October 5, 2016 | LetsRun.com

Week That Was

WTW Usain Bolt Races Celebrities, Callum Hawkins Impresses, So Does Iona, Arizona XC Team Chases A Knife-Wielding Thief, And Pick Your Parents Wisely Want to know what’s going on in the running world? This is your weekly read.

Hosting News: Obama Criticizes IOC

President Obama Claims IOC Bid Decisions Are A “Little Bit Cooked” And “Similar To FIFA” Referencing Chicago’s Failed 2016 Bid” Some feel that Obama’s presence at the IOC 2016 vote hurt Chicago’s bid as IOC members were annoyed by delays caused by extra security measures.
*GamesBids.com: Obama’s Remark “Poorly Timed” With LA Bidding For 2024 Games
Philip Hersh: “In Long Term, Radical Change Needed To Reduce Olympic Host Burden” Hersh thinks that the IOC should stop spreading the Olympics to new places every time and keep it in a rotation among previous and recent hosts.

NCAA XC: Who’s #1?

The Stanford Daily: Elise Crany And Thomas Ratcliffe Shined At Stanford Invitational Ratcliffe won in what was apparently the first XC race of his life as he did soccer in the fall in high school.
Two New Top 5 Teams In NCAA DI Women’s XC Coaches’ Poll Providence and Colorado are ranked 1-2, but Washington and Portland moved way up to 4th and 5th. 2015 champions New Mexico now only ranked 11th.
Updated Rankings Shows NCAA D1 Men’s Team Race Remains Wide Open NAU and Syracuse are ranked 1-2, but 5 teams received first place votes.
Supreme Court Declines To Consider Case On Whether NCAA Is Violating Antitrust Laws By Restricting What College Athletes Can Earn
Paul Short Race Video
*MB: Iona men and Yale women win Paul Short

Doping News

+1: Unable To Afford Drug Testing, Smaller Road Races Instituting Policies To Block Drug Cheats From Winning Prize Money Rather than test, races are making certain runners ineligible to win prize money if they’ve had a previous doping ban or connection to doped coaches or managers.
Double Olympic Triathlon Champ Alistair Brownlee Among The Athletes Targetted By Latest Fancy Bears Hack Release But Brownlee has only had one TUE, which he got when he had altitude sickness climbing Kilimanjaro after the season was over.
Maria Sharapova And Her Legal Team Optimistic That She Will Have Her 2-Year Meldonium Ban Reduced CAS gives their verdict today.

Weekend Pro Action

Heather Kampf (4:38) And Riley Masters (4:03) Both Win $5,600 By Winning Washington, DC’s Navy Mile They got an extra $2,500 as the BBM Tour grand prix champs. Kampf has now won 22 road miles since 2011.
Wow! They Are Both Officially Total Studs Britain’s Callum Hawkins (60:24) And Betsy Saina (67:24) Both Scorch GSR Hawkins DESTROYED the Scottish record by 2+ minutes and is now #2 all time for GBR. The US-based Saina’s time is faster than the American record.
*MB: Great Scottish Run
Violah Jepchumba Wins Cardiff Half In “Modest” 68:14 Jepchumba, who has run 30:24 and 65:51 this year, went out hard (15:30) but couldn’t sustain it. Shadrack Korir (1:00:54) won the men’s race over Kenyan 5,000 Olympian Charles Muneria and Paris marathon winner Cyprian Kotut.
RNR San Jose: Shadrack Biwott (61:55) And Patrick Smyth (1:03:21) Prepare For NYC Marathon By Going 1-2
*Sally Kipyego (69:53) wins women’s race Sarah Hall was 2nd.
David Kemboi Kiyeng Of Kenya (2:08:58) And Ethiopian Chaltu Tafa Waka (2:32:20) Win 93rd Kosice Peace Marathon – Europe’s Oldest Marathon
Sarah Chepchirchir Sets 2:24:12 CR At Rock ‘N’ Roll Lisbon Marathon EDP Alfred Kering won the men’s marathon in 2:10:27 as the half marathon titles were won in 1:02:39 and 1:10:25.
Hobie Call (USA) And Zuzana Kocumova (CZE) Win $15,000 As 2016 Reebok Spartan Race World Champions
Stanley Kiprotich Bett (2:17:59) And Eddah Jepkosgei (2:40:38) Win Bournemouth Marathon
Uganda’s Abdallah Mande Upsets Tamirat Tola And Muktar Edris To Win 70th Edition Of The Giro al Sas 10km Road Race Edwin Soi and Geoffrey Mutai were 6th and 7th.

News Of Note

Usain Bolt Is Having Fun Yet Again At Germany’s Oktoberfest *Discuss
Rome 2024 Bid Is Down, But Not Yet Out – Here’s Why We May Be Surprised
Len Johnson: The King (Bekele) Is Back Johnson seems to agree with us – Bekele is the GOAT. “Don’t count the king out while he is still alive and kicking.”
Fan Voting Now Open For USATF Male And Female Athletes Of The Year

Olympic / Bureaucratic / Doping News

WADA Is Tightening Up What Asthma Drugs Are Allowed Starting January 1, the ADHD and eating disorder drug Lisdexamfetamine will be banned.
Dick Pound Is Irate That The IOC Didn’t Let Stepanova Compete In The Olympics And That They Didn’t Ban Russia
Phil Hersh Asks, “Will only fools – and dictators – rush in to bid for Olympics?”
Tour de France Director Says Cycling Is No Longer The Black Sheep Cynics would say that’s just because all of the other sports like the NFL and MLB have been exposed as frauds, plus a whole country – Russia.
Children’s Rights Groups Want The IOC To Compensate Children They Claim Suffered From An “Indiscriminate Use Of Force” When The Streets Of Rio Were “Cleared” Before The Olympics Those of us living in Baltimore don’t necessarily agree.

US Olympic News: Team USA Goes To The White House

Team USA Spends The Day At The White House With Some Track Athletes Getting Special Mention In President Obama’s Speech Abbey D’Agostino got a special shout out as Obama said she was “what the Olympic spirit and the American spirit should be all about.”
NBC Sports: President Obama: “2016 belonged to America’s women Olympians. Y’all crushed it.”
AP: Black 1936 Olympians Receive Overdue Recognition At White House Jesse Owens didn’t even receive a telegram from President Roosevelt in 1936.
Nike Reports An 8% Growth In Revenue After The Olympics
Video, Photos, Quotes (Allyson Felix) From USA Today

Admin News

Vin Lananna USATF President Campaign Website His website says he’s running “because I believe that I have the qualifications, experience, and passion to lead USATF …”
Need A Job? IAAF Is Looking For A Media Operations Manager So you have to try to explain things every time the IAAF screws up? Whatever they’re paying, it’s not enough.

It’s Time To Settle The Debate

LRC Debate: After Berlin, Who Is The Distance Running GOAT – Kenenisa Bekele, Haile Gebrselassie Or Mo Farah? The LRC “brains” may have reached a rare consensus.
Discuss: Has Bekele just legitimised his WRs? Clean? GOAT?

Listen On Demand Special Berlin Marathon Track Talk Podcast With Professor Of The Marathon Sean Hartnett Get the inside scoop on one of the greatest marathons ever. Plus, learn about the reaction of Bekele and Kipsang and the friendship between Bekele and Eliud Kipchoge.

Sprint News: Was Usain Bolt Not Marketed Enough?

Puma Head Of Marketing Adam Petrick Says They “Could Have Done Better” Marketing Usain Bolt “To be honest with you, [Bolt] does a lot of the heavy lifting himself. He gets so much attention no matter where he goes.”
Allyson Felix Becomes First Woman To Lead USC Football Team Out Of The Tunnel Felix was one of 10 Rio Olympians honored by USC during the game.
Aussie 100 Hurdler Michelle Jenneke Dropped From Athletics Australia Funding After Not Making It Out Of The Heats In Rio The Australian head coach questioned whether her many sponsorship distractions away from the track hurt her fitness.
Jamaican Columnist Is Happy To See Usain Bolt Choosing His Own Time For Retirement Rather Than Being Pressured To Pack It In On the contrary, most are begging Bolt to continue on for another 4-years, but this columnist calls London 2017 a “perfect farewell.”

Upcoming Road Action: Chicago Is Sunday

Sunday: Florence Kiplagat Says Her Training Has Gone Well Ahead Of Her Title Defense At The Chicago Marathon Kiplagat hopes that running alongside fellow Kenyan Valentine Kipketer will help push her to a faster time than when she ran much of the race alone last year.
After Placing 10th At The Olympic Marathon Trials, Alia Gray Shooting For A Sub-2:30 Finish In Chicago Despite the heat in LA, the Joe Vigil-coached athlete ran ran a 2:35:47 PR so feels she has a lot of room to improve in good conditions.
Sunday: Defending Champions Daniel Salel And Mary Wacera Lead Strong Field For BAA Half Marathon Salel will face Silas Kipruto (59:39) and Daniel Chebii (59:49) while the women’s race has Diane Nukuri (69:12).
Next Week: Q&A With “Mr. Amsterdam” Wilson Chebet Chebet will be running the Amsterdam Marathon for the 7th year in a row. He made his debut here, has the CR and has won it 3 times.
Next Week: Good Read: Running Has Given Former Kenyan Cattle Rustler Julius Arile Lamerinyang A New Lease On Life From his early teens, Arlie carried a gun and stole cattle. After losing many of his friends to the violence, he traded his gun for running shoes and now is a 2:10 guy targeting the win at the Toronto Waterfront Marathon.
*Tim Hutchings Will Commentate For The Scotiabank Toronto Waterfront Marathon Live Stream Live stream starts at 8:15AM.
December 4: Stephanie Bruce Running CIM Marathon In Her First Marathon Since Taking Time Off For Two Pregnancies Bruce has a 2:29 PR and ran her last marathon in 2013.
*CIM Adds American Performance List Bonus To Its Prize Purse Getting in the top 10 for 2016 (2:15:52/2:35:00) will get you $5,000 and top 25 (2:20:41/2:41:18) $2,000.

Field Eventer News

Gotzis Hypo Meeting Is Still On Ashton Eaton’s Bucket List Eaton has never competed at the legendary multi-event meet, having pulled out twice with injury.
Jessica Ennis-Hill Debating Between London 2017 Worlds And Having More Children
Catching Up With Olympic Pole Vault Bronze Medalist Sam Kendricks Kendricks wasn’t disappointed with bronze in Rio and said, “We have a saying in track and field that ‘every medal is a gold medal.'”
2012 Olympic HJ Silver Medalist Erik Kynard Returns To His Alma Mater Kansas State As An Assistant Coach
IAAF First Impressions Q&A With South Africa’s Olympic Javelin Silver Medalist Sunette Viljoen Viljoen wasn’t always focused on javelin as she also did sprints and jumps and her first international competition was in the HJ.

Post-Weekend NCAA/HS XC

Notre Dame’s Anna Rohrer And Mississippi’s Sean Tobin Are NCAA Athletes Of The Week Rohrer beat top runners from Providence and New Mexico to win at home at the Notre Dame Invy while Tobin won the men’s race.
Three New No. 1 Teams In Week 4 NCAA D1 Women’s XC Regional Rankings
Men’s Updated Regional Rankings
DyeStat State-By-State Weekend High School XC Highlights

Interesting Reads

Good Read Meet Norman Peart – The Man In Charge Of Keeping Usain Bolt’s Finances In Order And Him Out Of Trouble Since He Was In HS Bolt: “Mr. Peart has been with me since 2002, and he is now considered family. My parents and he worked as a great team in my early years as a professional athlete. And that I consider very important to my success. Yes, they teamed up on me during my teenage years and terrorised me.”
If Only She Hadn’t Been Sick: Jenn Suhr Vaults 16-5¼ (5.01) In Hometown Exhibition As More Than 1,000 Show Up To Watch The mark would have won gold in Rio.
Laura Muir Is Having Trouble Doing Her Vet Rotations As All Of The Pet Owners Want To Talk To Her Abour Her Running For good reason; the British 1,500 record holder was magnificent in 2016.
Belarusian Who Carried Russian Flag At Rio 2016 Paralympics Opening Ceremony “Rewarded” With Free Moscow Apartment
After Finishing 6th In Olympic 5,000 Final At Age 24, Brit Andrew Butchart Wants A Medal In 2017 Little-known fact – he’s close to Andy Murray as the mom of Butchart’s girlfriend is the partner of Andy Murray’s dad.
British PV Record Holder Holly Bradshaw Reflects On 2016, Looks Ahead To 2017 Bradshaw has struggled with back pain in recent years but says, “I’m now at the point in my career where if I’m fit I can and should win medals.”
Meet “The Iron Nun,” An 86-Year-Old Ironman Athlete
The Latvian Chemist Who Designed Meldonium Met With The World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) Last Month In An Ultimately Unsuccessful Attempt To Have The Product Removed From The 2017 Prohibited List
South Africa’s Olympic Javelin Silver Medalist Sunette Viljoen Shares How She’s Risen Through The Ranks Since HS

Happy 60th, Seb!

More News From The UK Jessica Ennis-Hill “Close” To Decision On Whether She’ll Retire Or Not We think there is little chance that a Brit would retire with Worlds in London next year. It doesn’t make financial $en$e.

It’s Not Too Early To Start Thinking About Christmas Gifts

LRC Book Review: Run The World By 2:30 Marathoner Becky Wade Is An Easy And Fun Read That Anyone Who Enjoys Running And Travel Will Enjoy Rather than embark immediately upon a professional career, Wade – an All-American at Rice and 2016 Olympic Trials qualifier – spent a year visiting running cultures across the globe. The result is Run the World, a fun log of her running adventures in 22 different countries, including Japan, Finland, Switzerland and New Zealand.

Doping News: Sharapova Gets Reduced Ban

CAS Reduces Maria Sharapova’s Meldonium Ban From 2 Years To 15 Months The ruling said she “bore some degree of fault” rather than the full blame. Why that is the case when she admitted to taking the drug after the ban date, we don’t know.
NY Times: Sharapova Will Be Eligible To Compete Again In April, In Time For The 2017 French Open
NY Times: Sharapova’s Case Shows How Unforced Errors Hurt Cleanup Efforts No one was a winner here. Not WADA, Sharapova nor the sport of tennis.
Sharapova “Counting The Days” Until She Can Return To Competition After the CAS decision she said it was “one of my happiest days.”
WADA And Interpol Establish Project To Fight PED Trafficking The goal is to cut the drugs off at the source, before they even get to athletes.

Sprint Stuff: Bolt, 100m Science And A New Documentary

People Video Interview Wiith Usain Bolt: Where Does He Keep His 9 Olympic Golds, What Are His Post-Retirement Plans? Bolt jokes that if someone tried to steal them, they “probably wouldn’t get away.”
Interesting Read: Scientific Breakdown Of The 100m – What Makes Sprinters Fast And How Much Faster Can We Go? A big part of speed is “how forcefully they can hit the ground in relation to their body weight.”
*Video: A Scientific Look At The Key Structural Phases Of The 100m
Looks Good: Trailer For New Documentary On The Rise And Fall Of US Olympic Sprinter Danny Harris “Crossing the Line” tells the story of how Harris’ meteroric rise (which included breaking Edwin Moses‘ 107-race winning streak) and his steep fall into drug addiction after he missed making the 1988 Olympic team.
Video Interview With Olympic 100H Bronze Medalist Kristi Castlin Apparently Olympic medals are surprisingly heavy as Castlin says it’s gotten a bit annoying wearing it around.
3 “Super Simple” Things Olympic Medalist Tori Bowie Does To Stay Healthy She says sleep, muscle balance and mental focus are key for her.

Robert Young – Run Across America Fraud

LRC It’s Official: Robert Young An UltraMarathon Cheat Inspired in part by the fastest-growing thread in LetsRun.com history started by Asher Delmott, Skins – Young’s primary sponsor – has released a 100+ page independent report to determine if Young cheated in his run across America. The evidence is conclusive, he didn’t run the entire way.
*MB: Robert Young fakes run across America

Great Point: Sean Ingle: If Only Nike And Other Companies Responded With Independent Investigations When Their Athletes Were Accused Of Cheating “Wouldn’t it have been refreshing for Sky, having spent millions funding Team Sky, to bring in independent experts to check everything is above board with their TUE requests?”

NCAA News *All Weekend NCAA Results

MB: Iona men and Yale women win Paul Short Invites Iona (34) crushed Georgetown, Adams State and the Ivies.
MB: King Cheserek crushes field at UW by nearly 20 seconds, Oregon men put 3 in top 4
Big Talent: MB: Stanford Frosh Thomas Ratcliffe Runs 23:17 Unattached – Wins Stanford Invite The kid is a big talent as he didn’t even do XC in HS. Of course, we already knew that as he ran 4:01.50 in HS as a part-time runner.
Olympic Medalists Jenny Simpson, Emma Coburn Rock The Rocky Mountain Shootout (As Spectators)
#5 Arkansas Men Rock The Chile Pepper Meet
Notre Dame: #1 Providence Women, #20 Ole Miss Men Win Ole Miss, led by individual chap Sean Tobin, edged #18 UTEP as #9 E. Kentucky was third. Anna Rohrer won the women’s title. The host Notre Dame men were DFL – 25th out of 25.
Two Colleges In Missouri And Oklahoma Boycott NAIA XC Champs After NAIA Took Them Away From North Carolina Over Bathroom Law One college president called the NAIA’s action “political correctness gone berserk.”
*MB: NAIA moves Nationals from Charlotte

Road Race News

Administrators Love To Spend, Except On Athletes

In New Zealand, More Than 85 Sports Bureaucrats Earn More Than $100,000 A Year, Yet Gold Medalists Only Get $60,000
Kenyan Govt. To Spend Nearly $6 Million To Upgrade Kenyatta University Hostels To 5-Star Hotel Standards For 2017 World Youth Championships All told, the World Youth Championships are costing more than $25 million. Wow.

The Real Winners From Rio – LRC Running Warehouse Prediction Contest

LRC Who Rocked The LetsRun.com Rio Prediction Contest? A State Champion High School Coach, A Dude On His Honeymoon – The Talented Winners Span The Globe See who the kings and queens of LetsRun.com are. Our winners hail from all over the globe. A state champion coach from the US won overall, but other winners included a woman from England, a 66-flat half marathoner from Atlanta and a Canadian. Our runner-up made his picks just days after landing the woman of his dreams.