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2008 LetsRun.com Prediction Contest Recap for the Olympic Trials in Eugene The competition in the 2008 $200,008 LetsRun.com Prediction Contest for the Olympic Track and Field Trials was fierce. We had competitors from all over the globe - shot putters, football players, and even women playing. In the end, Ryan Parker of Boston was the winner. We try to run fair contests at LetsRun.com, but Ryan was predestined to win the contest because he is from Boston, just like the World Champion Red Sox, the World Champion Celtics, and the Ryan was a deserving champion as he picked the winner in 17 of the 24 events and picked the top 3 in (any order) in 6 of the 24 events. You can see his picks here. Ryan has a strong running background. A 2-time Division III All-American at 800m, he went to the same high school as Stanford star Ari Lambie and Olympic 10k bronze medallist Lynn Jennings. For winning, Ryan had the choice of receiving an Eastbay gift certificate or control of the LetsRun.com home page for a day. He chose control of the letsrun.com home page as you can see. We have no idea what it means. It's his friend Pete. We had a 3-way tie for 2nd. ZC ended up in second place by virtue of the tiebreaker (most number of first places picked correctly; ZC had 18 correct). (ZC you need to check your email as we've been trying to get in touch with you) 3rd-place finisher, 17-year-old A.Z. Turner from California (his picks are here), is proof that the audience of LetsRun.com is not just introverted distance running geeks. AZ used to be a shot putter but has given that up for football. Clearly, he still knows a thing about track and field. Another Californian, Aster Tadesse, finished tied for 3rd (her picks are here). Tadesse, like our winner Ryan Parker, had an unfair advantage based on her place of birth. She grew up in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, and obviously knows a thing or two about distance running. And if Tadesse's triumph was enough to make all the misogynists on LetsRun.com cringe, Tadesse said she "just entered the contest because I wanted to beat him (my husband) at his own game." All of our winners except for Ryan elected to receive Eastbay Gift Certificates. Eastbay is offering a back to school promotion this month of 20% off all orders (click here to save 20%. You will see the 20% off code during the checkout process). So save yourself some cash. To view the top 30 in our contest click here.
If you embarassed yourself in our contest, were too lazy to enter, or were saving yourself for Beijing, never fear, we'll have the big daddy of them all, our prediction contest for the Olympics, up on Wednesday.
Comments, suggestions? Email us at letsrun@letsrun.com
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