August 17, 2014 Homepage Archive

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Archived Homepage For August 17, 2014

Quote Of The Day

“That was totally not like me. Perhaps I shouldn’t have looked behind me with 120 metres to go but that’s the most uncomfortable way to race a race, running scared the whole way and I knew in that field – it was world class – someone was coming. I was just waiting for them to come.”

– Lynsey Sharp after going out fast and holding on for a 1:58.80 PR and silver medal at Euros.

If You Received A Malware Warning On LetsRun.com, Click Here

**LetsRun.com Goes To The New Balance Falmouth Road race*Results**

MB:And the winners of 2014 Falmouth Road Race Are…Stephen Sambu and Betsy Saina (Molly Huddle 3rd, Ben Bruce 4th).

LRCKyle Merber, Katie Mackey Win Titles At Falmouth Mile Merber left it late but swung wide on the final turn to beat David Torrence and get revenge on Garrett Heath, who beat him at the Michigan Track Classic last week, running 3:56.46 for the victory as Jordan McNamara was a non-factor. Mackey went wire-to-wire and ran away from Stephanie Brown and Morgan Uceny to win in 4:27.79.
*MB:Merber wins Falmouth mile!*MB:Katie Mackey wins back-to-back Falmouth Miles

LRC ProfileThe Long Road: Jordan McNamara’s Injury-Filled Path To Success A big fan of the sport since HS when he had pictures of Webb, Lagat and Goucher on his wall, Jordan McNamara is so determined to rise to the top that 14 stress fractures haven’t been able to stop him from becoming one of America’s best milers. Plus insight on OTC members Ben Blankenship, Pat Casey, Hassan Mead, Ciaran O’Lionaird and Andrew Wheating.

Historic Falmouth Road Race Is Sunday: Six Storylines Ahead Of 2014 New Balance Falmouth Road Race

Post-African Champs

Kenya Finishes Third In Medal Count At African Champs South Africa had the most gold (10), Nigeria the most medals (24).
Uganda Wins Zero Medals In Morocco Their hope for a 5,000 medal was crushed when 17-year-old World Junior 10k champ, Joshua Cheptegei, didn’t run because it was hot.
Kenya’s Bid To Host 2017 World Youths On Course

Thursday at Europeans

LRCMahiedine Mekhissi-Benabbad Does It Again – Wins Steeple, Loses Singlet And Respect And Is DQed The man who threw punches in Monaco in 2011 and shoved a 14-year-old girl mascot in 2012 may have topped himself today in terms of bizarre behavior.
*MB:Mekhissi-Benabbad is an idiot

More: Russia’s Sergey Shubenkov Defends His 110H Title With 13.19 The big pre-race favorite, France’s sub-13 second man Pascal Martinot-Lagarde, only finished 4th (13.29), but was elevated to 3rd after a DQ.

Mekhissi-Benabbad Aftermath

50k WR Holder Dedicates WR To Mekhissi-Benabbad “He should not have done what he did, but I think his disqualification was very harsh.”
Mekhissi-Benabbad Feels “Immense Sadness” After Losing Gold Medal
French Steeplechase Stripper Mahiedine Mekhissi-Benabbad Insists: I Am Not Arrogant“There was no arrogance,” the Frenchman wrote on his Facebook page. “Sorry, I was only thinking of celebrating my victory like a footballer. There was no arrogance towards my fellow-runners or the crowd.”

African Champs Day 4

IAAF Day 4 Recap: Kenya’s Joyce Chepkirui Wins 10,000 Over Emily Chebet By .01 Eunice Sum comfortably won her 800 heat in 2:02.43 as Asbel Kiprop won his heat over Ronald Kwemoiand Ayanleh Souleiman as all 3 advanced.
Kenya’s Defending Javelin Champ Julius Yego Unfazed About Facing Former Champ Ihab Abdelrahman Of Egypt

What's Going To Happen To NCAA Sports

With NCAA Ruling, Are Non-Revenue Sports In Danger? With more money going to football/basketball, will sports like track and XC get cut? An insider said, “I’d be shocked if non-revenue sports continue, or how it’s even conceivably possible assuming football and basketball get full cost-of-attendance (scholarships). Again, I’m not saying it’s wrong, but let’s be honest about it.”
NY Times: After New NCAA Ruling, Is The “Myth Of The Pure Student Athletes” Finally History?

2014 European ChampsSchedule/Results Watch Live On 9 Feeds

Sunday Updates From The Boards:LRCMahiedine Mekhissi-Benabbad Keeps Shirt On, Wins 1500 He did showboat as he crushed everyone but the clothes stayed on. Henrik Ingebrigsten got silver and former Tulsa runner Chris O’Hare bronze.

MB:Farah completes the double – Wins 2014 European 5000 with 2:22:85 last 1000m

RRW Saturday Recap:Lynsey Sharp Tries To Pull A Rudisha, Ends Up Second In 1:58.80 PR, Sifan Hassan Comes Up Short In Quest For 5,000/1,500Maryna Arzamasova sat on Sharp and ran a 1:58.15 for gold.
*Meraf Bahta Wins In 15:31.39 Bahta is originally from Eritrea.
*Sharp Reflects On New, Bold Strategy: “I’m proud as two years ago I wouldn’t have raced like that.”

Italian Daniele Meucci wins Euro marathon gold in 2:11:08

RRW 39-Year-Old Christelle Daunay Of France Becomes Fastest, Oldest European Marathon Champion
*Fionnuala Britton 10th In Euro Marathon With Fourth-Fastest Time BY An Irishwoman In Her Debut It’s pretty amazing that 2:31:46 is the 4th fastest time ever for an Irish woman.

*Triplets All Run In Marathon Representing Estonia It was the first time all three ran in the same marathon.

Other Sunday Action:IAAF Saturday Recap: Sandra Perkovic Wins With Best Discus Distance Throw (71.08) In 22 Years
*Mascot Stuns Crowd By Taking On Pole Vault

No one will ever beat Berlino for best mascot honors.
*Eilidh Child Claims 400m Gold

Coming SundayA Victory By Mo Farah In Sunday’s 5,000 Final Would Be Perfect Ending For Arguably Best-Ever European Champs For British
*Mo Farah: “I’m not invincible.”
*Mo Farah’s 1st DL Of Year Will Be Next Sunday In 2-Mile In Birmingham
Robert Heffernan Was Crushed By World Record Pace In 50k Walk, Ended Up A DNF At 37k

Previous European News

M800: LRC Poland’s Adam Kszczot Destroys Men’s 800 Field Over Final 150m To Take Gold, World #2 Pierre-Ambroise Bosse Stunningly Finishes Last There is a reason why they run the race. Two youngsters, a 20-year-old Pole and 21-year-old Irishman, got silver and bronze.
*MB:Bosse goes home DEVASTATED! 2014 world #2 (1:42.53) finishest last in European 800 final
*English Happy With Bronze For Ireland: “It’s nice not to be known as a time triallist anymore, that I can actually medal!”

W1,500:LRC Sifan Hassan Outkicks Abeba Aregawi To Win 1,500Next up for Hassan and Aregawi. A race with Jenny Simpson. Will the AR fall?
*MB: Sifan Hissan takes down Abeba Aregawi for 2014 European 1500 title, Laura Weigthman gets bronze.
*Steve Cram Told Laura Weightman To Chill Until 600m Remained

M1,500/WSteeple Prelims: RRWHenrik Ingebrigtsen And Chris O’Hare Win Two 1,500 Heats At Europeans To Advance To Final Women’s steeple heats also are done – 10:00 got you into the final.
*Chris O’Hare: “I’ve got a healthy shot of the silver or bronze medal.”

IAAF Friday Euro Recap:Dafne Schippers Completes Sprint Double With World-Leading 22.03, 36-Year-Old Frenchman Yohann Diniz Sets 50km Race Walk World Record, Women’s Hammer Mark Almost Set By Anita Wlodarczyk
50k WR Holder Dedicates WR To Mekhissi-Benabbad “He should not have done what he did, but I think his disqualification was very harsh.”

Dafne Schippers Vows To Stick With Heptathlon She’s damn good at sprinting.
*MB: WTF: Best women’s sprinter in the world is a white girl? and a multi athlete? Wow!
Adam Gemili Runs 19.98 Into Headwind To Claim European Gold Very impressive if the 1.6 m/s wind is accurate.
Martyn Rooney Edges Out Matthew Hudson-Smith To Secure British One-Two In 400m (44.71 And 44.75)
Jodie Williams Wins 200 Silver In 22.46 Williams was the World Junior champ in 2010 at 100.

Good Read For Everyone Over The Age Of 35: Jo Pavey Proves You Don’t Have To Be Child Prodigy To Be Great Research has shown you can be a greater writer or athlete even at an advanced age.

New Super-Expensive Yohan Blake Watch Debuts LRC has been unable to confirm rumor that the watch is designed to break down every 6 months.

Distance News Of Note

Chris Solinsky Q&A About Accepting Job As College Coach At William And Mary – Admits He Was Willing To Give Up His Competitive Career
Recommended Read A Look At Jo Pavey: Britain’s Long-Distance Superwoman Pavey has matched Liz McColgan by winning gold 11 months after giving birth – all at age 40. Amazing for a woman who because of past injuries can’t even straighten one leg fully.
Japanese Officials Examine Rio Olympics Marathon Course – “It’s a great course.” The key part in their minds is a hilly section just after the turnaround point.
Canadian Rob Watson Hoping To Beat PR Of 2:13:29 In Toronto In Oct.
With One Month To Go, A Look At The IAAF Continental Cup, A Crucial Part Of Athletics’ Growth This is a race everyone tries to make as it pays BIG $$$.

83-Pound, 99-Year-Old Ida Keeling Sets Age Group Record For 100m At 59.80 Seconds Includes video.

More Thursday's Euro Champs News

LRC Mo Can Still Kick: Wins 10,000m Gold At Europeans The last kilometer was slower than usual, but in the end, it was vintage Mo Farah with a 54.4 final lap. Recap, analysis and video of final lap. *Discuss Mo’s Win Here
*RRW: Farah Dominant In European Champs
*Telegraph: Farah Back To Brilliant Best

More: IAAF Full Day 2 Recap: The Netherlands Dafne Schippers Wins 100 Gold With 11.12 Into A Strong Headwind Belarus’ Andrei Krauchanka set a decathlon world lead with 8,616 points, Robert Harting won the discus, France’s Eloyse Lesueur the LJ (Darya Klishina was 3rd).
GB’s James Dasaolu Wins 100 Final At Euro Champs In 10.06, Beating France’s Christophe Lemaitre (10.13) GB went 3-4 as well with Harry Aikines-Aryeetey and Dwain Chambers.
Former “Plastic Brit” Tiffany Porter Wins 100 Hurdles Gold For UK
Ireland: Mark English Makes 800 Final But 400 Runner Thomas Barr Disappointingly Does Not France’s Pierre-Ambroise Bosse had the fastest time in the 800 semis with 1:45.94.

2014 African Champs Schedule (PDF)ResultsPost-Race Interviews By AthleticsAfricaMeet Website

Ayanleh Souleiman Over Asbel Kiprop For African 1,500!They went out in 2:07.83 and closed super, super fast with Souleiman winning in 3:42.49, just .09 ahead of Kiprop with Ronald Kwemoi 3rd .01 further back. The top 4 were only separated by .16 seconds. Kiprop was next-to-last with 500 remaining. *Race Video
IAAF Final Day Recap: Caleb Ndiku Leads Kenya To 3 Out Of The Top 4 In The Men’s 5,000 With 13:24 Over Isiah KoechEunice Sum led a 1-3 Kenyan domination of the 800, winning in 1:59.45 over Janeth Jepkosgei. Ethiopia went 1-2 in the steeple as Hiwot Ayalew set a championships record of 9:29.54 ahead of Sofia Assefa. Kenya’s Julius Yego defended his javelin title and Murielle Ahoure won the 200 in 22.36.