LetsRun.com

Because We Love The Sport

LRC Exclusive Athletics Kenya Embarrasses Itself Again - Linet Masai And More Follow-up From Zayed
You won't find these photos and stories anywhere else unless maybe you're in a secret IAAF meeting. Our suspicions were confirmed - and then some - from Linet Masai's ridiculous treatment in Zayed at the world's richest race.

*LRC Exclusive Photos Of The Best Race Nobody Saw

*LRC Recap Of Tilahun Regassa And Mary Keitany Winning $300k In Record Time One quote after the race from a manager said the HM world records would have gone down if it wasn't 80 degrees and windy.

LetsRun.com - World's 2nd-Biggest Running Website In 2009
Alexa rankings are b.s. (but okay for order of magnitude), but we thank our readers for making us the biggest independent running website in the world. Our goal has never been to be the biggest but the best.

Read About Usain Bolt's New TV Commercials For Jamaica
What do you think? We think the third idea sounds good. The first two ... we'll have to wait and see.

LRC Ricky Simms Tells LetsRun.com ESPN's Reports Of Usain Bolt Challenge Race Are Completely False
NFL record-setting RB Chris Johnson has been challenging Usain Bolt to a sprint foot race through the media. ESPN's Adam Schefter reported earlier this week that sources told him negotiations were on between the Johnson and Bolt camp. The problem is, Bolt and his management have no idea what Schefter's sources are talking about.

Larry Rawson Will No Longer Be On Track Meet Broadcasts
Most LetsRun message board posters are seeing this as a change in the right direction.

Domestic Race News

NYC Half Becomes Richest American Half Marathon For Prize Purse
And it's not just a fraction of what the big oil boys are paying. NYC's total prize purse of $200,000 is one tenth that of the recent Zayed Half Marathon's $2,000,000.

Grandma's Marathon Registration Starts Thursday

NCAA HJ Record Holder Destinee Hooker Signs Pro Volleyball Contract
On the boards: What does a pro volleyball contract pay?

Brief Chat With Sanya Richards
For all the attention Usain Bolt gets, Richards probably deserves her due as the soon-to-be 25-y/o was the dominant track and field athlete of 2009.

Top Headlines

• Boston Announces Rupp & Willis
• Shalane To Debut This Weekend
• Ryan Hall & Deena To Run Rock 'n Roll Half
• RR: Profile: Edinburgh Winner Joseph Ebuya
• Track Stats Guru Spiriev Dies
• LRC: Why AK Cost Masai $100k
• LRC: Zayed HM: Keitany, Regassa $300k Richer
• Justin Gatlin's Return Adds More Spice To Sprint World

Need A Coach? Gags Running One Of Few East Coast Pro Groups
Long Profile Of Coach Frank Gagliano - Looking For A Couple More Athletes

Back To The West Coast
Brief Chat With USA 800m Olympian Alice Schmidt

Edinburgh XC - Bekele's First XC Loss In 2 Years

Recommended Read The Story Of Edinburgh Winner Joseph Ebuya

Bekele (4th) Smashed By 30+ Seconds In Snowy Scotland
Through his various pre-race interviews, it was clear that Kenenisa Bekele took a long time off from training in '09 and wasn't too motivated yet in 2010. Remember 2009 where he dropped out of a mile race in Stockholm and looked vulnerable at 5,000m at some early Golden League races before crushing it at Worlds?

American And European Road And XC Racing - Cold And Snowy

Disney World Marathon/Half
Brazilian Runner Beats Cold For 7th Disney Marathon Victory In Snowy Conditions

Disney Results Hansons Brooks guys Chad Johnson and Sage Canaday go 1-2 in half marathon. Mike Wardian 5th in men's marathon.

European XC/Marathon Results
UK's Times Says Ebuya's Performance Shows Why It's Tough To Win International Distance Races
One day you might beat Bekele but lose to 2 Kenyans.

World Champ Gebre Gebremariam Loses For 1st Time In XC This Year In Muddy Sprint

Netherlands' Egmond Marathon Cancelled Due To Snow

Inside Where It's Warm

Jessica Ennis - Perhaps On Her Way To Future Heptathlon World Record
Multi event world champion set three personal bests in her first indoor meet.

Manny Pacquiao To Fight Clottey In New Dallas Stadium
Pacquiao vs. Mayweather is unfortunately officially off, but Jerry Jones got a dream come true - the world's most interesting boxer will fight in his new, hyper expensive Dallas Stadium.

Usain Bolt Yet To Decide On October's Commonwealth Games
The Bolt man is focusing on winning the 7 Diamond League competitions he is scheduled to run in 2010.

More From Edinburgh Intl. XC

Tirunesh Dibaba Pulls Away With Ease To Defeat World Champ Viv Cheruiyot
This was an easy one to predict. Despite running on snow, recent 15km world record setter Tiru Dibaba simply bided her time and crushed very good runners over the final km to win going away by 75m.

Newly-Minted Scottish National Steph Twell Impresses Home Fans With 5th-Place
In a good show for the freezing fans, Twell and Great Britain's European Cross Champion Hayley Yelling actually controlled the pace in the first half of the race.

LRC Insanity In Abu Dhabi As Keitany And Regassa Pounce On $300,000 1st-Place Prizes In Oil Money Half Marathon
A lot happened Thursday in Abu Dhabi. We hardly even knew this race was happening, but it turned out to be extremely interesting. We recap it with a bunch of the angles we heard from people today.

"If they would have started just a couple of hour later, both world records could have been broken." - Italian Manager Gianni Demadonna in an IAAF recap of Zayed Half Marathon.

*Boy Tilahun Regassa Becomes A Man With Historic $300k Half Marathon Win Over Kitwara

"If (college) sports have to match the pros dollar-for-dollar in salaries and facilities, then we'll have to find more money next year, and the year after that, and the year after that... Someone has to put an end to this madness."
- Coach Bill Schnier, University of Cincinnati track and field head coach, in an article from USA Today about rising subsidies from students that go to support enormous athletic budgets while teachers are laid off, classes get bigger and sports like track lose funding.

Money And Sport

Amid Funding Crisis, Subsidies For College Sports Are On The Rise
More money is coming out of tuition-payers' pockets to fund football and basketball at power conference schools while teachers and staff are getting laid off and taking pay cuts.

USOC Contemplating Seeking Federal Government Funds To Support Continuation Of US Olympic Medal Hauls
USOC has prouded itself on autonomy from federal government, taking in corporate and public donations to fund our Olympic bureacracy athletes.

US Events This Sunday

Phoenix: Ryan Hall And Deena Kastor Running PF Chang's Half 2010 is a pivotal year for Deena Kastor after a subpar 2009. Kastor is targeting a comeback to top form at London 2010 while Hall is taking his 2nd crack at Boston in April.

Houston:
Chevron Houston Marathon And Aramco Houston Half Marathon USA Championship Elites Announced

4 Top Houston Stories
1. Shalane Flanagan debuts at Half Marathon
2. Josh Rohatinsky and Tim Nelson (debut) return to racing at Half Marathon
3. 2:24 course record holder Teyba Erkesso in women's Marathon
4. Brett Gotcher debuts at Marathon

Track Gets A Heisman Watch

Angela Bizzarri, Lacey Cramer And Brenda Martinez Listed On "Bowerman Watch"
This is the new award from the USTFCCCA going to the top female track and field athlete each year. We just listed the distance and mid-distance runners. Bizzarri (Illinois) is an NCAA 5,000m and XC champ. Cramer (BYU) won the NCAA indoor 800m. Martinez (UC Riverside) is a mystery to MOST, but not us. She's not just one of the best milers in the NCAA but also in the USA and finished second to Susan Kuijken last year in the NCAA 1,500 before a string of European victories.

Sam Chelanga, Andy Wheating, German Fernandez And Ricky Flynn On Bowerman Watch List
Chelanga, Wheating and Fernandez are all returning NCAA champions (one of the men might win as Chelanga and Fernandez are NCAA record holders and Wheating is an Olympian). We have no idea what Lynchburg's Ricky Flynn is doing on the list.

Caster Semenya Coach Says She Will Start Competing Again
Despite no announcement of a decision from the IAAF and the lawyers of controversial runner Caster Semenya, her coach announced to the media today that she will start competing again in South African meets.
*Earlier Shock: Semenya's Lawyers Set To Sue IAAF For $120,000,000!
*Caster Semenya Lawyers Says IAAF Negotiations Are Not Complete And She May Not Compete
*Athletics South Africa Concerned With Lack Of Sponsorship Money Karma kicks in.

Science And Sport

Are Steroids An Illusion? Rational People Say "No!"
Good read from our friends at Science of Sport.

Research On Platelet Therapy Questions Effectiveness In Treating Achilles Injury
Blood platelet therapy is going to be a hot button issue in sports for the next decade.

NY Times - New Science On Winter Sports And Exercise Induced Asthma
Another reason to hate the winter.

February 6th Boston Indoor Games Announce Galen Rupp, Nick Willis, Anna Pierce (Willard), Tirunesh Dibaba

Many LetsRun readers will be excited to see Galen Rupp (5,000) and Nick Willis (mile) back in action. In 2009, Willis ran 3:53 at Boston and Rupp ran 13:18 (AR) for 5,000.

2 Pieces Of Sad News

• Statistical Guru Bojidar Spiriev Dies Spiriev made numerous contributions to international track and field, including the scoring tables used by the IAAF to compare performances across events.
• Amid Security Concerns From England And Australia, 2nd Deadly Fire Breaks Out In India In Preparation For Commonwealth Games

Track Mega-Star News

LRC Linet Masai - Why Did Athletics Kenya Prohibit Their Star From Running Million Dollar Race?
We use past experience, if not hard facts, to answer the question. Linet Masai, the Kenyan Sportswoman of the Year for 2009, was prohibited at the last minute from running Thursday's Zayed Half Marathon and winning at least $100,000 prize money.