Upcoming Sprint Action: 1 Month Until Diamond League Season

• May 6th:Allyson Felix And Dafne Schippers Will Go Head-To-Head Over 100m In Opening Diamond League Meet In Doha Field will also have Veronica Campbell-Brown, Tori Bowie and Murielle Ahoure. David Oliver vs. Aries Merritt in the 110H.
• May 7th:US Hurdler Jasmin Stowers And Bahamas Sprinter Shaunae Miller Announced For The Jamaica Invitational
• May 14th:Usain Bolt And Allyson Felix Will Highlight Cayman Invitational Bolt will run the first 100m of his 2016 season.

Sprint Stuff

• First Impressions Q&A With South Africa’s World 400m Champ Wayde van Niekerk He shares some interesting stories like how as kids he and his brother tried to wash their dog in the washing machine.
• Jamaican Columnist Accuses American Media Of “Aiming Darts At Bolt” He writes, “Watch the American media aiming their darts at Bolt as they seek to discredit him and at the same time tout any runner with the faintest chance of entering the warm-up area with Bolt.”
• RunBlogRun Movie Review For “Race,” The New Movie About Jesse Owens

Weekend Road Action

• Meseret Defar (15:02) And Joshua Cheptegei (13:24) Prevail At Carlsbad 5,000 As Bernard Lagat Shatters His Own Masters World Record Lagat finished 4th in 13:38, 1 second ahead of Hassan Mead (says he wants to run 28-flat in the 10K in May). Jen Rhines was the first American woman in 6th (15:53). *Results
• Sam Chelanga And Veronicah Wanjiru Win Windy Cherry Blossom Ten Mile Chelanga outkicked Silas Kipruto by 1 second as Syracuse Martin Hehir was a close 3rd. It was the first American win since Syracuse coach Chris Fox won in 1990. For the women, Wanjiru beat Buze Diriba by 8 seconds as Maegan Krifchin was the top American in 3rd. *Results
  *MB: American Sam Chelanga wins Cherry Blossom 10 Miler
• Former Kenyan NR Holder James Kwambai (2:10:46) And Former Boston Champ Caroline Kilel (2:27:39) Win Daegu Marathon In Sprint Finishes
• Kenya’s Richard Mengich (59:58) And the Netherlands’ Former Kenyan Elizeba Cherono (70:43) Win The Berlin Half Marathon Former World Half champ Wilson Kiprop DNFed after 12K.
• Kenya’s Violah Jepchumba Runs The Fourth-Fastest Half Ever To Win Prague In 65:51 Jepchumba took almost 4 minutes off her PR and was on WR pace through 10K (30:29). On the men’s side, Daniel Wanjiru overcame a mid-race fall to win in 59:20 with the top 5 all sub-60 minutes.
• Kenya’s Cyprian Kotut Wins Paris Marathon In 2:07:11 Over Laban Korir (2:07:29)(updated article)Kotut is the younger brother of former London Marathon winner Martin Lel. Visiline Jepksesho won the women’s race in 2:25:53. *Results
• Ernest Kiprono Ngeno (2:08:15) And Brigid Kosgei (2:27:45) Win Milan City MarathonIshhimael Bushendich Chemtan was a close 2nd (2:08:20) while Kenneth Mungara broke his own masters WR with 2:08:38 in 3rd. Kosgei meanwhile destroyed her previous PR by 20 minutes.
• UK Northern Road Relays Recap

Some Doping Updates

• Doctor Who Allegedly Gave Banned Drugs To 150 UK Athletes Has His Contract At A Private Clinic In London Terminated Apparently he doesn’t even have a license to practice medicine in the UK. Go here to read more about The Sunday’s Times‘ version of the Al Jazeera–Peyton Manning doping report.
• Two South African Comrades Runners Get 2-Year Doping Bans Joseph Mphuthi and Sandile Ngunuza finished 6th and 9th in last year’s race.

Pretty Terrible Stuff: Max Siegel And Other USATF Staff Targeted By Racially Charged Emails Six months ago, USATF staff members received a slew of racist emails from an anonymous emailer. Police were called to investigate, but so far there have been no arrests or major leads.

Marquise Goodwin Causes Stir With April Fools Day Tweet Goodwin said he was leaving the Bills to focus on Rio, but it was only a joke. He says, “Football is my deal. Track is my fun.”

(Mostly Kenyan) Doping News

• Ban? What Ban?AP Article Reveals That Many Kenyans Competing Internationally Continue To Race And Win Prize Money Long After They Are Banned RDs who don’t look up athletes can end up paying big bucks to these dopers who simply choose to ignore their bans.
• David Rudisha Fears All His Hard Work Will “Go Down The Drain” If Kenya Is Banned From The Olympics He criticized the Kenyan government, saying, “We were given enough time to do all these things. I don’t understand why these people are not treating the matter with a lot of seriousness.”
• AP:“Nick Symmonds Not Shy About Speaking Up To Fix Track” Symmonds: “It’s a filthy, dirty sport … Anyone who stands on the starting line at an Olympic final and thinks they’re racing against a clean field is delusional.”
• American-Born Columbia Grad Lisa Nemec (Now Runs For Croatia) Officially Banned By The IAAF For 4 Years For Doping Nemec (formerly Stublic) tested positive last year.
• Kip Keino And Wesley Korir Also Disappointed With Kenyan Government Keino: “I am very disappointed with the attitude taken by the leaders. They don’t get the magnitude of all this – they have badly let down the youth of this country.”

US Pro News

Sunday Road Previews

• Reigning Champions Meseret Mengistu And Mark Korir Look To Retain Paris Marathon Titles Korir faces 2:04:53 man Bernard Koech while Mengistu is up against multiple sub-2:25 women.
• Martin Lel Vs. Defending Champ Kenneth Mungara Highlights Suisse Gas Milano City Marathon
• World Half Marathon Champion Wilson Kiprop Leads Berlin Half Marathon Field
• Kenya’s James Kwambai & Caroline Kilel Looking To End Ethiopian Reign At The Daegu Marathon Kwambai is the former Kenyan NR holder (he ran 2:04:27 seven years ago) and Kilel was the 2011 Boston Marathon champ.

Lots Of Interesting Reads That Will Keep You From Being Productive On A Friday

• Meet Bobbi Gibb – The First Woman To Run The Boston Marathon 50 Years Ago
• MB: Running historians – Can you tell me why / how Kathrine Switzer became as or more famous than Bobbi Gibb?
• Meet Liam Malone, The Man Who Very Well Could Succeed Oscar P As T43 Paralympic 400m Champion In Rio New Zealand’s “blade runner” wasn’t even an athlete four years ago. If you don’t think the blade technology is HUGE, read this.
• Guy Who Filmed Kamworor With GoPro Was Wearing It So He Could Prove To Guinness He Was Running The Fastest-Ever Half Marathon In A Superman Costume
• Several Athletes Hand-Picked From Refugee Camps In Kenya Are Now Training At High Altitude To Represent Refugees In Rio Olympics One guy’s family was massacred in the Congo. The best athlete is a Mo Farah look-alike who hopes to be as good as Mo. Mohammed Daud Abubakar: “You know, Mo is Somali, and I am Somali, and I would be very happy to be like him in the coming years, and if it is possible, in Rio.”
• Good Read On The Comeback Of Tom Green – Ultrarunning Pioneer Who Was Nearly Killed In A Freak Tree-Cutting Accident Last Year In 1986, Green became the first person to finish four 100 mile races in a single year.
• New York Times Reporter Says She Never Felt Safer As A Woman On A Solo Run Than In Cuba “I run alone often and in many kinds of places, urban, suburban and rural, but I have never felt safer as a female solo runner than I did in Havana. No catcalling, no staring.”

LRC Running Warehouse Worlds Contest Recap

LRC Doping Scandal Comes To LRC $200,015 Running Warehouse World Indoors Prediction Contest Doping has tainted our contest but you still can meet the interesting winners who make up LRC and win our contests.

Carlsbad Is On The Road In CA On Sunday

• World Record Holder Meseret Defar To Headline Women’s Race At Sunday’s Carlsbad 5,000
• Bernard Lagat, Lawi Lalang, Will Leer, Collis Birmingham And Andy Vernon Headline Men’s Field
• Elite Course For Sunday’s Carlsbad 5000 Is Changed – Elites Will Now Turn Counterclockwise As They Do On A Track The elites backed off at the turns last year as they weren’t used to turning to their right.

Looking Ahead

• Tokyo Marathon Announces Major Course Change For 2017 The hilly and barren final 6km are gone so the course should have more crowd support and be faster.
• Shanghai Looks Exciting Justin Gatlin, Tyson Gay And Asafa Powell Will Clash In 100 In Shanghai; VCB Vs. SAFP In 200

Forget About Your PR – Here Are 26.2 Ways To Smash Marathon Fundraising

Meet The Brother-Sister Combo That Is Dominating New Zealand Triple Jumping – Nneka And Ebuka Okpala

The Latest Doping News

• Russia’s Leading Bank VTB Says It’s Continuing To Prepare To Take Legal Action Against WADA And Dick Pound After They Refuse To “Publicly Retract Report’s Information, Which Tarnishes The Business Reputation Of VTB” We hope that the VTB realizes the actual report never said the VTB paid a bribe – it just urged a further investigation.
• 23rd Russian Tests Positive For Meldonium – Says He Last Took It In October We think these meldonium positives will be all thrown out.
• Haile G Isn’t A Fan Of Country-Wide Doping Bans As It Hurts Innocent Athletes But Says Ethiopia Is Very Serious About Doping As They’ve Criminalized It
• Like Mother, Like Son – Mother-Son Combo Both Test Positive For EPO In Brazil
• Christine Brennan Thinks The World Should Stand Strong And Ban The Russians From Competing In Rio 

Recommended Read:Take An Inside Look At The “No-Frills” Kenyan Training Camp Where Champions Eliud Kipchoge And Stephen Kiprotich Live And Train Kipchoge and Kiprotich have the money to live a fancy, modern lifestyle, but choose to live in bare bones conditions, sharing small rooms with other runners and doing their share of communal chores as their optimal training environment.

Upcoming

• April 29th:Great Women’s 1,500 Set For Drake Relays With Jenny Simpson Vs. Brenda Martinez, Mary Cain And Treniere MoserHeather Kampf, Gabe Grunewald, Morgan Uceny also in the field.
  *Video Interview With Meet Director Brian Brown On The Race
• May 6th: Mutaz Essa Barshim Out To Impress Home Fans When The 2016 Diamond League Begins In Doha The HJ will feature Barshim, Erik Kynard, Derek Drouin, China’s world silver medalist Zhang Guowei and Robbie Grabarz.
  *MB:Doha 1500m: SPICY!!!! – Kiprop, Kiplagat, Souleiman, Iguider, Makhloufi

Track Coach Problems

Track Officials In Ohio Struggling To Find Somewhere To Purchase Blank Cartridges For Their Starting Pistols Apparently manufacturers aren’t concerned with making blanks because track officials/coaches are the only people who want to buy them.

Your Help Is Needed

LRCEthiopian Distance Runners Need Your Help After Truck Plows Into Them, Killing One And Severely Injuring 4 Others - Please Consider Donating To Their Recovery

*BBC Audio Interview With The Agent Of The Runners

Some Pretty Absurd Doping News

• Russian Athletes Appeal To President Vladimir Putin To Help “Restore The Good Name” Of Disgraced Racewalk Coach Viktor Chegin Multiple Olympic medalists signed the petition to appeal the lifetime ban of the coach who has had more than 20 athletes fail drug tests. Oh yeah, Russia, you’ve changed.
• Peruvian Distance Runner Gladys Tejeda Already Back From Ban After Being Stripped Of Pan Am Games Marathon Gold Last Summer The Peruvian federation only gave her a 6-month ban so now she is eligible to compete and can go to Rio.
  *MB:Drug Cheat Gladys Tejeda at World 1/2 Champs?!
• Scottish Sports Writer Rips Sunday Times Journalists For Trying And Failing To Entrap A Swedish Steeplechaser The journalists posed as an agent and coach and tried to get Mustafa Mohamed to engage in doping activities. He declined and then outed the journalists when he realized who they were.

You Won’t Be Seeing The Alternative New Zealand National Flag In Rio Many athletes were behind the change in the NZ flag since theirs is often confused with Australia, but the vote was 56.6% for the original flag.

First Impressions Q&A With Greek Pole Vaulter And Stanford Alum Ekaterini Stefanidi Stefanidi talks about her first coach, first competition, first injury and other random things.