Boston Strong

• Boston Will Be USOC’s Bid City For The 2024 OlympicsBoston was chosen over Los Angeles, San Francisco and Washington, D.C.
• Boston Decision Considered A “Major Shock” As LA And San Fran Were Considered The Favorites
• Boston Bid Will Try To Be A “Compact” Games, Rely On Public Transportation It will also make use of existing athletic venues at Boston’s many colleges and universities.
• ESPN Opinion Piece: Boston Olympics Is A Terrible Idea “U.S. bid city for ’24 doesn’t need Games and – more importantly – can’t afford them.”
• Chicago Columnist: “Envy, regrets in Chicago as other U.S. cities chase Olympics gold”
• NY Times Writer Analyzes Boston Decision
• IOC President Thomas Bach: “Boston Bid Will Be A Strong One”
• Boston 2024 Video Remembers Great Moments In American Olympic History
• OTB: Boston Wins USOC Bid!!! *How Much Will the Boston “Modular” Olympic Stadium Cost and How Will it Work?
• Writer Asks Why No One Wants The Winter Olympics The answer is $imple.

Unreal 2015 Virgin London Men’s Pro Field Announced

LRC The Greatest Marathon Field Ever? Kipsang Vs. Kimetto Vs. Bekele Vs. Kipchoge – 6 Thoughts On 2015 Virgin Marathon Field The 2015 Virgin Marathon London professional men’s field has been announced and it’s arguagly the best men’s field ever. The field features World #1 Wilson Kipsang vs. world record holder Dennis Kimetto, plus world #2 Eliud Kipchoge, and the added bonus of 5,000/10,000 record holder Kenenisa Bekele. The field has all of the top 5 from the 2014 LRC rankings and 7 of the top 9.
*Discuss In Our Forum: 2015 London Marathon men’s elite field is amazing – greatest ever?

LRC Wilson Kipsang Thinks A World Record In London Is Possible, Shares His Thoughts On Doping In Kenya We share you the wisdom we got this morning from talking to the greatest marathoner on planet earth, Wilson Kipsang, and long-time London Marathon guru Dave Bedford.

IAAF On London Men’s FieldDennis Kimetto: “I broke Wilson’s world record in Berlin last year and now I want his London Marathon crown.”

Runners, You Must Pick 2 Of 3 (Social Life/Motherhood, School/Work, Running)

Kara Goucher Admits She Didn’t Focus Enough On Running In 2014 – “(I) had too many days out of my training routine.” With a new sponsor and a move to CO, she had a lot going on. She vows to change that in 2015.
*MB: Kara Goucher in 2015

Hurdle News

• 17-Year-Old Hurdles Star Jaheel Hyde Says He’ll Try To Make 2015 Worlds In 400H, Not 110H He’s incredibly good at both.
• Devon Allen Is On Crutches, Won’t Play In Oregon’s Championship Game The US and NCAA 110H champ was hurt on the opening kickoff against FSU and needs a “miracle” to play Monday.

• UK Discus Record Holder Lawrence Okoye Signs Reserve/Futures Contract With 49ers He was on their practice squad all year after being cut in training camp.
• Australian Rugby Star Turns Down Millions To Chase NFL DreamJarryd Hayne wants to be a running back in the NFL and would have been the highest paid player in Australia.

NY Times: How Excercise Keeps Us Young

2011 World Pole Vault Champion Fabiana Murer Gives Ot 3 Free Pieces Of PV Advice Including #1 – Don’t Change Your Technique

Ritz Is Back!

Dathan Ritzenhein Wins Campaccio XC 10k In Italy Ritz beat Italians Andrea Lalli (2012 Euro XC Champ) and Danielle Meucci (27:32) and told Mlive.com “It’s nice to get back into the winner’s circle.”
*Video Interview With Ritz After The Race *Mlive.com Article
*Message Board Thread

• Florida Women Predicted #1 In Pre-Season NCAA Indoor Rankings Texas A&M #2 with Oregon #3.
• Florida Men Projected As Preseason NCAA Indoor Favorites Oregon ranked #2, Arkansas #3.

Meet The Eatons

• Interesting Stuff: Coach Harry Marra Has Ashton Eaton And Brianne Theisen-Eaton Incorporating Baseball Techniques Into Their Daily Training Apparently they were both star baseball and softball players when they were young and are using the techniques to improve their throws.
• Ashton Eaton Shares The Bests And Worsts Of His Track Career Eaton has a pair of TJ spikes he likes so much he uses them for the PV and LJ too.
• A Not Very Surprising Stat:The Eatons Are The Best Multi-Event Couple Ever Someone took the time to put together a list of the top 16 couples in multi-event history.

The Olympics: USOC Will Choose City On Thursday

• USOC Likely To Announce 2024 Bid City On Thursday
• NY Times Writers From Each Of The Four Potential US 2024 Olympic Bid Cities Plead Their Case This article says the USOC could decide between Boston, Los Angeles, Washington DC and San Francisco as soon as this week.
• Tokyo Olympic Village To Be Powered By Hydrogen Hydrogen, which does not emit greenhouse gases when used to generate power, is considered a major next-generation energy source and this would be the largest experiment with it.

• A New Nike Marketing Ploy? Judge Accepts Defendant’s Nike Sneakers Instead Of Cash Bail The shoes were estimated to be worth $85.
• Daily Relay: 5 Things I’m Excited For In 2015 Can Mo Farah and Usain Bolt be beaten? World Relays, Ryan Hall, David Rudisha and US women distance medals.
• Justin Gatlin And Croatian Discus Thrower Sandra Perkovic Named All-Athletics.com’s Athletes Of The Year All-Athletics is a stat site and their rankings don’t take into consideration anything other than athlete performances.
• Boston Marathon Bombing Jury Selection Starts Today

• IOC Reveal Details Of New 159 Million Dollar Headquarters To Be Built In Lausanne
• NY Times: Controversy Continues Over Cost Of Tokyo Olympic Stadium The building is reported to cost $1.37 billion.
• Irish Examiner: Does Hosting The World Cup Or Olympics Actually Pay Off? One economist said, “It’s like a wedding. It won’t make you rich, but it may make you happy.”

Doping Stuff

• Rita Jeptoo Will Likely Only Face A 2-Year Ban Since She Was Caught In 2014 The new WADA code that gives a 4-year ban to first time offenders didn’t go into effect until January 1st.
• New WADA Code Forbids Associating With Banned Athletes, Coaches And Doctors Does this mean athletes like Carmelita Jeter and Jason Richardson won’t be able to associate with someone with a 10-year drug ban like Mark Block?
• Germany’s Olympic Discus Champ Robert Harting Criticizes WADA And The IAAF For Its Handling Of The Russian Doping Scandal Harting: “The fact that the IAAF responded very cautious is offensive to all clean athletes. But the behavior of the WADA is even worse. For me, it has failed.” He also seems to fear that cleans athletes could have their negative drug tests manipulated to be positive if they speak out against the wrong people.

• Please Don’t Cut The 10,000 For This: UK Judo Head Wants Cage Fighting In The Olympics
• International Basketball Federation President Optimistic 3 X 3 Basketball Could Be Included In Tokyo 2020 Games

NY Times: Boston Marathon Bombing Trial Begins Monday A former federal prosecutor in Boston said, “The only interesting question in this trial is whether the most odious defendant who committed the most odious crime will get the death penalty. Nothing else will be seriously in dispute.”

Oregon’s 110H NCAA Champ Devon Allen Won’t Be Too Upset If He Misses The 2015 Track Season After Rose Bowl Knee Injury “It’s something I do, but I’m not going to rush it … I can definitely (redshirt). It’s not a huge deal. I enjoy track and I want to run, but sometimes you’ve got to take care of yourself.”

Drug Cheats, Watch Out – It’s 2015:As Of January 1st, Minimum Drug Ban For First Time Cheats Is Now Four Years, Not Two New WADA code also allows them to go after athletes’ support crew, gives reduction incentives for athletes that provide “substantial assistance” and increases ban for those who miss tests.

New Year’s Eve / Day Results

• Mike Kigen And Gemma Steel Win San Silvestre Vallecana 10K In Madrid On New Year’s Eve Kigen had a dominating win in 27:51 as did Steel in 31:52. Desiree Linden was 6th in the women’s race with 33:02.
• Andrew Colley (18:24) And Chelsea Reilly (21:04) Win NYRR Midnight Run 4 Mile
• A Rundown Of New Year’s Road Races Results: Doper Mathew Kisorio (28:40) Finishes Runner-Up In Angola 10K As Stephen Kibe Wins In 28:34
  *Translated Article On Kibe And Kisorio
• Ethiopians Dawit Admasu (45:04) And Ymer Wude Ayalew (50:43) Win New Year’s Eve Race In Sao Paulo, Brazil
• Saturday: IAAF Preview Xiamen Marathon In China: 2:06 Man Mariko Kiplagat Kipchumba Returns To Defend His Title Against World Bronze Medalist Tadese Tola And Moses Mosop There are also another nine sub-2:10 men in the field. Mare Dibaba (2:19:52) faces Mamitu Daska (2:21:59) in the women’s race.

Crazy But Fun On New Year’s Day

• Wall Street Journal Does Page 1 Feature On People Who Run Every Day Of The Yyear
• Irish Runner Rescues Four Freezing Abandoned Puppies
• 17-Year-Old White British Sprinter Thomas Somers, Who Ran 20.37 This Summer, Is Being Compared To Usain Bolt  *Discuss

Road Action

• Muktar Edris Edges Imane Merga At BoClassic Sylvesterlauf The 20-year-old Edris was #3 in our men’s 5,000 rankings for 2014. Kiwi Zane Robertson was third ahead of Thomas Longosiwa and Edwin Soi. African 5,000m bronze medalist Janet Kisa won the women’s 5k.
• Jan 2-3: Only Komazawa Can Beat Komazawa – 2015 Hakone Ekiden Preview

News From Kenya

• Who Will Be Left In The 10,000 In 2016? 27-Year-Old Wilson Kiprop Says His 10,000 Career Is Over, Will Focus On Marathon From Now On The 2012 Pre Classic winner never broke 27 (27:01).
• Kip Keino Trying To Get Legislation Criminalizing Doping Fast Tracked In Kenya
• Lucy Kabuu Excited For January’s Dubai Marathon – Hoping To Do Well There And At Worlds In 2015
• And Uganda: 2005 World Steeple Champ Dorcus Inzikuru Has Joined Police Force

Distance News

• 16 More Kenyan Doping Cases To Come?AK Head Isaiah Kiplagat Says 16 More Unnamed Athletes Were Caught Doping Apparently they haven’t been made public because AK is still trying to track them down to notify them first. (Editor’s Note: We haven’t seen this story reported anywhere else.)
• Kenya’s Victor Chumo Surprise Winner At Famous Corrida Pedestre International de Houilles 10K In France He won in 28:04 over a field that included Eritrea’s 2012 World Jr. 5,000 champ Abrar Osman and Frankfurt Marathon champ Mark Kiptoo. Kenya’s Peris Jepchichir won the women’s race in 31:34 over World Jr. steeple champ Ruth Chebet.
• Good Read:Union Tribune Names Meb Keflezighi San Diego Sportsman Of The Year Meb talks about his start in the sport, what he’d be doing if he wasn’t a pro runner, his childhood in war-torn Eritrea and how he was motivated to get 4th at the 2012 Olympic in case someone ahead of him failed a drug test.
• Two Time World Champ Edna Kiplagat Set To Win $500,000 World Marathon Majors Prize After Rita Jeptoo’s EPO Positive This will be the second time Kiplagat won the title due to a drug ban as last time it was Russian Liliya Shobukhova.
• Cloud 259 Podcast With 2:38 17-Year-Old Marathoner Alana Hadley And Her Father/Coach Mark Hadley talks about her next marathon, which will be a smaller race in Jacksonville, FL in February. She also discusses the future and says even if she joined a training group, she doesn’t plan on ever being coached by anyone but her dad.
• Q&A Cathing Up With Donnie Cowart, Who Broke 4 Minutes In The Mile For The First Time This Summer