Elite Distance News

• Great Read: Toni Reavis Talks About How The “BIG 3” From 2000 Foot Locker Champs (Dathan Ritzenhein, Alan Webb, And Ryan Hall) Are “Down To 1” Reavis talks about the rise of the internet and how it put a lot of pressure on these three from an early age. Mostly, though, he analyzes Hall’s recent DNF in LA and the direction his career is going.
  *MB: The BIG 3: Only one remains
• 39-Year-Old Blake Russell Talks To Runners World About How She Shocked Many By Winning The US Marathon Champs In La In 2:34:57 She hadn’t even finished a marathon (despite three attempts) since 2008. Russell added more mileage, longer workouts and did more on the road vs. track.
• Athletics Kenya Expected To Announce Final World XC Squad Soon Apparently even though he ran absolutely terrible at the trials (and all year for that matter), defending champ Japhet Korir is being considered for a wild card spot along with others like Geoffrey Kipsang and Bedan Karoki.
• UW’s Baylee Mires Ran Most Of 1,200 Leg Of NCAA DMR With One Shoe She handed off in 7th and UW finished 5th.
• Weekend Video Highlights: LA Marathon, NYC Half, Seoul Marathon And Sydney Track Classic Philip Kangogo won the Barcelona Marathon in 2:08:16.
• Watch Video Replay Of NYC Half Marathon Men and women’s finishes are in part 9.

• “Democracy Inaction”: Editorial In Times Of San Diego On USATF Board’s Disregard For Democracy Kevin Liao points out how board vice chair Steven Miller‘s comparison to the Electoral College system (where the popular vote doesn’t necessarily win) was flawed, since with a presidential election, the  Supreme Court can’t go about “arbitrarily reversing a result it doesn’t like.”
• Seb Coe Against Ukraine’s Call For A Boycott Of The 2018 World Cup In Russia “I will always oppose boycotts of sport. I don’t think they actually achieve what they set out to do. The only people they really damage are competitors and athletes.”

2016 World Indoors And US Champs Will Be In Portland

• 2016 USATF Indoor Championships Join The 2016 World Indoor Championships In Portland US Champs will end 6 days before Worlds begin. *USATF Release
• Happy St. Patrick’s Day: A Look At The Designs For Portland’s Green Indoor Track For 2016 World Champs

NCAA-Related

• Recommended Read: Article On Former Foot Locker South Champion Bill Matthews, Who As A Prep Star Dreamed Of Greatness But Had A Seizure Disorder End His Collegiate Career Matthews struggled for years trying to train and race through the seizures and medication which made him anemic, eventually needing two major surgeries to remove brain tumors. His determination to keep fighting and not to quit is inspirational.
• Binghamton’s Jesse Garn Talks About His “Heartbreaking” False Start DQ In The 800 At NCAA Champs
• Big Legal Day Tuesday For NCAA Athletes As The Pay Vs. Amateurism Debate Reaches A “Pivotal Stage”
• Full List Of NCAA DI All-Americans

• Michael Wardian Sets 50K Treadmill Record On Second Attempt In 30 Hours Wardian first ran 3:06:24 (5:59.9 pace) thinking he had the record, only to find out a few hours later that it was actually 3:05:57. So he went back to the treadmill and ran 3:03:56 (5:55 pace). Making it even weirder, he did it on a cruise ship in the middle of the ocean.
• Max King Voted International Association Of Ultrarunners Male Athlete Of The Year GB’s Ellie Greenwood won the women’s award.

*United Airlines NYC Half *Results *LA Marathon / USATF Champs *Results *Gate River Run / US 15k *Results

RRW Huddle Wins United Airlines NYC Half In Course Record 1:08:31, Leonard Korir Outleans Stephen Sambu Andrew Bumbalough was the first American in his debut in 1:02:04, Ritz ran 1:02:07, and Meb 1:02:17. *Results
*LRC NYC Half Photo Gallery Here

LRC Jared Ward (2:12:55) And Blake Russell (2:34:57) Win 2015 US Marathon Championships As Both Finish 3rd Overall At Asics LA
*LRC Post-Race Interview With Jared Ward
*LRC Post-Race Interview With Matt Llano
*MB: Official Thread
*MB: Ryan Hall DNFs at LA. Will he ever run a good marathon again?
*ESPN.com: LA Marathon Notebook: Kenyans Sweep; Ward Wins U.S. Title; Hall Drops Out

Saturday: Ben True, Amy Hastings Win US 15k Champs At Gate River Run (US 15K Champs) Recap from Jacksonville paper. *Results *Discuss

Totally Shameful:  USATF Board Votes 12-1 To Keep Hightower As IAAF Council Nominee As Some Talk Impeachment Ken Stone with a nice recap in the San Diego paper as the USATF Board showed it does not give a shit what its members think, only about itself. Be outraged. *Discuss Here

More From The Weekend

• Usain Bolt Wins 400 In 46.37 In His First Individual Race Of The Season
• Kenya’s Wilson Loyanae (2:06:11) And Ethiopia’s Guteni Shone (2:26:22) Win Seoul Marathon
• David Rudisha Opens 2015 With Impressive 1:45.01 In Sydney
  *MB: David Rudisha opens season by destroying field by 2+ seconds
• Alan Webb 8th In World Cup Triathlon In Australia

NCAA Day 2 Distance Photo Gallery – 200+ Photos

New Balance High School Indoor Nationals

• RRW: Grant Fisher Almost Crashes Onto The Infield, Still Wins In 4:03 To Repeat As New Balance National Mile Champ Ryen Frazier got the 2-mile win, but was denied the victory in the mile by Nevada Mareno, who beat her by just over a second (4:43.23).
  *MB: Should Grant Fisher have been DQd at NBN? According to the race recap by RRW’s Chris Lotsbom, Fisher took 4-5 steps on the infield so would have been DQed if there was a protest, but there was none. He also estimated that Fisher might have ran 4:00-high to 4:01-low if he hadn’t stumbled.
• RRW Rhode Island’s La Salle Academy Completes Rare Sweep Of 4 X Mile Relay At 2015 New Balance Nationals
• RRW Anna Rohrer Runs 16:10.70, Edges Ryen Frazier And Sets National High School 5,000m Mark

Recap Of USATF Hershey Youth Indoor Championships

• Oscar Pistorius’ Lawyers Fail To Block Appeal By Prosecutors So now that the appeal of the appeal is out of the way, they can move on to whether or not the actual verdict/sentence will change.
• Carjack Victim Describes Harrowing Ride With Boston Bombers
• Jurors In Bombing Trial See Video Of Carjack Victim’s Escape

World Cross And World Relays Are Fast Approaching

• Two Weeks To Go Until IAAF World Cross-Country Championships – Emily Chebet Added To Kenyan Team The defending champ was only 14th at the Kenyan Trials.
• 50 Days To Go – IAAF World Relays, Nassau 2015

International Distance News

• UK Announces Team For World XC Champs: Gemma Steel Leads The Women, Andrew Butchart The Men Earlier this year, UKA said they’d only take runners with “top-30 potential” but “exceptions could be made.” They’re taking 4 men (enough to score), but only 2 women (not enough for a team place).

Update On Sierra Leone Sprinter In UK (If You Missed This, Check Saturday’s Homepage)

• The Power Of Social Media: On A Whim, PHD Student Starts “FundMe” Campaign For Jimmy Thoronka; Has Raised Over $42,700 In 2 Days
  *“Thoronka Inundated With Offers Of Help” Money, food, a place to stay, training equipment/supplements, you name it.
• BBC Post-Prison Interview With Thoronka
• Thoronka Released From Police Custody And Taken To Immigration Accomodation; Has Applied For Asylum
  *Could Face Deportation

Runner Of The Month

LRCThe Nate Houle Story: "Trying to live life while you've still got it."