HS XC – 2014 NXN is Saturday *HS Forum

LRC2014 NXN Preview: Can Fayetteville-Manlius Sweep Boys' & Girls' Titles?

Seb Coe’s Election Manifesto

• Four Pillars To Seb Coe’s Manifesto: Transform Calendar, Commercial Growth / Youth Engagement, Anti-Doping Improvement And Greater Voice For Athletes Coe says the athletics calendar is “disjointed, lacks a narrative,” talks about attracting more young people with “street athletics” and setting up an IAAF “ethics” department. *BBC Article
• Coe Thinks The IAAF Needs To Improve The “Presentation” Of Track And Field “While there is no need for panic, the status quo is simply not an option.”
• Coe: Sport Needs Greater “Financial Transparency” When It Comes To Appearance Fees And Prize Money
• Coe Wants To Make It More Difficult For Athletes To Transfer Allegiances From One Country To Another He wants to end transfer of allegiance for financial exchange.
• Coe Backs Qatar As Choice For 2019 Worlds, Says Money Didn’t “Sway” The Vote He also says that the situation with migrant workers in Qatar is something the IAAF will “monitor very closely.”

News From The UK

• The Guardian Only Gives “Unbroken” 3 Stars (Out Of 5) And Rips Angelina Jolie’s Work As Director UK writers says, “Though epic and ambitious, Angelina Jolie‘s second outing as a director fails to do justice to the rousing real-life story of Louis Zamperini … There’s something faintly stodgy and safety-first about the endeavour.”
• BBC Radio Doing A “Great Lives” Program On Emil Zatopek On Dec 9th
• NCAA Champ Kate Avery Will Run Euro Cross Champs On Dec 14th Sadly, the Brits go to this event every year (as they can do well) but wimp out of World XC. Other former NCAA runners include Tom Lancashire and Luke Caldwell.

• Sebastian Coe Column: “I want to lead athletics into a new era.” On Wednesday, Coe will formally announce his election manifesto, “Growing Athletics in a New Age.”
• Bubka To Announce IAAF Presidential Plans “In Due Time”
• Analysis: Coe Versus Bubka, The Heavyweight Clash For IAAF Presidency
• Herald Scotland: Sebastian Coe, Master Of The Tight Finish, Has Tough Challenge In Bid For Governing Body’s Presidency “The sport must adapt or face decline.”

Science Of Sport: How To ID And Develop Talent They advise waiting until later to specialize. *Scientific Paper By Ross Tucker: What makes champions? A review of the relative contribution of genes and training to sporting success

LetsJump.com

Good Profile Of Olympic TJ Champ Olga Rypakova Of Kazakhistan The former multi-eventer picked up the TJ by accident. Now she’s on the comeback trail after giving birth to baby #2 in 2013.

Surprising/Not Surprising

Ridiculous Comparison: Some Are Comparing St. Louis Rams Players Protesting Michael Brown Grand Jury Decision With John Carlos And Tommie Smith At 1968 Olympics John Carlos is interviewed.

Runners Given Placebo Injection Instead Of Drug Similar To EPO Improve Their Performance Placebos work.

• AP: History Might Work Against LA’s 2024 Olympic Bid A look at the pros and cons of the Olympics going to LA for a third time.
• Crux Of Boston Olympic Proposal Is “Walkable, Sustainable, Technology-Based Event” That Uses College/University Resources To Keep Games “Affordable And Compact”
• Harvard School Newspaper Opposes Boston Olympic Bid They are very critical of the IOC, saying, “Ultimately, sometimes being an example for the world means not participating in a system run amok.”
• A Look At The Basics On San Francisco’s 2024 Bid

Saturday US XC Action

Foot Locker Regionals: Dominant Victories In All 3 Regions, Including Wins By Past Champs Fisher, Rohrer The closest race in all 6 races on Saturday was defending champ Grant Fisher‘s 9-second win in the Midwest. Anna Rohrer, the 2012 champ, who has battled injuries the last 2 years, won the Midwest in impressive fashion. Top 10 in all the regions here. Olin Hacker, son of former NCAA and USATF XC champ Tim Hacker, also qualified.
*List Of Foot Locker Qualifiers
*Full List Of NXN Qualifying Teams
More Coverage Here

On The Boards: Grant Fisher 4:59 2nd Mile, Anna Rohrer 5:13 2nd Mile
*Are the Hackers The First Foot Locker Father-Son Qualifiers?
*FLN and NXN predictions: YOUR TOP 3 – time to put up watchoutxcrankings

Nice Read: Profile On 2012 Foot Locker Champ Anna Rohrer, Who Has Battled 2 Years Of Injuries To Get Back On Top

Doping Corner

Good News: Asbel Kiprop Calls For Jail Time For Dopers “Those found guilty should serve a long jail term in addition to the ban,” said Kiprop.
Bad News: The same article above reveals a Kenyan high school got a rubberized tartan track. Once the Kenyans get soft like the rest of the world, forget about dominating.

Alex Hutchinson In The NY Times: When Taking Drugs Isn’t Cheating 

Put This One On Your Bucket List

British Journalist Writes About Running One Of The World’s Greatest Road Races – The Great Ethiopian Run 37,000 runners run this thing and Haile Gebrselassie said they could have 200,000 there is so much demand. Haile G had to buy a Great Run T-shirt off the street.