February 18, 2014 | LetsRun.com

Best Rabbit Of All Time? Haile G Will Pace London Marathon

Haile Gebrselassie Will Be A Pacemaker For The 2014 London Marathon The plan is for him to take the field through 30k on world record pace (around 1:28). It was also announced that Dubai Marathon champion, 18-year-old Tsegaye Mekonnen (2:04:32) has been added to the field.
Alberto Stretti Interview With Haile Gebrselassie On Rabbitting London Geb: “When we start the race, I will be the one to lead. But don’t forget how old I am!”
Haile G Says Mo Farah Should Forget The Marathon And Stick To The Track
MB Thread

More Weekend Results

The Moment You’ve All Been Waiting For: The Results For Our “Dirty” Or “Clean” Doping Polls

LRC World Record Holders “Dirty” Or “Clean” Doping Poll Results Without further ado, we present to you the results of our world record doping poll. LRC The “Dirty” Or “Clean” Doping Polls: Why Did We Do Them? Many of you get it. You voted and gave us some very interesting demographic data. We think you’ll find the data very interesting. Some of you don’t get it and have said so. Here we address some of your concerns.
*Blogger Reflects On LetsRun’s “Clean Or Dirty Polls” And Says It Has Helped Promote Belief In A Clean Sport He writes, “The most surprising aspect of the data to me was the percentage of voters who thought that athletes were clean. … This data is surprising because I thought that as a community we were more cynical than the numbers show.”
*MB: LetsRun “Clean or Dirty” Poll Discussion Thread
*MB: Wait a minute! Over 40% of letsrun visitors DON’T think El G was doped up?

NCAA Weekend Action *All NCAA Coverage

Iowa State: 2014 Iowa State Classic: Live Results, Start Lists, Schedule Highlights: Iowa State’s Edward Kemboi won the 800 in a US-leading 1:45.98 as Phoebe Wright won the women’s race in 2:03.39. Virginia’s Adam Visokay ran 7:57 to beat Craig Forys (7:59), Stephanie Garcia won over a competitive field in 9:11. 9 broke 14 in the 5,000 as Wisconsin’s Reed Connor broke Adam Goucher‘s faciliity record, winning in 13:37.42 over Villanova’s Patrick Tiernan (13:37.73) and Shadrack Kipchirchir (13:40.92), Duke’s Juliet Bottorff won the women’s 5,000 in 15:49.80.
DII Runner Drew Windle Runs Fast~~est~~ 800 ~~In US This Year~~ With 1:46.52 MB: 1:46.52 800m D2 INDOOR!!! – Way to go Drew Windle!!! MB Archive: No love for 1:48.75 sophomore Drew Windle?!
UW Husky Classic: 2014 UW Husky Invitational Live Results Highlights: Adams State’s Kevin Batt (7:52.15) beat Colorado freshman Ben Saarel (7:52.15) and Trevor Dunbar (7:53.13) in the 3,000, Laura Thweatt won in 9:01. Brooks Beasts’ Katie Mackey won the mile in 4:34.99 over FSU’s Colleen Quigley (4:35.38), Mac Fleet ran 3:58.25 to beat Penn State’s Brannon Kidder (3:58.49), Edward Cheserek winning the 5k in 13:40 over Jared Ward (13:42) as the top 13 were sub-14:00, Elinor Kirk wins 5k (15:44). *Meet Home
Arkansas Tyson Invy: *Start Lists/Schedule/Live Results Highlights: Rhianwedd Price won the WMile in 4:39.37, Brandon McBride the M800 (1:47.51) over Patrick Rono (1:47.96) as Alexis Panisse won the W800 in 2:06.56. *Meet Home
Three School Records Fall Friday As Ducks Begin Weekend Mike Berry in the 200 (20.84), Phyllis Francis in the 200 (22.92) and Greg Skipper in the weight throw with 68-3 (20.80m).
USTFCCCA’s NCAA Weekend Preview/Meet Info
Help A School Save Their Track Team: Sign Petition To Help Save Track And Field Program At Radford University

UK News

Long Jump Olympic Champ Greg Rutherford Says “I’ll shut my critics up by jumping far.” He was responding to some former GB pros who said he got lucky by winning in London 2012.
UK Multi-Event Star Katarina Johnson-Thompson Might Miss World Indoors After Pulling Out Of Qualifying Event With Illness She’ll now have to hope the IAAF selects her as the one wild card spot for the pentathlon, otherwise she won’t go.

Other News

WADA Outraged At Release Of Untested New Drug Apparently a Russian scientist offered to sell the potent and undetectable new muscle-building drug to undercover journalists.
Trial Date Set For Boston Marathon Bomber The trial starts November 3rd and is expected to go 3 months. Prosecutors will be seeking the death penalty.
Oscar Pistorius Sends Out Valentine’s Day Message Of Regret Over Dead Girlfriend On One-Year Anniversary Of The Shooting It was his first public statement in a year.
Ken Goe: “Drug cheats are only one cause for track’s declining appeal for spectators.” “Sure drug cheats share culpability for track & field’s decline as a spectator sport. But I assign more blame to coaches, officials from governing bodies, meet promoters and race directors who forget the most important person in the equation is the one deciding whether to buy a ticket.”

#comeonUSATF

Ed Torres Reveals LA To Pay Athletes $100,000 Less Than Houston Would Have For 2016 Olympic Marathon Trials

LA, according to Torres, is offering $100,000 less in prize money for the Trials than Houston. If LA is such a great place to offer the Trials, shouldn't that mean more publicity, more sponsorship, and more $ for the athletes. What about the athletes?
*Discuss

A Fantastic USA Indoor Meet Will Take Place This Weekend – Who Has The Worlds Qualifiers? *Full 2014 USA Indoor Coverage

LRC List of American Athletes With Qualifying Standard for 2014 USA World Indoors in Poland The USA team for World Indoors will be named this weekend as no chasing of qualifiers is allowed. Who has the qualifying time? Who doesn’t? *Entries
*MB: Potential disaster at 2014 USA Indoors? Straight 1500 final and there are 22 women, 18 men already in each race

RRWMemories Of Special Double Victory From 2013 Give Will Leer Extra Inspiration For 2014 USA Indoor Meet

Post-Weekend Updates

Did You Realize The NCAA Indoor Mile Record Went Down? Lawi Lalang And Abbey D’Agostino Are USTFCCCA DI Athletes Of The Week After Millrose Performances Lalang broke the NCAA indoor mile record with 3:52.88 and D’Agostino ran the fourth-fastest indoor 3,000 ever by a collegian in 8:51.91.
*LRC men’s recap here and women here.
Quit While You’re Ahead? Renaud Lavillenie Pulls Out Of World Indoor Champs After Injuring His Foot Trying To Break His 6.16m WR After clearing 6.16m, he took a shot at 6.21m and that’s when he hurt his foot. He said it’s not a serious injury, but did require 16 stitches so he’ll have to stay off it for a couple of weeks.
IAAF Recap Day 1 Of Russian Indoor Champs: Kseniya Ryzhova Highlights With A 51.06 World-Leading 400 Moscow 2013 1,500m finalist Yelena Korobkina won the 3,000 in 8:51.48 as Rinas Akhmadeyev won the men’s race in 7:59.81.
High Schooler Devin King Clears 17’8″ In The Pole Vault To Move To #2 All-Time On The US Prep List

Kenyan News

Chicago/Tokyo Marathon Champ Dennis Kimetto Recovered From Ankle Injury Which Kept Him Out Of Rak Half He’s training for Boston, where he wants to go sub-2:04 and then break the WR in Berlin in September. He told Wilson Kipsang his record his on “borrowed time.”
Inquest Into Death Of Sammy Wanjiru Postponed Again Until March 14th The inquest has been delayed for close to three years due to disagreements between Wanjiru’s widow and her mother-in-law.
Kenya Names Squad For African XC Championships Team is led by World Junior Cross-Country champion Faith Kipyegon.

Millrose Photo Gallery

2014 USA Cross Country Photo Gallery

NYRR Millrose Games Results Full Millrose Coverage *New Photo Gallery

LRCAlan Webb Retires From Track And Field

Webb, the American mile record holder, talks about his career after running one last mile in the place where he first broke 4:00.

LRC Millrose Men's Recap: Bernard Lagat Amazes Yet Again, Will Leer Stuns The Wanamaker Mile Field And A Frenchman Breaks The American Record

The men’s mid-d and distance action was pretty spectacular at the 2014 NYRR Millrose Games. We tell you all about it. Here’s an intro – imagine breaking a 33-year-old American record and finishing 5th.

LRC Women's Recap: Teens Mary Cain And Ajee Wilson Win As Does Kim Conley

Mary Cain won the mile, Ajee' Wilson the 800 and Kim Conley the 3,000.

More Millrose Coverage Here, Click Here For Photo Gallery

Another World Record Goes Down: Florence Kiplagat Runs 1:05:12

Florence Kiplagat Flies To Half Marathon World Record Of 1:05:12 In Barcelona Kiplagat took 38 seconds off of Mary Keitany‘s 1:05:50 from 2011. En route, she also set the 20k WR at 1:01:56, which beat Keitany’s 1:02:36. Former 5k world champ Eliud Kipchoge defended his title in the men’s race in 1:00:52.
*MB: florence kiplagat 65:12 world record half marathon

Sainsbury Birmingham GP *Results

LRC Genzebe Dibaba Does It Again - Smashes 2-Mile World Record - 3rd World Record In 2 Weeks

Dibaba broke the old 9:06.28 record by running 9:00.48. Ethiopia’s Mo Aman ran the 7th-fastest indoor time ever (1:44.52), Ethiopia’s Hagos Gebrhiwet beat Dejen Gebremeskel for the second time in two weeks in the 3,000, Great Britain’s Laura Muir got an upset win in the women’s 1,500, Kenya’s Nixon Chepseba won the men’s 1,500, and Angelika Cichoka took down the women’s 800 to get Polish fans excited for World Indoors, which they host. *Results
*IAAF Recap: US’s Olympic Silver Medalist Erik Kynard Won HJ In PR Of 2.34m Ivory Coast’s Muriel Ahoure beat Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce as they both were timed at 7.10.
*James Dasaolu Beats Nesta Carter In 60m With World-Leading Time, But Crosses Line With An Injury It might be a strain and could keep him out of World Indoors.
*Athletics Weekly Recap

Kenyan National XC Champs *Top 10 Results

World XC Junior Champ Faith Kipyegon And Japan-Based Bidan Karoiki Win Kenyan National Cross-Country Championships Kipyegon won in a kick beating Peris Chepchirchir and reigning World XC champ Emily Chebet as World 5,000 silver medalist Mercy Cherono was back in 10th. Karoiki beat World Junior XC silver medalist Leonard Barsoton by 7 seconds as last year’s surprise winner Philemon Rono was 6th.
*Capital FM Recap

More Weekend Results

Ethiopians Feyera Gemeda (2:15:05) And Rehima Kedir (2:34:53) Win Hong Kong Marathon Neither runner was on the invited athlete list, so they paid their own travel to the meet (over $1,000) and came away with $65,000 in prize money.
IAAF Recap: Qatar’s World Champs HJ Silver Medalist Mutaz Essa Barshim Clears 2.36m To Win In distance action, Bahrain’s Maryam Jamal won the 3,000 in 8:43.16 and the 1,500m (4:19.42).

Gold, Silver, Bronze And Paper: Did You Know What The Fourth Through Eighth Place Finishers At The Olympics Get? Apparently they get a paper Olympic diploma signed by the IOC president.

Q&A With US Triple Jumper Amanda Smock, Who Will Defend Her Indoor Title This Weekend

Doping News

The IAAF Fights Back And Re-Suspends Olympic 1,500 Champ Asli Cakir Alptekin For Biological Passport Violation The IAAF has appealed the Turks’ exoneration of Alptekin and now the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) will decide. The verdict will be monumental as she’ll either get a lifetime ban or be named Olympic champion. *More

Other News

Trailer For Upcoming Louis Zamperini Movie, “Unbroken”
IAAF Q&A With US’s Olympic LJ Bronze Medalist Janay DeLoach Her favorite workout: stadium stairs … least favorite: 200s.
RIP: GB Athletes Pay Tribute To Distance Coach Dave Sunderland, Who Passed On Sunday

US XC Championships Full 2014 USA XC Coverage LRC Photo Gallery

Chris Derrick And Amy Van Alstine Win USA XC Titles In Dominating Fashion Derrick defended his title winning by 25 seconds over Luke Puskedra with Bobby Mack in 3rd. Van Alstine got the surprise win with Jenny Simpson way back in second, 22 seconds behind. Mattie Suver was 3rd. *Discussion
High Schooler Elise Cranny Wins Jr. Women’s 6k; Stanford Freshman Sean McGorty Wins Jr. Men’s 8k

Bubka’s Record Finally Goes Down *Video

France’s Olympic Champion Renaud Lavillenie Breaks Sergey Bubka’s 21-Year-Old Pole Vault WR With 6.16m Lavillenie did it on his first attempt and in Bubka’s home town as the IOC man watched on. Lavillenie’s 6.16m is the best vault indoors or out as Bubka had gone over 6.14 outdoors and 6.15 indoors.
Lavillenie Doesn’t Plan On Stopping After clearing 6.16m, he did take one attempt at 6.21m, but fell before he could complete it and actually injured his ankle having to go to the hospital for stiches.
Lavillenie: “It’s going to take me some time to come back to earth because it’s incredible.” “… This is a world record that is so mythical, and to clear it on the first jump, without touching (the bar) — there’s nothing to say. It’s just a moment to savor.”
Lavillenie’s Tweet: “World record! 6.16 at my first attempt! That’s incredible. I’m still in the air.”
Video

Japan Road News

Yuki Kawauchi Sets CR At Kumanichi Marathon With 2:10:14 To Open His 2014 Marathon Season, Hattori Sets 30k Collegiate National Record Yuma Hattori set the collegiate national record in the 30k race with 1:28:52. With that, he also beat Kawauchi’s 30k CR from last year.
Japan Running News Recap Of Japan National Corporate Half Marathon And 10K Championships Daniel Gitau won the men’s half in 1:00:59 as Tomomi Tanaka won for the women in 1:09:24. The women’s 10K was won in 32:27 by Kasumi Nishihara.
Ome 30k Cancelled Due To Heavy Snow
*US’s Daniel Tapia Disappointed By Ome 30k Cancellation Tapia: “And I came all the way to Japan to run.”

Saturday On The Boards

Big Doping News

The Double Standard Continues: Tyson Gay Tested Positive After Trusting Doctor Of Many NFL Stars David Epstein, in a joint piece for Pro Publica and Sports Illustrated, says that Tyson Gay tested positive this summer after seeing a doctor favored by a slew of NFL stars. It’s believed Gay’s positive resulted from him taking a cream which the manufacturer says doesn’t even have testosterone in it (but the label does), just DHEA – a substance legal in both the MLB and NFL but banned in track as it’s a steroid precursor. USADA has been told that Jon Drummond carried the cream around Monaco for Gay in 2012. *Piece On SI.com *Discuss On MB: Doping Double Standard Continues: D Epstein Reports Tyson Gay Tested Positive After Seeing Doctor Favorited By NFL Stars *LRC Archive: The Doping Double Standard In American Sports Needs To End

Craig Virgin Calls For More Transparency With Supplements/TUEs

LRCRunning Legend Craig Virgin Calls For More Transparency Revealing The Medications And Supplements Athletes Are On: "In Sight It Must Be Right"

Two-time World Cross-Country champion Craig Virgin has called for more transparency in the legal supplements/medications athletes may be taking. LRC spoke with Virgin on his comments and with Galen Rupp’s agent Ricky Simms about Virgin’s comments and the calls for more transparency. Plus, Simms tells LRC Mo Farah has never been on thyroid medication.

LRC Update On TUEs Of The Nike Oregon Project Only 3 of the 11 athletes in the program have received a TUE according to agent Ricky Simms after talking to Alberto Salazar about our Craig Virgin article.

Win $100 – Submit Your Photo Now

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.

LetsRun.com Founders Named as Two of “The 50 Most Influential People in Running”