LetsRun.com

Week In Review

LRC WTW: A Special Great North Run, Kenenisa Bekele Is Back, US 1,500 Women Rule, And Has Haile Gebrselassie Learned The Error Of His Ways? We span the globe starting with some tremendous road racing between Kenenisa Bekele, Mo Farah and Haile Gebrselassie in the UK. We look at the US 1,500m women, Bernie Montoya, and throw in some drug news as well.

Competitor Group Still Making News

Competitor Group to get $125,000 in welfare from city of Raleigh

Pat Rizzo: Why I ran RnR Philly and how I will deal with CGI in the future Rizzo already had planned to use the race as his final prep before Twin Cities. However, in the future, he won't be participating as he's irate that the company that he's worked for as an UNPAID volunteer for years is knifing the sport in the back.
*MB: Labor lawyers: How is it legal for Competitor Group to use volunteers without paying minimum wage at races?

Doping News From Jamaica

• Jamaica prime minister reassures World Anti-Doping Agency that drug testing will be a big priority
• Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce said many athletes believed she was on drugs this season "Some thought I was on drugs for me to have done what I did....How I can have such a long season and still go at the end of the season and run so fast?"
• We 100% agree: 14-year old 200m English Schools champion says drug cheats are 'shameful' and should immediately be given lifetime ban
• Russian athletics federaion handed down two year bans to long jumper Tatiana Kotova and hammer thrower Kirill Ikonnikov The 36-yr old Kotova was the 2000 and 2004 Olympic lj third placer and is getting banned for a test of her 2005 WChamp sample.

Administrative News

• MB: Boston sells out - 65% of registrants female
• L.A. County supervisors unanimously vote to urge the United States’ Olympic Committee to support 2024 LA bid
• 2013 European 60m Champ Tezdzhan Naimova Banned For Life For 2nd Doping Offense
• New IOC President Receives Warm Welcome At New Office
• *Germany's Thomas Bach Has Moved Into His New Office As IOC Head
• New Australian Prime Minister Promotes Sport To Cabinet Level Responsibility For Health Minister
• 14 Affiliiates Walk Out Of Athletics Kenya Reconciliation Meeting
• Sports, Arts And Culture Cabinet Secretary In Kenya Tells Warring Factions In Athletics Kenya To Settle Their Differences
• Fraser-Pryce's Pocket Rocket Foundation Hands Out Seven Scholarships To Student Athletes
  *SFP's Scholarships Were More Than $980 Each

Elites In The News

Column: 3 Years Ago, Ryan Gregon And Andrew Wheating Seemed To Be The Future Of Middle Distance - What Happened?
*MB: Webb = a runner of sporadic brilliance? Are you joking Mr. Len Johnson?

Ezekiel Kemboi To Retire After 2016 Games We guess this means he's not moving up to the marathon?

Former Olympic And World 400H Champ Melaine Walker To Be Inducted In Texas Athletic Hall Of Fame

Speaking Of Elites, Do Elites Matter?

• Toni Reavis: The Slowing Down And Dumbing Down Of American Running Culture Nowadays, even Boston qualifiers have no connection to the elites. Agent Brendan Reilley: "I think we've had too many years of the John Bingham (Waddle On, Penguins) philosophy. John is a nice guy, a very entertaining and eloquent speaker, but there seems to be little in the sport these days to carry the runners that John has gotten off the couch to the next level of aiming to run faster and treat our events like RACES."
  *Bingham Responds In Comments Section: "I guarantee that the first 'elite' to show even a LITTLE interest in the rest of the pack will become a hero overnight."
  MB: How to justify competitive running at the amateur/hobbyjogger level?
• More Toni Reavis: Races Need To Stop Hiring "Fast People With No Entertainment Value"
• The "Big 5" Think So: PRRO Offering New $24,000 "Bump Up" Bonus For Next Season A runner who wins Peachtree plus one of the following four races (while being top 3 in the other 3) - World's Best, Bloomsday, Boilermaker, Cherry Blossom - will win a $24,000 bonus.
• Seems Like Elite Athlete Support To Us; Maybe They Need A New PR Person Rock 'N' Roll Philadelphia Half Marathon Paid For Travel For 16 Athletes, Hotels For 14 More And Comped 90 Entries And Paid Prize Money

Coming Soon

• Next Month: Desiree Davila Excited To Return To Marathon in Berlin - Hopefully The First Marathon She Finishes in 20 Months
• Friday: 8th RUN@WORK Day and 2nd Annual RUN@School is Friday, September 20, 2013
• Sunday: Elite Field for Sunday’s CVS Caremark Downtown 5K – Olympians Cragg, Tegenkamp, Solinsky, Huddle, and Hastings to Headline Two sub-13:00 guys. Not bad.

1964 Olympics in Tokyo were held in October, but will be in August in 2020- will it be too hot? The average high is 87.8 F (31 C). *Avg Temperature in Tokyo by month

USA Today's amazing races to run before you die Mesa Falls Marathon in Ashton, Idaho, the Emerald Run, the Emerald Nuts Midnight Run and Honolulu Marathon are the only US races.

Interesting Masters News

• Profile of Ed Whitlock – The 82-Year Old Reluctant Hero of the Marathow Who Is Racing 2013 Scotiabank Toronto Waterfront Marathon Next Month Also racing is 64-Year Old Yoshihisa Hosaka who will go for 2:42:44 record.
  MB: Wow: Ed Whitlock has run a 1:38:11 half-marathon at age 82
• New goal for masters sprinters - the 400 meters Run-Your-Age Club

Random News But These Links Make The Cut on A Slow Thursday

• Two African javelin throwers (one Egyptian, one Kenyan) were in top 8 at Worlds thanks to Finnish coach Petteri Piironen
• Blessing Okagbare thanks Nigerian governor for making her success possible - says best is yet to come
• UK Athletics “getting creative” with ways to get athletics into the inner-city with the launch of a compact athletics
• 30th IAAF Inside Athletics: Ato Boldon talks to Pole Vault legend and World record-holder Sergey Bubka
• 2014 Japanese track nationals to be held in Fukushima

Action We Missed

• 113 Days After Giving Birth, 2008 And 2012 Olympic Javelin Champ Barbora Spotakova Is Competing Well We're more impressed that she won the Olympics in August and had a baby in May.
• From Last Weekend: Dylan Wykes And Lioudmila Kortchaguina Won $1,800 For Running 29:42 And 33:57 Last Weekend

Pro News

• 5 Days Ago On Our World-Famous Message Boards: Shannon Rowbury to OREGON PROJECT!
• Want To Be A World Champion? The Telegraph Shares What They Believe Are The "9 Key Elements" Of Mo Farah's Running Form That Make Him So Fast Results came from biomechanics experts from the University of Oxford and look at everything from foot strike to arm position.
• Video: How To Run Like Mo Farah Dr. Jessica Leitch cautions, though, that "There is no right way to run, neither is there a one size fits all solution for optimal running gait. What works for Mo might not work for everyone and may even lead to injury."
• David Rudisha's Coach Colm O'Connell Talks About Doping: "Of course they're always the, I use the word 'mediocre,' ones who use to try and get the extra edge." No, we're pretty sure even many of the top guys are looking for "an edge."
• Quadruple The Fun: UK's Triathlon World Champ Non Stanford Thinking About Doubling Triathlon-10,000 At 2014 Commonwealth Games She ran a 32:39 10k in March, which is under the Commonwealth Games "A" standard, but the qualifying window didn't open until April.
• Future Pro? DyeStat Article On High School Junior Alana Hadley, Who Is Passing On Her XC Season To Focus On Making The Olympic Trials Marathon For 2016 She's running 100-110 miles/week and will be going for the 2:43 "B" standard at the Indianapolis Monumental Marathon on Nov. 2. The youngest ever Marathon OT competitor in 2012 was 22.

Random But Interesting

• Man Who Was Evicted For 1964 Tokyo Olympics To Be Evicted Again For 2020 OlympicsHe is being evicted, as his apartment complex is being demolished for the Olympic stadium. The same thing happened to him back in 1964. Hard to blame him when he says, "I have a kind of grudge against the Olympics."
• How Many Times Have You Heard The Old "I Couldn't Drive As Far As You Run"? Well, If Someone Said That To You In Moscow, They Might Be Right Data shows that on a Friday night, sub-3 hour marathoners could outrun traffic in Moscow, as drivers would need more than 3 hours to cover the 26.2 mile route.
• The Bahamas To Spend $3.5 Million To Host The IAAF World Relays In 2014 And 2015 If you haven't heard previously, the relay races will include the 4 x 100m, 4 x 200m, 4 x 400m, 4 x 800m and 4 x 1,500m ... no DMR.
• Interesting: A Pictorial History Of adidas Shoes