LetsRun.com: Where Your Dream Becomes Reality

LetsRun.com's The Week That Was In between being disappointed with the likes of Rashid Ramzi and the Big East Conference and ADs in general that don't give a crap about track, we survey the week that was in running and give praise for a guy that was third in a B heat of a 5k and even more praise to a guy that no one seems to be talking about. We also pause to remember a departed legend, wonder if Usain Bolt's partying is finally catching up to him, look back at Ritz and Meb at London and wonder if marathoning in the US this decade is truly better than last decade.

Great Northwest Athletic Conference Outdoor Track and Field Championships Cancelled Due To Swine Flu Case On Campus One athlete who wrote to us claimed the meet will not be rescheduled. These are the same teams affected by the regional cross country meet last fall that had to be restarted after taking a wrong turn (the race with Scotty Bauhs).

More Results From A Busy Weekend

*18-year-old Norweigan Woman Karoline Bjerkeli Grøvdal Runs 31:29 Senstrumslopet (Center Race) 10k In Oslo The Google translation should amuse you. Course Records Here.
*2 Kenyans Go Sub-27 For 10k In Japan Josphat Muchiri Ndambiri and Martin Irungu Mathathi became the first to break the barrier in 2009.
*Moses Macharia (28:13) And Lucy Njeri (33:20) Win Toronto's Sporting Life 10k
*Recap Of Ethiopian National Track Championships, Day 5 Big upset in the men's 1500m.
*Darvis Patton Takes Advantage Of Bolt's Injury To Get Double Win In Jamaica

Rio 2016 Olympic Committee Accuses Madrid 2016 Of Sending A Journalist Spy To IOC Evaluation

The NY Times Looks At How Many Colleges Are Cutting Sports Due To Recession While Other Schools Are Flush With Cash Interesting to learn that MIT cut 7 sports, while UW cut its swimming teams and Cincinatti its scholarships in track/cross-country. Meanwhile, SEC schools are so loaded with sports $$ that Arkansas is giving $1 million to the University to help it out.

Top Weekend Action

NCAA Conference Action
Big East: Notre Dame Men Win Big East By 1/2 Point Over Lousiville! It was the 100th Big East crown for the Irish overall as the Cardinal women got the win. *Complete Men's Results *Complete Women's Results
*Army M & Bucknell W Win Patriot League

Rivalries
*UCLA - USC: USC Sweeps Mens & Women's Dual For 1st Time Ever The UCLA women almost never lose to USC (2nd time in 17 years) but they did this year. Click here to see a ton of highlight videos (guys and girls in tears at USC about the win). Click here to see video replay of meet.
*Washington-WSU Dual: Talk About Close: Washington Husky Women 86.66 - Wash. St. 86.33 The Washington ~~Husky~~ St. Cougar Men Meanwhile Won Easily

Lilac Bloomsday Run Results:
Lineth Chepkurui And John Yuda Win Yuda is the first non-Kenyan men's winner in 15 years (he's from next door in Tanzania).

Ethiopian Champs Day 3 & 4 Recap Women's steeple was the highlight.

Guadeloupe: *Results
LaShawn Merritt Runs 44.50 World Leader In Guadeloupe, Phillips And Demus Get World Leaders

Texas Invite: *Results
Tyson Gay Runs 45.57 400, Alonso Edward Runs 9.97 100 And Lopez Lomong Gets Beaten In 800 (1:48.42)

Jamaica International: *Results
Kerron Stewart Runs 10.92 World Leading 100, Sanya Richards Beaten In 400

Düsseldorf Marathon: Rabbit Wins In 2:10:46
*Sabrina Mockenhaupt Gets "A" Standard With 31:25

Broad St. Run: Kenyans Jane Murage (53:31) And Linus Maiyo (47:21) Win In Rain In Philly 2nd straight title for Murage. *Chip Timing Malfunction At Back Of Pack

3 Highly Recommended Reads

*Outstanding Read: Lopez Lomong Gets His Brothers And Brings Them To The US This article is a once-in-a-lifetime read.
*Great Article Remembering Payton Jordan
*Recommended Read: Michael Johnson Answers Readers Questions From BBC It only took a couple of questions before a LetsRun.com thread was mentioned: *LRC Thread: Bolt vs. Bekele Over 600m (MJ says Bolt would take it easy, we disagree) Also Read: Michael Johnson On Dwain Chambers' Talk Of Beating Bolt

Mary Wittenberg Courting Radcilffe, Wanjiru And Others For Another Stellar NYC Marathon *Photos

Interviews With College Runners

*Flotrack Interview With New Mexico's Rory Fraser
*Interview We Missed With Princeton's Mike Maag

Events To Honor Fallen Heroes

*Great Event: May 17th Sydney Half Marathon Will Be Held In Honor Of Kerryn McCann
*Elite Hammer Throwing Competition Held In Honor Of Deceased Thrower

Bolt Is OK - Won't Race This Weekend *Photos Of The Car And His Million Dollar Feet
Message Board Update: Bolt Doing Fine After Car Wreck Word from his agent Ricky Simms.
*In-Depth Read On The Fallout From Bolt's Car Wreck Manchester meet organizers are worried about Bolt being able compete mid-May while others worry about the World's Fastest Man's lifestyle in the fast lane.
*"Me all right, a just few cuts man, me all right." - Usain Bolt To Jamaica Observer
*Ricky Simms, Bolt's Agent, Says He Will Cancel This Weekend, The Future Is Not Yet Clear

Quotes From Today's Track And Field Buzz

1. "When I think of these athletes who win by cheating, they get a lot of kudos and probably a lot of sponsorship and accolade that comes with it, and you can't ever take that back. So the cheats do momentarily prosper in this system. All we can say is that we believe Nick is a genuine champion and we are mighty proud of his bronze - and now his silver." - New Zealand Olympic Committee secretary general Barry Maister

2. "Honestly, track and field didn't need another blow like this. Our reputation is truly depleting and it doesn't help when fans who have long loved the sport begin to doubt what they see." - Dee Dee Trotter

3. "I found it too distressing to stay in England after what happened in Athens – I felt like I'd let the country down. I decided I didn't want to live somewhere where I was recognised all the time." - Paula Radcliffe in an interview with The Telegraph

4. "He is not seriously injured and therefore Jamaica can collectively breathe a sigh of relief." - Andrew Holness, the leader of Jamaica's parliament

Solomon Haile Headed To Arkansas!

IAAF World Champs/Golden League Announces New USA Television Deal Inked With NBC/Universal Sports This will be good for track fans and the sport as long as NBC remains committed to showing the World Champs on NBC like they are doing this year. Our sport's biggest events need maximum exposure (broadcast television) and they do not get that on cable. For hard core track fans, this is great news if you are in a Universal Sports area as you'll be able to see a lot more events on tv.

Japan-Based Mekubo Mogusu Recovering Physically And Emotionally From Car Wreck In Kenya That Left His Coach In A Coma Flashback: Mogusu ran 3 sub-1 hour half marathons in 2007.

A Number Of Beijing Medallists Highlight Field Events In Doha This Weekend

Steve Cram On Rashid Ramzi And Why Almost Everyone Had Their Suspicions

Aussie Record-Holder Collis Birmingham Writes About His Training Stint In California The Australian group spent a big chunk of time training and racing in the western United States with some good results.

Bupa Great Edinburgh Run
She's Back! Deena Kastor Returns To Form As She Gets Win In her first big race since last year's Olympic injury, Kastor dominated as she took command on the first big hill just 3km in the race as she crushed 3-time champ Jelena Prokopcuka as well as former world 10km champ Sally Barsosio, who was 3rd. Next Up: Bay To Breakers On May 17th.
*Micah Kogo Wins I n Course Record 28:13
Pre-Race:
*Deena Kastor's Excited To See Return From Broken Foot Continue In Scotland Interesting - she says emphatically she wants to run in London 2012 at age 39.
Interesting Read: Race Shows Contrasting Worlds Between Richness Of West & Poverty Of Kenya An interesting look into what life in Kenya is truly like.

Payton Jordan Cardinal Invite Results Photos

1 Day After The Fact - Lots Of Interesting Articles
*Despite Miscounting Laps, Chris Derrick Steals Spotlight From Centrowitzes With American Jr. Record Lauren tied the Stanford school record with her 4:10 PR as brother Matt ran 3:36. *MBoard Thread On Derrick Miscounting Laps
*Centrowiz, Just 19, Is Now 6th-Fastest Collegian Ever (but only 3rd on Oregon all-time list)
*Another Long Recap Of Stanford Meet
*Ok. State's Dave Smith Pleased With Stanford
It All Depends On Whether Glass Is Half Full Or Empty
*Jordan Hasay Gets Smoked In Stanford, Finishes Next-To-Last
*Hasay Runs Her 2nd-Fastest 1,500 Ever & 4th-Fastest Prep Time Ever

Chris Derrick 13:29.98 American Junior Record!!!, Matt Centrowitz Jr. 3:36.92 Over Lee Emanuel, Jenny Barringer 15:07.64 Wire-To-Wire Collegiate Record, Tim Nelson 27:36
This meet didn't disappoint. Third place of heat 2 of the 5k may have been the highlight as Chris Derrick defeated fellow frosh German Fernandez to get Galen Rupp's American Junior Record in the 5k. Jenny Barringer has been so good in 2009 that she set a collegiate record while running slower than she did indoors. She was actually disappointed with her collegiate record. The premier pre-meet event, the men's 5k, didn't quite live up to its hype as a slow second mile killed any chances of a World Championships "A" qualifier, as Alistair Cragg outkicked Matt Tegenkamp to win in 13:22. Videos from top races from Runnerspace on the right of the home page and more from Flotrack.
*San Francisco Chronicle Recap