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2013 DL Season Ends Friday In Brussels *Start Lists And TV/Streaming Information For 2013 Belgacom Memorial Van Damme (2pm ET)

LRC Women's 1,500 Preview: Can Jenny Simpson Get The Best Of Abebe Aregawi? Will Simpson Break 4:00? Simpson has been getting closer to the unbeaten Aregawi all season. Will America's #1 finally get the best of the world's #1 in this Moscow rematch which has five of the top six from Moscow? The race also includes Shannon Rowbury, Gabriele Anderson and Mercy Cherono.

LRC Women's Steeple Preview: The Top Three From Moscow - Chemos, Chekpkurui And Assefa - Battle It Out For the 2013 Diamond League Title With her first world title, Chemos had won six straight but she lost on Tuesday and will she now lose again and lose the $40,000 DL title?

A Lot More On The CGI Decision: 3 Recommended Reads

• Recommended Read #1: Toni Reavis Q&A With NYRR President Mary Wittenberg On Competitor Group's Decision To Drop Elite Athlete Funding "What we currently have is six World Marathon Majors, then a very strong number of marathons and half-marathons ... Then under that we have great local events. We need to come from both sides feeding into a larger construct. But we have to be careful. If we put out a vote asking runners which they would rather support, pro athletes or getting another tee shirt, see you later pro athletes."
• RR#2: The Silence Of The Lambs: Toni Reavis Asks Why We're Not Hearing Anything From Top Athletes Or Agents In The Wake Of CGI's Decision "Yet in the wake of that announcement, even as the chat rooms and social media have lit up with either support for or condemnation of CGI ... not one word has emerged from any of the world’s greatest runners, or their representatives. Nothing. And yet the CGI decision affects them more than anyone. Perhaps there is a fear of speaking out, but even in that light do we wonder why CGI makes this kind of call?! ... The fact that not one truly elite athlete has made a comment on an issue that is the talk of the sport is the kind of silence that just reinforces CGI’s decision to drop their support in the first place. Without a voice, legs alone won’t do."
• RR#3: Josh Cox: "The Competitor Group’s decision will undoubtedly result in less sports page headlines on race weekends but they’re wagering they will come out ahead." "... It’s glaringly obvious that we as pros haven’t shown our value to some of the top decision makers in our sport."
• Good Read: Toni Reavis: "We have been waiting for others to do what the stakeholders of the sport have long avoided. The sport has been treading water for yearss, every event dancing to their own music."
• GR#2: Runner's World: Do Big Races Need Pro Runners?

US Pro / NCAA News

• Julie Culley Talks About Taking Her Second Shot At A Marathon Debut At NYC This Year After She Missed The Chance Last Year When NYC Was Cancelled She says she's recently switched coaches from Coach Gags and the NY-NJ Track Club to her former coach, Matt Centrowitz Sr.
• The Wood Report Ranks And Analyzes The Top 31 NCAA Men's And Women's XC Teams With Oklahoma State Men And Duke Women Topping The Charts
• Ryan Vail: 5 Things You Should Know About Me Vail is a 2:11 marathoner and works 10 to 20 hours a week in a shoe store.
  
• Ashton Eaton - Trey Hardee Decathon Documentary Airs On Universal Sports Today (Friday) Airs at 12:30 PM ET before the Brussels DL meets with encore viewings later this month and next month.
  *Trailer
• AthleteGo Q&A With Leo Manzano

US News

• Good DailyRelay Interview With Ajee Wilson Talking about getting elbowed by Russia's Ekaterina Poistogova in the final meters at Worlds, Wilson said, "Afterwards, protesting honestly didn't even cross my mind. ... It was a rookie mistake that taught me that I have to be my own advocate, and reminded me how important it is to speak up for myself."
  *MB: Officials cost Wilson at least one spot in the 800
• Shalane Flanagan And Alan Webb Working As Volunteer Assistant Coaches At Portland State This XC Season Both have said they want to coach in some fashion after their pro careers are over.
• Ryan Vail Says He's One Of Many In A Tough Situation After Competitor Group's Decision To Cut Elite Athlete Funding He and his coach had planned his training around doing one of the half marathon races in October so now they will have to adjust.
• Lolo Jones Has Put On 20 Pounds Since Ending Her Track Season Doing Bobsled Training
• Collegiate Runner Jenna Parlette From Wilmington College Dies After Collapsing While Leading Race At Franklin College In Indiana She had been running with epilepsy and a heart condition for years and collapsed in a race in high school, but loved running and wanted to keep racing.
• Matt Tegenkamp Named USATF Athlete Of The Week After Winning US 20k Champs

Sprinting / Doping News

• Veronica Campbell-Brown Doping Hearing Enters Third Day The trial is closed to the media, but sources said that witnesses included a polygraph expert. Campbell-Brown is represented by California-based celebrity attorney Howard Jacobs, who served other high-profile clients such as Marion Jones, Tim Montgomery and Floyd Landis.
• Samuel L. Jackson Wants Usain Bolt To Star In New Film Called "The Secret Service"
• September 14th: Sally Pearson And David Oliver Highlight Competitive Hurdles Fields For The Great North CityGames Oliver faces Ryan Wilson and Aries Merritt while Pearson faces Dawn Harper, Kellie Wells and Tiffany Porter.
• Ben Johnson On Why Athletes Dope: "The money is great. The pressure is great. ... do everything to win. This is the world that we live in."
• The Rio de Janeiro Doping Control Lab Had Its Accreditation Revoked Last Month After It Failed A "Blind" Quality Assessment Test
• Judge Orders Lance Armstrong To Answer Questions About Doping

Wednesday  Zagreb & Rovereto *Zagreb Full Results *Rovereto Results

Rovereto: Nick Symmonds Over Andrew Wheating, Bohdan Bondarenko Ends Season With Another Win (Results) That's four straight European wins for Symmonds. This one was in 1:44.75 as Wheating was in 1:46.63. Symmonds has a big test Friday versus Mo Aman on Brussels. *Discuss Symmonds/Wheating
*IAAF Full Meet Recap
*European-Athletics Recap
*Article On Bondarenko

Zagreb Mike Rodgers Wins 100 (9.97) As Justin Gatlin Is 3rd; David Oliver Ties Ryan Wilson With Dayron Robles 3rd In 110H, Dawn Harper Beats Sally Pearson In distance action, Caleb Mwangani won a fast 3,000 in 7:35 with Will Leer 7th (7:39), Andrew Bumbalough 8th (7:40), Nick Willis 10th (7:40), David Torrence 11th (7:40) and Andrew Bayer 13th (7:43). Russia's Ekaterina Poistogova won the 800 in 1:59.30 with Caster Semenya back in 5th (2:00.74) and Shannon Rowbury 8th (2:02.64), Hiwot Ayalew beat Milcah Chemos in the steeple.
*Nick Willis' 7:40 Was A 4-Second PR Willis said, "My body and mind were in shock once I passed the 1,200m mark. ... I hadn't done anything to prepare specifically for a race over a mile, so it felt like I was just hanging on for dear life."
*IAAF Full Meet Recap: Sandra Perkovic Had A Surprise Loss In The Discus In Front Of Her Hometown Crowd And Left Stadium In Tears After Her 15-Meet Winning Streak Came To An End
*Perkovic's Winning Streak Was Ended By US's Gia Lewis-Smallwood Who Moved To 4th All-Time In The US

Distance News

• Kenenisa Bekele Hopes That His New Training Camp In Sululta, Ethiopia Will Be The Next Iten He wants runners from all over the World, including "hobby joggers," to come train at his facilities.
• Lauren Fleshman And Kate Grace To Be Runway Models For Oiselle Gear During Fashion Week In NYC
• Galaxy Of Star Athletes Line Up To Receive World 800m Champion Eunice Sum In Eldoret
• Mo Farah: "It'll be nice to continue that and be good at the marathon - but I don't know, we'll find out."
• Cal Poly's Laura Hollander And Georgia's Brandon Lord Are USTFCCCA XC Athletes Of The Week
• David Rudisha Visiting Ireland To Attend And Event Honoring Coach Brother Colm O'Connell

UK 20-Year-Old Heptathlete Katarina Johnson-Thompson Excited About Future After 5th Place Finish In Moscow, But Downplays Comparisons To Jessica Ennis

Tuesday Was Malcolm Gladwell's 50th B-Day: MB: Malcolm Gladwell has read Epstein's book - wonders why dopers are condemned for trying to overcome genetic disadvantages - Do Genetic Advantages Make Sports Unfair?
*Podcast Where Gladwell Tries To Convince Nicholas Thompson Legalizing PEDs Is The Way To Go

Road News *2013 New Haven 20k Results

US 20k Champs: Matt Tegenkamp (1:00:09), Meghan Peyton (1:09:54) Win US Titles At Stratton Faxon New Haven Road Race (updated with RRW story)
*Tegenkamp Post-Race Interview
*Men's Race Highlights *Women's Race Highlights *Post-Race Videos Interviews
Pre-Race: LRC Teg Ready To Defend In New Haven, Eyeing 2:11 In Chicago, Abdi Ready To Challenge

Netherlands: Tirunesh Dibaba Runs 30:30 On The Roads In Netherlands, 4th-Fastest Ever She was after Paula Radcliffe's 30:21 WR but went out too slow in 15:21. *Twitter Blow-By-Blow Of Dibaba's Run *Discussion Thread

Kenenisa Bekele Wants To Run Marathon In Rio

Competitor Group Gives Up On Competition

• Competitor CEO Defends Decision To Drop All Elite Athlete Support - "We're a health and lifestyle company." For years, LRC wondered if it was going to be a problem that a hedge fund owned most of the biggest races in the US and now our nightmare is a reality.
• Tony Reavis Has Excellent Insight On CGI's Decision To Cancel Elite Athlete Program In case you were gone over the weekend, Competitor Group (the private equity owned group that owns the Rock N Roll Marathons, the Muddy Buddy Runs, and puts on the NFL Run Series) decided to effective immediately cancel its elite athlete program and not honoring appearance fees for upcoming races. A business decision that could impact the future of the sport of running. Reavis, with long ties to the Rock N Roll series, talks about why this was done with such haste (remember kids, if you want to know why something is done, follow the dollars). Sad day for the sport of running if this doesn't hurt CGI's bottom line.
  
  Competitor Group Says Goodbye To The Sport Of Running Competitor Group (Rock N Roll Races, Muddy Buddy, NFLRunSeries) Eliminates Any And All Support Of Elite Athlete Fields, Including Appearance Fees, Travel And Lodging updated They are owned by a private equity group and they say it's better for businesses not to spend money having pro fields and keeping the money for themselves. We understand the logic and no race has to have a pro field. What's ridiculous is that elite athletes for the Philly Half Marathon on September 15th will not have their appearance fees honored. The only way to fight back is by not running ANY of their events and using your influence to encourage your friends not to run any of their events: all the Rock N Roll Races, all the NFLRunSeries Events, Muddy Buddy events and more. If enough people care about the sport and inspiring a future generation of runners and Competitor thinks it will help their bottom line then they will re-institute the program. We're all for private enterprise, however the Competitor Group is a private equity group that profits to a large extent because of public resources. It relies not only on volunteers and the government shutting down roads, but on millions of dollars (more here, here, here) of government tax dollars going directly to Competitor Group. We believe with such dollars comes some obligation to inspire a future generation of runners by supporting the (top end of the) sport of running just a little. Vote with your feet. *Original RunBlogRun Story
  Discuss: *Competitor drops support for elite athletes immediately
  *I support Competitor group's decision to withdraw support for Elite Athletes
  *Competitor ditching the elites is a blessing in disguise b/c I'm sick of watching our runners get paid to "race"

2013 Worlds Special Section

The Rich Get Richer LRC Eric Jenkins Has Transferred To Oregon The message board rumors are true. After Northeastern changed distance coaches for the second time in less than a year, the 13:18 phenom Jenkins has decided it's time for him to make a change as well. Are the Ducks, who didn't even make NCAAs in 2011 and were only 20th in 2012, now the NCAA favorites over Dave Smith's Oklahoma State Cowboys?
MB: Jenkins to OREGON!

2013 DL Season Ends Friday In Brussels *Start Lists And TV/Streaming Information For 2013 Belgacom Memorial Van Damme (2pm ET)

LRC Men's 800 Preview: Nick Vs. Mo Aman For All The Marbles In Brussels The DL finale is a great one with 7 of the 8 Moscow finalists squaring off, including World Champion Mo Aman, winner of 8 straight, taking on silver medallist Nick Symmonds, winner of 6 of 7. Duane Solomon, still the world leader, is also in the field fresh off of his 46.08 400m in Zagreb (video).

LRC Men's 5,000 Preview: A Dream Way To End The Season: Africa's Best Vs. America's Best Many fans may be sad that the 2013 DL season is coming to an end, but the last major distance race of the year is a REAL treat. The American record holders at 1,500/3,000/5,000 (Bernard Lagat), steeplechase (Evan Jager), and 10,000 (Galen Rupp) will clash for American supremacy as the six sub-13:00 men on the year from Africa will battle for world supremacy with the $40,000 DL title on the line. Everyone is there but Mo Farah and his absence shows why he's got a long way to go catch the likes of Haile Gebrselassie or Kenenisa Bekele for GOAT status. More previews coming later.
MB: Rupp Running Brussels!!!!
MB: Brussels Men's 5000M this Friday
MB: Stat geeks – help us out – when is the last time thw US 1500/5000, steeple, and 10,000 record holders raced in the same 5000?

• More: Brussels Press Conference Highlights: Quotes From Frenchmen Teddy Tamgho and Renaud Lavillenie Tamgho talks about the possibility of eventually getting Johnathan Edwards TJ WR and Lavillenie says that the short runway at the Moscow stadium cost him the World PV title. Lavillenie is actually making his debut in the decathlon next week.
• Capital FM: Milcah Chemos And Lydia Chepkurui In Diamond Showdown
• SA's World 1500 Bronze Medalist Johan Cronje Racing The 800 "B" Race He says he wishes there was a 3k as his training is more 1500/3000 oriented and he could break the SA NR of 7:41.
• Video: Bolt Talks To Media In Brussels; Says Ben Johnson Could Never Have Beat Him And Just Was Trying To Get Attention
• IAAF Full Meet Preview: Moscow Rematches The Theme For Brussels Good matchups include Abeba Aregawi vs. Jenny Simpson and Hellen Obiri in the 1,500, all 8 women's 400 finalists, including Christine Ohuruogu and Amantle Montsho, Teddy Tamgho vs. Pedro Pichardo and Christian Taylor in the TJ, world champion David Storl vs. Ryan Whiting in the SP.

Non-Brussels Weekend Action

• Saturday's Prague 10k Led By Strong Men's Field With 5 Sub-28 Runners Including Daniel Chebii And Mosinet Geremew (Both 27:36 PRs) In the women's race World XC champ Emily Chebet faces Afera Godfay (31:08), Esther Chemtai (31:27), GB's Gemma Steel and Columbia alum Lisa Stublic.
• Sunday: Craig Miller Defends His Minnesota Mile Title Against Ben Blankenship, Nate Brannen And Matt Elliot Heather Kampf defends her title against Gabriele Anderson and Jamie Cheever.
• Germany’s Björn Otto Wins German PV Event In 5.80m As Jirina Svobodova Clears A Czech NR Of 4.76m To Win In Plzen
• SA Half-Marathon Champs Are This Weekend

Other News

• David Rudisha And Vivian Cheruiyot Defend AK Head Isaiah Kiplagat As He Faces Opposition From Other AK Officials
• World 50k Race Walk Champion Says "I don't like walking anywhere"
• DailyRelay Discussion On Why There Were No WRs In 2013 And What Implications That Has
• Christophe Lemaitre Says He Wants Triple Gold (100,200,4x1) At Next Year's European Championships In Zurich

Previous Pre-Brussels News

• Usain Bolt Says He'll Retire After Rio 2016 And That He Won't Take An Off Year Next Year "I think it will be a good time to retire, on top and just been dominating for so long."
• Bolt Laughs At Ben Johnson's Suggestion That He Could Beat Bolt If They Had Been Competing At The Same Time Bolt said, "Everybody says everything to get into the media and stir up a little bit, but he could never beat me. That's just him trying to get some attention. I don't see Ben Johnson beating me at any time."
• Bolt Says He Still Thinks He Can Break The 200m WR And Is Looking Forward To Next Year With No Major Championship And He Can Focus On Running Fast "The 100m World record is the hardest to break because it is more technical. In the 200m, if I can master the bend and stay injury free, there is room for improvement."
• IAAF: 16 More Overall Diamond League Winners To Be Decided In Brussels 9 events are already locked up, but the last 7 are up in the air. The men's 5,000 will come down to Hagos Gebrhiwet and Yenew Alamirew, the women's high jump between world champ Svetlana Shkolina and Anna Chicherova, and the women's steeplechase could be won by any 4 women.

AK Turmoil

• Infighting Among Athletics Kenya Officials Continues To Heat Up As Isaiah Kiplagat And His Opponents Talk To The Media South AK chairman: "Why is [Kiplagat] resisting the [meeting] if he is claiming to uphold the constitution? It's because he knows that something he has done is not right and this is what we want to address."
• Kiplagat: "I am ready to leave office through a fair process, but I will not allow the law of the jungle to prevail and bring ridicule to athletics in this country."
• Standard Media Article

The Berlin Marathon Is September 29th

• WR Holder Patrick Makau And 2nd-Fastest Man Ever Wilson Kipsang To Team Up To Go After WR At The Berlin Marathon On September 29th They are serious about the record attempt, with Kipsang even in brining along his own training partner as a pacer. Kipsang said, "If the weather and other factors remain constant, running under the 2:03 mark is very much possible." The women's field will include Irina Mikitenko (2:19:19), Desiree Davila (her first full marathon since dropping out of the Olympics) and Kenya's Florence Kiplagat (2009 Berlin champ).
• 2003 World 5,000 Champ Eliud Kipchoge (2:05:30 Marathon Debut) And World Jr. XC Champ Geoffrey Kipsang (58:54 Half) Also In Berlin Marathon Field
  *Organizers' Press Release

Other Upcoming

• A Lot Goes Down At IOC Meeting On September 7th As They Will Choose A New President, The 2020 Olympic Host And 1 Sport To Be Added To The 2020 Games The favorites are Tokyo, Thomas Bach and wrestling.
  *IOC Is Asked To Consider Human Rights In Selecting Olympic Host
• World 400m Champion Christine Ohuruogu Racing Over 150 Meters At Great North CityGames On September 14th She'll race US's Natasha Hastings and Jamaica's 2004 Olympic sprint relay gold medallist Aleen Bailey.

Random But Interesting

• 25 Nike Ads That Shaped The Brand's History
• Good News For Road Racers: Road Races Might Have More Porta Potties In The Future As The Industry Looks At How It Calculates Demand The new portable toilet standards for road races are expected to be in place by next summer.
• Even Short Bouts Of Exercise Only Lasting 5 Minutes Can Add Up To Help Prevent Weight Gain
• Study Finds That Prolonged Sitting Increases Health Risks Even With People Who Are Active

Interesting Reads

• A Legend Calls It A Career: Zurich Was Dwight Phillips' Last Competition - Goodbye, Dwight, And Thank You He retires with 4 world titles and one Olympic title to his name.
• Catching Up With 1993 Foot Locker Champ Who Won As A Freshman 20 Years Ago
• Competitor CEO Defends Decision To Drop All Elite Athlete Support - "We're a health and lifestyle company." For years, LRC wondered if it was going to be a problem that a hedge fund owned most of the biggest races in the US and now our nightmare is a reality.
• Dwain Chambers Lost It When GBR Bronze Medal 4 X 100 Was DQed, Police Were Called To Moscow Stadium

News From Japan

• Nearly 50 Years After Epic 10,000 Win, Billy Mills Backs Tokyo For 2020
• A Look Back At When Tokyo Was Awarded 1964 Olympics Rome spent $30 million on the 1960 Games. The Japanese took it to another level and spent $1.9 billion.
• He's Nuts: Kawauchi Wins Ekiden Stage Two Weeks After World Championships

Random Action/News

• Kenya Won 4 Golds At African Juniors
• Men's And Women's Records Fell At The North Face Ultra Trail du Mont Blanc (UTMB) On Sunday In Chamonix, France
• Reigning Commonwealth Games Heptathlon Champ Louise Hazel Quits Event - Won't Defend Title

Sunday's Track Action *Berlin Results *Padua Results

Berlin: 53,000 Spectators In Berlin As Women's Javelin, Men's Discus Highlight Berlin
*Valerie Adams Ends Season In Berlin With 42nd-Straight Win
*Berlin ISTAF Results World Champion Mo Aman won the 800 over Duane Solomon. Dayron Robles with a win.

Padua, Italy Recap: Dylan Armstrong Throws Far, LaShawn And Aries Merritt Both Win Andrew Wheating was 4th in the 800m in 1:47.33, Erik Sowinski was 3rd in 1:47.31. Emily Infeld 2nd in 1,500.
*Results
On The Boards: Wheating Making Progress It's up for debate.

Kenyan Athletics May Finally See Some Change

• Tension In Athletics Kenya As 50 Former Athletes Wants AK Head Isaiah Kiplagat To Quit
• Scathing Editorial In Kenyan Newspaper On Isaiah Kiplagat "The corridors of power at Athletics Kenya have been trampled by him ever since the year of our lord 1975 and the everlasting man has both created and weathered storms in these realms in different capacities."

Centro Silver, Brenda Bronze!: Worlds Final Day Full Photo Gallery (All Of Our Photo Galleries Are Here)