December 31, 2015 Homepage Archive

Where Your Dreams Become Reality

Archived Homepage For December 31, 2015

Moment Of The Year

– Video produced by the Diamond League which came out on December 31 calling Evan Jager‘s Paris fall and near sub-8 as the 2015 Diamond League Moment of the Year.

*MB: Wow! Diamond League calls Evan Jager’s fall and near-8 minute clocking in Paris its Moment of the Year – Great Video

2015 LRC Year-End Rankings

LRC Men’s Marathon: All Hail Eliud Kipchoge; Meb Keflezighi Leads Americans Who deserved the #1 US ranking took some thought as Ritz beat Meb in Boston and Luke Puskedra had the highest WMM finish of any American (5th) and fastest time of the year as well (2:10:24). Updated: We had to take Wilson Erupe off the list as we were reminded he’s an EPO cheat.

LRC Women’s Marathon: Mare Dibaba Is World #1 (Barely); Desi Linden Leads Americans Mare Dibaba broke 2:20 and won Worlds this year so she deserves to be #1, particularly when you factor in she was also 2nd in Boston. Speaking of Boston, there, Desi Linden ran the fastest time on the year for the US and placed the highest of any American in a major this year.

*Men’s Hammer Rankings *Women’s Hammer Rankings
Previous:*M800*W800*M1,500*W1,500*MSteeple*WSteeple *M5k*W5k*M10*W10k

Field Event News

Elite Distance News

Good Read:43-Year-Old Kevin Castille Trying To Be Oldest Male Marathon Trials Qualifier At Jacksonville Half On Sunday Castille already ran 1:04:45 and got a USATF letter saying he qualified, but then without notice his name was taken off the list because the course wasn’t eligible.
Good Q&A: Extensive Interview With Syracuse Coach Chris Fox Fox talks at length about this year’s team and winning NCAAs, but also about wanting the team to be good for the next 10 years and his own career.
What Professional Runners Do In The Off-Season Hear from Nick Symmonds, Deena Kastor, Kyle Merber and more as to how their routine, diet and activity all change during their down time.

Time To Say Goodbye To 2015

Recommended Read:Daily Relay Does Comical “Yelp Reviews” For 2015 Their reviews for Usain Bolt, Genzebe Dibaba, Russia and others are spot on. For Nick Symmonds they say: “In dispute with the city over a zoning ordinance. Has yet to reopen. Will review again next year, hope it’s open when I go back.”
IAAF 2015 Mid-D Review:Asbel Kiprop Made His Competition Look Like A Joke As Genzebe Dibaba Made History
Athletics Weekly Does A Month-By-Month Recap Of 2015
BBTM:Month-By-Month, The Best Of the Mile In 2015 One of the biggest highlights came at the year’s end with the mile returning to NCAA outdoors.
Usain Bolt Wins His Fifth International Sports Press Association (AIPS) Athlete Of The Year Award He was voted the winner over Novak Djokovic (tennis) by sports journalists from 91 countries. The women’s award went to tennis star Serena Williams while Genzebe Dibaba and Dafne Schippers finished 2-3.
Jamaican Writer Calls Danielle Williams’ World 100H Gold The Best Of 2015
Strava Shares Their Best Photos From 2015
Athletics Illustrated Shares Their Top Articles/Interviews In 2015

From Tragedy To Triumph

LRC Feature The Miracle In The Black Hills: A Coach, A Fallen Teammate And A Season For The Ages In July, Black Hills State’s Gage McSpadden was struck by lightning and tragically killed at the age of 21. The team’s dream of a first-ever NCAA appearance, one that McSpadden had guaranteed, appeared to be shot. No one will ever forget how they responded.

Sprint News

Andre De Grasse Joins ALTIS Sprint Group In Phoenix He’ll be in good hands with head coach Dan Pfaff, one of two coaches officially recognized as a genius by LetsRun.com (JK is the other).
Wife Of First Zimbabwe Sub-10 Sprinter, Artwell Mandaza, Dies And Tons Of People Show Up At Funeral He ran a windy 9.9 in the 1970s never got Olympic glory as Rhodesia was banned from the Games. *Learn About Mandaza’s Interesting Career Here

Year In Review

Genzebe Dibaba Named Track And Field News’ 2015 Woman Of The Year
Sean Ingle’s Favorite Track And Fied Moment Of 2015 Was Dafne Schippers’ Women’s 200m Win He also cited the US women’s 4 x 400 epic collapse as a contender.
As We Enter Olympic year, Which Are The Strongest – And Weakest – Track And Field Events In The UK?Jessica Ennis-Hill (heptathlon), Mo Farah (5,000m/10,000m) and Greg Rutherford (LJ) lead the way for the Brits as the men’s throwers were horrendous. They had their worst shot year since 1987, worst javelin year ever and their top discus guy is 50th in the world.

Olympic News

Rio City Government Claims Barra Olympic Park Is 95 Per Cent Complete
IOC President Thomas Bach Says Olympic Agenda 2020 Reforms Are “More Urgent Than Ever” He says the Olympic movement must “change or be changed.”

Training Tips From The Top

Steve Magness:“The Value Of Moderate Training Days” Magness talks about the benefit of having “in-between days” that aren’t easy or hard.
Video Interview:Jordan Hasay Gives Training Tips For High Schoolers: “Steady, Long-Term Progress”
Top British Atheltes Give Their Tips For Success Some good advice from Tom Farrell, who says to be patient and enjoy the process.

Some Good Advice For The New Year

Recommended Read:Former NCAA Champ David McNeill Blogs About The Often Strained Relationships Between Runners And Non-Runners “For the friend, family member, or significant other who shares in a runner’s life, the all-encompassing impact of running can become a source of resentment, with the resentment going both ways.”
Good Read: Six Ways To Change Your Running For The Better In 2016 Some good advice from elites and coaches on how you can improve mileage, recovery, strength, diet and more.

Doping Updates: A Longtime Doper Finally Goes Down; WADA Part II In Two Weeks

Al Jazeera Stands By Its Reporting on Today Show

Spanish Steepler Angel Mullera Banned For 2 Years For Doping The sad thing is that in 2012 Mullera won a legal case with CAS which allowed him to be reinstated to Spain’s Olympic team after he had originally been excluded for doping allegations.
Mark Your Calendars:Second Part Of WADA’s Doping Report Set For January 14th This part will focus on corruption within the IAAF, but had to be delayed while French authorities finished their investigation.
BALCO Scandal’s Tim Montgomery Understands Denials By Peyton Manning And Others Because It’s What He Did When CaughtAl Jazeera originally wanted Montgomery to go undercover, but he declined. Manning is using the same “crisis management” expert as Tiger Woods and Mark McGwire have in the past.
Former IAAF Vice President Helmut Digel Says The IAAF Has Failed In The Anti-Doping Fight He knows that there are many other countries with major issues besides Russia and says that Seb Coe has done “far too little” so far.