Quote Of The Day
– John Mansoor, co-meet director of 2014 USA Outdoors in Sacramento, talking big about Sacramento as they get ready to host the 2014 USA Outdoor Championships which begin today at the State Capital with the shot puts. Discuss:Could Sacramento really be a better Track Town than Eugene?
USAs Start Wednesday In Sacramento *Entries/Schedule*TV/Streaming Info*All Coverage
Women’s Distance Previews (Men’s 5k/10k At 8pm ET)
LRC Women’s 5,000: Molly Huddle, Then Who? There Are Lots Of Worthy ChallengersHuddle, the American Record holder, is running great in 2014, but the next few spots are up for grabs. Shannon Rowbury is the best bet for second, but there are plenty of women who will challenge her, such as Katie Mackey, Laura Thweatt, Chelsea Reilly and the collegiate big three of Marielle Hall, Aisling Cuffe and Abbey D’Agostino. Has US women’s 5,000 running ever been this deep?
LRC Women’s 10,000: Shalane Flanagan Back On The Track; Can Jordan Hasay Or Kim Conley Challenge Her? Hasay and Conley are both in the shape of their lives, but Flanagan has been running great in 2014 as well, chopping 3:36 off her marathon PR with a 2:22:02 at Boston in April.
LRC Steeplechases: Expect Easy Wins For Evan Jager And Emma Coburn We know who is winning both races. The question is who else gets on the podium.
- Meet Co-Director Thinks Sacramento Is A Better Track Town Than Eugene In 2000 and 2004, they drew larger crowds than Eugene did in 2008 and 2012, and he thinks the weather is better as well. Discuss: Sacramento: We’re a better track town than Eugene – we just don’t have the Nike money.
- Mary Cain Is Ready For USAs And Life As A Real Pro – Not A HSer Who Is Pro She reveals her goal is sub-4 for the year.
- With No Gatlin Or Gay, Might It Be Ryan Bailey Who Wins 100m At USAs? Bailey, who got the baton right next to Bolt in 2012, is on the comeback trail from injury.
LRC Men’s Mid-D Previews:
LRC 800: Duane Solomon Looks To Defend, Elijah Greer Aims To Surprise … And No Nick Symmonds Without Symmonds, Solomon is the favorite in Sacramento, but is he vulnerable to upstarts Elijah Greer and Erik Sowinski? We think so.
*Despite Lacking Base, Elijah Greer Wants To Win USAs Greer broke his wrist in the fall and sprained his ankle in the winter but is dreaming big. Rowland: “He is going to want to go there feeling he can win, and I’m not going to suppress that attitude.”
LRC 1,500: With No Centrowitz, A Wide-Open Battle Between Manzano, Lomong, Torrence, Women’s Mid-D Previews:
LRC 800: The Best Women In The World Battle: Brenda Martinez Vs. Ajee Wilson Vs. Chanelle Price Vs. Laura Roesler
LRC1,500: Jenny Simpson Leads The Way; High Schoolers Mary Cain & Alexa Efraimson Round I
- Ken Goe: Will USA Outdoor Champs Be Over Before USATF Issues Report On DQ Fiasco From Indoors? The report was promised by the end of June. Six days remain.
Sprint/Hurdles News
- Jamaican Gleaner Says Kerron Stewart Is Woman To Beat In Women’s 100 At Jamaican Champs Everyone but SAFP is competing. They pick VCB #2.
- IAAF World Junior Championships – Less Than One Month To Go! The clash between Trayvon Bromell and Zharnell Hughes should be a highlight of the meet, which starts on July 22nd.
- Team GB Names Its First 18 To Its World Juniors Squad The team is led by David Omoregie, who broke the European junior 110m hurdles record on Sunday with 13.17.
Meb Keflezighi To Start At Back Of Field, Try To Pass 22,500 People To Raise Money For Charity At July 4th Peachtree Road Race Meb’s hoping to raise $75,000 for the inaugural Kilometer Kids Charity Chase. *Donate Here.
Derval O’Rourke Retires
2006 World Indoor 60H Champ Derval O’Rourke Of Ireland Calls It A Career The 33-year-old’s last race earned her a bronze at European indoors. “Going to a championships just to be there, isn’t me.” *BBC
*“She inspired us to compete with the best in the world.”
*O’Rourke: “Very talented … but a cheeky brat.” She was always great at the biggest competitions.
*Twitter Tributes Pour In For “Inspiration” O’Rourke
Rabbit Stuns Wilson Kipsang In Czech Republic
RR: Pacer Geoffrey Ronoh Stuns Wilson Kipsang, Dennis Kimetto At Mattoni Olomouc Half Marathon Ronoh only has one professional race to his name (a 2:15:51 marathon) and is Kipsang’s personal pacer. However, here he shocked Kipsang, beating him by 8 seconds to win in a CR 60:17. Kimetto was way back in 3rd (1:01:42) and Edna Kiplagat dominated the women’s race in 68:52.
*Highlights Video
More News Of Note
RIP:Former Brown And New Balance Boston Runner Kate Goldstein Dies While Rock Climbing In India- Aussie Running Couple Ryan Gregson And Genevieve LaCaze Win City Of London Mile Gregson won in 4:04, LaCaze in 4:44.
- Joe Gray Beats Defending Champ Eric Blake And 2012 Winner Sage Canaday To Win Mt. Washington Road RaceRyan Bak was 5th. Shannon Payne won the women’s title. *Full Results *Photos
Get Educated, Learn Some Great T&F History
Great Track Journalism: Sacramento Has Been A Special Place For Michelle Carter And Her Father Michael Michelle won a NCAA title in Sacramento in 2006 but dad Michael much more famously produced arguably the greatest single performance by a HS track and field athlete in history in Sacramento in 1979 – a heave of 81-3.5. “What Carter did at the GWI, I consider the greatest high school performance ever. It’s not even close.”
*2014 US Championships Men’s Throws Guide
RR #2:30 Years Ago At USAs, Dwight Stones Regained The American Record In HJ At 7-8 (2.34) And Ended Up On Cover Of Sports Illustrated Stones called that jump, not his two WR jumps, the “single greatest moment in my very long career.”
1968 Olympic Champion Jim Hines Remembers “Night Of Speed” When He Became World’s First Sub-10 Man In Sacramento In 1968In the span of 7 hours, three men broke the world record and 7 tied it. “There will never be another night like it” and, “That was the greatest ever.”- Two-Time Olympian And Former NCAA 1,500 Champ Graham Hood Getting Inducted In Arkansas Razorback Hall Of Fame
Follow-Up On Yesterday's Article On The Money Side Of The Sport
Ken Goe On Whether Fans Dislike Shoe Companies: “I think Siegel misinterprets the anger. I think it’s more directed at USATF’s leadership, which many athletes seem to believe – rightly or wrongly – is mostly concerned with cozying up to the shoe companies.”
College News
It’s Offiical: Penn State Director Beth Alford-Sullivan Leaves To Take Over At Tennessee
*Alford-Sullivan: “My 15 years at Penn State have been outstanding.”
Distance News
- Rita Jeptoo Will Defend Her Title At Chicago Marathon
- David Rudisha Wants To Double At CGs – Wants 4 X 400 Medal Like His Father His father got Olympic silver in 1968 in the 4 x 400.
- Podcast With 2:13 Marathoner Craig Leon
- Jessie Squire: 5 Things Track Can Learn From The World Cup Making qualifying competitions the focus, not time, is a no-brainer.
- Blogger Who Went Crazy After TV Commentator Said Sofia Assefa Was “Carrying A Bit Of Weight” On NY DL Broadcast Has Calmed Down “So why is it not acceptable for an athletics commentator to talk about a female distance runner’s weight, when it’s fine for a horse racing pundit to talk about the weight of a horse, or a football commentator to say a male player is overweight?”
News From The Commonwealth
- Former Butler Runner Stephen Lisgo Has Gone From Being A Self-Confessed “Fatty” To Being On Scotland’s Commonwealth Games Team In Less Than A Year
- Canada’s 1:59 Performer Melissa Bishop Is Ready For Canadian Nationals And Commonwealth Games
- With No Blake And Bolt, This Weekend’s Jamaican 100m Title Is Wide Open But Jamaica Gleaner Thinks Nesta Carter Is Man To Beat
- Yohan Blake Declares Himself Unavailable For Commonwealth Games … Despite The Fact He’ll Compete In Glasgow A Few Days Earlier Coming back from injury, he’s going to “pick and choose his races this year, which means focusing on the big money of the Diamond League.”
- Commonwealth Games Will Have Plenty Of Star Power With Farah, Rudisha And Ezekiel Kemboi
- Antoine Adams Runs 10.01 And 20.08 At St. Kitts & Nevis Champs
- Asafa To Run At Paris Diamond League On July 5
- Phillips Idowu Is Happy With Status Of His Comeback, Thinks Gold At Commonwealths Is Coming
Dick Beardsley’s Record Finally Goes Down At Grandma’s *Results
Kenya’s Dominic Ondoro Breaks Dick Beardsley’s 33-Year-Old Grandma’s Marathon Course Record With 2:09:06 VictoryNick Arciniaga was 9th in 2:14:31. Pasca Myers ran 2:33:45 to win over US’s Brianne Nelson (2:34:44). Julius Koskei won the Garry Bjorklund Half Marathon in 1:03:36 while Cynthia Limo took the women’s race in 1:09:50. *Results- Duluth News Tribune Article With Quotes From Dick Beardsley Beardsley: “As soon as I heard, I ran over here and I gave him a big hug, shook his hand, congratulated him and told him that he earned that race 100 percent.”
- 17-Year-Old OT Qualifier Alana Hadley WasOn Pace For Sub-2:40 At 19 Miles But Dropped Out With Hip Flexor Tightness Article talks about how the weather was perfect with high 40s to low 50s and a slight tailwind.
- Pasca Myers Takes Husband’s Advice And Runs Her “Own Race” To Win Myers set her own pace and let defending champ Sarah Kiptoo and others go early, but ended up “passing a lot of ladies” later in the race to win.
- Julius Koskei Won Garry Bjorklund Half After Previously Dropping Out Of Grandma’s Marathon TwiceFernando Cabada was 3rd in the half.
- Pretty Amazing Story:Minnesota Man Tim Bowman Runs Grandma’s Less Than A Year After Having Brain Tumor Removed After his surgery, he had to relearn everything, including walking and talking.
- Duluth News Tribune Photo Gallery
A Ton Of Interesting Reads
- Great Read: Is Track And Field Really A Pro Sport? The Indianapolis Star‘s David Woods has written nearly 2,500 words on the money side of the sport. Guess how much Morgan Uceny made after college? For many, the money is irrelevant as the dream of an Olympic bid is enough. That’s not true for Andrew Poore, who retired after finishing 4th at USAs last year because he made $5,000 on the year: “If I’m not a professional athlete, I’m not going to waste my time trying to pretend like I’m something I’m not.”
RRW James Li & Stephen Sambu – A Winning Combination Under Li’s guidance, and relatively low mileage, Sambu has become one of the best road racers on the planet. Galen Rupp can be thankful as Sambu was instrumental in his 26:44 AR.- Great Profile Of Miss. State’s 800 Star Brandon McBride – His Mom Made His College Choice For Him And He’s Thrilled With The Results McBride is a big-time talent. 2 NCAA titles before his 20th birthday.
- Good Q&A With Sally Kipyego – Her Favorite Training Partner Is …Lauren Fleshman. If she had a band, she’d want Nick Willis to be the lead singer and Ezekiel Kemboi on drums for his energy.
- Whatever Happened To Daniel Komen?
- Full Text Of Phil Knight’s Speech To Stanford Business School – “Ability and desire almost always trump money and power.”
Nick Willis Is In The Form Of His Life, Having Recently Set PRs At 5,000 (13:20), 3,000 (7:36 NR) And A “Bucket List” Sub-3:50 Mile Willis talks about how he’s been able to do more volume than ever.- Where Are They Now: 2011 World Championship Ultra Bronze Medalist Andy Henshaw Has Totally Walked Away From The Sport “It’s been years since I’ve read a running blog.”
BAA 10k (Top 10 Results In Article)
LetsRun.com Founders Named as Two of “The 50 Most Influential People in Running”
Runners World Honors You and the Brojos
We like This Photo So Much We Leave it Up
Want a Better Running Shoe?
Beta Better Running Shoe Site
It’s Time to Change How We Find Running Shoes
American Strong: The Untold Story of How American Teamwork Helped Meb Keflezighi Win Boston
28,000+ Likes on Facebook
A Real Running Hero:
The Flo Groberg Story
Flo Has Now Won the Medal of Honor
