LRC: The Week That Was This week, we get ready for Usain Bolt to move to the 400, break down the Reebok Grand Prix in depth, give props to Tyson Gay and heap praise on Anna Willard. We also sadly have to officially write off Alan Webb for 2009 (with a tiny asterisk). The facts show clearly if anything Webb is getting worse as the season goes along.

British Running News

*Paula Radcliffe And Mara Yamauchi To Provide Strong 1-2 Punch For GB WC Marathon Team *Paula Passing Up Payday To Run Berlin World Championships Having Paula in the race immediately makes it more compelling.
*Dwain Chambers Has Invitation Revoked From Small German Track Meet Dwain is finding it very tough to find races.

Interesting Japanese News From Brett Larner

*New Tokyo Marathon To "Feature" 10km-Long Underwater Tunnel Section This will undoubtedly be a good place for runners to employ tunnel-vision focus.
*5 Japanese Runners Save The Life Of A Fellow Marathoner Suffering From A Heart Attack On The Course This may be the only time it is deemed honorable for a Japanese runner to drop out of a race.

Hengelo Meet Sizzles *LRC Recap *LRC Thread *Hengelo Results There were some unexpected results in Hengelo including Kenenisa Bekele dropping out of the 1,500, and some super performances including another impressive win by the man to the left (Abubaker Kaki) and a sub-4:00 run by Gelete Burka. Americans Reese Hoffa and Dwight Phillips had tight contests with international stars Thomasz Majewski and Irving Saladino plus all 3 steeplechase medal winners from Beijing squared off. Find out more in our recap including who became the first man under 13:00 in 2009 (you will be surprised).
*IAAF Recap
*
Churandy Martina Breaks 10.00 For The First Time This is the guy to whom Shawn Crawford gave his Olympic medal after he (Martina) was DQed for running out of his lane to the outside.
*Canada's Lopes-Schliep Third, Bekele Drops Out There is a brief mention of Bekele appearing injured but we haven't heard anything more on that yet.
*Ohuruogu Gets 200m PR In Good Meet For Female British Runners
*Athletics Weekly Gives British Rundown From Hengelo Their mid-d women, led by 2008 NCAA champion Hannah England, were great.
*Reports Trickling In: *Geb Fails To Get 1-Hour Record

Not a good weekend for Ethiopia's Mega-stars: Kenenisa Bekele drops out of a 1500m in Hengelo and world-record holder Tirunesh Dibaba looked flat as Kenya's Linet Masai beat her by 5 seconds in New York. Also, Haile Gebrselassie fell short of re-setting his 1-hour world record. But hold on; Ethiopia has much to celebrate, including Ali Abdosh, who became the first man to crack 13:00 for 5k this year, Gelete Burka, who ran 3:58 for a big 1,500m win also in Hengelo and, of course, perhaps the runner of the year so far, Deribe Merga, who won again on the roads in a 10k in India.

Rashid Ramzi's B-sample Results Are Coming Soon - FYI Rumors Are Swirling About Possible Negative

Reebok GP *Results *Quotes *Photos

Usain's Got A Rival: TYSON GAY 19.58!!!
*Post-Race Quotes From Event Winners
*Ethiopian Press: "Out of Shape Dibaba Loses In NYC"
It seemed that since the Olympics everyone in the sport (but us) had forgotten that the fastest man in history (all conditions) at 100 meters is a Mr. Tyson Gay. Gay's 19.58 200m shows that when he's healthy, he can challenge Bolt.
*In other action, the meet was unreal. Leo Manzano won the men's 1,500 in 3:34 as Alan Webb basically embarrassed himself with a 3:42 showing (although he did beat Lukezic, who ran 3:43) that has sparked pleas for him to change coaches or just give up. Webb wasn't the only star to do awful as Asafa Powell was terrible in the men's 100. The men's 5k was absolutely stellar, as three guys ran faster than anyone had previously had on American soil. Bernard Lagat ran 13:03 and lost to Micah Kogo. In the women's 5k, Linet Masai upset double Olympic champ Tirunesh Dibaba. Wurth-Thomas was spectacular in the women's 1,500 (4:03). So much more, including a great men's 400h race. Allyson Felix got a win in the women's 400 as Anna Willard ran 1:59.23 to win the 800 and KD got the win in the men's 800.
*Overall Meet Recap Here
South African Milers Move Up To 3rd And 5th In 1,500 All-Time In Reebok

Merga Wins Again! This Time In A 10k In India Ethiopian road warrior Deribe Merga won another long road race on Sunday. Merga, who has won the Houston Marathon, set the world record for 15km at the RAK Half, won Boston, won the Ottawa 10k in 27:24 and now has won another 10k, says he is done racing until the world championships marathon, which should be a stupendous race.
Albany's Freihofer's 5k Run For Women: Benita Johnson's Win Streak Ended By Erkesso *Results *Photos

Runner's Tribe Interviews Felix Sanchez This is one of the better interviews we've seen as the multi-time world champion and 2004 Olympic Champion has some great quotes.

Galen Rupp Enters The 10k/5k At NCAAs - Check Out Oregon's Squad That Is Our Pick To Win NCAAs They've got potentially big-scoring studs in the Decathlon, Javelin, 800, 1,500, 5k and 10k.

US Bests: *NY Times Article On Decathlete Bryan Clay's Life Since His 2008 Gold Medal Clay's life hasn't changed much since being crowned the world's best athlete thanks to his decathlon triumph.
Sharon Day, Most Known As An Olympic High Jumper, Posts 2009's Best US Heptathlon, Breaking 6000

Prefontaine Classic Is Sunday And It Will Be Loaded

*1:47.68 HS Senior Elijah Greer Going For HS 800m Record At Pre
*Asafa Powell Gets Chance For Redemption Sunday At Pre Against Tyson Gay
*Pamela Jelimo, Nancy Lagat And Janeth Jepkosgei Lead Kenyan Charge To Pre Meet Add 1,500m star Asbel Kiprop and 3:30 guy Keitany to the 9-strong list of Kenyans competing in Eugene.
*Nick Symmonds Returns To Pre, Where He Made A Big Splash In 2007
*A Look At The History Of Foreign Athletes Coming To The Pre Meet

Track Stars In The News Around The World

*Miling Great John Walker Knighted In New Zealand  *Sir John Walker Joins Sir Murray Halberg And Sir Peter Snell As Honored NZ Runners
*Good But Strange News: Chinese To Build Ultra-Modern Hospital In Ethiopia Named For Tirunesh Dibaba
*Georgie Clarke Was Australia's Version Of Jordan Hasay, Except Better, But Early Success Was Tough To Handle Running Times
*Joe Battaglia Interviews Swedish Heptathlon Champion Turned Long Jumper Carolina Kluft Universal Sports

After linking to several articles quoting Samuel Wanjiru saying he won't run the world championships but instead is focusing on Haile G's world record in Berlin on September 20, we at LetsRun.com have been alerted to a quote from Wanjiru's agent Federico Rosa who is quoted in various foreign language articles saying, "It is true that he will not run the marathon at the World Cup, but I can not confirm yet that it will be in the Berlin Marathon." Rosa goes on to say that Wanjiru is considering mainly Chicago (super fast) or New York as alternatives to facing Haile in Berlin. To the left is a picture of NYC Marathon and NYRR head Mary Wittenberg courting meeting with Wanjiru after his London win earlier this year.

Deena Kastor Worried About Foot Pain Again We hope the pain she's feeling after Bay to Breakers is just a minor thing. Looks like her plans to run the NYC mini are on hold. Earlier: Kastor and Ndereba to run in NYC.

Interviews And Opinion

*Coach Dieter Hogan Interviewed An experienced coach of many elite athletes, Hogan comments on what the differences are between African and European runners.
*Pat Butcher On Bolt Making History - And His Future Plans For The 400m
*Joe Battaglia Rates The Performances At Reebok Quick summary in case you don't have time to click the link: Tyson Gay ran well, Alan Webb did not.
*Podcast With Dyestat Legend Steve Magness

*Rock 'N' Roll San Diego Recap Dan Browne struggles big-time and drops out somewhere after a 1:07 half. Also finding it a tough go was charity fund-raiser Tom Bedford, who was on pace through halfway (thanks to the much-publicized help of Ryan Hall and Josh Cox) yet fell off to run 2:47. *Results here. *Photos of Ryan Hall, Tom Bedford, Dan Browne and Josh Cox

NCAA Regionals: The NCAA regional meets were awesome this weekend yet again (and perhaps for the last time in a while as big-time coaches want to do away with the competition). Highlights include #42 in a row for the Baylor 4 x 4, Galen Rupp and Centro Jr. battling in the 1,500 (watch highlights of the 1,500 here), Miami's Murielle Ahoure breaking records in the sprints (and the same for Texas' Alexandria Anderson), 3 guys under 10.10 in the 100, Jenny Barringer running CR and WL 9:26, PSU's Fawn Dorr and Gayle Hunter anchoring the 4 x 400 like bats out of hell (52 splits for each) and LRC's Rojo getting 2 Cornellians to the NCAAs (Jim Wyner in the 1,500 and Adrien Dannemiller in the steeple).
The Link Of The Day - A Must Click:
All NCAA Regional Results - Event By Event On Same Page
Regional Meet Highlights: 2 Must Reads! *1. Oregon News Heading Into NCAAs: Wheating Wins From Front, Rupp (3:39 1,500) Looks Probable To Run 1500, 5k, 10k *Will Galen Rupp Triple? "Maybe." *Rupp's Post-Race Interview *Wheating's Win Video
*2. Baylor Bears Win 42nd Straight Collegiate 4 x 4, Running 3:02 With 44.5 Anchor To Win By 0.03
Day 1: Big Shocker - Winner Of Last Two NCAA Titles At 800, Jacob Hernandez, Is A No Show
*
Oregon, Behind Rupp's Victory In 5k, Has Good Day

*Defar Debuts In 10,000m In Just Over 31 Minutes She's pissed it was so slow.
*Mega Talent Mark Lewis-Francis Returns With 10.06!
*Police Officer Wins Scottish Marathon In 2:18 This is old school.


National Running Day Is Wednesday

Tell Us What You're Doing On National Running Day If you're in the DFW area, join Wejo at 6:30pm at Fort Worth Running Company on Camp Bowie. If you're in Boston, you can run with Bill Rodgers.

NCAA Regionals

Amazing Page: All Regional Results On One Page

Busy Weekend Photos

*Freihofer's 5k Run For Women PhotoRun
*San Diego Rock 'N' Roll Marathon PhotoRun
*Reebok Photos PhotoRun
*Hengelo Photos Durand Photo
*NCAA East Regional Photos PrettySporty