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40th World XC Is Sunday (8:15/9:10am ET For Sr. Races) *Schedule/Streaming/Start Lists/Results *LRC Course Photos *Mini LRC Arrival Day Photo Gallery *Entry Lists *LRC Course Video Tour *LRC 1 Min. Aerial Video Of Course

LRC We Hope To Post Live Coverage From The Course Here

LRC Wejo's Thoughts On Men's Race

LRC New Photo Album Of US Team, Pre-Race Press Conference And Firmer Course Day Before Race

LRC LetsRun.com Gives You A Tour Of The Bad-*** Course The official course tour isn't until Saturday but we didn't travel all the way to Poland just to stay in our hotel room. (Assuming no one gets hurt), we loved the course and think Sunday is going to be full of drama, and think cross-country should replace the 10,000 at the Olympics. One thing is certain - this course wouldn't be certified by uptight NCAA coaches. A turn within the first 100 meters, jumps, a big-*** hill, several near 180 degree turns. Learn all about it.
*LRC Course Photos
*LRC Update: Video Tour Of 2013 World XC Course

LRC Will Cold Weather Really Help People From Cold Climates?

Recommended Reads:
Two Guys Who, Like Us, Wish World XC Was Bigger: Competitor.com's Peter Vigneron: "If I were in charge, there would be only two events in competitive distance running: the mile and cross country, and everything else would be for fun."
US XC Champs Director Ben Rosario: The Future Of World XC - Put It The Day Before A Major Marathon

LRC 6 Thoughts From The World's Greatest Foot Race LRC is now in Poland for the World XC Championships in Bydgoszcz. We'll have extensive coverage starting later on Friday, but first we've got a little world XC history and ponder a few things, including whether it's going to be a long day on Sunday for the Kenyan men and if Galen Rupp (or Mo Farah) could win the junior boys race. Along the way, we remember when their coach Alberto Salazar was a total stud in 1982.

IAAF Men's Preview: Defending Champ Imane Merga The Man To Beat Can he be challenged by surprise Kenyan Trials winner Philemon Rono or 2010 silver and bronze medalists Teklemariam Medhin (Eritrea) or Moses Kipsiro (Uganda). Ethiopian Trials champ and star marathoner Feyisa Lilesa is also in the field.

Women's Preview: Ethiopian Trials Champ Hiwot Ayalew And Kenyan Trials Champ Margaret Muriuki Top List Of Gold Medal Contenders Ayalew was 11th in 2011 and was 5th in the Olympic steeplechase. Muriuki was 6th in 2010 World XC. Also in the field are 2010 champ Emily Chebet and Ireland's Euro champ Fionnuala Britton.

USA: US #1 Chris Derrick Knows It Won't Be Easy: "It's not going to be in my comfort zone ... 3 years ago, Mo Farah was 21st and he was a 12:57 guy [at the time]."

USATF: Meet Team USA - Nice USATF Media Guide For Entire Team

Snow Is The Big Story
LRC What's The Craziest Weather You've Ever Raced In? LRC's Wejo and Rojo have both touched down in Bydgoszcz, Poland to cover this Sunday's World XC Championships and the weather is going to be the story. There is a ton of a snow in Poland and the forecast is for negative to 0 degress Celsius on Sunday. We've got a mini-LRC Poland photo gallery and hope to have much more from Poland on Friday after touring the course and talking to the US teams. In the meantime, we're wondering what's the craziest weather you've raced in?

• Related: What's The Craziest Weather You've Raced In?
• World XC 0 Degrees And Snow On the Ground: What's The Craziest Weather Ever For World XC?
• XC Champs 2013... so much snow.
• LRC Pre World XC Siteseeing Photos
• LRC Flashback: World XC 2007: Controlled Chaos: Runners Passing Out In The Heat, People Hanging In The Trees

Previous World XC News

• LRC Kim Conley Talks Prior To The 2013 World Cross-Country Championships Get the lowdown on the woman who has improved by more than a minute in the last 4 years in the 5k.
• LRC Chris Derrick Talks Prior To The 2013 World Cross-Country Championships Get the lowdown on how the guy who some call "the greatest runner never to win an NCAA Championship," who went on to win a US Championship in his very first race as a pro. How has his training changed, what does he think of life as a pro, what are his goals for World XC, and does he sleep in an altitude tent? Derrick tells all in this exclusive LetsRun.com interview.
• RW Q&A With Ben True Ahead Of World XC Talking about racing World XC 2 year ago he said, "You're in an all-out sprint from the start, and guys are slowly pulling away from you. You expect that the pace will settle at some point, but it never really does. ... you have to be prepared to go hard, and just to suffer the rest of the way."
• IAAF Junior Women's Preview: Kenya's Faith Chepngetich Kipyegon Will Try To Defend Her Title
• IAAF Junior Men's Preview: Ethiopia's Hagos Gebrhiwet, Who Beat Rupp This Indoor Season, Set The World Jr 3k Record (7:32.87) & Won Ethiopian Trials Is Slight Favorite Other favorites include Kenya's World Junior steeple champ Conseslus Kipruto and Ethiopia's World Jr. 5,000 champ Muktar Edris.
• Interview With Kenyan World XC Junior Team Member Moses Mukono Ahead Of World XC He trains under the famous Brother Colm, who also coaches David Rudisha.
• DyeStat Does Short Profiles/Recent Highlights For The 12 Men And Women Representing The US At World XC
• Athletics Weekly World XC Preview

US News

• Recommended Read: RW Q&A With Jason Hartmann Post Pre-NYC On Thoughts Going Into Next Month's Boston Marathon (Correction: This interview was pre-Jason's big PR in NYC and LRC has video of it here if you'd like to watch it.) Jason said, "I've done more mileage this time around. I've added some cross-training, two times a week on the Alter-G for 30 minutes ... I'm varying between 130 and 135 miles a week." LRC has a briefer post-race video with Jason after his huge half PR here.
• Janet Cherebon-Bawcom, Jen Rhines And Colleen De Reuck Lead Field For Women's US 10 Mile Championships At Cherry Blossom Ten Mile On April 7th The men's field is led by last year's winner Allan Kiprono and 2012 runner-up Lani Kiplagat.
• Clip From HBO Sports Interview With Lolo Jones Talking About Her Role In Bobsledding The way she describes it, she does 6 seconds of work at the start and then sits back and enjoys the ride.
• The Rock 'N' Roll Series Makes Big Changes To Its Prize Structure For Both Elites And Age Group Runners For elites, runners will earn prize money based on time rather than place, with anyone going under 65 minutes for the half marathon getting $1,000. The overall series will end in a championship meet and give $240,000 total to elites ($75,000 to the male/female champs) every two years.
• Bridget Franek Named USATF Athlete Of The Week For Breaking US 2k Steeple Record However, as we noted in our Week That Was, Franek's time is actually at a slower pace than Jenny Simpson's US 3,000m steeple record.
• USATF Gives $1,500 Grants To 31 Elite Athletes
• Lauren Fleshman Blogs On Her Pregnancy
• HS: Senior Andres Arroyo Runs Solo 4:04.45 1,600 For 3rd All-Time In Florida
• NCAA: Rankings: Texas A&M Men, Kansas Women Named Preseason DI Outdoor Favorites

Usain Bolt News: Bolt Vs. Rudisha Over 400m?

• David Rudisha Says Talks Are Still On Between Him And Usain Bolt About A Showdown Over 400m This Year Rudisha: "Many people have been asking me if I can run with Bolt in the same race and I have informed him of what my fans want. He also told me that he is under pressure to compete with me and we have since been making jokes with him on this matter."
  *MB: RUDISHA VS BOLT IN 400 METERS !!!
• Usain Bolt Will Run Brussels Diamond League Meet On September 6th He will decide later this year whether he'll do the 100 or 200. Probably whichever one Yohan Blake isn't doing.
• Bolt Will Be Exempt From Paying UK Income Tax At Next Year's Commonwealth Games And Olympic Anniversary Meet At The Olympic Stadium This July

Asafa Powell: How To Spot A Gold Digger "Men, be smart about your choices in women. There are some manipulative women out there who are only trying to get close to get what they can out of you, and once you can't fulfil that need, that person will be gone."

After Setting WR And Winning Gold, Ashton Eaton Admits He Suffered Post-Olympic Thoughts Of "What Do I Do Now?" - But He's Motivated Again Eaton may do LJ/Decathlon double in 2016 and just pole vault in 2020.

Good News: Cincinnati Men's Track/XC To Get Scholarships Back

Bolt Will Run 100m In Rome On June 6th

Despite Economic Crisis, Juan Antonio Samaranch Says Spain "Cannot Afford Not To Continue" 2020 Olympics Bid

Britain's European Silver 60m Man James Dasaolu (6.48) Says That His 60 Time Converts To Sub-10 For 100m He ran 10.09 back in 2009 as a 21-year-old but then tore "every muscle in my lower body in the last few years."

Calabar Celebrates Its 2nd-Straight Jamaican Champs Victory On Boys Side

More Post-NYC Half Results *LRC Analysis

Proof Sleep The Night Before The Race Doesn't Matter: Dathan Ritzenhein Says He Didn't Sleep The Night Before He Finished 3rd At The NYC Half Marathon "I didn't sleep at all last night. I've never had that happen before."
*NYC Half 3rd Placer Lisa Stublic Always Thought Of Herself As A Steeplechaser Before She Got Some Harsh/Good Advice From Her Coach In Croatia Coach Petrovic told the Columbia alum, "You're a horrible steeplechase runner, get it out of your head."

NYC Half *Results/Splits *Photo Gallery

*Race Recap *Video Highlights

LRC LetsRun.com Analyzes The 2013 NYC Half/ With Post-Race Athlete Reaction What's the takeaway from Wilson Kipsang's 61:02 win, Ritz's 61:10 3rd place showing, and Bernard Lagat's half marathon debut? What about Caroline Rotich's win on the women's side and former CT state champ and Columbia runner Lisa Stublic, who was a surprising third (and now runs for Croatia) ahead of top American Stephanie Rothstein Bruce, who had a big PR?

LRC Wilson Kipsang And Caroline Rotich Win NYC Half (results and splits only) After a slow start at the NYC Half, Dathan Ritzenhein heated things up and then Wilson Kipsang took over, running to victory in 1:01:02 over Italy's Daniel Meucci and Ritz. Bernard Lagat ran 1:02:33 in his debut as he beat his training partner Abdi². On the women's side Caroline Rotich led at 5k, 10k, 15k, 20k, and the finish but it was far from easy. Early leader Kim Smith dropped out with a muscle strain and Rotich was caught by Diane Nukuri-Johnson and Lisa Stublic but held on for victory.

*IAAF Recap
*Japan University Runner Kenta Murayama Does Well In NYC Half With A 10th Place Finish (1:02:02)
*NY Times: NYRR Stage Their First Major Road Race Since The Cancellation Of The NYC Marathon
*OTB: LAGAT 1:02:33 for 12th at NYC half!!! Ritz 1:01:10 for 3rd *Jason Hartmann

Weekend Track Action

• Oregon Preview: OTC's Bridget Franek Sets AR In The 2,000m Steeplechase (6:19.09) OTC's Ben Blankenship won the 1,500 (3:48.57), Hassan Mead the 3k (7:58.43) and Julia Lucas the women's 3k (9:21.91). Oregon's 400 star Mike Berry ran 2:01.65 in the 800. *Full Results
  *Recommended Read: Julia Lucas Pre-Race: "I'd always rather fail being bold than fail being too meek or tentative."
  *MB: Oregon Preview - Live Stream NOW - link *Mike Berry (44.75 400m) running the 800
• Cal Poly Invy: Ashton Easton Starts Off His Season Well With 3 Wins At The Cal Poly Invitational He won the javelin with a PR of 218-7.5, set the MR in the 110 hurdles (13.76 seconds) and ran for the winning 4 x 4 relay (which finished in 3:18.2).  It was emailed to us that he split 47.xx in the 4x4 and actually DNF'd the first heat of the 110H after falling, but was given a spot in the 2nd heat instead. *Full Results
  *Pre-Race Press Conference With Ashton Eaton
• MileSplit Weekend HS Coverage
  *Alexa Elfraimson just ran a 4:19 1500 as a HS sophmore
• Christian Cushing-murray runs 3:55.09 for 1500 at age 45!
• Perth Classic: IAAF Perth Track Classic Recap: Greg Rutherford Wins LJ As Mitchell Watt Pulls Out With Cramping In His Calf Brit Steve Lewis won the PV over US's former World champ Brad Walker and Australia's former Olympic champ Steve Hooker.
  *RunnersTribe Recap
• Ethiopian Jr. Champs: Zewdu Mola Wins Men's Steeplechase In An Impressive 8:49.20 17-year-old Senbere Teferi won the women's 3,000 in 9:12.95 in her first time racing the distance.
• National Bank of Kenya/Athletics Kenya Meet Recap
• European Cup Winter Throwing Meet: IAAF Day 2 Recap: German World Discus Silver Medalist Nadine Muller Wins In 66.69m
  *Complete Results *EA Day 2 Recap *EA U-23 D2 Recap
  *IAAF Day 1: Spanish European Cup Winter Throwing Meet: Russia's Javelin World Champ Mariya Abakumov Wins In 69.34m
  *EA D1 Recap *Under-23 D1 Recap

Jamaican Boys And Girls' Champs

• Could The Next Usain Bolt Be Running For GB In 2016? World Junior 200m Champ Delano Williams (From GB Overseas Territory Turks And Caicos) Runs Fast 100/200 The 19-year-old won the Jamaican Boys and Girls Champs 200 in 20.72 (.02 off Bolt's MR) and won the 100 in 10.28 (.07 away from Yohan Blake's MR). He'll be joining the Racers TC to train with Bolt and Blake.
  *Update: According To This Article, Along With The Individual 100/200, Williams Also Anchored His Team's 4 X 1 From Last To 2nd Place & Anchored The 4 X 4 For The Win With A 44.xx Split
• Holmwood Technical High Comes From Way Behind To Beat Defending Girls Champs Edwin Allen By 5 Points
• Calabar High School Boys Dominate On The Final Day To Successfully Defend Their Jamaican Boys And Girls Champs Title
  *Jamaica Gleaner Meet Recap

Pre-Race

• LRC Scandal At NYC Half As Favorite Kim Smith Eats A Cupcake And Wilson Kipsang Drinks A Coke The favorites Kim Smith and Wilson Kipsang went before the media on Friday and it was full-out scandal in NYC. Kim Smith ate a cupcake, and Wilson Kipsang had a non-diet Coke. Mayor Bloomberg had no comment. In less important news, Kipsang and Smith talked about their preparations for the race.
• LRC Janet Bawcom And Jason Hartmann Both American Stars, Both Pondering Their Future In The Sport
• Lagat And The FULL: Bernard Lagat Says If NYC Half Goes Well, He May Do A Full Marathon In The Fall He said it's "Very likely, very likely."
• NYRR: NY Times: "NYRR Facing More Difficulty 4 Months After Marathon Uproar" According to this article, "Questions about the group's future persist, including whether its dominance has started to erode because of rival race organizers and disaffected runners."

Previous NYC Half News

LRC Bernard Lagat, Abdi Abdirahman and Dathan Ritzenhein are all running the 2013 NYC Half Marathon on Sunday with different objectives. For Lagat, it's his anticipated half marathon debut. Lagat sounds ready and has been training some with Abdi. For Abdi, the emphasis is on getting ready for the Boston Marathon next month. Abdi sounds off on that and the drug problem in the sport. For Ritz, there is no spring marathon or World XC. Can he regain his 1:00:00 form? Textual recaps coming. Interviews with all 3 below:

• LRC 8 Minutes With Lagat: Talks About His Half Debut And Taking On Farah And Rupp At Worlds In The 5,000m
• LRC Abdi Talks 4 Olympics, Training With Lagat And Sambu, Drugs In Marathoning, And Martin Fagan
• LRC Ritz Talks About The Half, No World XC, His Initial Success With Alberto, And Getting Back In Form In Chicago Last Year
• RRW: Wilson Kipsang Hoping To Celebrate 31st Birthday With NYC Half Win
• RRW: Family Ties Bring Americans Bernard Lagat, Abdi Abdirahman And Dathan Ritzenhein Together
  *Bernard Lagat Confident For Sunday's NYC Half With Help From Abdirahman, Farah
  *Young Japanese Stars Murayama And Otsu Take Advantage Of NYC Half Opportunity
• Good Read: Janet Bawcom Comes Into NYC Half Having Just Won The US 15k Champs Last Weekend She talks about her 15k win, her expectations ahead of NYC, and visiting her family in Kenya last year after the Olympics.

Upcoming Action

• Reigning World XC Champ Imane Merga Says He's Fit Ready To Defend His Title Next Weekend Despite Dropping Out Of The Ethiopian Trials Of his DNF he said, "There is no need to worry. I had been training really hard in February and even did a tough session the day before the race. I just felt tired."
  *AK Head Isaiah Kiplagat Says He's Confident Kenya Will Retain Their Titles At World XC Champs
• An Extremely Deep Field Is Set For Rotterdam Marathon On April 14th Field includes proven stud marathoners in Berhanu Shiferaw (2:04:48 for 2nd in Dubai), Getu Feleke (last year's Rotterdam runner-up in 2:04:50), 2:05:25 man Bazu Worku, Tilahun Regassa (2:05:27 debut in Chicago), Wilson Chebet (2:05:27) and Sammy Kitwara (2:05:54). Also RAK half champ Geoffery Kipsang 58:54) and debutants Atsedu Tsegay (58:47) and John Nzau Mwangangi (59:45).
• Usain Bolt And Yohan Blake Will Compete Along With Racers Club Teammates In Ostrava Golden Spike Meet 4 X 100 Others named for Ostrava are Valerie Adams, Ivan Ukhov and Trinidad and Tobago's javelin Olympic champ Keshorn Walcott.

2013 NCAA Indoor Championships *NCAA Results *Saturday Photo Gallery *Friday Photo Gallery *Men's DMR Photo Gallery *Women's DMR Photo Gallery *LRC Banquet Photos *Friday Photos *LRC Friday Interviews *LRC Post-Race Video Interviews

LRC W3k: The Coronation: Abbey D'Agostino Completes The Double The NCAA has a new queen and American distance running may have its leading face for the next decade as D'Agostino became the first American 5,000 and 3,000 NCAA indoor champion ever, let alone at the same NCAA meet. Jordan Hasay finished second in what she called "probably the best race of my life." as she gave Oregon the points that gave them their 4th-straight team title. Emma Coburn won the mile and Natoya Goule the 800.
*Flash recaps - more later. In the meantime, check out:
*LRC Post-Race Video Interviews With Most Of Saturday's Major Players

Friday Night

LRC 5ks: Abbey D'Agostino And Kennedy Kithuka Dominate In Different Ways The women's 5,000 came down to the final mile between stars Abbey D'Agostino, Betsy Saina and Jordan Hasay - and it was no contest. D'Agostino was clearly best. On the men's side, Kennedy Kithuka put in an early surge and that was all it took despite a game effort by Diego Estrada to keep it honest throughout.

Latest World XC News *Schedule/Streaming/Start Lists/Results (8:15/9:10am ET For Sr. Races) *LRC Course Photos *LRC Course Video Tour *LRC 1 Min. Aerial Video Of Course

• Pre-Race Day - Mid-Day Update:
  LRC Pre-Race Buzz From The 2013 World Cross-Country Championships The races are less than 16 hours away. What's the buzz in Poland? We give you insight from US runners Deena Kastor and Ben True. Did you know that Dave Smith goes way back with Keith Hanson of the Hansons-Brooks team? Plus an unconfirmed sighting of a coach who is never photographed.
  LRC Former XC Skier Ben True Talks To LetsRun (video) True, who now shares the same coach as Abbey D'Agostino (Mark Coogan), seems to be in excellent shape as he just won the US 15k.
  LRC Deena Kastor Speaks To LetsRun (video) How do you run the world's toughest race just 7 days after running a marathon at age 40?
• Press Conference: LRC Coverage Coming Later Today
  
• IAAF President Lamine Diack Speaks “I also want to say that although we are in Europe, many European countries are not competing here, no one from the Balkan countries, no one from the Scandinavian area, many countries are not here ... I hope that is not because East Africa is winning a lot of the time,"
• WELL SAID: PaulTergat: "I think it is high time that cross country running is included in the Olympics, it’s a phenomenal event and it deserves it’s place on the Olympic stage."
• Athletics Weekly Recap Of Press Conference
  
• IAAF Press Conference Highlights
• $280,000 At Stake In Poland
  
• US: USATF Pre-World XC Captain Quotes Deena Kastor: "The entire course is a concern. There wasn't one spot on the course that I felt that we could sail through or surge without slipping, falling or having the mud suck up your shoe. It's a gnarly course. It will be an epic day tomorrow, and we'll be facing some pretty harsh elements."
• Ireland: Irish Examiner Predicts Irish Women And Fionnuala Britton To Finish 6th Britton's coach has told her to treat the race like it's a 5k (not the 8k it is).
  *Fionnuala Britton Talks About How She Sets Up Her Spikes Based On Course Conditions
• SA: SA Men Hoping To Match Their 5th Place Finish From 2011 At World XC
  
• Kenya: Apparently Kenya Hasn't Caught On To The Lack Of Popularity For World XC: "Millions more will be watching on television, keeping up in the papers and surfing the internet..."

Random Non-World XC News

• Alberto Salazar Having Mo Farah, Galen Rupp And Matt Centrowitz Work With Sprint Coach John Smith & Former Olympic Sprinter Ralph Mann On Mechanics/Sprinting Form
  
• Former GB Sports Minister Calls Deal To Lease Olympic Stadium To West Ham As "The Biggest Mistake Of The London Olympics"
  
• Worth A Click: Some Cool Sports Clips Including A Hilarious Pole Vault Fai
  
• Athletics South Africa Will Set Up Inquiry Commission To Investigate Disputes Among Governing Body And President

Studies Looking At Foot Strike

• Study Finds That Type Of Shoe Can Alter Form In Young Runners With cushioned shoes young runners heel struck nearly 70% of the time, compared to less than 35% of the time while in racing flats and less than 30% of the time when barefoot.
  
• Another Study Says Type Of Surface Will Also Affect Foot Strike, With Rearfoot Strike On Soft Surfaces And Forefoot Strike On Hard However, the study is hardly applicable to real world running as they had subjects run barefoot on a soft surface and then barefoot on a hard surface to compare. Obviously you're not going to run with a normal foot strike barefoot on a hard surface and you're probably not going to run barefoot on the road.

Previous Pre-World XC News

• GBR: Athletics Weekly: "Wouldn't it be great if he had returned to Bydgoszcz this year to cement his status as the world's No.1 distance runner?" We think there is little chance Farah, who was only 21st in 2010, would win if he did show as he's not a proven XC guy. He might not even win the junior race.
• GBR/But All Should Read This: 2:18 British Marathoner Talks About How He Got Frostbite In January XC Race Where He Ran Well And Finished 7th
• USA: Deena Drossin And Chris Derrick Selected As  US Team Captains Stites and Nowak get the Jr. nods.
• USA: 1st-Year Pro Neely Spence Grace Is Enjoying Having Training Partners For 1st Time "I would rather run in negative 20-degree temperatures and 50 mile-per-hour winds if I had people there than bright, sunny 70-degree weather by myself."
• KEN: After Hotly-Contested Election, Kenyan Journalist Hoping World XC Can Re-Unite The Country
• Kenya: Faith Chepngetich Kipyegon Is Looking To Be 3rd To Ever Defend Junior Crown The 4:03 runner has some good odds.
• ETH: Ethiopian Women's Champ Hiwot Ayalew - 9:09 Steepler - Wants Her First Global Medal
• GBR: 6th Placer In Euro 3k, Lauren Howorth (8:52 3k), Is Excited For World XC
• GBR: World Jr. 3k Bronze Medallist Emily Gorecka Ready For "one of the toughest events on the planet."
• More Ethiopian News: Mo Farah Slayer Ibrahim Jeylan Is Healthy And Running Half Marathon This Weekend At Stacked Portugal Half Jeylan won 10,000 gold in 2011.

More Non-LRC World XC News:

• Canada: Canadians Pumped It's Gonna Be Cold Wiebe: "I believe race day will be a balmy -3 degrees, perfect."
• Kenya: Will Kenyan XC Team Cave Under Pressure To Perform Up To Their 2010 Level, Where They Won All 4 Individual And Team Titles? Article analyzes Kenyan team and shows how overall, it doesn't have nearly the depth that their 2010 squad did.
• Uganda: Uganda's 2010 5k/10k Commonwealth Games Champion Moses Kipsiro Says He's Fit After Coming Back From A Disappointing Olympics And Thinks He Can Medal
• UK: Terrence Mahon Thinks GB Senior Women Could Be A "Dark Horse" For A Medal "Our dark horse was our senior women's team. They may not have the firepower right up front but at the Euro Cross we had such a tight cluster that it was a pretty impressive team in terms of the team scoring."
• SA: South African Sport Confederation And Olympic Committee Has Bailed Out Broke Athletics South Africa By Paying Travel Costs To Send XC Team To Poland According to this article, they almost didn't get to go and only found out Tuesday that they would.
• IAAF: Course Details And Scoring Rules
• Japan: Japan Running News Takes A Look At The Japan Team
• Australia: Ryan Gregson Blogs About His Housemates Collis Birmingham And Brett Robinson Heading To World XC

Drug News

• WADA Sends Warning To Drug Cheats About Harmful Side Effects Of Banned Substance GW501516, Which Is Being Sold On The Black Market The report said: "The side effect of this chemical compound is so serious that WADA is taking the rare step of warning 'cheats' to ensure that there is complete awareness ..."
• With 5 Doping Bans In The Last Two Months, Kenya Admits They Have A Doping Problem
• IOC To Retest 2006 Turin Winter Olympic Samples

Haile Gebrselassie Will Try To Win His 6th Bupa Great Manchester Run 10k Title On May 26th He had a great race last year, setting a then world-leading 27:39 and beating Patrick Makau and Stephen Kiprotich.

US Stuff

• Dathan Ritzenhein Will Headline Shamrock Shuffle 8k In Chicago On April 7th
• 2 Top FSU Sprinters Arrested In Gunfire Incident Olympic 4 x 4 silver medalist Ronell J. Mance and ACC MVP Stephen Newbold were arrested; Newbold for "discharging a firearm" and resisting arrest and Mance for a fake ID resisting arrest.
• WSJ: Good Article On Iram Leon, The Man With Terminal Brain Cancer Who Won A Marathon Earlier This Month In 3:07 While Pushing His Daughter In A Stroller When he was first diagnosed and recommended for immediate surgery he had the doctor put it off a couple of weeks to run a marathon he had been training for.
• HS: Florida Senior Taylor Tubbs Beats Boys In Mixed Gender 1,600 With A US #4 Ranked 4:56
• "Biggest Loser" Winner Wants To Run In 2013 Chicago Marathon She won $250,000 for losing 121 pounds, going from 258 pounds to 137.
• Seattle Considering 2024 Olympic Bid
• MileSplit Q&A With Jim Ryun Talking About His HS Career And Tips For Younger Runners

Interesting: The Guardian Looks At The Asics Running Lab's New "Running Ability Measurement" Test, Which Looks At Multiple Factors To Predict Your Time "The assessment looks at everything from cardiorespiratory fitness to flexibility and strength, limb alignment, body composition and running form before estimating your marathon and half-marathon potential." Another test looks at your DNA to predict whether you're a high or low responder to aerobic training.

Random International News

• Caster Semenya: "I have no space at home for more silver medals."
• London Mayor Boris Johnson Will Confirm West Ham As Official Olympic Stadium Tenants Today Despite Threat Of Judicial Review From Leyton Orient Team
• Ireland's Top Hurdler Derval O’Rourke Has Her Funding Cut By $36,000 From $51,000 To $15,000 Despite Almost Medalling At European Indoors Article looks at Irish athlete funding announcements and some other unfavorable trends towards track.
• A Look At The 30 Meet Records That Went Down At Jamaican Boys And Girls Champs

More Kenyan News: Two More Kenyan Drug Busts

• Two Kenyan Female Marathoners Get 2-Year Doping Bans Last year's women's Stanchart Nairobi Marathon champ Salome Jerono Biwott and little-known Jynocel Basweti Onyancha. We love how the article refers to the banned list as the "doping list of shame."
• We Think He Has This Backwards: Olympic Silver Medalist Abel Kirui Says He Wants To Top Patrick Makau's WR At The Moscow World Championships This Summer He wants to use next month's London Marathon to "gauge his speed" and doesn't think the WR can go down then because it will be too "tactical."
• Asbel Kiprop Racing At Friday's Second National Bank Of Kenya/Athletics Kenya Track Meet
• RunBlogRun Writer Thinks Wilson Kipsang Could Eventually Break The 2-Hour Barrier In The Marathon We say no way.

Doctor In Operación Puerto Drug Scandal Says He May Name Names

He's Got Our Vote: Ato Boldon Gets Emmy Nomination For Event Analysis

Leyton Orient Soccer Club Chairman Says He Expects To Lose Judicial Review Case Against West Ham In Olympic Stadium Occupancy Dispute "But we will have to move for survival [if West Ham get sole occupancy of the Olympic Stadium]. If I stay, I get crushed."

Previous World XC News

• Kenya Women's XC Champ (And 2012 Falmouth Champ), Margaret Wangare Is Looking For 1st Individual World XC Medal After Two Previous Top-10 Showings
• This Ain't Happening Kenyan Team Leaves For Poland On Wed. Hoping For Repeat Of 2010 Showing In Poland, Where They Won All 4 Individual And Team Races
• Head Coach Of Kenya: "We are prepared to meet the best."
• Kenyan Trials Champ Philemon Rono Is Hoping To Break The Kenyan World XC Jinx Of Kenyan Champs Winners Who Failed To Go On And Win The World Title John Cheruiyot Korir (2001 and 2003), Richard Limo (2002), Eliud Kipchoge (2004 and 2005), Moses Masai (2006), Moses Mosop (2007 and 2009), Gideon Ngatuny (2008), Paul Tanui (2010) and Geoffrey Mutai (2011) all won the Kenyan XC Trials and went on to lose at World XC.
• Having Won 26 Overall Titles In It's 39-Year History At The World XC Championships, Kenya Is Looking To Add One More It might not bode well for them that Head coach Sammy Rono reported, "This is a team that has been in camp longer than any other."
• Ireland's Hopes For An Individual Medal At World XC Champs Rest On European XC Champ Fionnuala Britton
  
  More Kenya News: Arthroscopy Can Now Be Done In Kenya - David Rudisha Attends Facility's Opening

Today's Top Headlines: Ethiopian 10k Trials At Pre, Caster Semenya Engaged?

• Pre Classic 10k Races Selected As Ethiopian Men And Women's World Champs Trials They hosted the Kenyan men's 10k Trials last year, but this year the race will be open to athletes from any nation.
• Semenya Engaged? SA Tabloids Report That Caster Semenya Is Engaged To Fellow Athlete Violet Raseboya Semenya was angry about the article, but at least in this article said nothing to deny it stating, "I really have nothing to say about that article."
• Today In South Africa: Botswana's 800 Olympic Silver Medalist Nijel Amos Racing SA's 400H Ace LJ van Zyl Over 400m SA Olympian Andre Olivier is also in the field, as 7:41 3k runner Elroy Gelant will run both the 1,500 and 3,000.
• Indian Sports Lawyer Says More Action Needs To Be Taken To Stop Widespread Doping In India India has the highest number of athletes (52) on the IAAF banned list. For comparison, Russia has 33 the US has 10 and GB 4.
• Former 1,500 WR Holder Sydney Maree Released From South African Prison Where He Spent 21 Months After Being Charged With Illegally Transferring Money Maree is SA born, but gained American citizenship and set the AR for 5k and was also a seven-time NCAA champion and still holds the recod for the Fifth Avenue Mile at 3:47.

More From Jamaican Boys And Girls Champs

• IAAF Recap
• Calabar Head Boys Coach Talks About How His Team Came Back From 3rd To Win On The Final Day
• Calabar's Jovan Swaby Came In 2nd In The HJ Despite Jumping With A Broken Wrist "I had to learn to bear the pain first of all. I had to learn a new swing as well because this is not my normal swing."
• Stunned Edwin Allen Girls Coach Blames Injuries For Losing By 5 Points To Holmwood Technical High
• With 27 Points Each, Michael O'Hara And Kimone Shaw Were The Overall Individual Points Champions
• IAAF World Youth And World Junior Discus Champ Fedrick Dacres Breaks Meet Shot Put Record

LA Marathon *Full Results

• Kenya's Erick Mose Wins LA Marathon In 2:09:44 As Belarus' Aleksandra Duliba Takes The Women's Race In Her Debut Setting A NR With 2:26:08 Deena Kastor was the top American woman in 3rd in 2:32:39, saying she had an upset stomach and a little tightness: "I gave a 100 percent effort on an 80 percent day." *MB: 2:32:39 for Deena
• 2:11 Man Nick Arciniaga Disappointed By His 2:17 7th Place Finish At The LA Marathon He was hoping to be under 2:10, but said, "I don't know why, my legs just weren't there. Some days, it just feels weird and you don't have it."
• LA Times Race Play-By-Play: Aleksandra Duliba Wins LA Marathon $50,000 Gender Bonus Finishing 2:09 Ahead Of The Top Men's Finisher Erick Mose
• The LA Times: "Does Los Angeles have a shot at hosting the 2024 Summer Olympics?" They have the fan base, sporting venues and favorable climate, but still face some obstacles such as cost, familiarity (they've already hosted twice) and any ill feelings left over from the USOC-IOC revenue sharing disagreement.

More Results On The Roads: Kawauchi PRs Again

• Seoul Marathon: Kenya's Franklin Chepkwony Wins In 2:06:59 Over Ethiopia's Leche Shumi Dechase (2:07:12) & Seboka Dibaba Tola (2:07:27) Kenyan Filomena Chepchirchir won the women's race in 2:25:43. Chepkwony won $80,000 for winning the race sub-2:10.
  *Yuki Kawauchi Gets 4th At Seoul Marathon With A 1-Second PR Of 2:08:14 He set a new WR for the shortest time ever between sub-2:10 performances, 42 days. What's even crazier is he was disappointed, saying, "I was aiming for 2:07 in this race. It was an incredible waste."
• Lodi Mile In CA: Garrett Heath Wins Lodi Mile In 4:00.5 Over Peter Van Der Westhuizen And Miles Batty (results only) *Race Video
  *Geena Gall Wins Lodi Mile In 4:54.6 Over Leah Rosenfeld (results only) *Race Video
• Japan Corporate Half Champs: Fumihiro Maruyama (1:01:15) And Yukiko Akaba (1:08:59) Win Individual Titles At All-Japan Corporate Team Half Marathon Championships Kenya's Johana Maina was 2nd in the men's race in 1:01:28.
  *Japan Running News Article japanrunningnews.blogspot.com *Full Results: http://www.enjoy.ne.jp/~chujitsu/51kiroku/kiroku~013~3-17haif-new1.html
• Rome Marathon: Ethiopia's Getachew Negari Terfa (2:07:56) And Kenya's Helena Kirop Loshanyang (2:24:40) Take Rome Marathon Titles
• Barcelona: 47-Year-Old Dies Of Heart Attack After Running In The Barcelona Marathon The men's race was won by Ethiopian Gezahgne Abrera (2:10:17) as Lemelen Berha took the women's title (2:34:39).
• Race Walk: With The IAAF Writing Headlines Like This, Who Needs To Make Fun Of Race Walking: "Chinese Walkers Stroll Off With 2 Victories"
• Zimbabwean Rutendo Nyahora Wins Spar Women's Challenge 10k Road Race In Cape Town, SA
• Japan's Doricah Obare Wins Matsue Ladies Half Marathon In 1:11:11
• Athletics Weekly Recaps English Schools XC Champs
• John Chebii And Muchanetta Gwata Win Old Mutual Om Die Dam 50k Ultra Titles In South Africa

Lolo Jones' Passion For Bobsled: Lolo Jones: "If I won a freakin' medal - if I won any medal - I would not be a bobsledder. Absolutely not. Are you kidding me? No. No!" "I'm so desperate. Desperate. It absolutely doesn't matter (whether she wins in the Winter or Summer Games.)"

RE:RUN San-Diego Is A Cool Event Coming In May That Will Try And Promote The Sport By Combining A Local Road Race With An Elite Track Meet Participants will finish the local 5k/10k and be treated to a short-and-sweet elite track meet only 5 events. A long list of elites competing includes Duane Solomon, Ryan Gregson, David Torrence, Nate Brannen, Mark Wieczorek, AJ Acosta, Geena Gall, Brenda Martinez, Alysia Montano and Brie Felnagle.

World XC Is This Weekend

• Kenya's World XC Team Will Be Lead By Seniors Who Competed In Poland Back When The Champs Were There In 2010 2010 senior women title holder Emily Chebet leads the team.
• LRC Matt Tegenkamp Missed A Week Of Running And Will Not Be Running 2013 World Cross-Country

Learn From The Pros

LRC Ten Training Tips From Bernard Lagat, Dathan Ritzenhein And Abdi Abdirahman The American men took center stage at the NYC Half on Thursday. You can watch video interviews with the top American men (Lagat here, Ritz here and Abdi here) and we will have more on their race preparations on Friday, but in the meantime we compiled ten training tips from Bernard, Dathan, and Abdi that you can use in your own training.

English Are Still Really Upset The Commonwealth Games Standards Are Stiffer Than The Olympics

• LRC 2014 Commonwealth Games A & B Standards For England The "A" standard for the 5k is 13:03 - a time two English men have ever run. And it's not like saving money is an issue as the meet is in Scotland.
• 2010 Commonwealth Heptathlon Champion Says New Standards For English Team Is "elitism gone mad."
• Kelly Sotherton On Men's 5k Quaifying Standard "The men's 5K qualifying standard is ridiculous.I can't understand why some standards are harder than the Olympics."
• Ron Hill Laughs At Standards (Video)
• Commonwealth Selection Standards Cause Furor
• English Athletes Stunned By Commonwealth Games Standards

NY Times: "After The Mile: The Tim Danielson Story"

• Recommended Read: NY Times Piece On The Life And Tragedy Of Tim Danielson, The Second US Prep To Go Sub-4 In The Mile Danielson is currently in jail facing charges from last year for the murder of his ex-wife.
  *MB: Tim Danielson-New York Times extensive article *Tragic News: Tim Danielson (Sub-4 Runner in HS) Allegedly Kills Wife/Survives Suicide Attempt

2013 NCAAs *NCAA Results *Saturday Photo Gallery *Friday Photo Gallery *Men's DMR Photo Gallery *Women's DMR Photo Gallery *LRC Banquet Photos *Friday Photos *LRC Friday Interviews *LRC Post-Race Video Interviews

LRC M Mile/3k: What A Double - The Great Lawi Lalang Is Back Lalang, who up until this time last year was viewed as unbeatable at the NCAA level, got his mojo back with some major style points thrown in as he had one of the greatest nights in NCAA history, as he won both the mile (3:54) and 3,000 (7:45) in meet records. The Arkansas Razororbacks won NCAA title #41.

LRC 800s/W Mile: Elijah Greer Outduels Cas Loxsom; Emma Coburn Adds The Mile Title To Her Résumé And Natoya Goule Wins NCAA Title #1 The men's 800 ended up being the mano vs. mano battle between the two American seniors that everyone wanted to see - Greer and PSU's Casimir Loxsom with Greer coming out on top.

AP Recap: Arkansas Gets Its 20th Indoor Title And 1st Under Coach Chris Bucknam It's NCAA title #41 for the program as legend John McDonnell won 40.
*LRC Coach Chris Bucknam And John McDonnell Talk About Bucknam's NCAA Title #1
*Oregonian: Oregon Wins Its 4th Straight Women's Indoor Title

More:

• Oklahoma's Tia Brooks Sets Collegiate Shot Put Record
• Olympic Bronze Medallist Derek Drouin PRs And Wins Sensational Men's HJ Competition He went 7'8.5" to win an event where 7 guys went 7'5" or higher and three 7'6" or higher. *LRC Interview With Drouin Where He Explains Why He Came Back To Indiana
• Geogia Freshman Shaune Miller Wins Great Women's 400 In 50.88
• Coburn Is 1st Mile Champ Ever From Colorado -Male Or Female
• Greer On 800: "I feel so tired it's ridiculous."
• IAAF NCAA Recap: Lalang's 2 Meet records, Tia Brooks' NCAA SP Record, And Arkansas' 4 X 400 NCAA Record (3:03.50) Highlight