September 12, 2014 Homepage Archive

Where Your Dreams Become Reality

Archived Homepage For September 12, 2014

Now That Doping Isn't An Option

“The results of the recent European athletics championships in Zurich, where Great Britain and France dominated the event, leave us no other choice.

Black athletes, who form the backbone of the British team, won 14 of their squad’s 23 overall medals at the event.”

“Meanwhile, we’re currently doing almost nothing to bring young black talents into our squad to help us stay at a leading position in Europe and the world.”

– Valentin Balakhnichev, the president of the Russian Athletics Federation, talking to the Russian newspaper Novye Izvestia about how he thinks Russia is doomed for failure unless they start getting scores of naturalized black citizens. Discuss this topic in our forum: Russian Athletics Head – We’re doomed for failure unless we get more black athletes.

Big Weekend: 5th Avenue Mile Saturday. Continental Cup Sat-Sunday.

5th Avenue Mile is Sat in NYC *Full Fields/Schedule/Results

RRWReigning Champion Jenny Simpson Eager to Cap Season With Fifth Avenue Win The two-time champion has passed up a chance to win $30,000 at the Continental Cup to run in NYC.

RRWMary Cain and Matthew Centrowitz Lead Nike Oregon Project Charge Down Fifth Avenue

Weekly Recap – The Week That Was

WTW Was The Great North Run Fixed? Chicago Is Loaded (Up Front) With Talent, Betsy Saina’s Dream 2014, NCAA XC Gets Under Way And Proof That Indoor Track Is As Fast As Outdoor We ponder if Mo Farah‘s Great North Run win was fixed (with video), praise Betsy Saina‘s incredible 2014, get excited about the BofA Chicago Marathon, talk a little NCAA XC and Eric Jenkins, and ponder indoor vs. outdoor tracks in light of Galen Rupp‘s 1,500 in Brussels.

IOC Vice President Sir Craig Reedie Predicts Scottish Athletes Would Stick With The UK If Scotland Declares Independence He says most stars would “follow funding” and refuse to represent a newly-independent nation.
The Telegraph Looks At The Many Possible Sporting Implications Of Scottish Independence As far as Rio 2016, Scotland would plan on competing as its own nation and Scottish athletes would have a choice of switching or sticking with the UK.
Haile Gebrselassie To Defend His Title At The Great Scottish Run On October 5th He said that his training is going well despite having knee surgery earlier in the year. GB’s Jo Pavey leads the 40+ charge in the women’s race.

Oscar P Verdict – Negligent Homicide

Oscar P Guilty Of Negligent Homicide – Will Be Sentenced Next Month The sentencing process apparently is very drawn out and like a mini-trial. In the meantime, Oscar P is out on bail which upset the prosecutor who views him as a flight/suicide risk.
*Steenkamp Family “Not Happy” With Developments

MB Discussion: Unbelievable: Judge Says Oscar Pistorius Isn’t Guilty Of Murder, Goes On Lunch Break Before Finishing Case The judge then called it a day shortly after lunch but it looks like Oscar P will get nailed for negligent homicide on Friday as well as some weapons/ammo charges.
If Pistorius Found Guilty Of Culpable Homicide, He’ll Face 5 To 15 Years In Prison However, this will be a drawn-out process as well since sentencing requires its own separate hearing which Oscar P can then appeal if he faces jail time. It’ll be a while before this thing is finished.
International Paralympic Committee Distances Itself From Pistorius But Says He “Would Be Free To Compete At IPC Events”
AP: Judge Rules Pistorius Not Guilty Of Murder But Was Negligent Judge Thokozile Masipa: “I am of the view that the accused acted too hastily and used excessive force.”

US News

Weekend NCAA XC Preview: Nationally-Ranked College XC Showdowns From Coast-To-Coast Penn State’s Harry Grove Spiked Shoe Invitational is one of the highlights as the women’s race has #5 Georgetown, #13 Syracuse, #20 West Virginia and #29 Penn State while the men’s race features #8 Syracuse and #29 Georgetown.
Nick Symmonds Wrote An Autobiography: “Life Outside The Oval Office: The Track Less Traveled”

Interesting Read: “Why Running Movies So Often Look Unbelievable” From the lap counter counting up instead of down, to Brad Pitt running the wrong way around the track, running movies are often full of inaccuracies.

Women’s Running News

Kara Goucher Talks About 2014 NYC, Says She’s Not Super-Fit, 2:26-29 Will Be Good For Her
Oiselle Unveils New Uniforms At 2014 NY Fashion Week
NY Mag Says Maggie Vessey Is The “Most Stylish Athlete” Right Now Anyone who saw her at the 2014 Pre Classic probably doesn’t disagree.
Laura Thweatt Is An Assistant Coach At Monarch High School In Louisville, Colorado, Team Got 5th At NXN Last Year Thweatt was far from a star for Mark Wetmore and Heather Burroughs at Colorado, and actually quit the sport for 3 months, but now is a 15:04 performer running for Lee Troop.
Bridget Franek Blogs – Says She’s Making Progress In Finding New Sponsor
Vertical Ru Takes Place In Beijing’s Tallest Building We guess it’s too dirty to run outside. The China World Summit Wing hotel race has 82 floors and 2,041 steps.

Track & Field’s Grand Finale – The 2nd IAAF Continental Cup Is Saturday And Sunday Schedule / Results (1:30 ET Sat., 12:30 ET Sun.) TV / Streaming

LRC Women’s Preview: Great Mid-D Action on Tap with Sum Vs. Wilson Vs. Sharp, Rowbury Vs. Hassan; Coburn Battles Ayalew In Steeple Tbe 3,000 and 5,000 are lacking depth (and we propose a combining of them at this meet) but there’s nothing wrong with the mid-d events as world champ Eunice Sum will take on world leader Ajee Wilson and the in-form Lynsey Sharp. Shannon Rowbury will look to end her season with an elusive victory over world leader Sifan Hassan and world junior champ Dawit Seyaum. Finally, American record holder Emma Coburn faces Diamond League champ/world leader Hiwot Ayalew and world junior champ Ruth Jebet in the steeple.

LRC Men’s Preview: Amos Vs. Aman, Jager Vs. Birech, Ndiku Vs. Lagat And A 1,500 Worthy Of The Olympics Move over, Diamond League. The 2nd annual Continental Cup in Marrakech, Morocco is the DL finals on steroids as this two-day meet has $2.9 million – six times more than a DL meet. There should be some great mid-d/distance matchups, including Nijel Amos vs. Mo Aman vs. Adam Kszczot in the 800, Bernard Lagat vs. Caleb Ndiku in the 3,000 and Jairus Birech vs. Evan Jager in the 3,000 steeple, but we’re most excited about the men’s 1,500, which one could argue is better than an Olympic final. Plus Duane Solomon will race for the first time in almost two months.

After Winning World Indoors, The Commonwealth Games, African Champs And The DL, Caleb Ndiku Looking To End His Season With One More Title Ndiku dyed his hair red for world indoors for “danger” to “warn his competitors” and gold for CGs.
Ndiku Dominated The 5K This Year, But Plans On Branching Out Next Season Possible events he’d like to try out include the 800, steeplechase, 10K and XC.
Asbel Kiprop Looking For Redemption In Morocco After A Season Full Of Defeats
“Supermum” Jo Pavey Will Be Back On The Track This Weekend For The IAAF Continental Cup 5,000 She’s 40 with 2 kids, but says, “I still have things I want to achieve. I still feel very motivated. I enjoy the training and pushing myself to the limit. There’s always different challenges and goals coming up.”
Video Interview With Zambian Soccer Player Kabange Mupopo, Who Switched To Track This Year And Won 400 Silver At The African Championships She’ll represent Africa this weekend in Morocco.
Veronica Campbell-Brown One Of The Team America Captains For IAAF Continental Cup
Men’s Previews: *3,000 *5,000 *1,500 *800 *Steeple *400 *200 *100 *110H*400H *4 X 100 *4 X 400 *HJ *PV *LJ *TJ *Javelin *Hammer *Discus *SP
Women’s: *3,000 *5,000 *1,500 *800 *Steeple *400 *200*100*100H *400H*4 X 100 *4 X 400 *HJ *PV *LJ *TJ *Javelin*Hammer *Discus *SP
Kaliese Spencer Hasn’t Lost A 400 Hurdles Races Since Her First One Of The Year In Early May
Jamaica’s Commonwealth Games TJ Champ Kimberly Williams Hoping To Be On The Podium Again At The IAAF Continental Cup

Throwing News

Discus Stud Robert Harting Proposes A Tiny 1-Gram Increase In Throwing Implement Weights So As To Restart The World Record Books Throwing records are notoriously “doped up.” For example, as dominant a shot putter Valerie Adams is in her era, she’s only 23rd on the all-time list, more than a meter behind the WR.
Robert Harting Tears Knee Ligament
Poland’s Anita Wlodarczyk And Hungary’s Krisztian Pars End 2014 Season At The Top Of The IAAF Hammer Throw Challenge Wlodarczyk defended her crown from last year while Pars beat last year’s winner Pawel Fajdek.

Previous Oscar P

Judge To Give Verdict On Oscar Pistirous Trial Today The process may be drawn out, though, as the judge will be giving a “long reading” that could go into Friday. Pistorius could face 25 years to life in prison if convicted of premeditated murder.
Oscar P’s Former Teammate Says His Athletic Legacy Will Live On Regardless Of Trial Verdict Ofentse Mogawane: “He has done a lot for the country and for disabled people.”

Other US Stuff

IAAF: A Look Back On The 2014 Diamond League And Ahead To The 2015 Calendar The DL picks back up again next year on May 15th in Doha.

The Crazy Things People Say

We Guess He Has To Pay The Bills Somehow:Q&A With Banned Sprinter Steve Mullings About His Book, “Banned For Life” Mullings, whom LetsRun.com famously got removed from the 2005 NCAA meet, was rightly banned for life in 2011 after a second doping offense. Asked if the book was so others could learn from his mistakes, Mullings gave this gem of a quote: “I wouldn’t say I made a mistake … But I want people to learn [from my situation] so that nobody can sabotage them as they sabotaged me.”
The President Of The Russian Athletics Federation Says Russia Is Doomed For Failure Unless They Start Getting Scores Of Naturalized Black Citizens Valentin Balakhnichev: “Black athletes, who form the backbone of the British team … Meanwhile, we’re currently doing almost nothing to bring young black talents into our squad to help us stay at a leading position in Europe and the world.” *MB: Russian Athletics Head – We’re doomed for failure unless we get more black athletes.