Rotterdam: Duncan Kibet Edges James Kwambai in Thrilling (and Fast) Rotterdam Marathon
This race had it all, fast times, a thrilling finish, and US television coverage. James Kwambai (who had battled Gebrselassie deep into his 2:03:59 world record run last year in Berlin) and Duncan Kibet (a 2:07 marathoner who came to life yesterday on LetsRun.com thanks to a video from his agent from the Netherland's version of LetsRun which you can see on the righthand column on this homepage) battled step for step at a blistering pace dropping, half marathon star Patrick Makau in his debut. Kwambai pulled ahead the final 500m and appeared to have it won, but then Kibet put on a furious charge to pass Kwambai in the final 10 meters to get in the win in a stunning 2:04:27. Yes 2:04:27 for both men. This letsrun.com message boarder was right when he posted yesterday "Expect a couple 204s in rotterdam tomorrow, maybe even wr!" saying "All these guys running under an hour in the half are going to make 206 look as commonplace as under an hour has become. The marathon is finally starting to get as fast as it should be based on the the 5k and 10k in recent years by the africans."
*Video of Race (The Last 5 Minutes (Well 1 Minute) Is a Must. You can Skip Around and Ed Eyestone is on the commentary)

Cathy Freeman Getting Married in Top Secret Wedding on Easter

US Track Action

Texas Relays: *Results *Video
*Texas Relays Recap (Andra Mason Takes Crack at American Record in High Jump)
*Destinee Hooker Jumps World Leader In HJ Then Gets Engaged At Texas Relays
*Texas produces a high school prodigy, Craig Lutz The sophomore ran 9:03 for the 2 mile win and ran 30:46 for 10k on the roads last week.

Florida Relays: *Results
*Demps helps UF pass competition
*Florida Win Six Events To Conclude Florida Relays
*Video

Oregon Duck News
*Oregon Men Lose 800, 1,500 and Steeple & Meet To Indiana
*Duck Women Want Titles Just Like The Men
*Video From Meet
*Great Preview Of Oregon's Pepsi Team Invitational
*Check Out The First Outdoor NCAA Team Rankings

Seb Coe's New Book Coming April 16th

Coe on Rivalries:

The book looks interesting and is causing Seb to do a series of pieces and videos online. Three below"
*SebCoe Writes (And Talks on Video) In Detail About the Olympics, His Rivalry With Ovett, and the Need for Rivalries in the Sport
*Great Seb Coe Interview - His father's boat was sunk in WWII and he escaped from German captivity.
*Seb Coe Writes (and Talks on Video) About His Coach (His Dad) and Coaching Youngsters Today

Sad News: Swede Legend Arne Andersson Dead At 91 *Another History Lesson - Andersson's Wikipedia Page

Ho Hum: Paris Vincent Kipruto Wins Paris Marathon in 2:05:47 as 6 Go under 2:07 (A Record) and 11 Under 2:09 (A Record) This may be known as the weekend marathoning changed forever. You run a 2:08 and you finish outside of the top 10 in a "B" level marathon. Kipruto is just 21 years old.
Message board thread: 21 year old Kenyan runs 2:05 at Paris

More Weekend Road Action

Carlsbad 5k: Results
Recap: Ethiopian 2007 World Champ member Aheza Kiros held off American Shannon Rowbury for the win on the women's side. On the men's side, Daba Bekana edged Ethiopian compatriot Abreham Cherkos. Cherkos had run a blazing fast 13:07 indoors in Prague in February. Anthony Famiglietti led the US charge in 6th place as Marc Davis' American record of 13:24 from 1996 still stands.

Great Ireland Run
Rui Silva Over Tergat Over 10k The veteran Tergat was pleased with his 28:46 clocking, just 1 second behind Silva, just one month after his Lake Biwa win. Ireland's Martin Fagan was 3rd 1 second back and Portugal's Ana Dulce-Felix won the women's side.

Washington DC Cherry Blossom: Recap
Ridouane Harroufi of Morocco and Lineth Chepkurui of Kenya successfully defended their crowns. Sally Meyerhoff ran an American best, and Catherine Ndereba was fifth in 54:27. *Results

Berlin:Bernard Kipyego Runs 59:34 in His Debut Half Marathon, Sabrina Mockenhaup Clocks 68:45 IAAF

Milan: Stramilano Half Marathon Recap IAAF

Jamaican HS Champs *Results

News From Kenya

AK Meeting #3: Asbel Kiprop Strolls To Victory In 1,500 The Olympic silver medallist was in the news for the wrong reasons earlier in the week, but this time he got an easy victory from the front in 3:40 on the dirt track in a meet which was ended early as a Kenyan football match needed to be played. Daniel Komen and Paul Koech didn't show for the final.
Comments On The Modern Day "SlaveTrade"
Athletics Kenya Trying To Get More Guys To Renounce Bahrain Passports
*Column: Young Athletes Shouldn't Suffer In Arab States Kenyans aren't even given citizenship - only Arab speakers get it apparently.

Bolt: "I'll work to be a legend of my sport." He says his only at 60% right now which is crazy as he's already run 9.93.
*Bolt Responds To Dwain Chambers' Talk

Recommended Reads/Clicks

History Lesson: Belayneh Densamo Recalls His 1988 World Record In Rotterdam That Stood For 10 Years

Edwin Moses Speaks Out On Drugs And Dwain Chambers

Ryan Hall Interview With Running Times "You gotta choose your battles. So for me, that battle is the marathon in Boston."

X-Man Working With Brooks Johnson To Get His Career Back On Track

Duncan Kibet Comes To Life Before Rotterdam

Race directors and agents need to do a better job of putting a human face on their Kenyan and Ethiopian stars, so we're glad to see this video (which is from a Dutch running website). Duncan Kibet talks about his technology (his 2 iphones, his Nokia touchscreen phone, and why he has a mac computer "It's anti-virus") plus sexism in Kenya (why you won't see him washing his clothes) and even Sunday's race. Solely because of this video we were rooting for Duncan in Sunday's race and yelled, "YEEESSS!!" at the tv after his incredible, stunning comeback victory in Rotterdam. Race video here.

April Fools

April Fools Archives:
Judging from the emails and phone calls, a lot of viewers fell for our 2009 April Fools homepage.
*2009    *2008
*2007    *2006
*2004    *2003
*2002    *2001
We were threatened with a lawsuit for our 2004 edition.

LRC World XC Coverage

LRC Post Race Coverage: We break down World XC, give props to Moses Kipsiro, tell you why the Kenyan system is broken, try to save World XC for the future, tell you why Dathan Ritzenhein's big XC win from 2005 may not have in reality been a big win, analyze how steep the course was and give you exclusive post-race interviews with Kim Smith, Ryan Gregson and Julie Culley. Plus the scoop on the post-race party thrown by the Prince and the challenge Ryan Gregson issued German Fernandez. You can watch the races online here, read recaps,/see results here, and see photos here.

LRC: The Week That Was 2009

*Week 13: World XC - What's wrong with the Kenyans? Gregson & Fernandez united.
*Week 12: Training advice from Hall, Goucher wins in Lisbon and Port-a-Potties in Boston.
*Week 11: NCAAs, Gate River, what Eli Manning and Galen Rupp have in common.
*Week 10: Last chance, European Indoor, D. Chambers and Diamond League.
*Week 9: USAs, NCAA conferences, World's Best 10k.

Back to Top