The Week That Was/Truth Stranger Than Fiction

LRC Week In Review Mark Twain once said that truth is stranger than fiction and last week, in terms of Chris Lukezic and Caster Semenya, that certainly proved to be the case. In terms of men's and women's 1,500s, the truth of the world's best two milers getting clobbered at the Continental Cup may seem to be stranger than fiction but we tell you why in reality, upsets should be expected as they are the name of the game in tactical 1,500s. All of that plus talk of Arthur Lydiard, Peter Snell, Bernard Lagat, Sean Quigley, Justin Gatlin and gene doping.

Usain Bolt's Book Gets Rave Review For Its Marital Advice

Sponsored Post

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ING NYC News

Top Americans Antonio Vega, Tim Nelson, Blake Russell + Canadian Simon Bairu To Take Part In 2010 ING New York City Marathon Nelson is a 27:31 guy (faster than Alan Culpepper's PR) making his debut. American marathoning has come a long way when that doesn't get much notice. The women are competing for a $150,000 US only prize pool with no Deena Kastor.
Good Read:
Nice Brief Chat With "Little Meb" (Simon Bairu)

Distance Tidbits

Not A Surprise
South African Olympic Committee's Report Accuses Athletics President Leonard Chuene Of "Gross Misconduct" In Caster Semenya Affair
*South African Committee Snubs South African Parliament

Labor Day Road Action *Va Beach Recap *New Haven Recap

Sean Quigley And Magdalena Lewy Boulet Win US Titles At Stratton Faxon New Haven 20k Sean Quigley got his first US title and $8,000 in his first race over 15k as he triumphed over Mo Trafeh. Olympian Magdalena Lewy Boulet won the women's title over unheralded Stephanie Rothstein.
*More Coverage
*On The Boards: Deep field at New Haven 20k on Monday. Predictions?

Off The Road:
Team USA Men Finish 2nd At World Mountain Running Champs

Off The Beaten Path:
Michael Wardian Comes Up 52 Seconds Short Of $15,000 At Kauai Marathon

Previous: Rock 'n' Roll Virginia Beach:
Songoka (KEN) And Ogi (JPN) Win Coolest Rock 'n' Roll Va Beach In History Cool temps in the mid-60s were a gift to runners. 2009 Philly champ and Employee #1 vanquisher John Crews was the top American male in 9th (66:23) as he prepares for Baltimore in October.

More: *Linet Masai Wins Hyde Park 5k In 15:06 With Twell At 15:32, Pavey 15:53

Just [Don't] Do It

26 OCT 1994:  MICHAEL JORDAN PREPARES TO BAT FOR THE SCOTTSDALE SCORPIONS OF THE ARIZONA FALL LEAGUE IN SCOTTSDALE,
ARIZONA. Mandatory Credit: Jonathan Daniel/ALLSPORT USAIN BOLT THREATENS TO PULL A JORDAN AND BECOME PRO SOCCER PLAYER
*Telegraph: Usain Bolt Wants To Play Pro Soccer After 4 More Years Of Running
*Bolt's Book Is Out: Excerpt - Bolt: "If there were medals for partying I'd have won them all."

Another Quality Photo: Arkansas Top 5 Cross Line Hand-In-Hand: One-Page Recap Of Opening Weekend NCAA XC Results USTFCCCA put together this page which allows you to see what Oregon, Stanford, Washington, Arkansas and others were up to in this weekend's opening glorified practices races.

A Look Back/Forward

Marathon News

Drug News

"Niggles" And Successful Year Cause Mo Farah To Pull Out Of Commonwealth Games The concept of getting slaughtered by Kenyans probably didn't help things either.

NCAA XC Is Here

LRC 2010 NCAA Cross-Country Pre-Season Polls: Stanford And Villanova On Top It should be a great year on the XC fields across America, as a lot of teams on both the men's and women's teams think they can contend in Terre Haute. On the men's side, Stanford, Oklahoma State, Oregon and NAU all have a ton of guys back. Villanova is a stronger #1 on the women's side, but the UW Huskies will want to have something to say about that along with LRC fan #2 Oregon.
*Stanford XC Hoping To Return To Top paloaltoonline.com
*Wisconsin Looking For Its 15th Straight Year In Top 10 At NCAA XCs madison.com
*USTFCCCA Pre-Season Coaches Polls Released Stanford and Villanova #1, as in the LRC polls.

50 Years Ago Thursday - The Sport Was Changed Forever - Lydiard's Boys Won Double Gold For Tiny New Zealand

Gatlin & Drugs

Justin Gatlin: "Guilty or not, I've turned the page." We thought he had a strange answer in this BBC radio interview as well.

Wednesday In Zagreb *Results

Nick SymmondsNick Symmonds Wins One, Tyson Gay Crushes Nesta Carter Gay and Carter are the co world-leader in the 100m, but in 2010 Tyson Gay is clearly the world's top sprinter and he showed that by crushing Nesta Carter. Nick Symmonds got his first European win of the year and Morgan Uceny went sub-2:00 again but finished 2nd.
*Video Of Tyson Gay's race His last 20m are incredible. Watch at the link to the left or on the right hand side of this page.

Andy Roddick Has Bet 6'5" Justin Gimelstob $10,000 That He Can't Run The NYC Marathon In 4:45

16-Year-Old Brit Charlie Grice Tells Us How He Ran 2:21 For 1,000 To Grab World Youth Olympic Bronze He's a talent we are fond of but don't like how he uses the term "my first Olympic experience." The youth Olympics are not the Olympics.

BYU To Join WCC And As A Result, Portland's 33-Year Conference Streak May Soon Be On The Line

2006 European 10k Champion Jan Fitschen Moving Up To The Marathon Amazingly, the German's PR is just 28:02.55 and yet he's a European champ.

The Week That Was

Molly Huddle American Record LRC Week In Review This week, we compare Molly Huddle's and Bernard Lagat's American records to all of the other current mid-d and distance records, praise Asbel Kiprop while comparing him unfavorably to Ryan Gregson and Andrew Wheating, give props to Fasil Bizuneh and start to talk about the fall marathons in Chicago and New York.

Tuesday's Italian Action

Justin Gatlin Race #4 10.06 (10.14 Unaided), Caster Semenya Runs 2:07 Gatlin ran his fastest time of the year, although when you adjust for wind and altitude, it's worth 10.14. The best news for Gatlin was he was only .03 behind Yohan Blake (who suffered a mild injury at the end of the race). Caster Semenya didn't show up and Sara Hall ran a 10:00 steeple.
*Video Of Gatlin Vs. Blake

Great Clash Wednesday In Zagreb

This Week's Sign Of The Apocalypse
Caster Semenya Hoping To Do 800/1,500 Double At 2010 Games And Then Become A Boxer At Age 30

10 Questions With 8:46 High Schooler Jeramy Elkaim

Drugs

David Rudisha Does It Again! 1:41.01 *Results *Rest Of Meet Recap *LRC Photos (Updated)

David Rudisha 1:41.01 800m World RecordLRC Rudisha 1:41.01!!!!! One week after he ran 1:41.09 to take down Wilson Kipketer's world record, Rudisha took to the famed Rieti track and set the 8th world record ever on it by running a 1:41.01, coming up just short of the first 1:40 clocking. The first four all set personal bests, including American Nick Symmonds.
*
Praise Coming From Kenya For Rudisha's 1:41.01
*
IAAF Recap Of Rieti: David Rudisha Runs 1:41.01 To Break 800m World Record
*
AFP Recap Of Rudisha's 2nd World Record In A Week
*
Video Of Rudisha's Run

*Recap Of Rest Of Rieti: Bernard Lagat Gets 3,000m American Record, Asbel Kiprop Wins Again, And Everyone (Especially Nesta Carter) Runs Fast In 100m

Alan Webb Racing World Champ Kamel at 1500m Today In Italy

Doug Logan's Fate Still Not Decided

Aug
1984:  Carl Lewis Mandatory Credit: Tony  Duffy/AllsportKing Carl Backs Doug Logan "I love Doug Logan. He's the best thing they ever could've done for the sport. But the reality is, when you have a dysfunctional organization, you can see the difficulty people can have turning it around. If the volunteers would get out of the way, let Doug do his thing, let his vision push forward, it would happen. But we have a dysfunctional organization and it's hard to get anything done." - Carl Lewis. We thought Logan's fate was supposed to be determined by mid-August but the USATF meeting this weekend in Vegas should determine his future.

Rudisha With Some Bold Words

Female Sprint News

A Look At Some Foreign Stars

Triple Gold Medallist Swimmer Loses Jaguar Endorsement Deal For Twitting Homophobic Slur

From Across The Pond

Continental Cup Saturday-Sunday *Results *Event-By-Event Reports *Photos *Day 1 Photos

Day2 LRC Distance Recap: Incredible Lagat Wins 5k/3k Double As Rudisha Dominates

Bernard Lagat of the U.S. celebrates after winning the 3000 meters at the IAAF Continental Cup 2010 in Split September 5, 2010. REUTERS/Matko Biljak (CROATIA - Tags: SPORT ATHLETICS IMAGES OF THE DAY)

Discussion: *Lagat GOLD in 3k
*Who also has never heard of Ecuadoran Bayron Piedra?
*NANCY LANGAT IS A CHEATER

Bernard Lagat
, 6 years older than the next oldest competitor in the field and doubling back after a 51-second closing lap on Saturday, again benefitted from incredibly slow pacing as he doubled his weekly earnings to $60k to highlight day 2 from Croatia. Other big winners included a super-excited Blanka Vlašić and a bored unchallenged David Rudisha. Big losers included the Americas, who fell in the team standings to Europe and Nancy Langat, who seemed to attempt a take down of the leader as she fell with 10m to go in the women's 1,500.
More Day 2: *
Blanka Vlašić Thrilled With Meet Record Performance In Front Of Family And Hometown Crowd IAAF article
*Lagat, Rudisha And Vlašić Win Big And Team Europe Wins The Team Battle In Croatia IAAF recap

Day 1 Recap Of Continental Cup: Lagat Wins, Kiprop Fizzles Bernard Lagat and Asbel Kiprop both showed us from different extremes why the Continental Cup should be on every athlete's schedule because it gives them an experience they rarely get - championship running without rabbits. Lagat is a master without rabbits and he blasted a 51-second last lap to win the 5,000m title. Kiprop, after leading the first 2 laps, got boxed in with 400m to go and then basically quit the last 200m. He may have the Olympic gold but was only 4th at Worlds (a half-second mistake kills you in a tactical race). American Leo Manzano was boxed in as well, but kept fighting and finished 3rd. In the women's 3k, Meseret Defar blasted a 58.38 final lap for the win and Shannon Rowbury went sub-60 for 3rd. In other action, Jeremy Wariner ran fast again (44.22), Christophe Lemaitre won the 100m and Christian Cantwell the shot with Dwight Phillips in the long jump.
*Brief LRC Recap Of Men's 1,500m: Kiprop Fizzles, Manzano Finishes 3rd
*51-Second Last Lap Brings Lagat $30,000 And Continental 5k Title
*1,500m Event Report
*Brit David Greene Goes Sub-48 To Shock Bershawn Jackson In 400m Hurdles
*Christophe Lemaitre Wins Continental 100m, Mark Lewis Francis 3rd

Nick Willis 1:46.89, Alan Webb 1:48.34, Andrew Ellerton 1:46.77 In Italy The comebacks of the stud milers continue.

IAAF: Day 1 Preview Manzano vs. Kiprop at 1,500 is one of the highlights.
*
Nearly $3 Million In Prize Money
*David Oliver Talks On Eve Of Continental Cup
*Preview Of Day 2 For Brits: Dobriskey And Idowu Lead Charge

IAAF Men's Preview
Tyson Gay
is running, but only in the 4 x 100, giving Christophe Lemaitre a chance in the 100. Wallace Spearmon and Jeremy Wariner are running, as is David Rudisha, Asbel Kiprop, Leo Manzano and Bernard Lagat (3k and 5k).
*Tyson Gay Talks About Running 4 x 100 At Continental Cup IAAF
*Preview Of British Challenge

Women's Preview The top 2 female sprinters, Allyson Felix and Veronica Campbell Brown, basically avoided each other all year and both are skipping the Continental Cup (VCB missed most of all the big meets this year because of $). However, the long distances are stacked with Nancy Langat in the 1,500, Meseret Defar in the 3k, and Tirunesh Dibaba in the 5k.

2010 High School XC Rankings

  • Boys Teams Rob Monroe's team rankings go an impressive 50 deep. American Fork (Utah) tops the boys pre-season chart.
  • Girls Teams Defending Nike Cross Nationals team champs Fayetteville-Manlius (New York) looks like the girls team to beat once again.
  • Top 25 Individual HS Boys Long-time DyeStat correspondent Steve Underwood gives his take on the best high school harriers in the nation. 8:44 2-miler Joe Rosa (also 14:56 course record on the notorious Holmdel 5k) heads the boys list over returning Foot Locker champ Lukas Verzbicas.
  • Top 25 Individual HS Girls Superstars Aisling Cuffe (10:02 2-miler) and Chelsey Sveinsson (if fully recovered from injuries) are expected to wage a strong battle for 2010 supremacy.

Distance News

Jerk Of The Week
Italian Meet Director Blasts Semenya After Her Manager Says Fatigue And Illness Caused Her 2:07 The Italian is our jerk of the week, as he said, "There's no certainty that she did it on purpose. I mean why would she? It hurts both her and the meet. But it's not a good enough explanation for me."

Usain Bolt Tells BBC Radio He Thinks Tyson Gay Hates His Guts The press is making this out to be bigger than it is, as later Bolt says he and Gay are "cool but not the best of friends." Watch/Listen to the highlight of the interview here so you can see Bolt's mannerisms/tone or listen to the whole five-minute podcast here.

Recommended Read  Legends Sing Praise Of Roy Griak - Minnesota's XC Coach Of 33 Years This story is full of great anecdotes and is a must-read for any coach in the sport.

12:54/59:37 Guy Dejene Berhanu Died By Suicide Berhanu was liked by many in the sport. *LRC Mboard Talk

Commonwealth Games News

Nagoya To Become World's Largest Women-Only Marathon In 2012 It's going to have up to 10,000.

Today's Distance Fix

Cathy Freeman To Reignite Olympic Flame Next Month To Celebrate 10th Anniversary Of Sydney Olympics

Recommended Reads

The Rudisha Celebration That Was & Is To Be

Great Meet Sunday In Rieti, Italy *Results *Rudisha 1:41.01 *Recap Of Rest Of Meet *Photos (More Coming)

(Non-Rudisha) Rieti: LRC Bernard Lagat Gets 3,000m American Record, Asbel Kiprop Wins Again, And Everyone (Especially Nesta Carter) Runs Fast In 100m Yesterday, Bob Kennedy turned 40. Today, he lost his last American record as a week after coming up short of the record, Bernard Lagat ran 7:29.00 to get the record and narrowly lost to Tariku Bekele in the process. In other action, Asbel Kiprop beat the top 1,500m field of the year and had time to celebrate a bit while doing it, and the men's 100m was super-fast as the first 7 all set personal bests, including Nesta Carter's world-leading 9.78. Someone check the timing the equipment in Rieti!
*IAAF Recap Of Rieti: David Rudisha Runs 1:41.01 To Break 800m World Record

If you're wondering about David Rudisha's 1:41.01 world record, that is covered here.

Down Goes Solinsky ...

Menjo Does It Again, Solos A 26:56 10k, Winning By Over 5 Minutes Menjo (he only needs one name) has put on 3 incredible solo performances in the last month in Finland. First it was a solo 12:55 5,000m, then a 3:53 mile and now it is a 26:56 10,000m where he won the race by over 5 minutes (there were only 2 other competitors in the race). American Chris Solinsky was the previous world leader in the event and with no major 10ks in the world this year, hoped to have the world leader stand. Instead, Menjo goes out and time trials a 26:56 by himself. Incredible.  

Of Possible Interest On The Boards

Congrats To One Of The Good Guys

Pete Julian Named Washington State XC Coach Julian was one of the guys who helped bring the US XC Champs to Boulder.

NCAA XC Glorified Practice Season Underway (More Results Here)

Tyson Gay 9.92 Over Nesta Carter (His Last 20m Is Sick)

Justin Gatlin 10.09 (More Here)

Great Deals

Rudisha's 1:41.01!!!!!

Webb's 3:41 Win In Antwerp (More Here)

US Men's 10-Mile Champs

Fasil Bizuneh Wins US 10-Mile Championships At Crim Congrats to Fasil for persevering and winning his first US crown at age 30.
*Results *Message Board Thread

Molly Huddle After AR

Rudisha Over Kaki In Brussels

Caster Semenya Wins In 1:59.90

Merhawi Keflezighi Wrote Us Recommending This Interview We Did With Wilson Kipketer Last Year At Worlds

Tyson Gay Runs 9.78 Into A Headwind In London

Random Distance News/Profiles

*A Look At The "Little Killer" Course In Connecticut
*Molly Huddle Interview
*Arkansas' Shawn Forrest Living The Dream
*Athens Marathon Celebrating 2,500th Anniversary Of Battle Of Athens

Final Lap Of Men's 5k: Solinsky 12:55.53!!! More Coverage Here

Great Deals


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