January 14, 2015 Homepage Archive

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Archived Homepage For January 14, 2015

Quote Of The Day

“Winning my first London Marathon title on my fourth attempt last year was a special moment for me. Now I have tasted success in London, I am determined to win again. But I know it will be tougher than ever in 2015. Florence [Kiplagat] will be hungry to win after getting so close last year, and both Priscah [Jeptoo] and Mary [Keitany] will be doing their best to regain the number one spot. We have all had some great races in London in the past and I am sure it will be even better this year.”

– Two-time World marathon champion Edna Kiplagat talking about defending her London Marathon crown against a stellar field in 2015. In her first three London Marathons she was 3rd, 2nd and 2nd, but now she comes back as the woman to beat.

LetsRun.com’s 2014 Awards – We Need Your Vote

LRC Vote For LetsRun.com’s 2014 Awards With little action going on in early January, we thought it would be fun for you the fan to select the award winners for 2014. We need your help. Vote and tell us who are the male and female runners of the year for the World, US, and NCAA. Plus vote for the “best record-breaking performance,” the “race of the year,” the “moment of the year” and “unusual moment of the year.” It won’t be easy. For example, who is the US male runner of the year, Galen Rupp or Meb Keflezighi?

Jamaican Sprint Stuff

Is 32 The New 24?Asafa Powell Thinks His Best Running Is Still Ahead Of Him And Is Hoping To Finally Win His First Major Title Apparently he was impressed with Justin Gatlin setting PRs at age 32. Powell’s brother Donovan said, “Nothing is impossible, 32 is the year you really get to put everything together.”
Kaliese Spencer Nominated For Yet Another Award, RJR Sports Foundation Sportswoman Of The Year Spencer was absolutely dominant in the 400H in 2014.
Manager Of Jamaican Star Hurdler, Jaheel Hyde, Speaks On Plans For The Rising Athlete After Signing Big Sponsorship Deal With LIME Telecommunications

2015 Bupa Edinburgh XC 4k Results 8k Results Women’s ResultsJr. Results *Photos

Garrett Heath Wins Again, Dathan Ritzenhein Gets 3rd In Front Of Asbel Kiprop, Chris Derrick Wins 8k As USA Takes 6 Of Top 10 (updated with IAAF recap)
*MB: Live Great Edinburgh Discussion
*Men’s 4k: Garrett Heath Wins Again Reigning World XC champ Japhet Korir was 2nd, Ritz third and Asbel Kiprop 4th.
*Men’s 8k:Derrick Wins Again (Results/Photos) Derrick was followed by Stanford teammate Jacob Riley as Team USA dominated.
*Women: Emilia Gorecka Wins Women’s Race At 2015 Great Edinburgh XC Brianne Nelson was the top American in 4th.
*Jrs: Americans Makena Morley And Anna Rohrer Go 1-2 In the boys race, American Cerake Geberkidane was 2nd as Team USA went 2-6.
*Some Great Photos From Great Edinburgh XC

More Distance News

RIP Legendary Irish Athlete Jim Hogan (81), Who Represented Both Ireland And GB At The 1964 And 1968 Olympics In the 1964 Tokyo Games, Hogan famously doubled back from the 10,000 to duke it out with Abebe Bikila for 23 miles in the marathon (going through 20 miles in a WR) before he dropped out due to exhaustion/dehydration. Hogan also later set a WR for 30K.
*LRC Archives:Encomium To A Legend: Jim Hogan – A Rare Breed
Seb Coe: “I would love to see cross country back in the Olympic programme.” “One of the things that has really, I suppose, worried me in the last few years is that I don’t think enough younger coaches realise how important cross country is.”
Asbel Kiprop Adds His Support For Having XC Added To The Winter Olympics
PAAK Kenyan Athletes Union Opose New Order By Athletics Kenya For Athletes To Re-Register They see it as an attempt by AK to undermine PAAK’s operation which is to safeguard the welfare of its athletes.

Kenyan Anti-Doping Tries To Step It Up

AK President Isaiah Kiplagat Announces 11 New Policies To Help Curb Kenyan Doping He talks a big game, saying they will start keeping their own “biological passport” for athletes, increase the number of tests at local races and require all agents to submit a blood profile for their athletes every month. *2nd Article
Will They Seriously Try To Enforce This?New Kenyan Anti-Doping Regulations Include Banning Athletes Younger Than 20 Years Old From Doing Road Races
We Can’t Make This Stuff Up:Isaiah Kiplagat Claims “This Doping Issue Is Just As Bad As AIDS” For the record, we don’t think doping in sport is as bad as an incurable disease that has killed millions worldwide.

Other Distance Stuff

Jan. 23: World Marathon Silver Medalist Lelisa Desisa Added To Field For January 23rd Dubai Marathon Desisa won Dubai in 2013 in 2:04:45.
NJ-NY Member Ford Palmer Signs With Hoka One One Palmer was a big story at the US Championships as he finished 5th in the 1,500 despite having never broken 4:00 in the mile or made NCAAs.
Hispanic Games At The Armory: Jeremy Spiezio Wins Mile In 4:10.92 Bella Burda won the girls race in 5:01.25.
Japan Running News Recap: Osaka Outkicks Kyoto By 1 Second To Get National Women’s Ekiden Win

MB: Robby Andrews leaves NJ/NY Track Club – Returns To Guidance of Jason Vigilante Andrews, who beat Andrew Wheating for an NCAA title as a frosh, is looking for success as a pro.

Sad News

Stephen Kiprotich’s 19-Month-Old “Olympic” Daughter Has Died – More Than A Thousand Attend The Funeral Little Elizabeth was conceived right after Stephen returned from the Olympics and born 10 months later. She died of “breathing problems.”

News From Kenya

AK Clarifies Allegations Of Deducting Money From Bahamas Relays Squad They paid alternates, kept $26,000 in reserves and paid officials $1,000 each ($9,000 total).

Mark Block Rule:Athletics Kenya Head Isaiah Kiplagat Says They’ll Jail Agents Of Dopers “While athletes can be banned for four years, agents can go to jail.”
Former Marathon WR Holder Patrick Makau Produces 2,700 Kg Of Coffee A Year If he could have coffee with 3 people in the world, they’d be: Mo Farah, Paul Tergat and Vivian Cheruiyot.

Great Edinburgh Pre-Race News

LRC What To Watch For At Great Edinburgh XCountry – 6 Thoughts

Morrisons Supermarket Chain Confirmed As New Sponsor For Great Run Series Bupa had been the title sponsor for the last 20+ years.

News From Europe

UK Sprinter Darren Campbell Doesn’t Want His Kids To Do Track As There Is So Much Doping Memo to the 2000 Olympic 200 silver medalist: doping in other sports is just as bad if not worse. They just don’t bust anyone. “Every time there’s an allegation of systematic doping, it is very difficult to keep believing in the sport.”
World Indoor 400 Champ Pavel Maslak To Return To Action At Russian Winter Indoor Meeting On Feb. 1 He missed most of outdoors with a hamstring problem.
Germany’s Top Decathletes Will Battle Ashton Eaton & Trey Hardee In Gotzis On May 30th

More Distance News: US Half Champs Next Weekend

Elite Fields Released For 2015 Chevron Houston Marathon On January 18th: Bazu Worku Looks To Three-Peat The 2:05:25 man will face Debeb Tolossa and Aaron Braun. The women’s race is led by 2:25:39 runner Fatuma Sado, who faces Biruktait Degefa (2:26:22) and Serena Burla. The half will once again be the US Half Marathon Championships and features Meb Keflezighi, Josphat Boit, Matt Llano, Janet Bawcom, Sara Hall, Kim Conley and Becky Wade.
Q&A With 2:35 Marathoner Polina Carlson, Who Recently Signed With Brooks Carlson was a tennis player until sophomore year of college and only started running when her tennis coach suggested it.
Zelle, Runners World’s New All-Woman Site, Answers The Question: “Is It OK To Have Sex The Night Before A Big Race?” Guys dating a female runner, you’ll be happy to know the overall consensus seemed to be it’s okay.
Spikes Looks At 8 Stars From 2014 World Juniors Who Are Expected To Be Competitive At The Senior Level In 2015 Mary Cain tops the list.

One Month Away

LRCGet Your Butt To Boulder, Colorado For The USA XC Afterparty One Month From Today

Steve and Sara Slattery are hosting the party and want runners, non-runners, and LRCers to be there.

2015 Virgin Money London Marathon Women’s Field (Announced At 5:30am ET Wed.)

LRCFour Thoughts On The 2015 Women’s Race Which Features The “Fantastic Four” From Kenya Nothing in our beloved sport can equal the 2015 men’s London field but the women’s equal is pretty special with 3 former champs in Mary Keitany (2:18:37), Edna Kiplagat (2:19:50 PR), and Priscah Jeptoo (2:20:14 PR) plus the fastest half runner in history – Florence Kiplagat. We break it down for you.
*Press Release From London Organizers
*RRW:London Marathon Women’s Field Does Not Disappoint
*LRC Archives From Last Week:Is The Men’s Field The Greatest Ever?

More Assorted Distance Stuff

Elite Women Marathoners In Colorado All Agree That The Women’s Olympic Trials Standard Is Way Easier Than The Men’s Their opinion varies, though, on whether the women’s standard should be made harder, the men’s be made easier, or all of it left the same.
Spikes Talks With Molly Huddle On Why She Loves The 5K “I’ve always felt a natural rhythm of the event. … There is the speed and excitement of the finish, but it is also a true distance race.”
Not April Fools:Tough Mudder To Add Tear Gas Obstacle To Its Events In 2015
Visit From The Pope May Force Date/Venue Change For The September 20th Rock ‘N’ Roll Philly Half

More 2024 News

South Africa Considering Nationwide Bid For 2024 Olympics Rather than one city making the bid, the Olympics would be held in different parts of the country.
SportsBusinessDaily: USOC’s Choice Of Compact Boston Bid For ’24 Games Could Be Attractive To IOC
Gizmodo.com: “The Olympics Are Broken And Boston Can’t Fix Them”
Forbes: Boston 2024: Did USOC Make The Right Olympic Choice?
Critics Of Boston’s 2024 Olympic Bid Gaining Support The group “No Boston Olympics” has had a lot more signups on its website since the USOC chose Boston.

European News

The Next Brandon Johnson?Q&A With Czech Republic 400 Hurdler Zuzana Hejnová, Who Says She Wants To Try Competing In The 800 This Indoor Season “I am not very keen on the idea but I trust my coach when he says that I would not run it so bad (smile).”
GB Heptathlete Trio Of Jessica Ennis, Katarina Johnson-Thompson And Morgan Lake Will All Compete At Gotzi Hypo Meeting In May For Ennis, it will be her first full heptathlon not only since returning from pregnancy, but since she won the 2012 Olympics.
AW Interview With Jo Pavey, Who Will Stick With The Track As She Tries To Make UK Championship Teams For 2015 And 2016 In Her Forties She also wants to eventually lower her 2:28 marathon PR.
UK Athletics Releases Their Selection Policy For World Champs 2015 In the past they have required extra strict standards, but now the times are more reasonable and they put more emphasis on being top 2 at the British Trials.

Random But Interesting

Did You Know That Yuki Kawauchi Got Run Off The Road By A Police Motorcycle Escort When He Was Leading The NYC Marathon?
Apparently the bike accidentally made contact with him forcing him onto the sidewalk, but Kawauchi was too polite to speak out about it after the race.
Track And Field Video Game For Original Nintendo Set To Break Record As Most Expensive Video Game Ever The rare game from 1987 is currently nearing the $100,000 mark on ebay.
Who Would Win In A Track Meet Between Ohio State’s And Oregon’s Football Teams? Using high school track PRs, this sports writer determined that Oregon would win this mythical track meet by 10 points.
Oregon Football Coach Mark Helfrich Is From Same Hometown As Steve Prefontaine (Coos Bay, OR) And Often References Pre When He’s Addressing The Team

Olympic Debate

T&F News’ Garry Hill Asks “What If We Had No Choice But To Cut Olympic Events?” He asks what events would do the least damage if lost and feels the 10,000, race walks and TJ seem like the most obvious choices to go.
Boston 2024 To Hold Citizen Meeting Following Intense Opposition To Olympic Bid The first meeting is January 21st.
Boston Globe: “Boston’s Games Will Run Rings Around Others” Writer from the future shares some hypoethetical highlights from the 2024 Boston Olympics.

Post-Boston 2024 News

Hurdle News

MB:Australian hurdler Michelle Jenneke releases warmup video – more than 600,000 pervs we mean people watch it in 1st week And to think our Caster Semenya video which was on Good Morning America only has 875,000+ views.
17-Year-Old Hurdles Ace Jaheel Hyde Signs Sponsorship Deal With LIME Telecommunications

2015 IAAF Calendar Now Available For Just $12 (Including Shipping)

Boston Strong

Boston Will Be USOC’s Bid City For The 2024 OlympicsBoston was chosen over Los Angeles, San Francisco and Washington, D.C.
Boston Decision Considered A “Major Shock” As LA And San Fran Were Considered The Favorites
Boston Bid Will Try To Be A “Compact” Games, Rely On Public Transportation It will also make use of existing athletic venues at Boston’s many colleges and universities.
ESPN Opinion Piece: Boston Olympics Is A Terrible Idea “U.S. bid city for ’24 doesn’t need Games and – more importantly – can’t afford them.”
Chicago Columnist: “Envy, regrets in Chicago as other U.S. cities chase Olympics gold”
NY Times Writer Analyzes Boston Decision
IOC President Thomas Bach: “Boston Bid Will Be A Strong One”
Boston 2024 Video Remembers Great Moments In American Olympic History
OTB: Boston Wins USOC Bid!!! *How Much Will the Boston “Modular” Olympic Stadium Cost and How Will it Work?
Writer Asks Why No One Wants The Winter Olympics The answer is $imple.

Unreal 2015 Virgin London Men’s Pro Field Announced

LRC The Greatest Marathon Field Ever? Kipsang Vs. Kimetto Vs. Bekele Vs. Kipchoge – 6 Thoughts On 2015 Virgin Marathon Field The 2015 Virgin Marathon London professional men’s field has been announced and it’s arguagly the best men’s field ever. The field features World #1 Wilson Kipsang vs. world record holder Dennis Kimetto, plus world #2 Eliud Kipchoge, and the added bonus of 5,000/10,000 record holder Kenenisa Bekele. The field has all of the top 5 from the 2014 LRC rankings and 7 of the top 9.
*Discuss In Our Forum: 2015 London Marathon men’s elite field is amazing – greatest ever?

LRC Wilson Kipsang Thinks A World Record In London Is Possible, Shares His Thoughts On Doping In Kenya We share you the wisdom we got this morning from talking to the greatest marathoner on planet earth, Wilson Kipsang, and long-time London Marathon guru Dave Bedford.

IAAF On London Men’s FieldDennis Kimetto: “I broke Wilson’s world record in Berlin last year and now I want his London Marathon crown.”

Ritz Is Back!

Dathan Ritzenhein Wins Campaccio XC 10k In Italy Ritz beat Italians Andrea Lalli (2012 Euro XC Champ) and Danielle Meucci (27:32) and told Mlive.com “It’s nice to get back into the winner’s circle.”
*Video Interview With Ritz After The Race *Mlive.com Article
*Message Board Thread

16-Year-Old World Youth Record Holder Kaylin Whtiney Forgoing The Rest Of Her High School Career To Focus On Training For Rio Olympics Whitney trains alongside pros in a club coached by Dennis Mitchell. Last year she ran 11.10 for the 100 (HS record) and 22.49 for the 200 (#2 HS time behind Allyson Felix). *Discuss

Upcoming Action

Saturday: Entries For UW Indoor Preview: Mary Cain (600) And Jordan Hasay (1,000) Among Pros RacingAlexa Efraimson is in the mile.
Jan 23: Kenenisa Bekele Leaves No Stone Unturned As He Targets Standard Chartered Dubai Marathon Win Bekele is being coached by Renato Canova ahead of Dubai and says, “I’ve certainly worked hard with no time off during the holiday period. I’m definitely ready for Dubai …”
Feb 1: Shalane Flanagan And Martin Mathathi Top Fields For Kagawa Marugame Half Marathon In Japan Flanagan will face a strong domestic field while Mathathi will defend his title from last year against Bernard Koech and two other sub-60 minute runners.
Jan 31: Sweden’s 60H WR Holder Susanna Kallur Announced For Karlsruhe Indoor Meet

RIP Former President Of The Congolese Athletics Federation, Colonel Mouassiposso Mackonguy

Tuesday’s Distance Updates

World Half Marathon Champion Gladys Cherono Will Make Her Marathon Debut In Dubai On January 23rd She was going to make her debut in Berlin, but ended up getting injured. Here she’ll face 2011 and 2012 Dubai winner Aselefech Mergia and defending champion Mulu Seboka.
Very Interesting Report:Cross‐Country Running In The Olympics: New Debate Has A Long Legacy Find out how XC first was added to the Olympics in 1912, why it was taken out in 1924 and how it might have been added back in again if it wasn’t for World War II.
St. Louis Race Dedicated To Make-A-Wish Child With Terminal Liver Cancer Named Runner 9-year-old Runner Aitken was pushed in his stroller by his dad to finish the local 20K race. *Local Article / Video
Good Read:14:06 Colorado State Alum Daniel Wallis Writes About How Runners Shouldn’t Always Focus On The Negative “… wins – even small ones, are hard to come by in the sport of athletics. Often one or two good races are enough to get someone through years of rigorous training. Every positive needs to be embraced.”
Purity Cherotich (71:40) And Azmeraw Mengist (63:01) Win In Stormy Conditions At The PWN Egmond Half Marathon In The Netherlands

News From Japan

Japan Weekend Road Recap: 18-Year-Old Yuta Shimoda Wins Takanezawa Genki Up Half Marathon In 63:16 Elsewhere, Ethiopian Melaku Aberu won the Oita City Half Marathon in 62:47 as Yuka Yano won the woman’s race in 1:13:41.
Yuki Kawauchi Wins Ibusuki Nanohana Marathon In Conservative 2:24:10, Running With A Sprained Ankle
Genes Matter:Star Japanese Sisters Who Helped Osaka Win The National Women’s Ekiden Title Have A Kenyan FatherTomomi Musembi Takamatsu ran the fastest time on her stage to pass five people and hand off to her sister, Nozomi Musembi Takamatsu, in 2nd place.
Tokyo Celebrates 2,020 Days Until Olympics With Ceremonies Across The Nation

More Weekend Results

Weekend NCAA Highlights:Dominque Scott Runs #8 All-Time 1,000 With 2:42.60 As Nike Pro Stephanie Brown Wins In 2:41.31 Penn State 4 x 8 runs 7:22.10, led by 1:48 splits from Brannon Kidder and Robby Creese. Akron’s Shawn Barber beat NCAA/USA champ Sam Kendricks in the PV. Ole Miss’ Jalen Miller set a world lead in the 60 (6.56).
IAAF Weekend XC Round-Up:Eritrea’s World XC Bronze Medalist Teklemariam Medhin Wins Over Uganda’s Timothy Toroitich In SpainBetsy Saina won the women’s race over Magdalene Masai.
Athletics Weekly’s European Coverage:Italy’s Marco Fassinotti Clears WLing 2.32m HJ As Does UK’s Isobel Pooley With 1.90m
Greek Pole Vaulter And Stanford Alum Ekaterini Stefanidi Starts Clears 4.56m In Season Openr At Air Force Collegiate Open
MileSplit Weekend High School Highlights

Sprint Stuff

Q&A With Nigerian Sprinter/Jumper Blessing Okagbare Talking About The Bests And Worsts Of Her Career She says at this point she considers herself more a sprinter than jumper (even though she’s the World silver medalist in the LJ) and says her greatest achievement outside of track was marrying her husband last year.
David Oliver And Jason Richardson Will Race 60m Hurdles At Camel City Elite Meet On January 31st Other big names already announced for the meet include Leo Manzano, Shannon Rowbury, Morgan Uceny and Geena Gall.