The Week That Was
LRC The Week That Was In Running: December 3 - December 9, 2012 This week we tell you why Wilson Kipsang is the best marathoner in the world, show you how Foot Locker CC is still > NXN, tell you how to PR in 13 straight marathons, talk about how some say EPO doesn't help you and give you our opinion on Ryan Hall's new coach. All of that plus talk of Manny Pacquiao and the Tour de France.
International News
- Video Interviews With Top Athletes From Sunday's Euro XC Championship
- French TJer Teddy Tamgho Says He Will Skip The Indoor Season To Focus On 2013 Moscow World Champs Tamgho has not competed for 18 months because of a fracture to his right ankle. He also has a court case in March about the altercation with a female athlete that happened back in October 2011.
- Over 500 Athletes Will Compete In Kisumu City Marathon In Kenya This Weekend AK chairman Isaiah Kiplagat emphasized that they will have anti-doping tests.
- Iten, Kenya: Shoe4Africa Women’s 5km Race Set For Christmas Eve Sylvia Kibet, Lornah Kiplagat, Florence Kiplagat, Edna Kiplagat and Mary Keitany have all ran here in the past. The race also gives out hundreds of free pairs of second-hand running shoes each year.
- Comrades Marathon Association Political Disputes Have Been Resolved After It's Recent Elections Were Deemed Unethical And Against The Constitution
UK News
- New UKA Head Coach Peter Eriksson Is Happy To See Paula Radcliffe Try And Continue Her Career Talking about the new training hub in Loughborough he said not all athletes have to live there, but can come and go.
- Peter Eriksson Profile: Before He Ever Got Into Coaching, Eriksson Spent 12 Years Working As A Fireman In Stockholm
- The Guardian Video: "Why Jessica Ennis Should Win Sports Personality Of The Year Award"
Foot Locker Finals *Results *Boys Photo Gallery *Legends Pre-Race Photo Gallery
Boys: Edward Cheserek Repeats After Battle With Sean McGorty McGorty, the South champ, and Jake Leingang, the Midwest champ, didn't make it easy for Cheserek, but there is a reason Cheserek
doesn't lose - he's
the best in the US high school ranks. The four Regional winners went 1-2-3-4. *Results *Milesplit Recap *Edward Cheserek Interview
Girls: Anna Rohrer Overcomes Fall To Win Rohrer pulled away for the win after falling after the start. Her Midwest teammates dominated the race with 7 in the top 10. Catarina Rocha of the Northeast was the runner-up, with both runner-ups having a least one Foot Locker finalist parent. *Results
*Steve U's Recap *Anna Rohrer Interview
*OTB: Sarah Baxter 2016 Olympics? *wow footlocker, get your cameras fixed. learn how to cover a national race *Has Foot Locker gone too far?
UK News: Paula Hasn't Given Up Yet
RR: Paula Radcliffe: "I'm kind of at that crossroads coming off a big surgery and I desperately don't want my career to be finished." The plan is to be back running by Christmas and then start racing next year with a 10k or half in the spring and a marathon in the fall.
*UKA Chairman Ed Warner Says Retractable Seating Is Key To The Success Of The Olympic Stadium And Says They Should Have Been Installed From The Start He said retractable seating "allows us to use the stadium for all the athletics we need each summer, big rock concerts, and for a full football season" and be used 52 weeks a year.
*Jessica Ennis Talks About How She Hated Weight Training When She Was Younger Because She Didn't Want To Get Bigger
Kenyan News
- Hey, Athletics Kenya - Listen Up: Kenyan Journalist Writes Open Letter To AK President Explaining Why Holding Their 10k Trials In Eugene Was A Bad Idea Apparently AK is talking about outsourcing the Trials for the World Championship 5k/10k team as well. If they want to shoot themselves in the foot like last year, we're sure Mo Farah and Galen Rupp won't mind.
- Olympic 800 Bronze Medalist Timothy Kitum Says He's Focused On The Moscow World Champs Where He Wants To Take Rudisha's Title
NYC Marathon Cancellation "Updates"
- NYRR Still Working Out Post-Cancellation Details, But Release Very Small Detail They say the marathon will still count for 9+1 program, which gives NYRR members a means of guaranteed entry into the marathon.
- Would-Be NYC Marathon 2012 Runners Angered Over Lack Of Response As To Whether They'll Be Automatically Allowed To Run 2013
Ryan Hall To Be Coached By Renato Canova America's 2:04:58 man, who just turned 30 in Oct., blogged today that he'll
be coached by famed coach Renato Canova - the famed LRC poster who in the past has coached/advised many Kenyan stars. We wonder if the relationship will be a traditional coaching one or more of an advisor role.
*Canova: Hall is "such a great talent."
*MB Discussion On Ryan Hall's Decision
More On Canova From The MB:
MB: Part 1 Of Canova Profile *Part 2
*Summary Of Renato Canova Principles
More HS News: Dyestat Name & Archives Move Over To Runnerspace.com
*2nd Release On Dyestat
*MB: Dyestat is BACK
Kenenisa Bekele Finishes His Track
Kenenisa Bekele Builds His Own Track/Runner's Paradise In Ethiopia And Hotel For Athletes Wishing To Use It It is in an area with 20 miles of forest trails in the mountains as well as flat woods right behind the hotel. He says he spent $1.5 million on the track, which currently has 6 lanes, but he plans on adding 2 more and adding seating so they can host elite track meets.
Lolo Jones Has Survived Her First Bobsled Crash And she even jokes about it: "God is real. I saw him today and he said come back later."
NXN In The Books *Girls Results *Boys Results
- Girls: Fayetteville XC Club Wins 7th Straight, Sarah Baxter Repeats Times were super slow
across the board because of the mud. 7 straight national titles is impressive. Alberto Salazar's athlete, Mary Cain, was 2nd. *Results *Race
Replay
- Boys: Arcadia Of California, Sam Wharton Of Ohio Win Titles The four individual favorites bombed. Edward Cheserek runs next week at Foot Locker finals. The winning time here because of the mud was 17:08. *Results *Race
Replay
- On The Boards: Sarah Baxter just ran the wheels off of 411 1500m runner Mary Cain!
*17:08? Sam Wharton? Get yourselves together, Nike
*MARY CAIN'S post NXN Interview was directed at Sarah Baxter and her fans!
Recommended Read: Two-Time Olympic 800m Medalist Kim Gallagher Remembered 10-Years After Her Death Great look at the life and career of Gallagher and her brother Bart who coached her.
USATF Removes Logo Restrictions
- USATF Has Removed Sponsor Logo Restrictions On Athlete Uniforms Blogger asks the question, "Okay, so now what?"
Some Post-London-Related News
- Kenyan Journalist Who Won IAAF World Journalist Of The Year Award Writes About His "Night Out With Bolt And Barcelona Stars" "Bolt definitely had a potent few drinks and his manager Simms politely requests that I don’t take photos of the legend in 'full party mode,' and I oblige. I soon understand why ..."
- We Disagree: NBC Wins Three Golds For London 2012 Coverage At Olympic Broadcast Awards We feel that the BBC's coverage was way better, however they only won one silver.
Throwing Doping Updates
- Gotta Love Retests: Russia's World Discus Champ And Olympic Silver Medalist Darya Pishchalnikova Tests Positive When Her Sample From May Was Retested She could face a life ban since this is her second offence as she "was among seven leading female Russian athletes found guilty of manipulating drug samples before the 2008 Beijing Olympics."
- Great Q&A With Adam Nelson In Wake Of The News That He Could Be Elevated To 2004 Olympic Gold Due To Blood Sample Retests "My opinion, we're too soft on doping ... We find ourselves making exceptions for people - there's got to be some grey area where shit just happens. But at the end of the day I feel like we're making a lot of exceptions for people who are repeatedly violating the nature of the rule ... They're stealing from everyone in the sport. People like to say it's a victimless crime. Hell, no, it's not."
Millrose Games: Duane Solomon And Nick Symmonds To Go Head-To-Head In Millrose Games 600m They're shooting for the AR from 1987 of 1:15.80 held by Chip Jenkins.
More About The Rock Being Thrown From Bridge Which Nearly Killed Two U. Oregon Runners
Oregon Runner Involved In Horrific Car Crash, Chris Brewer, Releases Statement - "I am just thankful that
Molly
and I are alright. It's really a miracle." "It was just a shock when it happened, like something you see in a movie."
*Track Focus Publishes Photo Of Oregon Runners' Car That Was Destroyed By Rock Thrown From Overpass
*MB: Two Oregon Distance Runners Hit By Rock On Freeway
Running Science
- WSJ: Another Scientific Study That Says Running Is Bad For You They say that running is healthy in the short term, but that chronically running too much or too fast (they say more than 20-25 miles a week or faster than 8 miles/hour) could eventually kill you. However, many disagree.
- Another Study Finds That Being Physically Fit Prevents Brain Atrophy And Wards Off Dementia So would you rather die a fit, fast and sane 80-year-old or live to be 90, fat, slow and losing your mind?
Odd But Interesting
- Did You Know?
At 1st World XC In 1973, Irish Protesters (Terrorists?) Stormed The Course, Tackled & Punched Runners Before Runners Punched Back & Kept Running Apparently they were upset there were two Irish teams. - Japan Running News Head Brett Larner Is Irate That His Work Has Been Plagiarized By Flotrack LetsRun seems to be one of the few websites in the world that isn't afraid to properly attribute.
In Case You Were Gone Over the Weekend: IAAF Gala Awarding Athlete Of Year And Celebrating 100 Years Of IAAF
Usain Bolt, Allyson Felix: 2012 IAAF Athletes Of The Year Bolt won out over Aries Merritt and David Rudisha and of course Mo Farah (who was not a finalist, which means he didn't finish in the top 3). Jessica Ennis and Valerie Adams were the other women's finalists. LRC cast its ballot for Rudisha and Felix. The IAAF should release the vote tallies.
- Rudisha Says He Thought He Could Have Run 1:40.50 This Year
- No Long Jump, 400m For Bolt In 2013
- Tirunesh Dibaba Says She No Longer Thinks of Breaking 10k World Record
- Aries Merritt Has Changed His Pin Codes Hoping To Go Sub-12.80
- World Champs Stadium Seating In Moscow Will Be Diminished From 80,000 To 50,000
Thanksgiving Day Action
And To Think, Unlike Lance, He's Actually Clean
Unbelievable 4 Months After Nearly Dying In Bike Crash, Lukas V Runs 5:25 Pace For 2.5 Miles The phenom who went sub-4 in HS is truly thankful to be second in his age group. *MB
Thread On Lukas V's Comeback
Chiba Ekiden: Galen Rupp Wins His Leg With 28:20 10k Split (28:46 Was 2nd) As Kenya Edges Japan The most impressive running by a male may have come from New Zealand's
Zane Robertson, who ran 13:29 on leg #1. His twin Jake also won his leg. *MB: On Chiba Ekiden
The Greatest Feat In HS XC History?
Recommended Read: With State Meet Saturday, NJ MOC Wednesday & NXN Saturday, CBA Sits Top 5 - Runs JV - And Still Wins New Jersey Meet Of Champs Three sophomores, two freshman, a junior and a senior pulled off one of the most remarkable feats in HS XC history.
This Bud's Not For You
Man Who Threw Heineken Bottle At Start Of Olympic 100m Final Is Out Of Mental Hospital & Will Stand Trial In January
34-Year-Old Father Admits He Threw It But Is Denying Charge - Only Question Is His Mental State At Time
We Are Thankful For The Many Great Coaches Out There
Recommended Read: Famed Coach Bill Squires Is Turning 80 & Toni Reavis Celebrates His Life Squires is a legend to many. Squires: "Oh, I can figure out anyone. I
figured out Shorter. I know your tendencies. I know what you do. And all you have to do is put it into reading, or whatever, and I
can do - I can!"
Jessica Ennis' Coach Is Thankful For Jessica Ennis
RR: Profile Of Toni Minichiello, The Man Who Coached Jessica Ennis To Olympic Gold We love this guy's humility. "I don't have a magic wand like Harry Potter. The truth is, as a coach you're only as good as the material you're given. The day I met Jessica Ennis it was like being dealt four aces in a hand of poker."
... and on having to re-apply for his job: "If I don't get my old job back I'll just have to go back to an office and come down here coaching as a volunteer. I'm not giving this up now."
*Minichiello Named UK Athletics Coach Of The Year
Yet Another Great Dies Too Young
Former 10k WR Holder Joseph Kimani Has Died At Age 40 The former road superstar
took down the world's best in the
10k by a ridiculous 30 seconds in the summer of 1996 as he ran a still unthinkable 27:04 at Peachtree. He won
virtually every big road race in the US at least once, also set a 12k WR, and is still the CR holder at Boilermaker.
More: *LRC MB Remembrances of Kimani
*RRW Article On Kimani
US News: Lolo Jones Wins Bobsled World Cup Silver Medal
- Lolo Jones' Team Wins Silver At Bobsled World Cup Tianna Madison and her partner took bronze. Jones said, "I'm kind of in shock."
*Videos Of Lolo Jones And Tianna Madison In Bobsled Action
Post-Collegiate XC News Never Gets Old In Our Minds *LRC Photo Gallery *Banquet Photos *Men's Results *Women's Results *LRC Women's Recap *LRC Men's Recap *LRC M Individual Recap
1st Place Pub:
*Great Q&A With OK State's 13:15 #2 Man Tom Farrell He admits #1 man Girma Mecheso ran more aggressively than planned. Farrell has his own blog here,
which we just found.
*After XC Crown, Oregon Women Are Dreaming Of Becoming First Women's Program To Win Triple Crown Only the UTEP men (3 times) and Arkansas men (5 times) have ever done it.
*Kithuka Embraced Underdog Role At NCAAs The article reveals what we'd heard - TTech coach Jon Murray IDed Kithuka 5 years ago in Kenya and had him placed at Wayland Bapist.
Previous Post-NCAAs Reactions
*Wisco Men Not Upset With 2nd
*OSU's 5th Man Shane Moskowitz: "It was definitely the best day of my life. For sure."
*ISU's Corey Ihmels Full Of Praise For Indivual Champ Betsy Saina: "Her life revolves around being as good as she can be and it showed ... She's a great athlete but she's just as great of a person."
*Colorado Women Had Worst Showing In School History (28th) - But Coach Wetmore Is Excited As Everyone Returns For 2012 Included in the returners is Olympian Shalaya Kipp, who will be looking to become Colorado's 1st 4-time XC women's All-American.
*NCAA Cross-Country Champs Stat Facts
Mixed Day For FSU: FSU's #1-Ranked Women Finish 4th But #18 Men Finish 5th
Oregon Reacts Differently To Scoring Mishap:
*Oregon's Asst. Coach: "That was bush league. I had to walk back into a tent and tell seven girls that they didn't win."
*Oregon Runner: "It was kind of a shock when they said we didn't win, but now, we're good."
Recommended Read: Toni Reavis Fondly Remembers The Great Joseph Kimani Especially Kimani's amazing CR run in Cleveland, where Kimani ran so fast that Reavis while doing TV thought the mile markers were likely misplaced.
NCAAs Are In The Books *Men's Results *Women's Results *LRC Photo Gallery updated 258 photos *Live Thread
LRC Oregon Wins NCAA Title As Betsy Saina Outkicks Hasay Confusion reigned supreme
with the team results as Oregon was the winner, then Providence, but eventually
once it was all sorted out the Oregon Ducks had a convincing NCAA championship over Providence. There was no confusion on the individual side as Betsy Saina outkicked Jordan Hasay and Abbey D'Agostino for the win.
*Full Results *Photo Gallery
NCAAs On The Boards:
- Kennedy Kithuka What's His Story
- Jordan Hasay Even Though She Lost I Commend Her
- Congrats to Oklahoma State and Dave Smith
- Who is the most successful US runner to never win an NCAA title?
- So WTF happened what was the offical word on the Women race
- Biggest Chokes at NCAA XC Nationals
- People who think this isnt bad for the sport are in flat out DENIAL
Interesting News Worth A Read
- Recommended Read: Good RT Q&A With NCAA Champ Betsy Saina Who Talks About Her Training And Winning NCAAs You might think everyone in Kenya is into running, but when she calls her parents to tell them she won NCAAs they say "Good job", but they have no idea what she's talking about.
- Betsy Saina Talks About Her Journey From Kenya To NCAA Champ And Both Her & Coach Corey Ihmels Describe The Kenyan Recruiting Process As A "Crapshoot" "When you are in Kenya and you go to [train] and you find a white person doing recruitment, it’s kind of exciting. I ended up running a good race, and he started off saying: ‘Do you want to come to Alabama?’”
- Jamaican Distance Runners (Yes They Exist) Complain That The JAAA Focuses On On Sprinting To The Detriment Of Distance Runners Marathoner Rupert Green: “Everything in Jamaica is sprint, sprint, sprint. Results do not come overnight. It takes years of training and competing at the highest level. But it seems that the administrators in Jamaica have no patience for that philosophy ... Even if we make the qualifying
time for an international race, they say ‘Boy, well, yuh know, you qualified but we were hoping for more’."
*Green Won Jamaica's Reggae Marathon For The 3rd Straight Year In 2:35:05
*Shawn Pitter Wins Jamaican Local 10k Series Race In 29:56, But 6 Years Ago Was Getting Beat By High School Girls - RIP: Athletics Ireland Pays Tribute To The Passing Of Olympian John Kelly, A Man Who Did It All Kelly was a 1968 50k race walk Olympian, but also won the '65 Philadelphia Marathon (running 2:37 in several inches of snow), was 7th in the '64 US Olympic Marathon Trials and participated in the Australian OT in the hammer throw and heavyweight boxing. One LetsRun emailer described him as "one of the original badasses - a blue collar guy before there was a blue collar guy".
US News *Watch Club XC Video Coverage Mon-Fri. This Week 9PM ET
- Local Kentucky TV Station Steaming USATF Club Nationals Broadcast Monday-Friday This Week 9PM ET Includes race footage with commentary.
- USATF Statement On Tragic Death Of Club XC Nationals Competitor Lauren Roady
*MB: Sad News: Lauren Roady killed in accident with Fire Truck at Club Nats - Michael Heald Publishes Collection Of Essays (Many Running-Related) In His Book "Goodbye to the Nervous Apprehension" Heald is the author of "It Should Be Mathematical"; the three part article on Ian Dobson and Julia Lucas at the Trials which was the LetsRun QOD in the summer.
That piece as well as one on Galen Rupp are included in the book.
*Interview With Heald - Q&A With 2004 Olympic Marathon Trials 4th Placer Trent Briney Who's Made The Move To Ultra Running He was recently second to Max King in the JFK 50-Mile Run.
- Philadelphia Inquirer: Sports Psychologist Asks The Question Why Athletes Take Performance Enhancing Drugs "Money and fame are the obvious short-term answers...in our culture being #1 has never been more important and affords an athlete a great deal of prestige, status, and power."
- USOC Announce Warrior Games To Take Place In Colorado Springs In May To Support The Recovery Of Wounded Soldiers Includes five US teams representing the Army, Marine Corps, Navy/Coast Guard, Air Force and Special Operations, as well as one international team from Britain.
Weekend Action *Full USATF Club XC Results *Zatopek Results *Euro XC Results
Honolulu Marathon: Wilson Kipsang Solidifies World #1 Ranking With Negative Split Win 2:04:54 man Markos Geneti was 37 seconds back in second. 2008 Olympic
decathlon champ Bryan Clay ran 4:46:31.
Women: Russia's Valentina Galimova Comes From Behind To Win In 2:31:23 American Stephanie Rothstein Bruce was third in 2:32:47.
*Bryan Clay Ran The Honolulu Marathon With His Wife Only 8 Weeks After Having Surgery For Five Hernias Clay: "It was a beast. The decathlon is a completely different animal."
On The Boards: Is Wilson Kipsang the #1 Marathoner in the world in 2012 regardless of what happens in Honolulu? *Honolulu Live Talk
USATF Club Nationals: Hansons-Brooks Distance Project's Jacob Riley And Boulder Running Company's Mattie Suver Win Club XC Titles Hansons-Brooks men and Team USA Minnesota women won the team titles. On the men's side, brothers Craig and Matthew Forys were second and fourth. US mile record holder Alan Webb was 7th.
*Team USA Minnesota Press Release
*USATF Club XC Recap
*More Results/Discussion In This Thread
Zatopek 10k: Neely
Spence Runs 32:16 In 10,000 Debut As Ben St. Lawrence Tries To Run With Emmanuel
Bett But Bett Wins By 36+ Seconds Difficult conditions
made the times slow (27:59 for the men's win). *2012 Zatopek
Results *IAAF Recap *Photos *Discuss
European XC Champs: Fionnuala Britton Defends Her Title While Leading Irish Women To First-Ever Team Victory; Italy's Andrea Lalli Wins Men's Race Men: Spain wins team title as OSU's Tom Farrell was 4th, Ukraine's 9-time champ Sergey Lebid 15th, and Belgium's defending champ Atewlaw Bekele back in 57th (for the best, since he's likely
to be suspended after missing 3 drug tests). Women, Portugal's Dulce Felix was 2nd as Ireland won the team race by one point over France. *Full Results
*Women's Team Title Came Down To The 5th Runner As A Tiebreaker Between Ireland And France *Irish Independent
*EA Recaps: Senior Women's Recap *Senior Men *U-23
Men *Junior Men *Junior Women *U-23 Women: GB's Jess Coulson Wins As Her Team Is 2nd
*GB's Coulson Says She Felt So Good During The Race She Was Singing A Song To Herself
Other Weekend Results: Jesse Squire At T&F Superfan Reviews Weekend College Marks North Carolina State's Ryan Hill led weekend performances, winning the 5,000 at Indiana's Hoosier Open in 13:43.52 over IU's Zachary Mayhew (13:51.79).
*World Half Marathon bronze Medallist John Mwangangi And Pauline Njeru Win 15Km race honours during Safaricom Imenti South Road Race 15k Patrick Makau was present and said he was preparing for London 2013, but decided to offer himself for team selection to the Kenyan Moscow 2013 team instead.
*Lawi Lalang Opens Indoor Season With A 3-Race Workout He won the 1,000m (2:30.16), 600m (1:22.18) and 3,000m (8:51.09).
*USATF: Junior Olympic Cross-Country Champions Crowned In Albuquerque
European/Asian News: There Will Be A "European Olympics" In 2015 But Might Not Have Track
- The First "European Olympics" Set To Be Held In Baku In 2015 The competition is similar to the Asian or Pan-American Games and will happen every 4 years with about15 sports.
*However At This Point It Won't Include Track And Field The EAAhave already voted against the participation.
*Director General of European Athletics Says 2015 Is Probably Too Soon For Track To Participate And Might Join In 2019 They already have too many track championships with European Outdoor Champs in 2012, 2014 and 2016, European Team Championships and European Indoor Championships in 2015. - Russia's Olympic Women's Discus Silver Medallist Darya Pishchalnikova Suspended After Failing Doping Test Prior To The Games
- Recommended Read: Long Article On Mo Farah, Who Talks About How He Got Serious About Running And Having To Leave His Wife On Their Honeymoon To Go Run In Kenya "Well, I hadn't trained for a week. I'm like, 'We've already had our honeymoon, we've had time to rest. I've got to get back training.' Then I just left her in Nairobi."
- Also A Good Read: GB Three-Time Olympian Ron Hill Has Run Everyday For 48 Years He's run 157,000 miles, which apparently is over 6 times around the world and more than halfway to the moon. Hill said, "Why should I stop? It keeps me fit. It does me good, health-wise. What's the reason to stop?'"
- European Olympic Committee Puts Itself At Odds With IOC Ethics Commission As It Decides To Support The Officials Involved In Olympic Ticket Scandal The IOC Ethics Commission recommended that sanctions be taken against the officials who were caught trying to sell tickets on the black market.
- Liu Xiang Expected To Return To Training In June
- Rome Mayor Says They Will Bid For 2024 Olympics
- Holly Bleasdale Hopes That Making The Move To Arizona To Train With Her New Coach Dan Pfaff Will Help End Her "Up And Down" Performances
- Sydney 2000 Heptathlon Olympic Champ Denise Lewis Says She Thinks Jessica Ennis Can Win Again In 2016 That's if she actually competes, though, as she's talked about switching to the 100m hurdles in the future.
Recommended Read: Emil Zatopek - An Incredible Runner (4 Olympic Golds), But An Even Better Man You may know about his legendary workouts like 60 x 400 in army boots but may not know he was a very kind man.
3:37.23 Man Ben Blankenship Is On Comeback
Trail
Now As Part Of OTC Has a 3:37/3:54 collegiate miler ever gotten less pub than this guy? He was the 3k
runner-up to Heath in 2011.
Despite Gold & WR, David Rudisha Still Dreaming Big On & Off Track He wants another Olympic title in 4 years and hopes the youth are used
to promote peace in Kenya, instead of being used as props by politicians. "One would say I have it all ... a World title, Olympic title and the world record but I always have something to motivate me."
Weekly Recap
LRC The Week That Was: November 26 - December 2, 2012 This week we start with praise for Bill Aris, who has built the greatest dynasty in US cross-country history. We then tell you why the 2012 Fukuoka Marathon will be remembered for what didn't happen rather than what did. Along the way we talk about 10 greatest half marathoners in history and wonder if anyone running more than 25 mpw or faster than 7:30 miles is killing themselves. Plus talk of Adam Nelson, Haile G, Paula Radcliffe and Martin Lel.
Some Of The Few Remaining Track & Field Journalists Weigh In On Adam Nelson
US News: Adam Nelson On His Way To Becoming An Olympic Champion
- Good News: 4 Throwers From 2004 Athens Olympics Officially Stripped Of Their Medals After Doping Retests *2nd Article
- Which Means ... Q&A With Adam Nelson, Who Stands To Be Upgraded To Gold After Official IOC Announcement Stripping Yuriy Bilonog Of His Medal "To be honest, it feels really strange and it's a weird feeling. I've heard the rumors before and have not given the rumors much credit until an official ruling. Now that it's happened I'm excited. It is all just sinking in. You know, I feel I excited as I did to not lose that event [in 2004]; I was second on a tie-breaker. I feel good that I will always be the person who threw farthest on that day."
- Bernard Lagat Will Race Cam Levins & Lawli Lalang While Trying To Take Back His American 2-Mile Record From Galen Rupp At This Year's Millrose Games The record is now at 8:09.72, while Lagat's previous mark was 8:10.07. Ryan Hill is also in the race.
- Good Q&A With 2008 Olympic Marathon Trials 5th Placer Tera Moody, Who Plans To Start Her Comeback At Houston Marathon After A Year Off For Injury She'll be running the Rudolph Ramble 8-K in Chicago on Sunday, which she says is a low-key race with no prize money.
- It's Official: Standards Tightened For The 2016 US Olympic Marathon Trials 2:15 is the "A" for the men while 2:18 or a 1:05 half are the "B." For The women the "A" is 2:37 while the "B" is 1:15.
- New USATF Logo Rule Won't Change Much For Athletes Since Most Bigger Races Are Still Restricted By Stricter IAAF Rules The one real opportunity they gain is US Championship meets that aren't Olympic Trials.
The World Is A Corrupt Place - Doping/Corruption News
- A Must Read For Anti-Dopers: Paul Kimmage - The One Man Who Seemingly Has Always Tried To Clean Up Doping In Cyling - Gives An In-Depth Interview On Lance Armstrong, he says, "That would be my view - fantastic bike rider, but not a Tour winner. I would say no: He would not have won a Tour without doping." LetsRun tweeted that quote to Lance. He also reveals what it was like to discover his Irish heroes were dopers as well.
- Important News IAAF Wins 1st Case At Court Of Arbitration For Sport Involving Biological Passport Thanks to the biological passport, the IAAF was able to show repeated doping, which nets a 4-year ban.
*Reuters: Greek distance runner Irini Kokkinariou ban is doubled after IAAF appeal - India Suspended By IOC For Corruption India's unopposed secretary general just got out of jail for Commonwealth Games corruption.
- IOC Warns Rio - Get Your Act Together - Olympics Will Be Here Soon
- Irish Sailor Peter O'Leary Doesn't Get Banned From Olympics Even Though He Made Nearly $5,000 Betting On Someone Else To Win The Olympics
Sad News: Two-Time Foot Locker Finalist Arrested For Murder Eric Kweder, who has popped up in a number of threads over the years, was 9th in 1995 as an 11th grader - one spot ahead of eventual Olympian Jonathan Riley.
Post-Fukuoka News
Gebrselassie's, Mathathi's And Kawauchi's Post-Fukuoka Comments Geb still wants to compete, the 2007 WC bronze winner Mathathi wants to
give up on the marathon and Kawauchi wants to start training with collegians.
After DNF At Fukuoka, Japan's 2:09:23 Guy Satoshi Irifune Retries At Age 36
More News From Japan:
Japan's Collegiate 5,000 And 10,000 Champ Enock Omwamba Of Kenya Runs 46:05 To Win World's Most Competitive 10-Miler An incredible 81 guys broke 50:00.
Weekend Results: Fukuoka Marathon: Results *Cal International: Flash Results
- Fukuoka: Joseph Gitau Is The Surprise Winner In Fukuoka In 2:06:58 Hiroyuki Horibata was the top Japanese runner in 2:08:24 as Poland's Henryk Szost was 3rd (2:08:42), Arata Fujiwara 4th and
the topsecond Japanese (2:09:31), and Yuki Kawauchi 6th (2:10:29). Mohamed Trafeh led for the US in 7th (2:11:41) over Ryan Vail (8th - 2:11:45) and Tim Nelson 12th (2:14:09). Haile Gebrselassie, Simon Bairu, Martin Mathathi and Brent Vaughn were all DNFs. *Full Results - Haile G Tweets About His DNF At Fukuoka He says he had a leg cramp and couldn't lift it. But he'll be looking for another marathon to run because he feels he's in "good shape."
- IAAF Recap Gitau was a huge surprise winner has his PR before this race was 2:21:54. Geb dropped out at 32k while Mathathi made it to 38k.
- MB: Mo Trafeh, Ryan Vail 2:11:4x at Fukuoka *Official
Fukuoka Marathon thread along with working link *Coach Jerry
fails in Marathon again
CIM: Daniel Tapia And Alisha Williams Win CIM In Horrible Wet And Windy Conditions Tapia is the first American winner since 1993 and won with 2:16:30 over Tesfaye Alemayehu (2:17:07). 2:11 man Nick Arciniaga was 5th in 2:18:37. In the women's race Williams beat out Clara Peterson 2:34:58 to 2:35:36. *Full Results - Video Interview With Danny Tapia *Interview With Alisha Williams She thanks the "awesome guys" who let her and Peterson sit behind them for large portions of the race.
- MB: **OFFICIAL
CIM THREAD** *CIM - 35 mph
headwind?
- Dutch 15k: Geoffrey Mutai Sets CR At Heereenberg 15k In The Netherlands With 42:25 (4:33/ Mile Pace) Mutai beat a deep field including Philip Langat (a close 2nd in 42:26), 2:04:50 man Getu Feleke (3rd) and 2:04:16 marathoner David Kimetto (6th). Ethiopian Atsede Baysa won the women's race in 49:15.
*Good Race Video Of Geoffrey Mutai Winning Netherlands 15k (Commentary In Dutch) Skip to 2:29 into video for race coverage.
Recommended Read: Update On Twin NZ Runners Jake And Zane Robertson, Who Moved To Kenya On Their Own At 17 Years Old To Pursue Their Running Dreams Zane: "Without Jake I wouldn't have survived. I would have given up. Having each other, when the other one was sick or down, you raise him up. In the concrete cell that kept us going. ... I'm so thankful we went through those hardships for one or two years, because going through them, the way Kenyans do, if you survive you can go through anything."
Doping News: Kenya Not Doing Anything About Investigating German Journalist's Allegations
- WADA Frustrated As Kenya Sport Authorities Stall On Promises To Investigate Doping Allegations Made Against Kenya Runners But AK chairman Isaiah Kiplagat has already said, "It's not possible to beat Kenyans who train even ten times a day as compared to other foreign athletes who train once a day ... We have nothing to do with drugs we simply work hard. For the doubting Thomases, you can look at Kenya's athletic performance since 1960s before making malicious conclusions." That's really not good enough for WADA?
- Former Olympic Hurdle Champion Sally Gunnell Believe Four-Year Doping Bans Aren't Enough "I've always had strong views about a life ban. I think the two years was never deterring enough. People think it's worth the gamble because they'll only miss the two years and can come back ... in those two years they can go away, train hard and come back out a better athlete."d
Random But Interesting
- RW Article Rebutting Claims Made By WSJ Article That Running Too Far/Fast Will Eventually Kill You Basically the WSJ article is mostly BS. Keep running.
*MB: Wall St. Journal says running 20+ mpw is detrimental to one's health - Oklahoma Woman Attacked By Raccoon During Run
- Lebanese Inventor Designs Human Hampster Wheel For Energy It's exactly how it sounds.
- Police Chief Catches Burglar While On Morning Run
Track And Field's Male Fans Are Thankful For This
Fit Again & Recovered From Achilles Surgery & Bacterial Infection, Blanka Vlasic Is Ready To Compete Again
Ladies 2012 New York City Marathon - Or At Least As Close As We Are Going To Get To It
Yokohama: Lydia Cheromei Wins With 2:23:07 CR As Kim Smith (2:27:35), Amy Hastings (DNF) And Jo Pavey (DNF) Disappoint Smith's PR remains 2:25:21 from her debut in London
2010. Her teammate Amy Hastings was a DNF. Serena Burla was 11th. MB: Live
Thread on Yokohama Non-NCAA Weekend News
JRN Recap: Mizuho
Nasukawa Was Top Japanese In 2:26:42
*Kiwi Kim Smith Finishes Sixth
Pre-Race: Pavey Was Adamant She Could PR (2:28:24)
Non-Marathons:
Seven Hills Loop 15k: MB: Tirunesh Dibaba Destroys Olympic Marathon Champ Tiki Gelana - 47:08 To 48:09 - At Seven Hills Loop 15km *Video Highlights In Dutch
*IAAF Recap: Nicholas Kipkemboi Upset Men's 15k WR Holder Leonard Komon In Men's Race
Recommended Reads And Seb Coe News
- Recommended Read: Having Recently Won $500,000 WMM Title, Geoffrey Mutai Hasn't Forgot His Poor Upbringing & Remembers How He Borrowed Money To Run 2007 Kass Marathon This year's edition of the race is this year and Mutai says the winner will be able to get top 3 in Boston.
- Recommended Read: Brothers Futsum Zienasellassie And Bahlbi Gebreyohanns Talk About Being Separated & Now Reunited Again At NAU
Today's LRC Deal of the Day: 20% off at Eastbay
Down Goes Rohrer (Footlocker Girls Photo Gallery)
2012 Foot Locker Boys Photo Gallery (Updated)
Ryan Hall Talks About Being Coached by Renato Canova
2012 Foot Locker Legends Pre-Race Photo Gallery
Sports That Are For People Who Can't Cut It In Track: 1) Bobsled 2) Triathlon
After Failing To Make 2012 Olympic Sprint Team, Craig Pickering Is Now Focusing On Boblsed Pickering is a European indoor 60 silver medallist, so he's
perfectly suited for the bobsled.
Pickering: Decision Is For The Long Term
Senior Men's European Preview
International Track News: Another Russian Doper
- Well, At Least They're Catching Them: Olympics 5th Place Russian Hammer Thrower Kirill Ikonnikov Suspended For Failed Drug Test
- Olympic Stadium Could Be Use To Host London Diamond League Meet This July The Olympic Stadium decision has been so delayed, the £150million construction work won't start until the fall.
LetsRun Investigates "Dewey Beats Truman" Providence Beats Oregon
LRC An Examination Of The Timing/Scoring Screw-Ups At The 2012 NCAA
XC Championships
At the NCAA D1 champs, the wrong national champion was official declared. What the heck happened,
could it have been prevented
and what needs to be done in the future? At the D3 champs, scores counting all seven runners were displayed. At the D1 South Regional, a wrong qualifying team was announced as well. Did you know the same timing company was involved in all 3 instances? An email from a coach who saw the chaos unfold first hand in Louisville is what motivated us to look into this:
*LRC An Insider Coach's Account Of The "Colossal" Scoring Screw-Up At The 2012 NCAA Cross-Country Championships
Hurdling News
- Not Just Lolo: Two-Time 400m Hurdles Champ Jana Pittman Trying To Make Australian 2014 Bobsled Team
- Video Interview With Aussie Junior World Championships Hurdler Who's Dance Warmup Routine Went Viral The original video generated over 19 million views on YouTube.
NZ Twins Jake And Zane Robertson *2nd Video
Good Read: RunBlogRun Asks What Lies Ahead For Jordan Hasay? "There is an unspoken uneasiness around the fact that Hasay's phenomenal record as a young high schooler is not being fully replicated at the collegiate level ... Hasay's impressive record while at Oregon is nonetheless viewed by some as falling somewhat short of what might have been expected from an athlete who totally dominated her events as a prep."
Our Weekly Analysis Returns At Last
LRC The 2012 NCAA Cross-Country Championships That Were We bring back our weekly recap by looking back two weeks to the 2012 NCAA Cross-Country Championships. We start by praising the UConn women, Jordan Hasay, Abbey D'Agostino and ourselves before telling who flopped (Iona/Stanford), comparing Vin Lananna and Martin Smith, and telling you who the favorite is for 2013. Along the way, we crush the dreams of all college runners by telling them they likely won't improve (much) after their sophomore year before ending with talk about unbreakable women's world records.
IAAF Gala Photos: The Stars Of Track And Field Are Beautiful People
Foot Locker NE Photos
2012 Canadian XC Highlights - Men
2012 Canadian XC Highlights - Women
Thanksgiving Day Action
Manchester: Aaron Braun Equals Course Record & Wins 2012 Manchester Road Race
Delilah DiCrescenzo Comes From Behind & Guns Down Lisa Uhl To Win 2012 Manchester Road Race Down with 400 to go, Delilah got the win as Amby Burfoot finished for the 50th straight year.
Silicon Valley: Sambu (13:28) & Kim Conley (15:40) Break Silicon Valley CRs *MB: Discuss
*Manchester Road Race results ... Top 25 Aaron Braun and Hey Delilah were the winners. *Thread Discussing Race Here
*Alan Webb 23:10 8k On Thanksgiving Morning
NCAA Cross Photo Galleries (Captions Now Added)
Beautiful People: NCAA Banquet Photos (Click On Photo)
First-Ever LRC Naked D3 Nationals Photo Gallery
D3 Beautiful People: NCAA Banquet Photos (Click On Photo)
NCAAs *Men's Results *Women's Results *LRC Photo Gallery updated 258 photos
LRC Oklahoma State Makes It Three Titles In Four Years Team Recap Wisconsin had 3 runners in before
OSU, but Oklahoma State was much better at 4 and 5. OSU was led by Girma Mecheso, who was the top American in fifth (learn about his incredible life story here).
LRC Texas Tech's Kennedy Kithuka Makes It Look Easy Over Lawi Lalang & Stephen Sambu Lawi Lalang had all the attention coming in, but Kennedy Kithuka dispatched him with ease. Only one American in the top 10.
Read all about it.
*Full Results
RRW: After Delay, Oregon & Oklahoma State Declared 2012 NCAA Cross-Country Champions
Outside Coverage Of NCAAs:
- At Least He Got To Fly Private: Miles Unterreiner Pulls Hamstring At NCAAs, Does Not Win Rhodes Scholarship
- Mark Wetmore: "I said before the meet that I thought that Oklahoma State was a head taller than everybody else and they proved that today."
- Kennedy Kithuka: "Once the race started, I knew I was ready to go. It was just a great race."
- Guaranteed To Win Next Year? AP Incorrectly Reports: Oklahoma State Wins 4th Title In 5 Years
LSU Women Lose Their Outdoor National Title
Oregon Women Win NCAA Title ... In Outdoor Track LSU has been forced to "vacate" their national title after sprinter Semoy Hackett tested positive for a banned stimulant.
*TrackFocus Article The Oregon women have placed second at the NCAA meet four years in a row ... so we guess this breaks the streak.
Has This Been Alberto Certified?
Mo Farah To Face Other British Gold Medallists In Superstars Competition Sounds like fun as they'll do races over 100m and 800m, archery, javelin, a 50m swim, a kayak race, a cycling hill climb and the challenges in the gym tests.
*MB Archive: Superstars Competition half-mile run record is 1:57.36?
*MB Archive: 1981 Superstars Half Mile
New Scientific Study Says Ice Baths Don't Actually Help Athletes With Recovery After Exercises Yeah, and there are also studies which say you're less likely to be injured if you run on the hard pavement instead of soft trails.
More On Athlete Contracts: LRC Jesse Williams Of Brooks Sports: Brooks Shoe Contracts Don't Have Reduction Clauses
Field Event News
- Former HJ World Champ (2003) Jacques Freitag Arrested After Running Red Light - Had Drug "Cat" On Him He is one of only 8 people to ever win world championships at youth, junior and senior levels.