September 25, 2015 | LetsRun.com

BMW Berlin Marathon Kicks Off Abbott World Marathon Majors Sunday *Stream Info – 3AM ET; Tape Delay On TV At 1PM ET

LRCMen's Preview: Can Kipchoge Or E. Mutai Get The World Record? What About The Canadian Record? Will An American Break 2:10?

The world record is on everyone’s mind as Eliud Kipchoge (London champ) and Emmanuel Mutai (2:03:13 PR) square off. Plus is Geoffrey Mutai done? Can Reid Coolsaet get the 39-year-old Canadian record? Plus Berlin, not Chicago or New York, may have the most # of elite Americans this fall in Shadrack Biwott, Sean Quigley, Matt Llano and Gabe Proctor. More coverage in our Berlin special section.

LRC2015 BMW Berlin Marathon Women's Preview: In Her First Major, Kenya's Gladys Cherono Is The Woman To Beat

There have been zero sub-2:20 runs at Abbott WMM this year. Will that change on Sunday in Berlin? Quite possibly.

Video: Q&A with Kenyan stars Eliud Kipchoge, Emmanuel Mutai and Geoffrey Mutai who talk about Sunday’s BMW Berlin Marathon
97 pages of Berlin and Abbott World Marathon Major Stats by Ken Nakamura A must read for stat geeks. 50 times 2:08 has been broken in Berlin.
*Key Berlin stat: 7 of the 16 men’s marathon world records set since 1974 have come in Berlin
Kipchoge is confident: “I’m convinced that Emmanuel Mutai and I can push on together towards a new world record.”
Berlin Press Conference Highlights From Gladys Cherono And Aberu Kebede Race Director Mark Milde: “They’re going for 2:19. Sometimes runners at press conferences say times they are not able to achieve, but I believe [Cherono] has that calibre that she can stick to that promise.”
Press Release: Cherono And Aberu Kebede Target 2:20 While Anna Hahner Sets Sights On PR And Olympic Qualifying
IAAF preview of Berlin

Be Inspired As Runners Overcome Age, Disease And Their Past

Recommended Read: For Inmates At The Oregon State Penitentiary (OSP), “The Wall” Has A Totally Different Meaning And Running Is Much “More Than Just A Race” Dedicated runners can be found everywhere, even in prison. At OSP, a 40+ year-old running club started by Steve Prefontaine and with ties to Bill Dellinger and former Athletics West coach, Dick Brown, gives new life to inmates serving long sentences for violent crimes. They train daily, run monthly races (open to the public) and help rehabilitate themselves and completely change their lives. A definite must read by Michael Heald.
Recommended Watch: Former Sub-2:30 Marathoner Michael Westphal Uses Running To Battle His Parkinson’s Disease Sometimes Westphal can barely walk, but when he runs he almost feels normal and recently qualified for Boston with a 3:32 marathon.
Centenarian Don Pellmann Breaks Five Age Group World Masters Records At The Senior Olympics Among his records, he broke the 100m record by 3 seconds with 26.99 and became the first man over 100 years old to clear a height in the high jump.

Olympic Stuff

Ooh Burn! USOC Compares Failed Boston Olympic Bid To Seahawks’ Decision To Pass Instead Of Run The Ball At The Super Bowl USOC CEO Scott Blackmun: “But here’s the thing. Unlike the Seahawks, we have not lost the game.”
IOC Accused Of “Astonishing Omission” Of Human Rights Clause In 2024 Host City Contract The Agenda 2020 reform process called for host city contracts to have a human rights clause, but there was apparently no mention in the 2024 contract.
LA To Declare $100 Million State Of Emergency On Homelessness To Help 2024 Olympic Bid Councilman Gilbert Cedillo: “If we want to be a great city that hosts the Olympics and shows itself off to the world, we shouldn’t have 25,000 to 50,000 people sleeping on the streets.”
Video: Rome Says They’re 70 Percent Ready To Host 2024 Games
Rome’s Summer Olympics Bid Could Include Events At Colosseum, St. Peter’s Square
Boston The Sequel? Hungary Says There Are No Plans For Referendum On 2024 Olympic Bid
Japan Sports Minister To Resign Over Tokyo 2020 Stadium Fiasco

Pro News

Seb Coe Agrees With LetsRun.com – Farah Isn’t The GOAT “He is a wonderful, wonderful athlete. I’ll leave the greatest ever tag to other athletes. Mo’s progress through the ranks has been spectacular, but there are other things you need to throw into the balance: world records, times, speeds, all those things.”
Matt Llano Has Been Living At Shalane Flanagan’s House For Weeks As He Gets Ready For This Weekend’s Berlin Marathon The two became friends as both are “foodies.”
*MB: Good article on Matt Llano living and training with Shalane Flanagan as he prepares for Sunday’s Berlin Marathon
Vin Lananna Is Surprised World Indoors Hasn’t Already Sold Out “I don’t think there is enough understanding of what indoor track actually is,” Lananna says.
*MB: Vin Lananna is surprised World Indoors isn’t sold out – isn’t sure if Salazar/Rupp doping allegations are to blame
Stephen Kiprotich Says His Body Didn’t Respond To Training For Worlds But He’s Going For Repeat Gold In Rio
Sprints/Jumps Blanka Vlasic Talks About Her Amazing Silver Medal At Worlds: The Silver Medal That Felt Like Gold To Vlasic She’d only competed twice all summer due to injury and some days couldn’t even walk.
Kemar Bailey-Cole Says He Would Have Been Third At Worlds Had Hamstring Injury Not Kept Him Out He had run a 9.92 PR early in the year on LetsRun.com’s “Founders Day.”
Bob Beamon’s Words Of Wisdom Beamon talks about the need to be fully committed to your craft and be patient. In college, Beamon lost to a HSer.

Jumps And Throws

After Placing 4th At Worlds, New Zealand Shot Putter Tom Walsh Is Back To Working 8 Hours A Day As A Construction Worker Walsh: “It’s good to just kind of get away and stop thinking about training and the gym, just living like a normal guy for a while and enjoying a little bit of a break away from all the training and the pressures of travel.”
Video: Hilarious HJ Fail
IAAF Profile On Javelin Thrower Ihab Abdelrahman El Sayed, Who Won Egypt’s First-Ever World Championships Medal (Silver) Like Kenya’s Julius Yego, El Sayed beat the odds by excelling in a country with no tradition or coaching knowledge in his event.
UK Writer Argues Triple Jump Isn’t A Real Sport Because It Is “Too Contrived”
Graphic Comparison Of Christian Taylor’s 18.21m American Record Vs. Jonathan Edwards’ 18.29m WR
World Class Javelin Experts Meeting In Finland To Discus Training Methods And Need For Change

Terrible News

Recommended Read: RIP: Tribute To Former UC Davis All-American Sarah “Stump” Sumpter, Who Lost Her 5-Year Battle With Cancer Sumpter’s story was extremely inspirational as even after she was diagnosed with brain cancer and underwent surgery, she fought back to have an impressive collegiate career including multiple conference titles and All-American finish. After college, she was still training to qualify for the 2016 Marathon OT.
*MB: 25 year old former CA state champ and UC Davis standout Sarah Sumpter loses battle with cancer
Blog Post By Team USA Minnesota Runner Jon Peterson “You simply did. You led Your life in a way that exemplified what it meant to be a star athlete, a scholar, a loving friend, a fighter, a tougher than nails woman that let nothing stand in your way.”
8:32 US Steepler Cameron Bean Is Killed By Car While Running The ZAP Fitness member was hit while on a run Saturday. The driver of the car who crossed traffic to hit Cameron from behind said the sun was in her eyes and she didn’t see him.

NCAA News *This Weekend’s NCAA Results

LRC 2015 NCAA Men’s Individual Top 10 Preview: Can Anyone Beat King Cheserek? There is a heavy, heavy favorite but behind him it’s wide open. How many can Colorado put in the top 10? Does anyone have a chance Edward Cheserek? We’ve found a potential upset winner (pics included on the right) whom we bet you’ve never heard of.

LRC 2015 NCAA Women’s Individual Top 10 Preview: Who Takes Over For Kate Avery? With no Kate Avery, the championship picture is wide open. Wisconsin junior Sarah Disanza is the top returner from a year ago but she’s far from a shoo-in as she’ll be pushed by British import Rhona Auckland (New Mexico) and NCAA track champs Dominique Scott (3k), Rhianwedd Price (1,500) and Molly Seidel (10k).

MB: What is your Early Season Individual NCAA Top 15

This Weekend’s XC Preview: LRC Battle In Beantown & Roy Griak Invitational Headline The Season’s First Weekend That Actually Counts For Anything The women’s races are the most interesting this weekend, with No. 4 Georgetown and No. 8 Providence squaring off in Boston and No. 2 Iowa St. and No. 6 Michigan St. doing the same in Minnesota. The No. 3 Syracuse men run in Boston as well, while Stanford, Virginia and Oklahoma State all host home meets.

Roy Griak Minnesota Hall Of Fame Feature: Garry Bjorklund And Others Share Their Memories Bjorklund: “When I think back to my greatest memories as a runner, it is not the conference titles as an individual, nor is it the being an All-American or an Olympian … my greatest achievement is I was a part of a team coached by Roy Griak.”
USTFCCCA Weekend Preview: Oklahoma State Cowboy Jamboree, Stanford Invy And Virginia Panorama Farms Invitational
Podcast Q&A With Syracuse’s 13:34 Man Justyn Knight He had a bad 2014 NCAA race, but made up for it with top 25 at World Jr. XC.
Q&A with NCAA 1500 champ Chad Noelle who is running xc for 1st time since 2013 and hoping to be top 20
Q&A with former Villanova runner Sam McEntee As a freshman, he ran 3:36 for 1500 in 2012 but failed to make NCAAs in the 1500the last 2 years. He’s still dreaming of Rio.

Pro Distance News

RRW Meb Going For Masters American Half Marathon Record At RNR San Jose Half Marathon This Weekend Aliphine Tiliamuk-Bolton and Adriana Nelson lead the women’s field, while Deena Kastor will go for the American masters record (15:48 by Collen De Reuck) on Saturday.
Scottish Steepler Elish McColgan Thrilled To Be Able To Jog Again After Recovering From Ankle Surgery For The Last 9 Months “They have told me I can do seven minutes. I don’t care how short a time it is because I just want that feeling of running again. It is not the same when you are cross-training or even using an Alter-G …”
Dathan Ritzenhein Talks About His Training And Decision Not To Run A Marathon Before The Olympic Trials Ritz is focused on getting to the Trials healthy and has found he does better off intense 100-mile weeks rather than 140-150 miles a week.
Hey NYers: Nick Symmonds Hosting Free Clinic/Meet And Greet On Staten Island Sunday At 6PM

Previous NCAA Stuff

LetsRun.com’s Story On UVA Employing Suspended Doper Martin Maric As Throws Coach Goes Mainstream – Gets Picked Up By Virginia Paper – Charlottesville Paper: “UVa assistant coach embroiled in controversy.”
*Previous: LRC University Of Virginia Employing Banned Doper Martin Maric As Throws Coach; Coaches Association Honors Him As Regional Coach Of The Year

Will Rio 2016 Be Awesome? … Or A Disaster?

Rio Will Only Spend 10% Of What London Spent For Opening Ceremory But They Promise An “Original” Show
Rio Doesn’t Have Any Hotel Rooms For Olympics – People Will Need To Couch Surf The one positive is we’ll all be adding another zero to Chris Lukezic‘s net worth.
Pay For Stream Websites In the News
- Runnerspace Hires Announcer Paul Swangard
- Flotrack Will Hold Another Beer Mile In Austin In December

400 Runners In The News

IAAF Inside Athletics: Ato Boldon Interviews The Great Michael Johnson Johnson talks a lot about preparing for a life after track since pro athletes only have a short window when they can make money from their running.
Oscar Pistorius Case Will Be Heard By South Africa’s Supreme Court Of Appeal On November 3rd They will either uphold the original verdict or upgrade it to murder.
UK’s Christine Ohuruogu Blogs About Her 2015 Season The defending 400m World champ was only 8th in Beijing as she says she ran to win rather than “just get a medal” and that cost her.

Marathon News: Berlin Is Sunday

RRW Remotivated After Move Home to Michigan, Dathan Ritzenhein Ready for Olympic Marathon Trials Build-Up “I was waning on motivation a little bit and being able to be back home has just revived me. It’s been really cool.”
Eliud Kipchoge Eyeing The WR At This Weekend’s Berlin Marathon As He Faces Emmanuel Mutai And Geoffrey Mutai “The focus is on the world record and I want to do just that. I have not run under two hours and four minutes and that is my inspiration.”
Good Profile On Eritrea’s Surprise World Marathon Champion Ghirmay Ghebreslassie Ghebreslassie had to fight with his parents to run as they wanted him to focus on school. His debut marathon was last year in Chicago, where he was a pacer through 25K, but he felt good so he kept running, placing 6th in 2:09:08.
Strava Offering $1,500 Stipends To Ten Women Who Hit Olympic Marathon Trials Standard Anyone shooting for the Trials standard can apply by Friday and ten who qualify will get the money to help with travel to LA in February.
It’s Getting Tougher Than Ever To Get Into Boston After the first week of registration (for the fastest time qualifiers) only 5,000 spots remain, about 3,000 less than last year at this time.
Rock ‘N’ Roll Series Drops Denver Marathon The half marathon will continue, but not the full. Former US Olympian and RNR series vice president Alan Culpepper said it was because of difficulties with the route and road closures.

Jumps And Throws

Worth A Look: Check Out Some GIFs Of Chinese HJer And World Silver Medalist Zhang Guowei Celebrating Some Of His Best Jumps Zhang could put some NFL touchdown dances to shame.
IAAF Profile On World Shot Put Bronze Medalist O’Dayne Richards: Sprints Nation Jamaica Now Making Big Waves In The Throws Richards says before his brother recruited him to throwing, he was a skinny, nerdy bookworm.
Canadian Hammer Thrower Daniel Novia Gets 3-Year, 8-Month Ban After Testing Positive For Three Banned Drugs He got a reduction from 4 years because he admitted to it and waived his right to a trial.

The Week That Was – Our Weekly Recap

LRCWTW: Craig Virgin's Insight On Drugs At Nike's Athletics West, RIP Niall O'Shaughnessy, Sarah Sumpter And Cameron Bean, And How Does Alan Webb Stack Up At Karaoke?

Last week, our sport lost three figures at way too young of an age, Craig Virgin talked about drugs at Nike's Athletics West, and the stars did some karaoke in NYC, which we compare to Alan Webb's retirement karaoke in NYC in 2014.

Study: Sitting For Long Stretches Of Time Is Also Bad For Kids After sitting for 3 hours, 9- to 12-year-old girls showed “a profound reduction in vascular function.”

Pro Distance Stuff: Berlin 2015 Is Sunday

The Eternal Bridesmaid, Emmanuel Mutai Is Going For Victory In Berlin Mutai has finished runner-up three times in London, twice in NY, once in Chicago and once in last year’s Berlin Marathon where he broke the previous WR, but still lost to Dennis Kimetto. On Sunday, he hopes to notch the second WMM victory of his career.
Five Reasons Berlin Is So Fast If the WR goes down again, it will be the sixth time in the last nine years.
RunBlogRun: Ben True And Ryan Hill Edge Closer To The Summit True and Hill talk about their 2015 seasons which saw them finish 6th and 7th at Worlds and break out from Galen Rupp‘s shadow.
Sarah Brown Talks To Runners World About Her Unexpected Pregnancy And Plans For Training And The Olympic Trials She’ll have the baby less than 15 weeks before the OT, but her husband and coach Darren Brown says, “I’ve seen her do a lot more with a lot less time.”
Oct. 18: World Marathon Champ Mare Dibaba And Bernard Koech (58:41 PR) Lead Fields For Rock ‘N’ Roll RTP Half Marathon Dibaba faces Berlin/Tokyo champ Tirfi Tsegaye while Koech is up against 2011 world 10,000 champ Ibrahim Jeilan and Alex Oloitiptip (59:28).

Doping (aka Russian) News

Stop Us If You’ve Heard This One Before: Six More Russian Racewalkers Banned After Testing Positive No, this is not an old article; these are six new suspensions. Remember in the summer when Russia said it wouldn’t send any racewalkers to Worlds to avoid “disgrace”? Well, that was because they already knew about these six suspensions.
WADA And China Sign Groundbreaking Agreement To Work To Eliminate Illegal Manufacture And Supply Of PEDs A recent investigation found that the majority of substances originated from Chinese laboratories, so WADA is attempting to stop doping at the source.

Olympic News

LA 2024 Flexes Financial Muscle By Funding Its Bid Budget Of $35 Million In A Week LA 2024 chairman Casey Wasserman: “We are funded and ready to go and looking forward to the next two years.” However, France looks to have a bigger planned budget of $68 million.
RIP: Last Surviving Priestess From The First Olympic Flame Lighting Ceremony Passes Away Maria Horss passed away at 94. She was only 14 when she took part in the first lighting of the Olympic flame for the 1936 Berlin Games.
Good: Low Budgets For Rio Opening And Closing Ceremonies A Brazilian filmmaker who is part of the team said he would be “ashamed to waste what London spent in a country where we need sanitation” and that he is “very glad we’re not spending money like crazy.” London spent $104 million.
Belgian Designer Pressing Ahead With Plagiarism Cause Against IOC Over Tokyo 2020 Logo This despite the fact that the IOC is no longer using the logo and the theater that owns it withdrew the charges.
Rio 2016 Claims Several Olympic Venues Are Approaching Completion, But Track Isn’t One Of Them
Opinion Piece: Paris 2024 Olympic Bid “Offers Certainty”

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

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?