November 14, 2015 Homepage Archive

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Archived Homepage For November 14, 2015

Quote Of The Day

“Bribery is a part of everyday life in much of the world. Do we reject any suggestion of accommodation with bribery and foist our way of doing things on the rest of the world – thereby exposing us to accusations of cultural imperialism?

Or do we abandon our standards and fall in line with ‘different’ ways of doing things that we believe are wrong? It might be an ethics exam question called ‘Seb’s Dilemma.'”

– Seb Coe talking in July. The quote appears in an Irish Independent column by Vincent Hogan entitled “Old sin of tired apathy hard to forgive.”

NCAA XC Regionals Are In The Books *Full Results Page

LRC 2015 NCAA Cross-Country Qualifiers Officially Released – List Is Exactly What We Said It Would Be Thank you, Bo Waggoner.

LRC Breaking: 2015 Men’s NCAA Cross-Country Team Qualifiers Southern Utah gets in at #31 as Cornell, UCSB and Eastern Michigan are left at home. Wisconsin‘s streak is also over. Fellow 2014 podium team NAU also is staying home.

LRC Breaking: 2015 Women’s NCAA Cross-Country Team Qualifiers Unofficially, here are your 31 NCAA women’s teams. Updated at 4:32 pm ET with a new set of teams.

LRC Which Unranked Teams Are Going Dancing? Which Ranked Teams Are Staying Home?

NCAA Talk On The Message Board:

LRC Interviews:

NCAA Track News

Pre-Ban Russian Doping News

Russian Athletics Federation President Vadim Zelichenok Admits To Some Doping Allegations; Contests Others He admitted to some of WADA’s allegations, but said, “All these irregularities happened under the old leadership of the Russian Athletics Federation and took place some time ago.”
Zelichenok: “We admit some things, we argue with some things, some are already fixed, it’s a variety.”
Police Find $93,000 In Cash In Ex-IAAF Anti-Doping Head Gabriel Dolle’s Home
IAAF Vice President Sergey Bubka Doesn’t Think Clean Russians Should Be Punished By Blanket Ban He hinted that the IAAF council would opt for a provisional suspension of Russia, but hoped they’d be back by Rio.
Russian Coaches And Officials Continue To Try To Dismiss WADA Report Conclusions Sports minister Vitaly Mutko said athletes that won medals in London “earned them in a fair fight” because they were drug tested so there is “no reason to think otherwise.” Wow. Just wow.
BBC Podcast With Steve Cram, Paula Radcliffe And Darren Campbell
IAAF Council Meeting To Decide Whether Or Not To Suspend Russia Is Today At 1PM ET
Russian Olympic Committee Recommends Former Russian Athletics Federation Head Valentin Balakhnichev Resign We can’t believe he didn’t already resign when he resigned as head of the athletics federation.

More Russian Doping Scandal Updates

Lausanne Lab Director Disputes WADA Report Saying 67 Russian Samples Were Destroyed Illegally Lab director Martial Saugy claims they were destroyed legally; also says he and his staff have been subject to anonymous death threats from Russia in the past.
*LRC Archive:Travis Tygart Says Martial Saugy Gave Lance Armstrong “The Keys To Defeat The EPO Test”
UK Journalist Threatened By Security Guards When He Tried To Visit Moscow Anti-Doping Lab The security guard threatened to call the FSB, who would “put you on the ground with two fingers.”
WADA Head Craig Reedie:“I don’t want people to think I’m too political or too soft … I have not been soft on Russia.” Reedie specifically addresses criticisms and says he believes he can lead the anti-doping fight. He says what you’d like to hear; now he’ll have to act.
Reuters:Moscow Anti-Doping Lab Shared Site With Doctor Accused Of Being The Mastermind Behind Athletes’ Cheating Actions of accused Doctor Sergei Portugalov and resigned lab director Grigory Rodchenkov are closely linked.
BALCO Scandal Head Victor Conte Thinks Russia Should Get A 4-Year Ban “Anything less would be a slap on the wrist. … They don’t deserve to be able compete. There need to be serious consequences.”
IOC President Thomas Bach Says A Fully Independent Anti-Doping Body Is “More Important Than Ever”
Really? No Reason? IOC Claims There Is “No Reason” To Doubt Drug Testing At Sochi 2014 Despite Russian Secret Police Monitoring Lab They still have frozen samples which they can retest.

Russia Is Banned *All Russian Doping Scandal News

Breaking: IAAF Provisionally Suspends Russian Athletics Federation; Russian Athletes Banned From All International Competitions 22 of the 24 voting members were in favor of the ban; only one was against. Russia will not be able to host the 2016 World Race Walking Cup or World Junior Championships. To regain membership to the IAAF, the new Russian federation will have to fulfill a list of criteria and pass inspections.
*MB:BREAKING: IAAF Suspends Russian Athletics Federation

Telegraph: What Will Happen Next And Why Russian Ban Is Likely To Be Over By March
The Guardian Thinks “An Implicit Deal Has Already Been Sealed” To Return Russia To Competition
The Guardian: What’s Next For The Main Players In The Russia Doping Scandal?
Irish Independent Slams Seb Coe
Coe: Message To Russia Could Not Be Stronger
Reaction From Around The World To IAAF Suspension Of Russian Federation
NY Times Editorial Board: Russia Should Be Banned From 2016 Games They fear that Putin will successfully be able to brush this off as another Western attempt to embarrass Russia.
Former Providence Star Mary Cullen Says Her Injuries Are The Result Of Her Trying To Keep Up With The Dopers “All the time I knew I was trying to play catch-up on athletes who were potentially doping and this was why I pushed myself, physically, to the brink.”
Dick Pound: International Sport Must Change

More Doping: What About Kenya?

Daily Nation:Moses Kiptanui Says AK Officials Are “Encouraging Doping And Are Behind Several Cover-Ups” Kiptanui was the first to speak out about doping in Kenya back in 1991. “We should be asking ourselves, which country is next? … We are not safe yet.”
Associated Press:“After Russia, Kenya’s Doping Record Under Increased Scrutiny” AK official Isaac Mwangi: “I’m not even sure our athletes and coaches have capacity to cover up such things.” If allegations are to be believed, they surely do.
Kip Keino Complains The Government Are Ignoring Getting An Anti-Doping System Going “I have personally tried to reach government officials to agree on how to act on this menace but I don’t get appointments. I make calls that are unanswered.”
Kenya Fears They Could Be Next After Russian Doping Report At least Russia had an operational anti-doping agency to corrupt in the first place. Kenya doesn’t even have that.
Russian Sports Agent And Whistleblower Andrey Baranov Says WADA Needs To Investigate Kenya And Ethiopia As Well
Doping Report Due Soon On Two Kenyan Sprinters Who Tested Positive At Worlds
Apparently, One Kenyan Athlete From Last Year’s Kass Marathon Failed A Drug Test The race has introduced drug testing by sending samples to a South African lab.

$100,000 .US 12K Champs Are Sunday Live Webcast 7:40AM ET Full Elite Fields (Link Fixed)

Race Preview: Molly Huddle And Jared Ward Look For USATF Running Circuit Titles At $100,000 .US National 12K
RRW: Believing In Herself, Alexi Pappas Is New Force On American Roads
Diego Estrada Says Making His Marathon Debut At The Trials Is “Not An Ideal Situation” We disagree. Being naive in the marathon can be a great thing.
Good Read:Daily Relay Q&A With Donn Cabral About His Success With The NJ-NY Track Club, His Friendship With Ashley Higginson And More Includes a funny anecdote about why Coach Gags wanted Cabral on the team.
Q&A With New Pro Emma Bates Ahead Of The .US 12K Champs She’s with the BAA High Performance team and has been doing altitude training in Mammoth Lakes.
Q&A With Juliet Bottorff, Who Was 7th Last Year
Q&A With Jen Rhines On being elite as a masters runner, she says, “I believe if you have a big (but attainable) goal that you’re excited about, age isn’t a limiting factor.”

More Pro Distance News

Recommended Read:Jenny Simpson In ESPNW: “How I Find Peace At The Starting Line” She says a premise from the movie Hoosiers is what she uses to stay calm before races.
David McNeill Blogs About His Love For Food And Unusual Approach To Diet McNeill, a vegetarian, eats healthy, but doesn’t obsess over calories or nutrients. He wants his food to have a “story.”
Mo Farah Will Run 3,000 At The Glasgow Indoor Grand Prix In February It will likely be his only indoor race.

Russia Continues To Respond

Vladimir Putin Orders Russian Sports Minister Vitaly Mutko To Do An Internal Investigation; Says Clean Athletes Shouldn’t Be Punished Remember, Dick Pound described Mutko as “complicit” in a program that could only have happened with the “knowledge and consent” of state authorities.
Mutko Attacks Britain, Saying If London 2012 Testing Failed To Catch Cheats, “Then Your System Is Zero And Even Worse Than Ours” Doesn’t he understand the difference between in- and out-of-competition testing? Since he’s a Russian sports official, we’re sure he does.
Mutko Says Russia Has No Intention Of Boycotting Olympics, Even If Track Athletes Are Banned
Russian Olympic Hopefuls Remain Upbeat About Rio 2016 Russian shot putter Maxim Sidorov: “Other countries do it as well. Why aren’t they disqualified?”
Russian Bank VTB Ending Its Sponsorship With The IAAF They say it is unrelated to the doping scandal and they’d already planned not to renew it.

US Road News: The Trials Are Only 3 Months Away

After Running 2:18:02 Gun Time (2:18:00 Chip), Will US Marathoner Jesse Davis Just Squeak Into The Olympic Trials? Davis also ran 2:18:13 and 2:18:26 during the qualifying window; video shows him flailing and almost falling down in the final strides. He’s appealed for OT entry and if USATF doesn’t let him in that’s just heartless.
*MB:monumental marathon won in 2:18 – scratched out the standard with a lean
Jared Ward Has Had A Smooth Transition To The Marathon And Will Enter The Trials As One Of The Major Contenders One of his key workouts is 5 x 2 miles; he averaged 9:12 per rep before he won the US Marathon Champs.
Meb Keflezighi Feels Like He’s “Still Got It” As He Preps For One Last Shot At The Olympics He says the training buildup for NYC (which included 130-mile weeks and long runs up to 27 miles) will carry over into his buildup for the Trials.
Craig Lutz Making His Half Marathon Debut At Rock ‘N’ Roll Las Vegas On Sunday He’d like to win and break (or get close to) 63 minutes.

UK News

Julia Bleasdale Blogs About Doing Altitude Training In The Swiss Mountains As She Preps For Rio 2016 Includes a pretty cool drone video of her running through some beautiful scenery.
WalesOnline: “10 Reasons Mo Farah Should Come To Cardiff To Race The 2016 World Half Marathon Championships”
UK Athletics Announce Funding List For 2015-2016Hannah England and Gemma Steel are among those who have been dropped from funding.

Relive NYC (Photo Gallery, Highlight Video, Full LRC Coverage)

Photo Gallery:

Highlight Video

Former British Olympic Discus Thrower Lawrence Okoye Signs With His Third NFL Team (The Jets) – This Time As An Offensive Lineman He’s been cut several times as a defensive lineman. Trust us – he’ll eventually be a starter in the league.

LRC Flo Groberg Gets The Medal Of Honor And President Obama Talks Running President Obama said it wonderfully: “… he had an incredible gift – he could run. Fast.”

Is Seb Coe The Man To Lead T&F Out Of The Gutter?

Guardian’s Owen Gibson:“Why Some Are Doubting Seb Coe’s Clean-Up Credentials At The IAAF” His gig with Nike and “war against my sports” comments aren’t helping him right now.
Seb Coe To Be Grilled By MPs About IAAF Scandal And His Connection With Nike Many (including us) think Coe giving up his role with Nike is a no-brainer.
Decathlete Great Daley Thomspon Says This Is A “Defining Moment” For Seb Coe’s Presidency Thompson says Coe needs to “make some examples” of cheats and federations.
Seb Coe Says He Won’t Be Swayed By Outside Pressure Or Criticism As He Deals With Doping Scandal “Now I only have one focus, fixing this without allowing my anger to come through. Everything is now being reviewed and that includes me.”
Seb Coe:“I won’t fail, but I also accept this is a huge journey. This isn’t six weeks to fix things …” “I have to do this without fear or favour, and I fully accept I may not even be around when the full fruits of what I need to do are probably going to be recognised.”

WADA Report Fallout *Full WADA Report

LRC Detailed ReactionThe 12 Most Interesting / Important Things From The WADA Report On Russian Doping Don’t have time to read all 323 pages of the blockbuster report? Don’t worry. We’ve got you covered with the 12 best points.

LRC Quick ReactionIt’s Worse Than We Thought: LRC Reacts To WADA Russian Doping Report The 300+ page WADA report is out (full report here, thread here) on a huge doping conspiracy in Russia that first garnered attention via a German ARD documentary late last year. The details are very amusing and depressing.

Video Seb Coe Gets Absolutely Grilled By Channel 4’s Jon Snow Journalism at its finest. If only the US media were this tough on US politicians.

MB: WSJ: How to fix doping for under $100 million
IOC President Thomas Bach Expects Russia To Compete At The Rio Olympics “I think also Russia will cooperate to be compliant with Wada.” That’s not what the news coming out of Russia yesterday made it sound like.
UK Columnist:Should We Be Worried About Thomas Bach’s “Cozy” Relationship With Vladimir Putin?
Vladimir Putin Cancels Meeting With Sports Leaders To Discuss Doping Scandal The reason given was because heavy rain was restricting flights.
Lamine Diack Resigns As Honorary IOC Member
Russia’s Anti-Doping Laboratory Head Grigory Rodchenkov Resigns
Lamine Diack Resigns As President Of The International Athletics Foundation The foundation is a Monaco-based charity.

LetsRun.com Investigates

LRCUVA Has Reassigned Banned Doper Martin Maric To Intramural And Recreational Sports - He Won't Coach Throws At UVA This Year

UVA and Mr. Maric still are refusing to provide proof that his initial ban was the result of an "unintentional" act as they claim.
*MB:UVA Coach Serving Doping Suspension

Book Review – The Animal Keepers Is Certainly A Keeper

LRC Book Review"The Animal Keepers" By Donn Behnke - A Terrific Tale Of What It Means To Be A Team

We highly recommend this book - hell, we call it "a triumph" - by Chris Solinsky's high school coach, Donn Behnke. Purchase here. 5 out 5 stars.

LetsRun.com Founders Named as Two of “The 50 Most Influential People in Running”