January 04, 2015 Homepage Archive

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Archived Homepage For January 04, 2015

Quote Of The Day

“A lot of kids would rather be on the bench in another sport than do this. I’m always looking to cultivate any new potentials but I’m not twisting any arms. There’s a dedication requirement to being in our program.”

– Fayetteville-Manlius High School coach Bill Aris, talking about the commitment it takes to be a member on one of his national championship winning teams. There aren’t cuts and F-M is a big school, but there are usually only around 25 runners on each team since it does require a ton of work.

Distance Action: Ritz Returns To The Trails

Dathan Ritzenhein Racing Twice Next Week, Including The Bupa Great Edinburgh XC Race On January 10th Against Asbel Kiprop, Silas Kiplagat And More First, Ritz will run an XC race in Milan on Tuesday. Not a bad way for him to start out the year considering he only raced once in all of 2014.
Aoyama Gakuin University Rewrites History In First-Ever Hakone Ekiden Win Komazawa University recovered to finish 2nd, despite their final runner on day 1 collapsing multiple times due to hypothermia and barely finishing.
World Junior XC Champ Faith Kipyegon And Philip Langat Win Sotik XC Race In Kenya

Recommended Read:Meb Keflezighi’s 2014 Year-End Reflection: “It Takes A Lifetime To Prepare For Life’s Greatest Moments” “The moment that will define my career occurred on April 21, 2014, when I won the Boston Marathon. Those two hours, eight minutes and thirty seven seconds have changed my life.”
Usain Bolt’s 2014 In Instagram Photos
Ross Tucker’s (The Science Of Sport) Three Wishes For 2015 One wish is that big name T&F athletes like Usain Bolt, Yohan Blake and Justin Gatlin will stop dodging each other.
T&F News’s #1 In Each Event: World Men*World Women*US Men*US Women
A Look Back At The 2014 European Team Championships – Part 2

Latest 2015 Results: Moses Mosop Is Back

Xiamen Marathon:Both CRs Fall As Moses Mosop (2:06:19) And Mare Dibaba (2:19:52) Get The WinsMosop set the Chinese all-comers’ record, breaking the 2:06:32 run by Sammy Wanjiru when he won the 2008 Olympics. This was a big race for Mosop, who has struggled the last couple of years, only running 2:20:37 in his last marathon in May.
Hakone Ekiden Day One Recap: Aoyama Gakuin Sets Course Record, Favorite Komazawa Almost DNFs As Final Runner Collapses Multiple Times Before Finish Line Near the end, his coach reportedly yelled to him, “Take it easy, take it easy, it’s OK. Walk if you have to.”
Toyota Over Konica Minolta for 2015 New Year Ekiden National Title
Today: Sheilla Chepngetich Leads Field Against Mercy Cherono And Lucy Kabuu At Final AK XC Series Meet Philip Langat leads men’s race.

Facility News

Wesley Korir To Build An 8-Lane 400m Tartan Track In His Home Village In Kenya
Decision To Name A Track In Barbados After Usain Bolt Has Been Met With Criticism Locals feel it should be named after a Barbadian sports hero.

Drug Cheats, Watch Out – It’s 2015:As Of January 1st, Minimum Drug Ban For First Time Cheats Is Now Four Years, Not Two New WADA code also allows them to go after athletes’ support crew, gives reduction incentives for athletes that provide “substantial assistance” and increases ban for those who miss tests.

New Year’s Eve / Day Results

Mike Kigen And Gemma Steel Win San Silvestre Vallecana 10K In Madrid On New Year’s Eve Kigen had a dominating win in 27:51 as did Steel in 31:52. Desiree Linden was 6th in the women’s race with 33:02.
Andrew Colley (18:24) And Chelsea Reilly (21:04) Win NYRR Midnight Run 4 Mile
A Rundown Of New Year’s Road Races Results: Doper Mathew Kisorio (28:40) Finishes Runner-Up In Angola 10K As Stephen Kibe Wins In 28:34
*Translated Article On Kibe And Kisorio
Ethiopians Dawit Admasu (45:04) And Ymer Wude Ayalew (50:43) Win New Year’s Eve Race In Sao Paulo, Brazil
Saturday: IAAF Preview Xiamen Marathon In China: 2:06 Man Mariko Kiplagat Kipchumba Returns To Defend His Title Against World Bronze Medalist Tadese Tola And Moses Mosop There are also another nine sub-2:10 men in the field. Mare Dibaba (2:19:52) faces Mamitu Daska (2:21:59) in the women’s race.

Sprint News

Bad News: Oregon’s NCAA 110H Champ Devon Allen Injured In Rose Bowl He injured his right knee on the first play of the game. He was taken off in a wheelchair and later returned to the sidelines on crutches.
Q&A With LaShawn Merritt, Who Looks Back On His 2014 And His Career Merritt has some interesting quotes on his rivalry and friendship with Jeremy Wariner compared to Kirani James. He also talks about going for Michael Johnson‘s WR.
We Agree:UK Columnist: “Usain Bolt, Yohan Blake And Justin Gatlin Must Stop Avoiding Each Other At Diamond League Meets In 2015” Please, please, no more of this: Our Sport Is Officially A Joke: Justin Gatlin Wins Rieti 100m In 9.83 Seconds As Asafa Powell Wins A Separate Final At The Same Meet In 9.90 Seconds
*LRC Archives:What about the sport?
One For The Ladies: Asafa Powell Gives A Shirtless Happy New Year Message
Q&A: Dan Pfaff On Competition-Time Coaching

Crazy But Fun On New Year’s Day

Road Action

Muktar Edris Edges Imane Merga At BoClassic Sylvesterlauf The 20-year-old Edris was #3 in our men’s 5,000 rankings for 2014. Kiwi Zane Robertson was third ahead of Thomas Longosiwa and Edwin Soi. African 5,000m bronze medalist Janet Kisa won the women’s 5k.
Jan 2-3: Only Komazawa Can Beat Komazawa – 2015 Hakone Ekiden Preview

News From Kenya

Who Will Be Left In The 10,000 In 2016? 27-Year-Old Wilson Kiprop Says His 10,000 Career Is Over, Will Focus On Marathon From Now On The 2012 Pre Classic winner never broke 27 (27:01).
Kip Keino Trying To Get Legislation Criminalizing Doping Fast Tracked In Kenya
Lucy Kabuu Excited For January’s Dubai Marathon – Hoping To Do Well There And At Worlds In 2015
And Uganda: 2005 World Steeple Champ Dorcus Inzikuru Has Joined Police Force

News From The UK

Steve Cram Receives CBE For Services To Sport In The Queen’s New Year Honours List “It is obviously a great honour and it’s something which you never expect,” he said. “It’s great to get any recognition, whatever you’re doing in life, and to receive something like this is obviously something which is a great highlight for me and for my family – it’s fantastic.”
*103-Year-Old Marathoner Also Honored
Athletics Weekly Takes A Look Back Month-By-Month At 2014
The 20 Most Read Athletics Weekly Stories For 2014

Sprint News

Sprints/Jumps/Throws News

Ex-NY Giants RB David Wilson Is Purposely Moving To Triple Jump Slowly A spinal injury ended his NFL career at age 23. Now he’s working on 3-step approach. “I don’t want to rush and go out there just to do it. I want to take my time and do it right.”
Arkansas Freshman Omar McLeod Had Quite A Freshman Campaign In 2014 – Winning NCAA 60H Title In His First Year Of Indoor Hurdling The guy was a huge recruit as he had set Jamaican junior records at both 110H and 400H before going to the NCAA.
Looking Back At 2014 Men’s Hammer Rankings By Martin Bingisser
2014 Year In Review From New Zealand: No Sign Of Cracks In Valerie Adams’ Invincibility It also was a great year for Nick Willis.

More Distance News

Good Read:RunningTimes Q&A With Anna Willard, Who Talks About Being “Too American” For England, Being Injured For 2 Years And Almost Quitting The Sport Willard is finally healthy and training consistently again after barely racing in 2014 and not at all in 2013.
Analysis By Swiss Researchers Shows Runners At “Short” Ultramarathons Are Getting Younger And Faster Article mentions Cornell alumni Max King (2:14 marathon) and Sage Canaday (2:16), who have started dominated the ultra scene from 50K to 100K.
Central Park Track Club Member And 1:46 800 Man Dustin Emrani Raising Money To To Help Underprivileged Children In NYC As part of his fundraiser, Emrani is making a video of him jumping into the freezing cold Hudson River in January. Even a small donation will get you entered in a drawing to have the jump dedicated to you.
Pro Football Half Of Fame Marathon In Ohio In April Will Have Age Group Prize Money
Study Finds That Special “Rocker” Shoes Could Help Facilitate Post-Marathon Recovery

Distance News

16 More Kenyan Doping Cases To Come?AK Head Isaiah Kiplagat Says 16 More Unnamed Athletes Were Caught Doping Apparently they haven’t been made public because AK is still trying to track them down to notify them first. (Editor’s Note: We haven’t seen this story reported anywhere else.)
Kenya’s Victor Chumo Surprise Winner At Famous Corrida Pedestre International de Houilles 10K In France He won in 28:04 over a field that included Eritrea’s 2012 World Jr. 5,000 champ Abrar Osman and Frankfurt Marathon champ Mark Kiptoo. Kenya’s Peris Jepchichir won the women’s race in 31:34 over World Jr. steeple champ Ruth Chebet.
Good Read:Union Tribune Names Meb Keflezighi San Diego Sportsman Of The Year Meb talks about his start in the sport, what he’d be doing if he wasn’t a pro runner, his childhood in war-torn Eritrea and how he was motivated to get 4th at the 2012 Olympic in case someone ahead of him failed a drug test.
Two Time World Champ Edna Kiplagat Set To Win $500,000 World Marathon Majors Prize After Rita Jeptoo’s EPO Positive This will be the second time Kiplagat won the title due to a drug ban as last time it was Russian Liliya Shobukhova.
Cloud 259 Podcast With 2:38 17-Year-Old Marathoner Alana Hadley And Her Father/Coach Mark Hadley talks about her next marathon, which will be a smaller race in Jacksonville, FL in February. She also discusses the future and says even if she joined a training group, she doesn’t plan on ever being coached by anyone but her dad.
Q&A Cathing Up With Donnie Cowart, Who Broke 4 Minutes In The Mile For The First Time This Summer

Year-In-Review

Daily Relay Picks 50 Athletes Of The Year, 1 For Each State Who was the best from your state?
Kenyan Year-In-Review: “Doping Menace Besmirched Bright year For Kenyan Athletes” Kenyans set multiple WRs including Dennis Kimetto in the marathon and Florence Kiplagat‘s half marathon, but Rita Jeptoo‘s positive test ends the year on a negative note.
Daily Camera: 2014 Was A Good Year For Boulder RunnersJenny Simpson, Emma Coburn, Mark Wetmore and the Buffaloes’ NCAA title, Jeff Eggleston‘s 2:10:52 marathon and Sage Canaday in the ultras.
Athletics Weekly UK Men Merit Rankings: Mo Farah Ranked #1 In Everything Over 1,500
*Women: 41-Year-Old Jo Pavey Ranked #1 In 5,000/10,000
IAAF End Of Year Review: Hurdles
Moses Kipsiro And Commonwealth Games 800 Bronze Medalist Winnie Nanyondo Highlight Ugandan Track In 2014
Blessing Okagbare Highlighted A Good Year For Nigerian Track
European Athletics Championships Retrospective Day 3 *Day 2 *Day 1

More Year End Stuff

Ellie Greenwood Had Great 2014 As She Won World 100k Champs For 2nd Time, Became First Brit To Win Comrades
Athletics Weekly’s World Top 3s For Every Women’s Event
Athletics Weekly’s World Top 3s For Every Men’s Event You get top 10 if you pay for it.
Eugene Register-Guard’s Top Sports Stories For 2015 Track only shows up at #5 in Track Town USA.
IAAF End-Of-Year Review For The Jumps

Doping Stuff

Rita Jeptoo Will Likely Only Face A 2-Year Ban Since She Was Caught In 2014 The new WADA code that gives a 4-year ban to first time offenders didn’t go into effect until January 1st.
New WADA Code Forbids Associating With Banned Athletes, Coaches And Doctors Does this mean athletes like Carmelita Jeter and Jason Richardson won’t be able to associate with someone with a 10-year drug ban like Mark Block?
Germany’s Olympic Discus Champ Robert Harting Criticizes WADA And The IAAF For Its Handling Of The Russian Doping Scandal Harting: “The fact that the IAAF responded very cautious is offensive to all clean athletes. But the behavior of the WADA is even worse. For me, it has failed.” He also seems to fear that cleans athletes could have their negative drug tests manipulated to be positive if they speak out against the wrong people.

High School News

Good Read:Coach Bill Aris Reflects On FM’s Historic NXN Sweep There aren’t cuts at FM, but the team is only 25 or so for each gender because Aris asks for a ton of commitment. He says, “A lot of kids would rather be on the bench in another sport than do this. I’m always looking to cultivate any new potentials but I’m not twisting any arms. There’s a dedication requirement to being in our program.”
Former HS Runner, Now Freelance Writer, Reflects On Spectating At The 2014 Foot Locker Championships
MileSplit Weekend HS Coverage

Distance Stuff

Q&A With Shannon Rowbury, Who Thinks Doing Irish Dance In Junior High Was Better For Her Future Running Than Playing Soccer Was Rowbury talks about some big goals for 2015 as she would like to go after US records at 1,500, 3,000 and 5,000. She doesn’t know her focus yet come Worlds and the 2016 Olympics.
The Last Brit To Beat Mo Farah Is Now A DJRicky Stevenson won the 2010 Edinburgh XC 4K with Steve Vernon 2nd and Farah 3rd. Now Stevenson is a DJ and hasn’t race since 2012.
Athletics Weekly Reports A “Severe Lack Of Drug Testing” At UK Road Races They’re talking about second tier road races, giving an example of one that offers about $1,000 to the winner. We don’t see this as big news. Drug testing is expensive and smaller races can’t as easily afford it.
Study Finds That Altitude Training May Affect Athlete Blood Profile With Relevance To The Athlete Biological Passport System
Wilson Kipsang Will Lead Professional Athletics Association Of Kenya (PAAK) Meeting Educating Younger Runners They will cover issues including dangers of drug use and financial management.

Learn Some Of The Sport's History:

A DNF By Japan’s Lone Entrant In 1st Olympic Marathon Led To Starting Of Hakone Ekiden In 1920 Is Kenta Murayama Japan’s next marathon star? Coach of Japan NR holder thinks so: “I’m dying to have him run a marathon.”

News From The UK

The Telegraph‘s Athletics 2014 Review: From Jo Pavey winning gold at 40, to Usain Bolt barely racing, to the Russians doping like crazy, it was an interesting year to say the least.
Top 3 Rankings For UK Men For All Events
Top 3 Rankings For UK Women For All Events
Martyn Rooney Wishes He’d Celebrated More After Winning European 400m Gold
The New “Colin Jackson” – David Omoregie – Isn’t Overwhelmed By All The Praise He’s Been Getting After A Great 2014 The 19-year-old, who has run faster than Jackson at the same age, won World Jr. bronze this year.

More End-Of-Year News

Science Of Sport 2014 Wrap Up: Week-By-Week Musings A lot of interesting stuff was written in 2014 by Ross Tucker and we definitely recommend you check some of it out. He covers everything from doping to talent and youth development to the 2-hour marathon.
IAAF End-Of-Year Review: Road Running
Japan Running News’ Top 10 Japanese Men Of 2014: 27:49 10K And 60:50 Half College Runner Kenta Murayama Ranked #1
Top 10 Japanese Women Of 2014: Ayumi Hagiwara’s 70:17 Half Marathoner Ayumi Hagiwara Ranked #1
European Championships Retrospective Day 4

Annual Christchurch Track Meet In New Zealand Cancelled For 2015 Due to an issue with scheduling and facilities.

The New Olympics

Please Don’t Cut The 10,000 For This: UK Judo Head Wants Cage Fighting In The Olympics
International Basketball Federation President Optimistic 3 X 3 Basketball Could Be Included In Tokyo 2020 Games

NY Times: Boston Marathon Bombing Trial Begins Monday A former federal prosecutor in Boston said, “The only interesting question in this trial is whether the most odious defendant who committed the most odious crime will get the death penalty. Nothing else will be seriously in dispute.”

Oregon’s 110H NCAA Champ Devon Allen Won’t Be Too Upset If He Misses The 2015 Track Season After Rose Bowl Knee Injury “It’s something I do, but I’m not going to rush it … I can definitely (redshirt). It’s not a huge deal. I enjoy track and I want to run, but sometimes you’ve got to take care of yourself.”

LetsRun.com’s 2014 World Top 10 And US Top 5 Rankings

Jenny Simpson Is Track And Field News’s US Female AOY
Justin Gatlin Is Track And Field News’s US Male AOY
Anita Włodarczyk Is Track And Field News’s Female AOY She’s the first hammer thrower ever honored.
Renaud Lavillenie Is Track And Field News’s Male AOY

Day 5: WMarathon LRC Tirfi Tsegaye And Shalane Flanagan Are Our World And US #1sTirfi Tsegaye won two majors and is world #1 in a year marred by doper Rita Jeptoo.

MMarathonLRC Wilson Kipsang And Meb Keflezighi Had Years To Remember With wins in London and NY, there was no doubting where Wilson Kipsang should rank, but what about Kenenisa Bekele, world record holder Dennis Kimetto and others?

Good Read: David Graham: My Thoughts On The Men’s Marathon For 2014 LetsRun.com super visitor David Graham gives his thoughts on the sport’s marquee event for 2014.
Toni Reavis Looks At The Year In Marathoning For 2014 95 of the fastest 100 times in the world came from Kenya or Africa. Meb’s 2:08:37 wasn’t even in the top 100 for 2014 (2:08:25). For the 2nd year in a row, 184 times someone broke 2:10.

Day 4: W 3k/5k: LRC Genzebe Dibaba And Molly Huddle Rule Supreme A world indoor record for Dibaba and an American record for Huddle helped them nab the #1 spots in our rankings.

M5k: LRC Caleb Ndiku Is World #1, Galen Rupp World #4No one was close to Caleb Ndiku in 2014 but Galen Rupp had a great year at 5,000, where he is now a player on the world scene for the first time. It was a very strong year for Americans at 5,000 as a 13:02 guy is only 5th in the US.

Day 3: WSteeple: LRC Emma Coburn Is World #2, Hiwot Ayalew Is #1 Emma Coburn was great all year long but not nearly as good as Ayalew.

MSteeple:LRC Jairus Birech Is World #1, Evan Jager World #3 Jairus Birech reigned supreme this year, winning six of the seven DL events to go with a gold medal at the African Champs. Evan Jager was the clear U.S. #1. Canadian Matt Hughes sneaks into the top 10 as well.

Day 2:W1,500: LRCAmerican Jenny Simpson Is On Top Of The World At #1 Simpson has been world champion and DL champion before, but now for the first time she can rightfully claim the title of of World #1. Shannon Rowbury also cracks the world top 10.

M1,500 LRC Ayanleh Souleiman Is The Best In A Historically Good Year, Leo The Lion Roars In The US It was an amazing year in the 1,500 – so amazing that Seb Coe‘s 1979 WR of 3:32.03 would have put him as the 17th fastest man in 2014. No one was faster than Silas Kiplagat but in our minds no one was better than Ayanleh Souleiman. Thanks to HOKA One One and John Hayes, a resurgent Leo Manzano claims US #1.

Day 1: W800: LRC Eunice Sum Is World #1, America’s Ajee Wilson Is World #2 20-year-old American Ajee Wilson ran the fastest time in the world and had a great year but Eunice Sum‘s season was just a little more special. It’s a great event for TEAM USA as three Americans made our global top 10.

M800 LRC Nijel Amos And Duane Solomon Get The #1 Rankings The men’s 800 is one of the most exciting races in all of track and field. Tons of superstars and lots of diversity as men from seven different countries nabbed spots in our global top 10. Where is David Rudisha?

More End Of 2014 News

The Year 2014 In Athletics Weekly Covers
MileSplit’s Top 10 Female Athletes Of 2014 #1 was sprinter Kaylin Whitney, who first set a national high school record in the 100 with 11.10 and ran the 2nd fastest 200 with 22.49. Also 200 WJ champ.
MileSplit’s Top 10 Male Athletes Of 2014 #1 was Trentavis Friday, who set the national high school 100m record with 10.00 and the 200 at World Junior Champs.
The Mile: What Was Bring Back The Mile’s Most Viewed Article In 2014? They also share who were the top viewed milers for this year.
*BBTM Celebrates The IAAF Accepting Mile Qualifying Times For The 2015 World Championships: “The Mile, The IAAF And Our Opportunity”
House Of Run Podcast: 2014 In Review
IAAF End-Of-Year Reviews: Sprints

US News

Husband And Wife Duo Of Cole Atkins And Esther Erb To Headline NYRR Midnight Run Tonight At Midnight Atkins is the defending champ. Erb won the 2014 US Marathon title.
A Q&A With The CEO Of The Atlanta Track Club Rich Kenah About His Goals For 2015
Doug Logan: “I am not bitter; I have no regrets; I did my best: I have no excuses.”
The Daily Relay’s Best (And Worst) For 2014 From best race, to clusterf**k of the year, to biggest upset, they have you covered.
ESPN.com’s 2014 20 Best Endurance Photos Only about 5 of them are of runners. Most are cycling.

Upcoming Action

New Year’s Eve: Preview Of San Silvestre Vallecana In Madrid: Desiree Linden Takes On UK’s Euro XC Champ Gemma Steel France’s Mahiedine Mekhissi-Benabbad vs. Kenya’s Mike Kigen in the men’s race.
New Year’s Day: JapanRunningNews’ New Year Ekiden Preview: A Battle Of Past Champions
Jan 23: Ethiopia’s Two-Time Dubai Marathon Winner Aselefech Mergia Coming Back For A Hat Trick The 2:19:31 runner hasn’t raced a marathon since 2012 as she took time off to have a baby. She’ll face a deep field including defending champ Mulu Seboka (2:23:12), Lucy Kabuu (2:19:34), Frankfurt Marathon champAberu Kebede and World Half Marathon champion Gladys Cherono, who is making her marathon debut.
Feb.:Carmelita Jeter Vs. Ivory Coast’s Murielle Ahoure In Birmingham 60m In February

Controversy / Debate

This Guy Might Need Police Protection:Jamaican Columnist Says Proposal To Axe The 200 From The Olympics Is “Understandable” We already didn’t like his arguments, but when he said “there should be no problem in sacrificing” distance and sprint races to add events like chess, he completely lost us.
British Athletics Reveals New Policy Which Could Bar Athletes From Competing At Both International Age Group Championships And World Championships Dumb move. That’s like saying if you compete at NCAAs in June, then you can’t go to the Olympics in August.

Don’t Worry, Fans – The Action Will Be Hot Very Soon

January: Dubai Marathon Women’s Field Announced: 2-Time Champ Aselefech Mergia Leads The Way Mergia, who set the CR of 2:19:31 in 2012, before taking a maternity break, will race as will 2011 NYC champ Firehiwot Dado.
February: World Indoor Shot Champ Ryan Whiting Looking Into Competing Against Tom Walsh And Jacko Gill In New Zealand In February
March: 2014 World’s Best 5,000 Man, Caleb Ndiku, Says He Wants To Win World XC Crown In 2015, Then Take Down Mo Farah In Beijing Ndiku, who won World Jr. XC gold in 2010, is battling a minor Achilles issue right now but doesn’t seem worried about it at all. “Mo is a great athlete but I believe I can beat him.”

Jamaica’s Stars Give Back

Usain Bolt Successfully Hosted Charity Event For 500 Kids Once Again On Boxing Day (Dec. 26)Bolt: “We wanted it to be a day for the kids so they could play and also go home with presents.”
Yohan Blake Spent His Christmas Day Giving Pep Talks To Prisoners “I believe everybody needs a second chance in life. So when they come out I want them to have positive thoughts so they can contribute to society.”