Are You Ready For Opening Day? This Year, It’s Worth Taking The Day Off From Work

LRC Less Than 24 Hours Until Track and Field’s Opening Day – Listen To Doha Diamond League Podcast Here 

LRCTrack And Field's Opening Day Is Friday And It's Going To Be SPECTACULAR With A Slew Of #1 Vs. #2 Matchups - 2016 Doha Diamond League Preview

• LaShawn Merritt Talks Ahead Of Doha – Thinks The 400m WR Could Go Down This Year “Is the world record in danger? I believe so …”
• Free Live Stream: Watch Doha Press Conference Live Today With Seb Coe, Christian Taylor, VCB And Dafne Schippers

• NBC Sports 5 Events To Watch In Doha
• 2016 Diamond League Money, Points And Statistics Breakdown
• IAAF Preview

Running Science

• Is Blood Testing For Amateur Runners The Way Of The Future? Elites already do it, but soon, routine blood tests tracking red blood cells, iron and vitamins of recreations runners could be the norm. Is it useful or just one more thing to worry over?
• The Guardian: “Runner’s High: The Athletes Who Use Marijuana To Improve Their Training” Is cannabis performance enhancing or detracting? The science isn’t 100% clear, but some ultrarunners feel it goes hand-in-hand with running.

Medical Emergency Ends Ultrarunner’s Trans-America Record Attempt Lisa Smith-Batchen was shooting to break the 36-year-old record for fastest time crossing the country, but had to have emergency gallbladder surgery.

Upcoming Action

• May 13-14: adidas Holding New Meet At Their Global Headquarters In Herzogenaurach, Germany The meet will be live streamed and they are hoping for fast times. Fields will include Yohan Blake, Jenn Suhr, Meseret Defar and Tori Bowie.
• May 28: Nicholas Bor Returns TO Defend His Title At The Ottawa 10K He faces last year runner-up and World Half Champs 6th placer Simon Cheprot and former World Half champ Wilson Kiprop. World Half champ Peres Jepchirchir leads women’s field against Mamitu Daska.
• Germany’s Defending Winner Kai Kazmirek And World Indoor Champ Brianne Theisen-Eaton Lead Fields For Gotiz Hypo Multi-Event Meeting

Week That Was

LRC WTW: Putting Mary Cain’s Struggles In Perspective, Fast Times At Stanford, Will Jim Ryun’s Collegiate 800 Record Survive To See Its 50th Birthday + Would A Swede Have Made The Olympics If Not For Meet Management At Stanford? A big week in track and field with Stanford, Drake, Penn and a lot more.

News From Southern Africa

• Good Read: IAAF First Impressions Q&A With 800m Olympic Silver Medalist Nijel Amos Amos was too poor to have toys when he was young so played with old shoes. As a youth, he actually started out as a 5K/steeplechase runner and won championship races at the 1,500/3,000 distance.
• WADA Suspends South Africa Anti-Doping Labratory For Failing To Meet Guidelines

More From The Weekend

• Good Read: Former Oregon Runner Carlos Trujillo Just Dips Under The Olympic Standard To Qualify For Rio Trujillo won the Eugene Marathon in 2:18:54 to get the 2:19 mark by only 6 seconds. He’ll represent Guatemala in Rio.
• Hey, US 4 X 100, This One’s For You: After Watching Botched Passes At Penn, SpeedEndurance.com Offers Some Advice On Getting The “Stick Around The Track”
• Kirani James And Jenny Simpson Are Drake Relays Most Outstanding Performers
• Brits Andrew Butchart, Laura Whittle And Eilish McColgan Get Olympic Qualifying Standards At Payton Jordan
• Poland’s Konrad Bukowiecki Breaks Olympic Silver Medalist David Storl’s European Junior Record With 22.94m

Post Weekend NCAA News

• Kentucky Women Surpass Arkansas As They Move Up To #1-Ranked NCAA Team
• No Changes To Men’s Top 9 NCAA Ranked Schools As Texas A&M Remains On Top
• Event-By-Event Best Collegiate Marks From The Weekend With three big meets this weekend, you had to be pretty quick to be in the top 10 in your event.
• Texas’ (And Nigeria’s) Tobi Amusan Breaks African Junior 100H Record With 12.83 At UTEP Invitational
• Arizona State Wins Over Arizona In Annual Duel In The Desert Dual Meet
• USC Splits Annual Dual Meet With UCLA As The USC Women Win For The 8th Time In The Last 9 Years
  *UCLA Article
• Texas A&M Men Win LSU Invitational
• Kentucky Women Win LSU Invite

More Weekend Distance Action

• Philip Langat And Cynthia Limo Win Lilac Bloomsday 12K Recently-made US citizen Alphine Tuliamuk-Bolton was a distant second. *Results
  
• Former Wichita State All-American Aliphine Tuliamuk-Bolton Now A US Citizen She ran 31:54 at Stanford earlier this month and will compete at the Olympic Trials.
• MB: Donavan Brazier Finishes 4th In LSU Invy 800 In 1:47.33 Alex Amankwah won in 1:46.62. Charlene Lipsey took the women’s in 2:04. *Full Results
• Kipkoech Ruto (2:17) And Hailemaryam Dakebo (2:39) Win Pittsburgh Marathon Julius Kogo (63:13) and Etaferahu Temesgen (73:08) won the half; Serena Burla 3rd.
• SA Student Champs: Caster Semenya Gets Quadruple Victory She got wins in the 400 (52.52), 800 (2:03.59), 1,500 (4:31.12) and ran a leg on the winning 4 x 400. *Full Results
• Yuki Kawauchi Wins Inaugural Kawauchi Half Marathon The race was set up to help reverse the population decline of Kawauchi Village; an area affected by a nuclear power plant accident 5 years ago.
• Former EPO Cheat Liza Hunter-Galvan Wins New Zealand National Marathon Champs Hunter-Galvan ran 2:55; Nick Horspool (2:27) won the men’s title.
• Paul Kamais (13:24) And Rosemary Wanjiru (15:15) Take 5K Titles At Oda Memorial Track Meet In Japan
• Emma Clayton And Jack Gray Win Great Birmingham 10K

NBC Agrees To Deal With Snapchat To Show Olympic Footage During Rio 2016
*MB: Mo Farah snapchat- out of control

Diamond League News: Season Kicks Off On Friday

• Interesting: Track Stats Asks “Which Diamond League Meet Offers The Best Value?” As far as ticket prices vs. meet quality goes, you’ll get a lot more bang for your buck at Monaco or Pre than you will with the expensive meets in the UK.
• The Telegraph: Diamond League Plans For A Future Without Main Attraction Usain Bolt Seb Coe has admitted that, “When Bolt leaves, it is a high-class problem.”
• May 14: World Indoor Champ Sifan Hassan And World Silver Medalist Faith Kipyegon Will Renew 1,500 Rivalry At Shanghai DL Meet
• DL Starts Friday: Provisional Entry Lists For Doha

The Penn Relays *Schedule, Entries And Results *LRC A Fan’s Guide To The 2016 Penn Relays

Saturday: Sanya Richards-Ross Anchors USA In “Emotional” 4 X 400 Victory Lots of girls were coming up to her asking her not to retire after Rio. USA Blue men won in 3:02.32 while Jeremy Wariner anchored USA Red to 2nd with the fastest split of 44.5.
*Heated Exchange After Yet Another USA Men’s 4 X 100 Botch Mike Rodgers and Justin Gatlin reacted angrily to some harsh criticism by former US great Leroy Burrell.
*How Predictable: US Fails To Get Baton Through The Zone In Men’s 4 X 100 MB: FIRE DENNIS MITCHELL NOW
*Raevyn Rogers Was Meet “Outstanding Female” After Anchoring Oregon To SMR And 4×400 Wins Oregon women also won the 4×100.
*Jamaica’s HS Kingston College Equalled 4×100 Record With 39.63 It was the school’s eighth sprint relay title at Penn.
*The Daily Pennsylvanian: Thomas Awad Anchors Penn To First Relay Win Since 1974, First 4 X Mile Win Since 1950 Coach Steve Dolan: “To be in the Penn uniform and win at the Penn Relays is about as good as it gets.”
*MB: Penn and Thomas Awad Win 4 x Mile in 16:26 It was their first COA Relay in 42 years.
*MB: Penn State Men Cruise to 3 + Second Win In 4 x 800 In 7:17 Columbia was 2nd.
*MB: Georgetown Wins 4 x 800 in 8:26 as Kaela Edwards’ 2:00 Isn’t Quite Enough
*USATF: Team USA Wins Five Of Six USA Vs. The World Events The men’s 4 x 100 was the only loss.
*Team USA Quotes From SRR, Justin Gatlin, Jeremy Wariner and more.

Day 2: LRC Drew Hunter Delivers Again (Barely) – Overcomes 9+ Second Deficit On Anchor Leg And Guns Down 4:06 Miler To Give Loudoun Valley The DMR Victory At Penn By .001 Jack Salisbury almost did the unthinkable – hold off Drew Hunter over the final 150.
*Washington Post On Hunter The finish was so tight the other team was celebrating as they thought they’d won.
*‘Nova Wins Women’s 4 X 1,500 With 3 Freshman And Sophomore Siofra Cleirigh Buttner Possibly the slowest winning time ever; definitely the slowest in 10 years.
*MB: Penn State Comes Through As Favorite In DMR The field basically bowed down and let Brannon Kidder lead the final leg wire-to-wire.
*Penn Relays Memories Last A Lifetime Old timers remember some great days from years past.
*Press Conference Quotes From USA Vs. The World Carmelita Jeter, Justin Gatlin, SRR and more.

Day 1: MB: Official 2016 Penn Relays Discussion Thread

• Georgetown Women Dominate Women’s DMR The race had little drama as Georgetown dominated in cool weather. OK State’s Kaela Edwards had the fastest split but the got baton 6 seconds back.
• Inexperienced Villanova Women Happy With Third In Penn Relays DMR
• Lake Braddock’s Kate Murphy Splits 4:37 And Comes Back From More Than 8 Seconds Behind To Win Girls HS DMR
• Harvard’s Nikki Okwelogu Wins Women’s Shot Put
• Shanice Love Sets New Jamaican Jr. And Penn Relays HS Record In Discus With 179′ 6″ (54.72m) Heave She only beat California’s Elena Brucknor on her sixth attempt.
• Jamaica’s HS Girls Teams Advance In Relays But They All Fear Union Cathlic’s Sydney McLaughlin (51.84)
• A Lengthy Look At The Great Career Of Penn Star Thomas Awad Awad says he’ll go for the Trials in the 1,500 most likely as he doesn’t think there will be a collegiate race in the 13:20s.
• Behind The Scenes Of The Penn Relays A look at how the meet is put on. Two words – Dave Johnson.

This Weekend’s Other Action *All NCAA Results

• Article Claims Nicholas Kiplagat, 2009 World Youth Champ At 800, Ran 1:43.37 World Leader At Kenya Defence Forces Champs The problem is he won a bronze in 2009 and has a PR of 1:44.9, so we are skeptical. 10.72/20.69/45.23 got the wins in the 100, 200 and 400.
• Five Nationally-Ranked SEC Schools Are Doing Scored Meet In Louisiana One of them is Arkansas. It’s a shame that the great Arkansas team isn’t at Penn or Drake. Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, Kentucky, LSU, Miami and Texas A&M.

Less Than 100 Days To Rio

• U.S. First Lady Michelle Obama Launched A “100 Days From The Rio Olympics” Street Party In NYC
• Alan Abrahamson Is Upset That The IOC’s Road To Rio Countdown Was In NYC, Not LA
• South Korea Unveils “Zika-Proof” Olympic Uniforms Most of the stuff covers your entire body and has insect repellent on it.
• Mark English Isn’t Panicking That He’s Currently In A Boot Waiting For Broken Bone To Heal Missing World Indoors where Sowinski won bronze was a little frustrating as English beat him twice before getting hurt.
• Allyson Felix Says She Has A “Minor” Ankle Injury – Pulls Out Of 100 At May 6 Doha Meet
• Dutee Chand Breaks Indian National Record Of 11.33 Thankfully, Chand, who no longer has to take hormone treatments, came up .01 short of the Olympic standard.
• Kaliese Spencer Pumped After Signing Sponsorship Deal With PUMA
• Mondo Says Rio 2016 Olympic Stadium Now “Fully Installed”

Doping News

• Good News: WADA Positives Down 13% In 2014 Even Though They Did 1,000 More Tests There were 1,462 anti-doping rule violations taken from 217,762 samples.
• Surprise, Surprise (Not): Russia Led All Countries In Doping In 2014 The US isn’t even in the top 10. Russia (148), Italy (123), India (96), Belgium (91), France (91), Turkey (73), Australia (49), China (49), Brazil (46) and South Korea (43) are your leading dopers.

Pre-Meet Penn News

• Drew Hunter Will Anchor His High School’s DMR And Try To Join His Mom As A Penn Wheel Winner Hunter: “A race like Penn, the goal is always to win. I’d like to make Penn as memorable a last race as possible. Will I go out in 1:55 and die? That might be what I have to do.”
• Team USA Rosters For USA Vs. The World Announced
• Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce And Elaine Thompson Lead Jamaica’s Team
• Could The Penn Relays Boys’ 4 X 100 Record Go Down For The Third Straight Year? Teams from Jamaica have broken it the last 2 years, with Calabar setting the mark at 39.63 last year.
• USATF: “At Long Last, Relay Season Is Back” An interesting look at the history of the Penn Relays.
• College Distance Preview
• College Sprints Preview

US Jumping News

• Good Read: Teleconference Highlights – Catching Up With Christian Taylor Taylor is in a training group that includes 200m world champ Dafne Schippers and he admits to making sure he runs faster than she does out of pride.
• Jenn Suhr Struggling With Achilles Injury; Has Pulled Out Of 4 Consecutive Meets

100 Days Until Rio

• South Korea Reveals “Anti-Zika” Clothing For Rio Long sleeves, pants, hats and dyed with mosquito-repellent chemicals (maybe they’ll get cancer, but not Zika).
• Ralph Lauren Unveils U.S. Uniforms For Rio Closing Ceremony
• More Sensationalist Olympic Headlines: NY Times: “With Brazil In Turmoil, Rio Counts Down To Olympics” The opening paragraph makes it sound like Rio will be a disaster.
• Rio Gets Olympic Flame 100 Days Before Games

Sprint Stuff: Two Greats Are Retiring

• Sanya Richards-Ross Announces She Will Retire After Rio If Richards-Ross wins in Rio, she’ll become only the second woman ever to win back-to-back Olympic 400 golds.
• The Dominican Republic’s Two-Time Olympic 400H Champ Felix Sanchez Retires Between 2001 and 2004, Sanchez won a ridiculous 43 400H races in a row, including an Olympic gold and two World titles. Then in 2012 as a 35-year-old only ranked 7th in the world, he got a surprise victory at the London Games.
• May 20: Usain Bolt Will Line Up Against Ashton Eaton Over 100m At Ostrava Golden Spike Meet Eaton: “I hope people realise Usain Bolt will destroy me in the race.”
• Jam Company Smuckers Sponsors Allyson Felix Maybe if USATF settles Nick Symmonds‘ lawsuit Felix can even wear the Smuckers logo on her uniform.

NCAA Updates

• NCAA Indoor Mile Champ Henry Wynne And Courtney Okolo NCAA Athletes Of The Week Wynn ran 3:38.05 to win the Virginia Challenge 1,500 over Justyn Knight while Okolo broke her own NCAA 400 record with 49.71.
• Former Oregon Heptathlete Ashlee Moore Transfers To Arkansas It was previously reported that Moore was going home to AZ to train for the OT.
• Courtney Okolo’s 49.71 And Deep Women’s Pole Vault Action Highlight Historic NCAA Weekend Record Book Updates

More From The Weekend – Distance

Doping Stuff

• London Marathon Hopes That By Going After Liliya Shobukhova In Court, They’re Sending A Strong Message To Drug Cheats Whatever is recovered from the $1.5 million they paid her, they plan to redistribute to the runners who finished behind her.
• Austrian Anti-Doping Agency Blasts WADA For Sending Out “Bad Signal” Ahead Of Rio 2016 By Relaxing Meldonium Sanctions
• Former War Crimes Investigator Peter Nicholson Appointed By WADA To Help Overhaul Russian Anti-Doping Program