January 22, 2014 | LetsRun.com

Marathon Season Is About To Be Upon Us *Unofficial 7th Major Dubai Is Fri. (Thur. 10pm ET) – Full Dubai Fields

2014 London Women’s Field Released: LRC 4 Quick Takes – Priscah Jeptoo To Try To Defend As Tirunesh Dibaba Debuts At Star-Stud ded 2014 London Marathon The 2014 London field is totally stacked as Priscah Jeptoo, who was totally unbeatable in 2013, will clash with Tirunesh Dibaba, who is making the most anticipated women’s marathon debut in 10+ years (maybe ever?).

2014 Boston Field Released LRC Three Thoughts About The 2014 Boston Marathon Field There certainly won’t be talk of Boston being watered down in 2014 as both fields are quite strong. The men’s field includes TFN’s world #1 and #2 marathoners from 2013, Dennis Kimetto and Lelisa Desisa, and the women’s field is led by sub-2:20 women Mare Dibaba and Rita Jeptoo.
*Boston Marathon Releases Fastest Field Ever For 2014 Race
*MB Talk: Ritz is going to get rocked at Boston

Don't Forget Dubai - Thursday Night Marathoning

LRC2014 Dubai Marathon Is Friday (Thursday Night In US) - Full Elite Fields

The unofficial seventh Major, with the biggest prize in marathoning ($200,000), is Thursday night. The men's race features six sub-2:07 performers, whereas the women's race has three sub-2:22 performers and 7 sub-2:24 performers, but most eyes might be on debut performers Atsedu Tsegay (Ethiopian half record holder - 58:47 PR), and Abera Kuma (13:00/26:52).

US News

Ashton Eaton And Shalane Flanagan Are Finalists For Oregon State’s Top Professional Athlete Award English Gardner is a finalist for top amateur athlete. Galen Rupp doesn’t make the cut.
Alan Abrahamson: Toronto Drops 2024 Bid – Does This Open The Door For US In 2024? Not a single person showed up at City Hall in Toronto asking them to not drop the bid.

2011 World Junior XC Champ Geoffrey Kipsang Says He’s Focused On The 2014 Tokyo Marathon, Where He Wants To Run Under 2:06

Anti-Terror News

Pat Butcher’s Tribute To Former 5,000 WR Holder Chris Chataway

Throwing Stuff

Two-Time World Champ David Storl Becomes First Athlete In 2014 To Break 21m In Shot Put He threw 21.04m while world silver medallist Christina Schwanitz improved her own world-leading mark in the women’s shot put with 19.79m.
Q&A With NZ Rising Shot Put Star Tom Walsh, Who Took Down Jacko Gill’s NR Walsh hasn’t faced Gill head-to-head since 2010 and is hoping to this year although he says it’s difficult since Gill doesn’t compete that often.
National Junior Throwing Records Go Down At Jamaican Big Shot Invitational Reese Hoffa was there as a guest speaker.

Week That Was

LRCPutting Galen Rupp's Record In Perspective, A Record-Setting Day In Houston, Mo's London Competition, And A Mexican Finally Breaks 2:10

This week we start by trying to put Galen Rupp's American record in perspective before handing out praise to the US men for their record-setting day in Houston, where Meb Keflezighi and Serena Burla picked up big wins. Along the way, we give out big props to the Houston organizers, remind you to never trust a Canadian, never marry a distance runner and don't forget to drink 10 pints before your next marathon. Plus Mo Farah will soon find out all of the big talent is in the marathon and rare, rare praise for a Mexican marathoner.

LRCWhat's Your 2013 Running Photo Of The Year?

Rojo, Wejo and Yohan Blake performing "The Beast" is our personal LRC photo of the year. What's your 2013 running photo of the year? Submit or tweet your entries to us. Winner gets a cool $100.

Distance News

Be Inspired: Meet Andy Ward: The Brit Had A 30:20 PR From Age 25 To 44. Now He’s Sub-30:00
More On Annita Hinriksdottir’s 2:01.83 European Junior Record Iceland’s rising star’s mark also was an Iceland national record. She’s getting ready to race fellow teen phenom Mary Cain at Millrose.
Late Bloomer Gemma Steel, Who Has Been Able To Quit Working As A Maid Thanks To UK Lottery Funding, Might Make Marathon Debut In London Now that she’s receiving lottery funding, Steel says she’s excited to see how much she can improve. She no longer has to work as a maid and now receives weekly deep tissue massage work.
5 Questions With Ultra-Trail-Mountain Runner (And Cornell Alum) Sage Canaday, Who Has 10 Sponsors Sage reveals how he’s amassed 10 different sponsors. Very impressive.
Quick Preview Of This Weekend’s Historic Cinque Mulini, The “5 Mills” XC Race With Jenny Simpson, Gemma Steel, Alemayehu Bezebeh, Muktar Edris, Faith Chepyegon And Others
Q&A With NZ’s 14:03/29:07 Aaron Pulford

RIP Madison Holleran

600+ Attend Funeral For Madison Holleran – The NJ MOC Champ/Penn Frosh It was a standing room only crowd as some were turned away from attending the funeral for the beloved Holleran.
Family Friend: Holleran’s 3.5 GPA Wasn’t Enough “She got a 3.5 her first semester, and I think just the high expectations that she put on herself was that that’s just not acceptable.”
MB: UPenn runner – 2013 NJ MOC 800 champ – suicide

Olympic LJ Champ Greg Rutherford Withdraws From Saturday’s Glasgow International Match The injury is minor and he hopes to compete February 15th.

Non-Distance News

Updated USA Half Marathon Champs Photo Gallery (100+ Photos) *Houston Marathon And Half Coverage

Galen Rupp 13:01.26 Photo Gallery (100+ Photos) *Full Event Coverage

A Legend Passes

GB’s Former 5,000m WR Holder Sir Christopher Chataway Dies At 82 Years Old Chataway also had a distinguished political career and was one of the pacers for Roger Bannister when he broke the 4-minute mile barrier.
BBC Tribute He was the first ever winner of the BBC’s Sports Personality of the Year in 1954.
*IAAF
Guardian Obituary For Chataway
*BBC

News From Kenya

Kenya’s IRS (The KRA) Rules That Track Stars Must Now Pay Taxes On Prize Money Earned Overseas This seems like common sense to us as foreign taxes paid are considered so there isn’t double taxation.
Daily Nation: Taxman Revives Controversial Plan To Tax Sportsmen On Overseas Earnings We don’t know why this is controversial. “The taxman insisted that sportspersons, just like other Kenyans, are not exempt from paying taxes and would be required to conform to the tax regime as set out by the constitution.”
Having Won Kenya’s Defence Forces XC Title Over Weekend, Hellen Obiri Is Now Looking Forward To Defending Her World Indoor 3,000 Title Two years ago, she stunned Meset Defar.

More From The Weekend: Nick Willis, Anita Hinriksdottir Impress

Nick Willis Starts His 2014 Season Off With A 3:55.98 Mile Win In New Zealand
Weekend Indoor Roundup: Iceland 18-Year-Old Anita Hinriksdottir Ran A New European Junior Indoor 800 Best With A World-Leading 2:01.81 Injury-plagued 2011 World PV champ Pawel Wojciechowski made a comeback with 5.76m and elsewhere Olympic champ Renaud Lavillenie went 5.75m and Silke Spiegelburg cleared 4.71m to set the WL. Also WL marks set by World silver medallist Murielle Ahoure @60m (7.05), Kamaria Brown @200 (22.96), Carvin Nkanata @400 (tied WL w/ 46.36), and Cindy Billaud @60H (7.96).
Zola Budd Wins Charleston Marathon In 2:59:42
USTFCCCA National Athletes Of The Week: Texas A&M’s Prezel Hardy And Arkansas’ Dominique Scott Hardy set collegiate leads in the 60 (6.56) and 200 (20.70) while Scott ran a collegiate-leading mile (4:38.49) and anchored the Arkansas DMR to a collegiate-leading 11:25.58.