August 12, 2015 | LetsRun.com

The Latest In The USATF/Symmonds Fight

LRC Editorial: We Respect Nick Symmonds, But Don’t Have A Lot Of Sympathy He Won’t Be At Worlds Symmonds’ cause is a just one but as fans we’re disappointed he won’t be racing at Worlds. We give you 7 takes on the controversy and save our biggest outrage for how a 20+ year Nike deal was signed without soliciting competing bids.

USATF Statement And Data On Elite Athlete Spending: USATF Will Spend More Than 50% Of Its Budget And More Than $15 Million On Elite Athletes In 2015 USATF dismisses claims by Andrew Zimbalist and Nick Symmonds that it only spends 8% of its revenues on elites by showing you spreadsheets of where the $15 million goes. $5 million directly to the athletes, $7 million to high performance centers and $3 million for athlete costs.

SI’s Tim Layden: “Symmonds’ Fight Against USATF About More Than Just One Runner” Layden finds it “remarkable” that Symmonds “Became more famous for not signing a piece of paper than he would ever have become for running the 800 meters.”
Olympic Expert Alan Abrahamson Slams Symmonds: “This predicament is entirely of Symmonds’ own making.” “For Symmonds to say he was ‘left off’ the team, as he did on Twitter, is disingenuous. … A study asserts USATF distributes 8 percent of its revenues to athletes; USATF says it’s more like 50 percent; tax returns say USATF is right.”
Lauren Fleshman: “Nike never is going to sponsor everybody. But for other sponsors to enter the economic market place, it has to be worth it.”
Symmonds Getting Press Worldwide, Including BBC

Admin News

Nick Symmonds – USATF Controversy Continues To Escalate

Athletes’ Rights Attorney Says USATF Is Wrong In Nick Symmonds Case Hogshead-Makar: “This is a clear overreach by the national governing body. … It’s a done deal. National governing bodies can’t do that.”
Symmonds Blogs In The Huffington Post About How USATF Financially Shorts Athletes He cites a study saying USATF only gives 8% of its revenues to USATF.
USATF Responds: Jill Geer’s Statement On Nick Symmonds Controversy She says, “USATF annually invests more than 50 percent of our total revenue directly in athlete support …”
*Symmonds On Twitter: “I am offended by @usatf statement. Not my decision to not represent #TeamUSA at #Beijing2015. And 50% investment?? That’s a flat out lie.”
Huffpost Q&A: Symmonds Says USATF Exploits Patriotism For Profit
Bold Statement From Symmonds “Tomorrow I will present proof that @USATF is stealing millions of dollars from the athletes, getting rich off the hard work of #TeamUSA.”
*USATF Catching A Lot Of Flack From Fans On Twitter
Reuters: Symmonds’ Stance Raises Thorny Old Issue Symmonds has gotten supportive tweets from many athletes on Twitter, including Jeremy Wariner and Kara Goucher. But David Oliver tweeted, “Personally I don’t care what I have to wear in order to be at the Worlds or Olympics …”
NY Times: “Gear Dispute Costs Nick Symmonds A Trip To Track Worlds”
TFAA Statements On Revenue Sharing Agreements And Transparency
LRC Sad: USATF Kicks Symmonds Off Team Instead Of Defining What An “Official” Team Function Is

Book Reviews

LRC Book Review Of Once a Runner Prequel Racing the Rain By John L. Parker, Jr. – “It works and has the potential to draw a new audience into Once a Runner.” Racing the Rain isn’t about Quenton Cassidy‘s development as a runner, but rather his development into a runner. The novel opens by introducing a second-grade Cassidy and concludes with the miler moving into his familiar room in Southeastern University’s Doobey Hall. In between, Parker’s sharp prose richly describes what it was like to grow up a middle-class baby boomer on Florida’s Gold Coast.

LRC Book Review: How to Race the Mile By Jeff Hollobaugh – “A terrific resource for younger runners.” And “… also a great read for even the expert fan.” We recommend the book, which is a comprehensive look at the mile from the 19th century to the present and is full of rich race histories.

USA Dominates NACAC Champs *Results

Day 3: Andy Bayer / Stanley Kebenei And Ashley Higginson / Shalaya Kipp Go 1-2 In Steeple At NACAC Champs Ryan Martin and Clayton Murphy were 1-2 in the 800 as Chanelle Price (800) and Kellyn Taylor (5,000) also got gold. Overall, Team USA took home 47 medals (27 gold).
IAAF: Jamaica’s Rasheed Dwyer Highlights With 20.12 200m Victory Javier Culson had a dominant win in the 400H.
Day 2: Andrew Wheating (1,500) And Lopez Lomong (5,000) Lead 9 Golds For Team USA Wheating beat out US’s Daniel Winn by .35 seconds to get the gold while in the women’s 1,500, Rachel Schneider and Shelby Houlihan also went 1-2 for Team USA. Lolo Jones won the 100H in 12.63 as Barbara Pierre won the 100 (11.12).
MB: Crazy men’s pole vault final at NACAC. Everyone, including both U.S, no-heighted except for 1 guy from El Salvador!
IAAF Day 2
Day 1: Team USA Earns 9 Medals After First Day Of NACAC Champs Clayton Murphy and Ryan Martin both won their 800 heats as did Chanelle Price.
Throwers Win Gold During First Morning Session Lolo Jones had the fastest time in the heats of the 100H.
IAAF Day 1 Recap

Coe Vs. Bubka

Good Read: The Guardian Profile On Sebastian Coe: “Olympic Hero Fighting To Save His Sport’s Name” A lot of interesting info on Coe and his campaign for the IAAF presidency. Independently of one another, two of Coe’s colleagues were quoted: “If you cut him, he bleeds athletics.”
Sergey Bubka Promises To Give Women Stronger Voice If Elected IAAF President

Previous Doping News: IAAF Responds

IAAF To Contact Australian Scientists Michael Ashenden And Robin Parisotto Over “Seriously Incorrect Assertions” The IAAF is most upset that the scientists accuse them of not acting on suspicious blood values when they don’t have access to the testing records.
Former WADA Vice President Professor Arne Ljungqvist Believes Allegations Against IAAF Are “Highly Unfair” “The IAAF did more than others, before the others, but is now criticized by people, who have no insight into the work of IAAF, for not having done enough.”
IAAF Admit Some “Rogue” Nations Continue To Have A Disproportionately Large Number Of Doping Cases The Daily Mail names Russia, Morocco, Turkey, Kenya, Ukraine and Belarus.

Friday Miling

LRC Flexing Robby Andrews (3:57.3) And Stephanie Garica (4:28.8) Win Sir Walter Milers Robby Andrews and Stephanie Garcia tuned up for Worlds with wins in the mile in North Carolina before a raucous crowd. *Discuss

LRC The Greatest Day In The History Of The Beer Mile As 2 Men Go Sub-5:00 And Set Possible World Records Thousands Of Miles Apart Two sub-5:00s and potential world records on the same day – halfway across the globe. *Discuss

Distance News From Kenya / Ireland

Recommended Read: British GQ: “Running With Marathon Man Geoffrey Mutai” Writer Ed Caesar visits Kenya to work on his book, Two Hours. Of Mutai he says, “Running was not just something he did for a living; it was the way he breathed.”
Distance Runner Mary Cullen Has Battled Back From Injury And Will Race At Irish National Champs For The First Time Since 2007 “It is an absolute joy to be back fit and healthy. The fact that I haven’t been at nationals in nine years puts it into perspective all the injuries that have happened.”
Kenyan Athletes, Including Wilson Kipsang And Former NYC Marathon Champ Tegla Loroupe, Complete 522-Mile “Champions Walk For Peace” The walk was to raise awareness of ethnic violence in northern Kenya where cattle rustling and revenge killings are common.
*Good Read: “The Day Peace Rule Strife Torn North Rift Valley”

Actors Morgan Freeman, Michael Caine And Alan Arkin Filmed Running Scene For New Movie Includes photo.

Sad: 14-Year-Old Girl Collapses And Dies During XC Tryouts

It’s Almost Time For A New President

Sweden Latest Country To Back Seb Coe For IAAF President
USATF Representatives Say They Are Approaching The 50th IAAF Congress “Ready For New Era” The meeting in Beijing just before worlds start will include the IAAF presidential election. Unlike many countries, USATF hasn’t publicly stated who it will vote for.

Other Stuff

Startled Grizzly Bear Attacks Runners On Trail In Alaska One runner was mauled while the other ran for help. She was airlifted to a hospital, but had no life-threatening injuries.
Investigation Finds Marathon Discriminated Against Hand Cyclist; Case Could Set Precedent That Affects Events Nationwide The race and hand cyclist athlete disagree over certain issues surrounding safety on the course.

2015 Worlds Start In 2+ Weeks

Will Nick Symmonds Be At Worlds? MB: Symmonds Is Refusing To Sign Contract Requiring Him To Wear Official Nike Team Gear To All Team Functions, USATF Says He’ll Be Off Team If He Doesn’t Sign by Saturday, Symmonds Threatens Lawsuit
Get To Know Five Unsung Runners On The U.S. World Championships Team We bet you’ve never heard of several of these people – Esther Erb, Marielle Hall, Hassan Mead, Ian Burrell and Heather Lieberg.
Nick Symmonds Tells How He Turned His Season Around: “Once I relocated my life and made Seattle my home, everything started to click.”
Vivian Cheruiyot: “The world title is now on my mind.”
Moses Kipsiro Won’t Be In Beijing, So He’s Road Racing In US But Is Focused On Being In Rio
Betsy Saina Is Thrilled To Finally Make Her First WC/Olympic Team For Kenya In Her Third Try, Also Pumped To Be On Team With Her Idol – Vivian Cheruiyot Saina grew up middle class in Kenya.
Valerie Adams Not Competing In Beijing
*MB: If you can’t win, don’t try at all. Valerie Adams won’t compete in Beijing

World Masters Have Already Begun

US Sending 426 Athletes To World Masters Champs, Which Have Started (Run Through Aug. 16th) In France

US Training Group News

Make Sure Your Running Shoes Feel Good

NY Times: It’s Official: The Only Thing That Matters In Picking A Running Shoe Is Comfort (And Pronation Appears To Be Good For You)

Sprint / Jump News

Random But Interesting

Rapper Eminem Talks About How He Used To Run 17 Miles A Day On The Treadmill “When I got out of rehab, I needed to lose weight, but I also needed to figure out a way to function sober. … It’s easy to understand how people replace addiction with exercise. One addiction for another … when it came to running, I think I got a little carried away. I became a fucking hamster.”
*MB: Eminem ran 117 miles a week!
MB: Lolo Jones says she can last a minute with Ronda Rousey
New International 10K Road Race Will Cross The Border Between The US And Mexico The race starts in El Paso, Texas, goes into Juarez, Mexico, and finishes on the border.
MB: Austin TX runner seeks to make cat-calling illegal

Huge Doping / Corruption News

German ARD Report Round II: Leaked IAAF Doping Files Reveal “Extraordinary Extent Of Cheating” German journalist Hajo Seppelt reports that an IAAF database of blood values shows that a third of medals won at Olympics and Worlds between 2001 and 2012 came from athletes who have recorded “suspicious” blood values (800 of the 5,000 athletes on record were marked “suspicious”). The IAAF responded, and the reports admit that the blood values alone aren’t proof of doping.
Recommended Watch: View The Full ARD Documentary In English The report includes an extraordinary amount of damning evidence (hidden cameras and documents) against Russia and Kenya. Injections and doping talk caught on tape, federations taking bribes form athletes, and general corruption and apathy towards doping.
Neither Usain Bolt Or Mo Farah Have Recorded “Abnormal Values”

2015 TD Beach To Beacon Results LRC Preview

LRC Stephen Kosgei (28:28) & Wude Ayalew (31:55) Claim Titles At 2015 TD Beach To Beacon 10K; Former Oregon Standouts Eric Jenkins (28:50) & Alexi Pappas (32:56) Lead American Finishers Jenkins wasn’t content to end his season with a stroll as he was the only American man that tried to hang in the African lead pack. The battle in the women’s race was very tight for both the win and top American honors. Post-race interviews with Laura Thweatt, Alexi Pappas, Diane Nukuri, Stephen Kosgei, Moses Kipsiro, Eric Jenkins and Maksim Korolev. *Results
*RRW: Stephen Kibet, Wude Ayalew Win TB Beach To Beacon 10-K In Tactical Races
*MB: Chris Solinsky is back baby!

The Beginning Of The End For Women’s Sports?

LRC The End Of Women’s Sports As We Know It? Is Caster Semenya The Favorite For Gold For The 2016 Olympics? The Court Of Arbitration For Sport Suspends IAAF’s Hyperandrogenism Regulations Earlier this week, hyperandrogenic Indian sprinter Dutee Chand was cleared to compete despite having super-elevated testosterone levels. More importantly, the court totally suspended the IAAF’s hyperandrogenism regulations, meaning athletes with internal testicles are free to compete as women without treatment. We break down what it means. Is this the beginning of the end for women’s sports?

Dutee Chand Aims To Qualify For Rio Olympics After CAS Verdict We 100% disagree with this statement from Payoshni Mitra: “This verdict upholds the notion of gender equality in sports. … I feel this verdict will pave the way for a more inclusive, fairer sporting culture.” Letting people with internal testicles compete as women is absurd.
Dutee Chand Will Not (For Now) Get Coveted Target Olympic Podium Funding In India

The Integrity Of The Sport Is At Stake – Mike Rossi Is A Marathon Cheat And Should Have Been DQed From The 2014 Lehigh Valley Marathon

LRC Investigates Lehigh Valley Got It Wrong: The Evidence Is Conclusive: Mike Rossi – The Viral Boston Marathon Dad – Is A Marathon Cheat And Should Never Have Been On The Starting Line In Boston In April, Mike Rossi gained international fame for his snarky response to a letter from his kids’ principal scolding him for taking them out of school for several days to watch Boston. A LetsRun.com investigation has revealed that Rossi’s principal was correct, the kids should never have been in Boston as the evidence is conclusive – their father didn’t legitimately qualify for the 2015 Boston Marathon. How confident are we that Rossi cut the course when he “ran” his 3:11:45 BQ qualifier at Lehigh Valley? Extremely. We’ll pay Mike Rossi $10,000 if he qualifies again in the next 12 months – and the qualifying time is 13+ minutes slower – 3:25.
*MB: Did Mike Rossi (viral marathon dad) cheat his way into Boston?

Doping News: Major Drug Bust

Breaking: Japan Times Part III: Victor Conte Claims Flo-Jo And Jackie Joyner Kersee Tested Positive At 1988 Olympics And There Was Huge Doping Cover-Up He names Flo-Jo, Jackie Joyner-Kersee and others as athletes whose failed drug tests were covered up. In terms of his six current athletes he thinks are doped, he names Galen Rupp, Mo Farah, Usain Bolt, Yohan Blake, Carmelita Jeter and Jason Richardson and says WADA purposely avoided re-testing samples from big names like Usain Bolt and Mo Farah. *Part I *Part II
*MB: Breaking: Victor Conte Claims Huge Doping Cover Up At The 1988 Olympics With Flo-Jo And Others; Corruption In WADA

MB: The IAAF Drops The Hammer – 28 Athletes Busted From Re-Test Of Samples From 2005 And 2007 World Champs! Track and field takes a lot of criticism for drugs but we don’t know of any other sport that goes after cheats 8-10 years after the fact. MLB (baseball) only started drug bans in 2004 and in 2005 a first ban resulted in a 10-day suspension.

“Four Kenyan Athletes Have Been Indefinitely Banned From Malaysia Road Races Following Claims Of Failed Doping Tests” The article really isn’t clear about why these four are thought to have doped, but none are big names.
Jamaica’s Former IAAF Anti-Doping Panel Member Dr. Herb Elliott Defends Kenya Elliott: “Many Africans, like Jamaicans, have sickle-cell trait. The blood pool in Africa is not as straight as the European one. … It doesn’t mean that they are doping; it means you have haemoglobin that looks funny.”
UK Writer Doesn’t Think The IAAF’s 28 Drug Bans Are Necessarily A “Success Story” “For the general public it represents yet another reason not to believe what they see.” Would he have rather had them sweep it under the rug? The bans are great because it deters current athletes from cheating.
Top Kenyans, Including Wilson Kipsang, Want Athletes With Suspicious Blood Values Named
Scottish Steepler Eilish McColgan Blogs About Blood Values And The IAAF She and many other athletes didn’t know it, but they can actually access all their blood test results from the IAAF whereabouts system online.
GB Olympic Distance Runner Freya Ross Explains Why She Agreed To Let The Sunday Times Publish Her Blood Data “Transparency is key to clean sport and I’m a big supporter of that.”

US Distance News

Good Read: Jenny Simpson And Shannon Rowbury Talk About The 1,500 AR, Their Rivalry And Chances To Medal At Worlds Simpson on Monaco: “I ran 3:57 and that’s incredible for me … But I was fourth and I want to be on the podium. Just as I stepped off the track, I walked up to my coaches and said ‘just get me ready for Beijing.'”
A Year After Giving Birth, Alysia Montaño Returns To World Championships Montano’s comeback from pregnancy has been amazing as she was still breastfeeding at USAs and it will be her daughter’s first birthday a week before Worlds starts.
Former Foot Locker Runner-Up And Stanford All-American Katy Trotter Now A Podiatrist In New Jersey
Mike Brannigan Wins Parapan Am Games 1,500m Brannigan, who has autism, actually has the T-20 paralympic WR in the 1,500 and should be the favorite to win at the Paralympics in Rio next year.
RRW: Ready To Take Next Step, Parker Stinson Joins Team USA Minnesota Stinson’s fall racing plan includes the US 20K Champs, US 10 Mile Chams and RNR Philly Half-Marathon.
*Stinson, Biya Simbassa, Katy Moen And Megan Goethals Join Team USA Minnesota

The US’s Biggest 800 Star Also Won’t Be At Worlds

LRC America’s Best Hope For A Mid-D Or Distance Gold, Ajee Wilson, Withdraws From 2015 IAAF World Championships It’s revealed that Wilson, who hasn’t raced since USAs, has been suffering from an injury since before USAs.

USATF Names Team Of 130 For Beijing 2015
800 Runners Adam Kszczot And Marcin Lewandowski Among Poland’s 50-Athlete Worlds Team
Australia Names Team Of 42 For Worlds They may add more in the coming days.

Today’s Doping Updates

IAAF Accuses London Marathon Chief Nick Bitel Of Being “Outrageous And Insulting” Bitel had accused the IAAF of failing “to take effective action” and the IAAF came back with a harsh response of their own.
Olympic Discus Champ Robert Harting Leads Athletes In YouTube Video Message To IAAF The video leads off with, “Dear IAAF, we cannot trust you anymore … you damage our sport.”
IAAF Responds: “We would love to welcome Robert Harting, whose no nonsense anti-doping stance we greatly admire, to come and talk to us so we can address his concerns and illustrate why WADA has confident in our commitment.”
UK Anti-Doping Doesn’t Want Athletes To Share Their Blood Data Because They Fear They’ll Face False Accusations UKAD chief exec. Nicole Sapstead: “You can’t just look at anonymous data in isolation.”
Sapstead Wants All Countries To Have High Level Of Drug Testing Testing definitely is not equal worldwide and some countries don’t even implement the biological passport.

More Pro Stuff

Lauren Johnson Talks About How She Dove Her Way Onto The USA World Team Johnson had made a huge breakthrough this year, bringing her PR down by over 6 seconds to 4:04.17.
Sport24: “Caster Semenya Ready To Show Her Old Rivals Her Heels” she says she’s in “good shape” and is “just happy to have qualified.” Asked about the recent doping allegations against Russian mid-d runners, Semenya had no comment.
Will Blanka Vlasic Be Able To Make Up For Her Olympic Defeat In Her Return To Beijing? In 2008 she had an agonizing defeat as she lost Olympic gold on countback. She hasn’t competed since June, but her agent says she’s ready.
IAAF Personal Bests Q&A With UK Sprinter Martyn Rooney Rooney says his biggest weakness is chocolate and the best athlete he’s ever seen is David Rudisha.
Robert Harting Will Not Defend His World Discus Title As He’s Still Recovering From A Knee Injury

USATF Screws Up Again

LRC Sad: USATF Kicks Nick Symmonds Off Team USA For Worlds Instead Of Defining What An “Official” Team Function Is Barring legal action, Team USA won’t have 800m silver medalist Nick Symmonds on it. Instead of clarifying when athletes need to wear Team USA gear at Worlds, USATF left Symmonds off the team when he didn’t sign a contract by yesterday’s deadline. Symmonds will consult an attorney on Monday and come out swinging, claiming to show how USATF “is stealing millions of dollars from the athletes.”
*Discuss
*PDF Of Contract USATF Wanted Nick To Sign Note it has the word “official” in “‘official’ team functions” in quotes. Something is official or it is not. Yet it doesn’t outline what an official team function is – bizarre.
*Darren Rovell ESPN Article
*MB Talk: BREAKING: Symmonds off World team
*MB Talk: What if Symmonds is just out of shape?

Previous Nick Symmonds Explains Why He Won’t Sign USATF’s Contract And How He Was “Bullied And Threatened” At World Indoors For Not Wearing USA Gear According to Symmonds, USATF wants to control what athletes wear to coffee.

On The Boards

What if Symmonds is just out of shape?
BREAKING: Symmonds off World team
When Symmonds stays home who else goes? Pan Am champ Clayton Murphy is the alternate.
Anyone else think Symmonds is trying too hard to be like Prefontaine?
Nick Symmonds: “I’m in shape right now to win a medal.”

NY Times Looks At Trail, Ultra And “Sky” Running

NY Times: A Real Adventure: Sorting Out All The F.K.T.s (Fastest Known Times) Scott Jurek’s Appalachian Trail record is just one of the hundreds of “official” “unofficial” records out there.
*Scott Jurek Responds To “Personal Attacks, Misinformation” Surrounding State Park Citations
“Skyrunning”: When Trail, Mountain And Ultra Running Aren’t Enough Skyrunning is a combination of running and mountaineering. As an example, one of the sport’s biggest names, Kilian Jornet, is going to try to set a speed record climbing Mount Everest in 24 to 48 hours.

More Weekend Action *FT Full Results

Flotrack Throwdown: Peter Callahan Upsets Mile Field In 3:58.43 As Galen Rupp Finishes Way Back In 4th (4:00.45) Canada’s Fiona Benson dominated the women’s mile in 4:25.79, finishing almost 5 seconds in front of Gabe Grunewald (4:30.43). The 800s went to Duane Solomon (1:46.84) and Maggie Vessey (2:00.30). Deon Lendore won the 400 in 45.77 as Nick Symmonds was last in 48.53.
*MB: Stick a fork in RUPP! *Peter Callahan 3:37 1500 FTW Earlier This Week

Poland Throws Meet Recap: World Champ Pawel Fajdek Sets Hammer NR With 83.93m In non-throws action, Adam Kszczot ran 1:44.67 to beat 800m rival Marcin Lewandowski.

Sunday Morning Politics

Kazakhstan Becomes First Country To Publicly Back Sergey Bubka For IAAF President
Eight Sports Make Pitches For Spot At 2020 Tokyo Olympics The sports are baseball and softball, squash, surfing, bowling, roller sports, sport climbing, and wushu.

USATF Vs. Nick Symmonds

LRC Nick Symmonds Explains Why He Won’t Sign USATF’s Contract And How He Was “Bullied And Threatened” At World Indoors For Not Wearing USA Gear According to Symmonds, USATF wants to control what athletes wear to coffee.

Symmonds: “I’m an Eagle Scout … We always believed we should leave the campground better than we found it.” … “Right now, the campground is full of trash. And I can’t leave the sport until it’s cleaned up a little bit.”
USA 800 Alternate Clayton Murphy Wants Symmonds To Go Murphy: “I think it’s more beneficial for everybody if Nick gets the spot he deserves. I’d really almost be more disappointed for him to not go than I am excited about going.”

Sprint Stuff

Recommended Read: Stanford 400 Hurdler Daniel Brady Follows Family Legacy Of Overcoming Hardships Which Started With His Grandfather Surviving A Nazi Concentration Camp During WWII Despite suffering balance issues earlier in the year after going deaf in one ear, Brady made a comeback to medal for Canada at the Pan Am Junior Championships. Read about Brady’s season as well as how his inspirational grandfather survived the horrors of the Holocaust.
US’s Pan Am Gold/Silver Medalist Sprinter Noah Lyles Might Go Pro After High School The rising senior said even if he goes to college he “likely won’t stay for very long.”
FIFA World Cup Winner And Arsenal Midfielder Mesut Ozil Is A Track Fan His favorite events are sprints.

Truth Is Indeed Stranger Than Fiction

LRCThe 5 Most Unbelievable (Negative) Stories From The 2015 Track Season (So Far)

Before we start our World Championships previews, we thought it would be a good idea to take a step back and look big picture at what has transpired so far this year in the world of track and field. There have been a lot of amazing developments so far in 2015. We list five events that if we’d predicted them at the beginning of the year, you’d have said we were TOTALLY crazy.

LRCThe 5 Most Unbelievable (Positive) Stories From The 2015 Track Season (So Far)

Pro Distance News

MB: Bad News Meseret Defar will NOT use Wild Card to compete at Worlds
Galen Rupp Is Racing The Mile At The Flotrack Throwdown Meet To Work On His Kick” Rupp: “I’ve got all the faith in the world right now in my strength. It’s really about working on my speed …” The meet is being held at a track for recreational runners and Alberto Salazar thinks it’s up to 3 seconds slower than a normal track.
Kevin Liao: “Sir Walter Miler, Flotrack Throwdown Redefine Fan-Friendly Track And Field” The two meets this weekend try to cater to the non-die hard track fan.
Good Read: Guor Mading Maker (Marial) Shares His Journey From Fleeing Sudan To Representing South Sudan At Rio 2016 “When I left Sudan, I said, ‘I will never run again’ because I thought running was only for me to save my life.”
Star Studded Fields Announced For Zurich DL Meet On September 3rd Including Evan Jager Vs. Jarius Birech Rematch In The Steeple Conseslus Kipruto will also race as the women’s 800 has Eunice Sum, Ajee Wilson, Cuba’s Rose Mary Almanza and Switzerland’s Selina Buchel. Mutaz Essa Barshim, Ivan Ukhov and Bohdan Bondarenko in the HJ.
Cool Highlight Videos From The GNC Live Well Liberty Mile, Which Was Won By Heather Kampf And Jordan McNamara Last Week

Sports Journalism At Its Finest – Nearly 9,000 Words

Recommended / Must Read ESPN/Mike Wise: Once Lauded By Nelson Mandela, 1996 Olympic Marathon Gold Medalist Josia Thugwane Has Been Forgotten By South Africa Thugwane grew up extremely poor and illiterate. Just 5 months before the Games, he was shot in the face. In Atlanta, he won gold in marathon #19 despite having only a 2:11 PR. As for Apartheid, he understood it as follows: “The white people have money. The black people are to work [for] the white people. I don’t know whether this is wrong thing.” We are calling this a must read for anyone under 30 as they may have never heard of Thugwane.

A Look At How Steve Cram Ran 3:46 For The Mile 30 Years Ago

A Look At The Training Of Steve Cram Which Enabled Him To Run 3:46.32 For The Mile – A British Record That Turned 30 Last Week The former 400m runner went for a “single peak periodization.”

The IAAF Fires Back At ARD And The Sunday Times With A Vehement Defense

Must Read: IAAF Issues Statement And Strongly Rejects Anti-Doping Allegations Of A Cover-Up – “(Both) ARD and The Sunday Times both admit that their evaluation of the data did not prove doping.” The IAAF says there is nothing close to a cover-up. The Sunday Times claims six athletes tests were covered up when in fact the IAAF says they targeted all six for most testing and banned them. Additionally, the IAAF says the data in the report isn’t a “scoop” as they themselves turned it over to scientists who used it for a study in a peer reviewed journal. Also most of the data was before 2009 when athletes couldn’t be banned as there was no Biological Passport.
*BBC On IAAF Response *Athletics Weekly Recap Of IAAF Rebuttal

Seb Coe Is Furious With Way Track Is Portrayed By ARD And Sunday Times – This Is A “Declaration Of War” “There is nothing in our history of competence and integrity in drug-testing that warrants this kind of attack. We should not be cowering. We should come out fighting. Nobody should underestimate the anger at the way our sport has been portrayed. The fightback has to start here. We cannot be portrayed as a sport that is dragging our heels.”
*BBC On Coe – Reports Are “Selective” And “Wrong”
*Audio: Lord Coe Says IAAF Has Consistently Led The Way In Drug Testing
Two Scientists At Heart Of ARD/Sunday Times Investigation Defend Their Work
Russian Coach At Center Of ARD Investigation, Vladimir Kazarin, Says 2nd Film Is “Bullshit” But Admits He Won’t Follow Through On His Lawsuit “This second film is unimaginable nonsense. … If you have official positive doping tests, show us. If not, goodbye.”
WADA Confirms That Leaked Athletics Database Does Not Originate From WADA Its Biological Passport system only started in 2009 and most of the stuff predates that.
Lisa Dobriskey: “I’ve known there were athletes cheating in my races. I’ve known 100 per cent. I didn’t have the documents to prove it but as an athlete you just know.”
US Runners Kyle Merber, Deena Kastor And Shalane Flanagan Hope Report Will Ultimately Help Sport’s Image

Pro Distance News

Report Saying UK Athletics Set To Split With Alberto Salazar After Worlds In Reaction To Doping Allegations They will apparently also advise Mo Farah to leave Salazar as well.
*MB: Farah and UK athletics set to leave Salazar post Beijing
After Quiet Summer, Dathan Ritzenhein Eyes “3 Or 4” Races Before Olympic Marathon Trials In February The Trials race is his sole focus and he doesn’t have any definitive racing plans yet for the fall.
Q&A With Genzebe Dibaba On Her 1,500 WR Dibaba knew she was in shape to go after the 1,500 WR when she was training for the 5,000 and ran a 6 x 800m workout with 5 reps in the low 2:0x-range and then 1:58 for the last one.
Oh, To Be Talented: Aussie Steepler Madeline Heiner Went Away From The Sport And Hardly Ran For Eight Years; Now She’s Going To Worlds Only seven months after returning to running, she finished 4th at the Commonwealth Games and now she’s run 9:21 and is ranked 12th in the world.
Spanish National Champs Recap: Adel Mechaal Becomes The First Since 1945 To Win The 1,500-5,000 Double World bronze medalist Ruth Beitia took her eleventh national HJ title with 1.98m. *Full Results

2015 Pan Am Junior Champs Are In The Books *Results

Team USA Cleans Up At Pan Am Juniors, Taking 9 Of 10 Distance Gold Medals The US won 18 medals total as sub-4 high schooler Matthew Maton took the 5,000 in 14:20, closing in a 61-second last lap.
DyeStat Highlights Vashti Cunningham won the women’s HJ, setting the AJR (and HS record) at 6-5. Noah Lyles ran a very wind-aided 10.07 in the semis and then got silver in the final with 10.18; Cuba’s Reyneir Mena won in 10.17.
IAAF Recap: Cuba’s Yulenmis Aguilar Sets World Junior Javelin Record With 63.33m
USATF Day-By-Day: Final: Team USA Sets Pan Am Juniors Record With 30 Golds
*Fri. *Sat. AM *Sat. PM *Sun. AM
USATF Junior Olympics: Champions Crowned As JOs Come To A Close *Sat. Recap *Fri.
JapanRunningNews: 13 New Records And Other Highlights From Japan National HS Champs

Kenyan Trials Recap *Full Results

LRC5 Highlights And Thoughts From Kenyan Trials + Video Of Kiprop Showboating With A Salute In The 1,500

5 thoughts and highlights from the Kenyan Trials as Asbel Kiprop gets in some showboating practice + some really fast times by Geoffrey Kamworor and Faith Kipyegon and a loss by David Rudisha.

2015 Kenyan World Trials *Full Results

MB: Geofrey Kipsang Kamworor Wins 10k In 27:11 At Altitude! David Rudisha Beaten By Ferguson Rotich, Jarius Birech Wins The Steeple + More Bernard Lagat‘s sister Violah has made the WC team.
Geoffrey Kamworor Runs Unbelievable 27:11 At Altitude To Win 10k Kamworor says they will try to use team tactics to beat Mo Farah at Worlds.
Ferguson Rotich Hands David Rudisha His 1st Loss Ever On Kenyan Soil, Asbel Kiprop Wins So Convincingly He Has Time To Salute Kenya’s Head Of State Eunice Sum wins 800 and mentions Ajee Wilson as someone she needs to watch out for in Beijing. Faith Kipyegon wins 1,500 over Mercy Cherono.
Rudisha After Loss: “I am shocked by the defeat … I have not done enough speed work, though I am 90% fit … I have three weeks to fix it.”
IAAF Recap
Day 1: Former Double World Champ Vivian Cheruiyot Wins Kenyan World Trials 10,000 To Punch Her Ticket To Beijing Finishing one second behind Cheruiyot to secure a spot for Worlds was former NCAA champ Betsy Saina. Commonwealth champ Joyce Chepkirui was 3rd and World XC champ Agnes Tirop 5th. OTC’s Sally Kipyego was a DNF.
David Rudisha Easily Moves Past 800 First Round At Kenyan Trials With Fastest Time Of The Day (1:44.20)

Jumps And Sprints

Usain Bolt And Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce Lead Jamaican Team For Worlds They’ll be sending some distance runners, too, including former NCAA All-American Kemoy Campbell (5,000), former NCAA champ Natoya Goule (800) and former US steepler Aisha Praught (steeple/1,500).
After Racking Up Multiple Medals As A Youth, Russian Long Jumper Darya Klishina Is Hoping To Finally Finish On The Podium As A Senior Klishina is now living and training in Florida with a group that includes her US rival Tianna Bartoletta.
Profile On Kaylin Whitney, Who At 17 Years Old Is Going To Worlds As Part Of The USA 4 X 100 Squad The high school pro has been running track since she was 7 years old.
TJer Pedro Pablo Pichardo And PVer Yarisley Silva Lead Cuban Team For Worlds
The Year Of The Vault: Shawn Barber And Demi Payne Win Bowerman Award Fan Vote

Other: Portland 2016 Is Less Than A year Away

Distance / Mid-D News

After A Long Hiatus From The Top, 2011 Double World Champ Vivian Cheruiyot Is Back Eyeing A Return To The Podium Cheruiyot talks about how she was disappointed not to win gold in London 2012, so decided to take a break to start her family with the long-term plan in place to be back at the top by 2016.
NZ Herald Looks Back At John Walker’s Amazing Time Trial Run From 1975 When He Became The First Man To Run Under 3:50 It was a race that Walker almost didn’t run as the he didn’t like the Gothenburg stadium and the meet originally was running a 1,500, not the mile.
MB: Former NCAA Indoor Mile Champion Miles Batty Officially Done With Track (Possibly Longer Races) He says he’s now moving on to med school and maybe road racing.

Doping News: IAAF To Drop “Bombshell” This Week

London Marathon Chief Executive Nick Bitel Criticizes IAAF Over “Failure To Take Effective Action” Bitel: “What is concerning is that we’re never told these results even though we’re paying tens of thousands of pounds to get these athletes tested.”
*Bitel “Very Concerned By Allegations” Against IAAF
Recommended: Eight UK Athletes, Including Mo Farah, Release Their Blood Data To The Public The Sunday Times got permission to publish and graphed the “off-scores” for eight GB athletes. You can look at their values graphed in comparison to known drug cheats Liliya Shobukhova and Abderrahim Goumri. A good first step towards transparency.
*MB: 8 UK athletes (inc. Farah) release blood test data
IAAF Insider Reporting A “Significant” Number Of “Major” Names, Including Russian Double World Champ Tatyana Tomashova, Will Be Exposed And Stripped Of Medals Tomashova and three other Russian mid-d runners (Olga Yegorova, Yelena Soboleva and Yuliya Fomenko) were caught using someone else’s urine in 2008 and banned, but now are set to be retroactively banned from re-tests of samples from 2005 Worlds.
*MB: Multiple Big name drug busts next week!
The Sunday Times Says The London Marathon Was Won 7 Times In 12 Years By Athletes With Suspicious Blood Values 34 big city marathons winners (1 in 4) had suspicious values.
Latest Conspiracy Theory: Was Banned Jamaican Sprinter Steve Mullings Sabotaged By The JAAA? Mullings received a lifetime ban after failing a second drug test in 2011, but says that he was sabotaged and even that “there are people who are plotting against my life in order to keep me silent.” Now an anonymous letter from an alleged JAAA insider is backing his claim.

Good Read: OC Register: Nike Promotes – And Undermines – US Track And Field What would Bill Bowerman or Steve Prefontaine think of Nike today? What was once “the rebel company that shook the powers that be” is now the one that takes away athletes’ rights rather than fighting for them.

WADA Has The IAAF’s Back On Doping Controversy

IAAF “Warmly Welcomes” WADA Statement Concerning Blood Data; Agrees To “Fully Co-Operate” With WADA Analysis Of Data WADA officials said they “deplore” the method the blood data was obtained and reiterated that values from before 2009 could not be used to determine doping and that one suspicious value doesn’t necessarily prove doping.
Wada To Launch “Urgent” Investigation Into Doping Claims
Irish Independent: “Gatlin gold must be IAAF’s nightmare scenario.” “Expect Seb Coe and friends to watch between the gaps in their fingers.”
British Athletics Warns Athletes Not To Reveal Their Blood Data Athletes have been approached by media asking permission for their values from the leaked IAAF database to be shared.
US Sprint Coach Bob Kersee Thinks International Drug Testing Is Unfair Athletes like Allyson Felix are tested all the time, but some foreign athletes he coaches don’t get tested at all. It makes sense that better athletes will be tested more, but it is a problem that not every country has strict testing like USADA.
AW: “Athletics is fighting an almighty battle against the cynics.”

Seb Coe, The Master Tactician Politician

UK Writer: “Seb Coe Is Picking His Fights With The Wrong People – They’re On His Side” Writer accuses Coe of purposely going to “war” with ARD and The Sunday Times to help his campaign for IAAF president.
The US, Russia, France And Qatar All Seem Ready To Vote Seb Coe For IAAF President After They Come Out Supporting His Olympic Athletics Dividend Program

Nick Symmonds Fights USATF Overreach

Nick Symmonds-USATF Controversy Makes NY Times (link fixed) USATF has screwed up again and the NY Times is now on the story. USATF wants all World Championships team members not to bring branded non-Nike gear to Worlds to wear even casually in the hotel. Nick won’t sign the contract USATF wants him to sign that does not define what a team event is. If he does not sign it by Sunday, USATF’s Jill Geer says he “will not be on the team.” Imagine if USABasketball told Lebron that he couldn’t wear Nike gear in a hotel and had to wear adidas gear. USATF is getting negative publicity once again.
*Discuss

General Doping Updates

Discuss: Victor Conte Says USADA Probe Of Alberto Salazar Needs To Include An Investigation Of Nike, John Smith And Mo Greene 2nd part in a series from Ed Odeven in Japan Times.
Liliya Shobukhova Officially Stripped Of Her World Marathon Major Titles And Has Her Drug Ban Extended By 14 Months
All her results since 2009 have been disqualified by the IAAF.
London Marathon Will Attempt To Recover Prize Money And Appearance Fees Paid To Shobukhova Any recovered money will be used to pay athletes reallocated prize money.
*Chicago Marathon Will Also Attempt To Recover Prize Money
WMM Increasing Drug Testing By Conducting Its Own Out-Of-Competition Testing Nick Bitel: “We’ve just agreed with the IAAF that we’re going to carry out hundreds and hundreds of out-of-competition tests on athletes ourselves. We’re not just sitting there waiting for somebody else to find out the results.”
Former UK Sprinter Darren Campbell (200m Silver Medal At 2000 Olympics) Hopes Justin Gatlin Beats Usain Bolt At Worlds “In a crazy kind of way I want to see Justin Gatlin beat Usain Bolt because the sport will have to deal with it.”

More Pro News: Jamaica > GB & Canada

Jamaica Waiting Until The Last Possible Day To Name Their Team For Worlds To Give Athletes A Chance To Get Qualifying Marks Many will compete at the NACAC Champs this weekend. Good on Jamaica for trying to bring as many of their athletes as they can. The UK and Canada could learn something from them.
Jumpers Provide The Highlights At Russian National Champs Olympic champ Anna Chicherova won the HJ in 2.00m to beat world indoor champ Maria Kuchina (1.97m). There was a surprise in the men’s 800 as 19-year-old Konstantin Tolokonnikov won in 1:45.76.
Ashton Eaton Selects Five Athletes From World Youth Champs To Join Him For All-Expenses-Paid Training Camp In Eugene The list included US sprinter Candace Hill, but no distance runners. *2nd Article

RIP To Jim Ryun’s Coach

Remembering USTFCCCA Hall Of Fame Coach Bob Timmons (1924-2015): U.S. Track & Field And Cross-Country Coaches Association (USTFCCCA) Most noted for his work with Jim Ryun.
*Ryun: “He gave each athlete a different challenge. He took such a personal interest in everyone around him.”
*KU Tribute To Timmons Includes photo slide show.
*MB: Hall of Fame Coach Bob Timmons Passes Away at 91

Kenyan Marathon Stars Respond To ARD/Sunday Times Doping Allegations

Eliud Kipchoge And Wilson Kipsang Tell Kenyan Fans Not To Be Fazed By Doping Allegations
Eliud Kipchoge: “Those athletes whom I know and those who are near me … They are clean.” The Sunday Times said 18 of Kenya’s medals between 2001 and 2012 were won by people with suspicious blood values.

Week That Was

LRCCaster Semenya On Her Way Back, Katie Mackey Diamond League Champ, Hammer WR, Pan Am JRs, And Tokyo Logo Revealed

Caster Semenya appears to be on the way back, the Brooks Beasts now have one more Diamond League win by Americans than the Nike Oregon Project and Bowerman Track Club combined, and the USA dominated World Juniors. Plus if you missed it, we've got links to the Kenyan champs and Stockholm, and we don't know what to say about the doping report yet.