Former Sub-4 High Schoolers Who Are Now Triathletes

• MB: Lukas Verzbicas Sighting: Finishes 11th At Pacific Association XC Championships 10K Verzbicas ran 32:24 as Darius Terry won the race in 31:18; AJ Acosta was 4th (31:29).
• Results: Alan Webb Finishes 9th In NW Regional XC Championships In Portland MB discussion here.

Other Distance News

• Profile On Frequent National Age-Group Winner, Joe Sheeran, Who At 57-Years-Old Runs 4-Times A Day Training For Masters Championships Sheeran had PRs of 14:10, 28:55 and 2:15 in his prime, but took 21-years off of running because of injury. Now in his 50s he’s ran 16:05, 32:55 and 2:46.
• CNN Video Tribute To Recently Passed Mid-Distance Legend Mal Whitfield The two time 800m champion (in 1948 and 1952 while serving in the military) had a pretty amazing life.
• UK Steepler Eilish McColgan Wants More Support For Injured Athletes She’s coming back from ankle surgery and lost her funding. “When people need the support most, that’s when the majority of people are cut.”
• Random: Runner Creates “Movember” Themed GPS Sketch With His Running Route David Miller ran 15-miles to draw a mustached face with his run.

More From The Weekend

• Sifan Hassan And Germany’s Richard Ringer Win Warandeloop XC Race In The Netherlands  
• Inaugural USA Half In The Books; Race Wants To Be The “Boston Of Half Marathons” As It Requires Qualifying Times Winning times were 1:07:35 by Sean Gildea and 1:14:14 by Katja Goldring.
• Defending Champions Jim Walmsley And Sarah Bard Win JFK 50 Miler, America’s Oldest Ultra

Cheating / Doping News

• From Gold To 4th Because Of Dopers: GB Steepler Hatti Archer Says Marta Dominguez’s Ban Doesn’t Ease Heartbreak Archer will get 2010 Euro bronze after finishing behind Dominguez. Also in front of her were Russian dopers Yuliya Zaripova and Lyubov Kharlamova.
• Shameful: The CAA (Confederation Of African Athletics) Expresses Support For Lamine Diack President Hamad Kalkababa Malboum writes, “Despite this turbulence aiming at Africa, we still show our loyalty, our affection and our full support to President Lamine Diack …”
• Marine Corps Serial Cheater Who Was Caught By LRC Message Boarders Apologizes Gregory Price said, “I messed up. There’s no reason to do that. … I apologize to all the other runners.”
  *MB: Serial Cheater at Marine Corps Marathon?
• Former UK Athletics Coach George Skafidas Provisionally Suspended For Doping Violation Was the coach of GB sprinter Bernice Wilson, who was banned in 2011.
• Vitaly Mutko Meeting With WADA This Week To “Design A Roadmap” To Revamp Corrupt Anti-Doping System

Stephanie Hightower Appointed Vice President Of NACAC Athletics Association

Great Ethiopian Run And Haile’s Farewell Race

• Tamirat Tola (28:44) And Mamitu Daska (32:16) Win Great Ethiopian Run 10K Haile Gebrselassie ran after first firing the gun. He ran an easy 33 minutes while “zig zagging” through the masses.
• Recommended Read: Haile G Is Retired From Racing, But Can’t Stop Running Geb says running is still so “addictive” that he still has to run twice a day and talks about Mo Farah and who the GOAT is … hint: he doesn’t choose Farah or himself.
• Was Sunday Haile Gebrselassie’s Last Race? Here, Haile said it would “be the last one here in Ethiopia,” but quotes everywhere else indicate he is done completely.

More NCAA Coverage

• Patrick Tiernan: “I gave it everything I had. I was spent at 7k which was way too early but you got to try some crazy things to try and win the NCAA Championships.”
• Cuse.com: Not Since 1951 Have Syracuse Men Been On Top Of The XC Podium Chris Fox: “They ran like men. They took control at the beginning and never let it go.”
• Good Quotes From The Buffaloes Mark Wetmore: “They did everything we asked them to. Maybe when I got back tomorrow and process it, I’ll decide I should have asked them to do something else. But they did their jobs.”
• Lobo Women Win University Of New Mexico’s Second NCAA Title Ever, In Any Sport They join the 2004 New Mexico ski team as the school’s only other NCAA champions.
• RRW Recap: Surprising Syracuse Wins Historic NCAA Cross-Country Title
• Ireland’s Ciaran O’Lionaird Explains To The Rest Of The World Why NCAAs Is Such A Big Deal Says his surprise 2nd-place team finish with FSU in 2010 is still his “best day in athletics.”
• GoDucks.com: Edward Cheserek Joins Gerry Lindgren, Steve Prefontaine And Henry Rono As Only Three-Time XC Champions Cheserek is the first three-time consecutive winner.
• Molly Seidel: “It’s an incredible accumulation of four years, with the struggles I’ve been though, to be able to come out and win my last one is really special.”

Russian Doping Updates

• Russia’s Sports Minister Vitaly Mutko Brushes Off Russia’s Ban From World Indoors “What do we need these championships for? Okay, we don’t go there. … Even if we skip it there will be no tragedy.”
• USADA Head Travis Tygart Explains Why Russians Shouldn’t Be Allowed At Rio 2016 “It’s basically anarchy over there. And as the report indicated, it’s been like that for years. Athletes are going to have the benefit of these drugs.”
• IAAF’s Releases It’s Latest “Frequently Asked Questions” The Sunday Times grilled them about the decision to give Eugene the 2021 World Champs without a formal bidding process and the IAAF defends its decision.
• Three Russian Athletes Found Breaking Suspension By Racing Abroad They were not named, but one of them is definitely DQed marathoner Viktor Ugarov, who won the Kanazawa Marathon last weekend.
• Will Russian Track Be Next? Bulgaria Weightlifting Banned From The Olympics Due To Widespread Doping

Doping: There Will Be No Russia In Portland; Marta Dominguez Finally Banned

• IOC President Proposes Overhaul Of WADA To Let Court Of Arbitration Of Sport Handle Sanctions Sounds like a good idea.
• Two Russians Kristina Ugarova And Tatyana Myazina Say They Didn’t Dope Despite Being Named In WADA Report Ugarova is a 2:00/4:00 runner and Myazina has run 2:03.
• Russia Will Miss 2016 Portland World Indoor Champs As IAAF Inspection Won’t Be Done In Time The IAAF inspection team won’t report back to the IAAF until late March at the earliest.
• Notorious Spanish Drug Cheat Marta Dominguez Stripped Of Her 2009 World Steeple Title; Banned For 3 Years Dominguez was caught by the biological passport in 2013, but the Spanish athletics federation (of which she was the vice-president) cleared her in 2014. CAS has now reversed that decision with all her results since 2009 annulled.
  *MB: Jenny Simpson – 2009 WC steeplechase medalist
• Science Of The Sport Q&A With Jamaican Anti-Doping Whistleblower Renee Anne Shirley On The Recent Drug Scandals “The problem I have found is that whistleblowers like me are not welcomed/wanted in the system. It has been tough to continue to speak out.”
• Rita Jeptoo’s Coach, Claudio Berardelli, Is Still Trying To Convince Her To Come Clean With Who Supplied Her With EPO
• Disturbing: Paralympics Want To Crack Down On Wheelchair Athletes Who Do “Scrotum-Squeezing” Apparently they sit on their scrotums or clamp off catheters to fill their bladders to get a boost in adrenaline and performance.

Athletes Of The Year

• World Champions Ashton Eaton And Allyson Felix Named USATF Athletes Of The Year
• A Look At The Three IAAF Men’s AOY Finalists’ Top Performances In 2015 Includes video of Usain Bolt, Ashton Eaton and Christian Taylor.
  *Top 2015 Performances For Women’s AOY Candidates Genzebe Dibaba, Dafne Schippers And Anita Wlodarczyk
• Bosnia’s Breakthrough 800 Runner Amel Tuka And Serbian LJer Ivana Spanovic Named Balkan AOY

NXN Is In Two Weeks

• Northville Team Barred From Going To NXN Nationals By Michigan High School Athletics Association Following Outdated Rules Parents and other supporters are putting a lot of pressure on MHSAA to change its mind. They are the first Michigan team to ever qualify.
  *DyeStat Article *Milesplit *Tweets From Dathan Ritzenhein And Hansons-Brooks
• NXN Regional Races Shake Up Rankings But Fayetteville-Manlius Girls Remains On Top
• Hopkins Boys Take Top Spot As NXN Field Fills Out

More Doping Updates

• Recommended Read: The Telegraph‘s Paul Hayward Explains Why Russia Has Essentially Been “Let Off The Hook By A Dirty Backroom Deal” “‘Compliance’ is a vital word here, because it suggests a willingness not to commit future transgressions. Those already on the charge sheet will be washed away by future obedience. Thus have the Kremlin, the IAAF and IOC conspired to turn the normal rules of crime and punishment on their head. … curious way to administer justice. It amounts to hugging the perpetrator, wiping the slab clean of a state doping programme and fooling the public that future ‘compliance’ eliminates current non-compliance.”
• Good News: Russian Marathoner Who Competed And Won A Marathon In Japan Will Be DQed Viktor Ugarov will receive no prize money and the IAAF is writing to the Russian Federation seeking disciplinary proceedings against him.
  *Ugarov Could Get 4-Year Ban
• Doping Doesn’t Just Hurt The Sport, It Crushes The Dreams Of Clean Athletes Quotes from several athletes who were hurt by doping, including Sonia O’Sullivan, three-time Olympian Jonathan Brown and Canada’s Malindi Elmore.
• AP Exclusive: “A Soviet Sprinter Who Said No To Steroids” In 1967, teenage sprinter Misha Dzhindzhikhashvili wanted to take steroids, but his mother was “horrified” and wouldn’t let him. Russia needs more parents like her.
• IAAF Confirms It Has Been Investigating Allegations On Kenyan Doping Cover-Up And Corruption Since March
• Anti-Doping Expert Rune Andersen: There’s No Way To Put A Timeline On How Long Russian Investigation Might Take Andersen is the head of the IAAF inspection committee which will be in charge of reinstating Russia.
• Russian Officials Set Goal Of Being Unbanned By February 14th That is the day of their annual Russian Winter indoor meet.
• Athletics Illustrated: “Has The IAAF Completely Failed The Sport Of Athletics?” Chris Kelsall takes a long look at the last three IAAF presidents and the questionable ethics surrounding the whole organization.
• Russian Paralympic Silver Medalist Sprinter Alexander Zverev Banned For Failed Drug Test He tested positive for Cannabinoids, which is banned in competition.
• Institute Of National Anti-Doping Organisations (iNADO) Says Russia Should Be Banned From Rio 2016
• Olivier Niggli Will Replace David Howman As Next Director General Of WADA Howman is stepping down next June.

Kenyan Doping / Scandal Updates

• Dick Pound Says That It Is “Pretty Clear That There Is A Lot Of PEDs Being Used In Kenya” He said it should worry every athlete competing in distance events.
• AK Denies Doping Cover-Up; Claims Whistleblower Is A Rogue Coach A lot of crazy accusations on both sides. AK also issued an apology to Wilson Kipsang for publishing that he missed an out-of-competition test last year.
• Mystery Over Eight Unidentified Adverse Analytical Findings From September’s All-Africa Games The anti-doping program at the Games was a mess with workers even staging a strike. The positive tests include three track athletes.
• The Guardian: “Clouds Gather As Kenya Fears Sunshine Days Are Over For Its Athletics”
• Kip Keino Wants Lifetime Bans For All Kenyan Drug Cheats
• AK Vice President David Okeyo Denies Embezzlement Charges

LetsRun.com Investigates

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