Kara Goucher Gives Birth To Colton Mirko Goucher Congrats to Kara and Adam. Mom and baby are doing well after the baby was face up during delivery. The baby was 5 days early, which means Paula Radcliffe's second child is due in 5 days.
Galen Rupp Gets Married. Congrats to Galen and Keara.
Unbelievable
USATF Board Gave Logan $140,000-A-Year Pay Raise 9 Days Before Starting Termination Process If you're thinking of terminating someone, it's probably not a good idea to bump their base pay which their severance is calculated off of. The AP article above is excellent and has the 3 criteria the board wanted to see more from Logan on.
"The only amateurs left in the Olympic movement are the people running it." That's what Philip Hersh, the pre-eminent Olympic writer in the US, commented after hearing about the Logan raise.
Update: USATF Communications Director Jill Geer Writes To Clarify Our Comments Above
Previous Berlin News: From Bored With Running As A Child To Berlin Marathon Contender This IAAF piece has an interesting look at Germany's top contender for Sunday's Berlin Marathon, Sabrina Mockenhaupt.
*Patrick Makau And Geoffery Mutai Hope To Take Up Where Haile G Left Off The two 2:04 guys certainly should like Berlin's super-fast course.
*Joe Battaglia Preview
*Mzungo.org Has Lots Of Berlin Info
We Mentioned These In The Week That Was
- Ryan Hall Blog About His Run In Philly (scroll down) Too focused on running 4:40s.
- Ritz Talks About His Great North Run Got in a little trouble trying to run 59:30.
10/10/10 Bank Of America Chicago Marathon *LRC Women's Preview *Watch Live Sunday 8:30 AM Eastern *Weather Forecast (High Of 82)
LRC Men's Preview: The Best Chicago Ever? Wanjiru Vs. Kebede Vs. Cheruiyot And Crew This year's Chicago marathon may be the best ever. The men's field is absolutely loaded with the Olympic and defending champ
(Wanjiru) taking on the Boston champ and record holder (Cheruiyot the Younger) taking on the hottest marathoner in the world and London champ (Kebede). Not to mention that there is a $500,000 match race on the side for the World Marathon Majors title.
LRC Women's Preview: Shobukhova, Mikitenko, 3 Strong Ethiopian Contenders And $500,000 Barring a big surprise, the world's top female marathoner Liliya Shobukhova will walk away form Chicago with at least $500,000. Will she walk away the champion
in Chicago? Will a woman do what has not happened in over two full years anywhere in the world (go sub-2:22)?
Can Americans Magdalena Lewy-Boulet or Desiree Davila crack the 2:25 barrier? And what about Joan Benoit? We've got your women's field covered.
Friday's Chicago News: *US Men Planning On Going Through Halfway In 1:04 And Change In Chicago
*Ryan Hall Goes Into More Detail About Why He's Not Running Chicago And What Went Wrong In His Training
*Joan Benoit Still Going Strong At 53 In Chicago The stars have aligned for her this year. On 10/10/10, it's the 35th anniversary of her 2:21:21.
*Brief Chat With Nick Arciniaga On Chicago Nick is one of many hoping for a big breakthrough in Chicago.
Previous: *Interview With Irina Mikitenko On Her Chances In Chicago
*Phil Hersh Profile Of America's Fastest Woman, Magdalena Lewy Boulet
*Chicago Marathon Gives $500,000 To Chicago Youth Fitness Initiative The gift was in Mayor Daley's name to thank him for his support of the race over the years.
*Marathon Cheats - Why Did 252 People Cheat At Chicago In 2009?
*A Look At Some Of The Stories Inspiring The Masses To Run Chicago
Non-Chicago US Distance News
- Lananna For USATF Head? He Doesn't Rule It Out 100% This blog takes a look at it as well. We don't think track is quite as popular as everything thinks it is in Europe or that Wheating is a superstar in Europe and anonymous here.
- A Rich Man's Flagstaff: Ritz Living At Altitude, Flying Back To Oregon For His Long Hard Runs Seriously, move to Flagstaff.
- Article On Nick Symmonds And His 2010 Season A good read, but we're disappointed they didn't ask him about losing to Andrew Wheating twice this year. The article does confirm Symmonds is dating Maggie Vessey, which is supposedly old news.
- Molly Huddle Running Tufts 10k For Women (US Champs) On Monday
- USATF Says It Should Be Within Budget For 2010
- USADA Turns Ten And The US Anti-Doping Effort Has Come A Long Way
- Pat Moulton Trying To Defend His Hartford Marathon Title And Be In A Wedding Party The Same Day
Week In Review
LRC Week In Review: Ryan Hall Drops Out And AJ Nation Sweeps America This week in our week in review, we look at Ryan Hall not running Chicago, we compare the NY and Chicago Marathon fields and we heap praise on AJ Nation making it big time on ESPN Game Day.
Catching Up With The Former And Present American 5,000 Record Holders + Nick Symmonds
- Recommended Read Ray Treacy Thinks Molly Huddle Can Run Even Faster Huddle was inspired to get into the sport by her dad.
- Shalane Flanagan Running 20 Miles More Per Week In Anticipation Of Marathon Debut In New York
- Nick Symmonds Excited To Take Time Off After Year In Which His 5 Fastest Times Dropped To 1:44.5 After Two Years At 1:45.2 Symmonds' fine year was seemingly lost in the shuffle since a lot of other guys had even better years.
USATF News
- 49-Year-Old Linda Somers Smith Is USATF Athlete Of The Week Thanks To Her US Record 73:32 Half Marathon
- Update On 2010 USATF Budget Available Here
- USATF Finalizes Squad For Next Weekend's World Half Marathon Championships
Outrage Building In UK Over Decision To Not Finish Olympic Marathon In Stadium
*Seb Coe Says Politicians Aren't Embarrassed Of East End
Random News
- Put Him In Charge Of The Whole Thing Hendrick Ramaala Happy To Be New Assistant Administer Of Athletics South Africa
- 2004 Olympic Marathon Champ Stefano Baldini To Call It A Career On Saturday In Italy
- Blanka Vlašić Disagrees With Dwight Stones - Says She Can Get World Record
- Harry Jerome Biopic Debuts This Weekend And It's Garnering Nice Reviews
The Bank Of America Chicago Marathon Isn't The Only Great Race This Weekend
World Record Battle This Weekend In Berlin: Leonard Komon And Micah Kogo To Square Off At 10k Komon just got the 10k world record and Kogo is the guy whose record he took. They square off over 10k on the streets of Berlin.
Also This Weekend: Pro Fields For This Weekend's 10th BAA Half Marathon Announced
Recommended Read Ben Johnson's Autobiography Seoul To Soul Is Coming Out Next Month And It's Going To Drop Some Bombshells Johnson hints that he thinks a rival shoe company spiked his drink in Seoul and says the sport is still dirty. link fixed
Much Is Being Made About Fact Usain Bolt Was Supposed To Start Training On Monday *Meanwhile, He Starred In A Cricket Match On Saturday
US Champs *Results/Prize Money *Live Thread
US Men's Marathon Champs: Sergio Reyes Runs 2:14:02 To Win Twin Cities And US Marathon Title Over Jeffrey Eggleston By 7 Seconds It was Reyes' first US crown and the 7 seconds for the win were worth at least an extra $10,000. Debra Buzenesh won the women's title in 2:27:23, winning by nearly 8 minutes
as she got the win here to go with her win in Grandma's.
*Minnesota Newspaper Recap
*Results
*USATF Recap
US Women's 10-Miler Also In Twin Cities: Katie McGregor Wins 2010 US Title McGregor won $10,000. If she had run 1:20 slower, she would have received $9,750 less, as the first 9 women were all within 1:20 of each other. *Results
College XC Heating Up *More Results *College Forum
- Wisconsin adidas Invitational
Women: #11 Syracuse got by #29 North Carolina (89-98); Charlotte Browning (20:14) pulled away from Emily MacLeod to win. Full Results
Men: #25 Indiana scalped host #6 Wisconsin (43-75); Donn Cabral (23:29) emerged late from a pack of 5 and held off Andrew Bayer for the individual crown. Full Results
*Message Board: Adidas Wisconsin Invite Results - Rocky Mountain Shootout
Women: #13 Colorado went 1-2-3-4 overall and nearly got a Shootout shutout in the D1 scoring with 16 points to Wyoming's 48; Laura Tremblay was the top finisher with 20:29 (5.8k). In non-D1, Adams State (#1 D2) squeaked by Western State (#8 D2) with a 31-38 score; Kristin McGlynn led Adams with a division win in 20:56 (5th in all divisions).
Men: #4 Colorado dominated the D1 division with 18 points; Joe Bosshard led the Buff charge with a 24:44 victory. Adams State (#1 D2) put 4 in front of perennial rival Western State's (#2 D2) 1st man to crush the non-D1 division; Ryan McNiff spearheaded the Adams assault with a 25:11 division win (3rd in all divisions). *Combined Results *Message Board: Rocky Mountain Shootout - Greater Louisville Cross-Country Classic
Women: Neely Spence (Shippensburg - #6 D2) took the Gold race in 16:33, the fastest time of the day. *Women's Gold Results *Women's Blue Results
Men: Meshack Koyiaki (Columbus St. - #23 D2) led 11 others under 24:00 in the fast Gold race with a 23:21 win. *Men's Gold Results *Men's Blue Results *Message Board: louisville xc course Inevitable discussion about course accuracy. The Gold race did include some athletes with solid credentials, like former NCAA steeple champ Barnabas Kirui. - Montana Invitational
Women: Katrina Drennen (17:41) and her Montana squad emerged victorious. Full Results
Men: (Altitude-adjusted) Sub-4:00 miler (3rd-placer in 2010 NCAA indoor mile) Patrick Casey led Montana State (receiving votes in national poll) to victory with a 24:27 win. Full Results - Friday: Notre Dame: Women Results: #1 Villanova Over #5 Oregon, #2 Florida State
Men: Oregon And Puskedra Win At Notre Dame. #5 Alabama Only 8th
*Recap Of Oregon Win From Ducks Website Vin was pleased with the performances.
*Puskedra, Centro Interview
On The Boards: Notre Dame Results - Paul Short: Men: UVA Over Georgetown At Paul Short
Women: Georgetown Women Dominate Paul Short
*Post-Race Interviews
Beppu-Oita Marathon Officially Accepting Female Applicants Women only participated in the race by special invitation in the past.
Post Ryan Hall Dropout News
- Ryan Who? Chicago Adds 2009 Boston Winner Deriba Merga As Well As 20-Year-Old 2:05:23 Guy Feyisa Lelisa To Field We wonder if these two are replacements for Hall. It's crazy to think they both could have been without fall marathons. Lelisa blitzed a 2:05:23 this spring at age 20.
- Ryan Hall Talks Extensively About Why He's Not Running Chicago His long tempos were getting worse instead of better and it's clear he's been having doubts for a while, yet less than two weeks ago, he told the Philly Inquirer he thought he was in better shape this year than last.
- Ryan Hall Thinks He's One Of The Most Consistent Marathoners In The World - Phil Hersh Wonders If He'll Ever Be A Winner
Catching Up With Four Top Milers
- Recommeded Read TFN Interview With Arkansas Sensation Dorian Ulrey The Razorback senior is pumped for his final year and reveals he is considering a move to the 5,000. People seem to forget this dude has run 3:35 in the 1,500 and was 6th at NCAAs in XC - that's near Alan Webb in terms of talent in our minds.
- A Brief Chat With Leo Manzano In the middle of the summer, he was wondering if pro running was his calling. Now he's realizing he's got the "coolest" job in the world.
- 18 Months After Cancer Diagnosis, Gabriele Anderson Runs 4:31 Mile At Fifth Avenue Mile
- 4 Kenyans In Japan, Including 2010 World Junior XC And 1,500 Champ Caleb Ndiku, Break 13:30 A 13:26 for Ndiku is pretty good for a 17-year-old.
It's Official - European Marathon Champ Viktor Röthlin Is Running ING New York City Marathon We reported that Röthlin was running two weeks ago but it's official now. He leads the European charge, which also includes French national record holder Christelle Daunay.
3 Good Pre-Race 5th Avenue Mile Profiles:
*Alan Webb In The NY Times
*Recommended: Great NY Times Profile On Leo Manzano Leo talks about turning around his 2010 season and growing up very poor (his parents didn't really understand what it meant to go to college).
*Lengthy Profile On Nick Willis, His Upbringing In New Zealand And This Sunday's 5th Avenue Mile Written by a Kiwi who saw Nick run a race at age 7 (the article talks about Nick's family and how his mother died when he was 5).
New World Road 10k Record
Leonard Komon Runs 26:44 WR He smashed the old record but famed coach Renato Canova tried to put it in perspective, as the 10k on the track and roads has become much less of a priority recently.
*Message Board Thread On Record
Newsweek: The Case Against College Athletic Recruiting We must admit we don't get why totally obscure sports get supported at the Ivy League level, but then again, some might say track is obscure. No mention though of how athletes might succeed better after college.
US Distance News
- Gags (Frank Gagliano) Has Started Another Training Group From the Reebok Enclave to the Farm Team to OTC and now an unnamed team in New Jersey. It seems like every prominent East Coast grad is in the group, including Erin Donohue, Rob Novak, Julie Culley, LBP and Max Smith.
- A Preview Of Next Sunday's US Marathon Men's Marathon Championships & US Women's 10-Mile Champs 2008 champ Fernando Cabada will battle it out with Minnesota native Luke Watson in Minnesota.
- Flanagan & Koll Going Gaga Over Each Other On Twitter Meanwhile, we thought about changing the motto of LRC to "We don't tweet."