– Best-selling author Malcolm Gladwell talking about LetsRun.com in an introduction to a feature on how LetsRun.com operates in Outside magazine by Charles Bethea. The piece is entitled, “How a Ragtag Crew of Almost Journalists Created Running’s Most Controversial Website.”
An Inside Look At How LRC Operates How a Ragtag Crew Of Almost Journalists Created Running’s Most Controversial Website Author Charles Bethea embedded himself with us during the US Olympic trials and got a behind-the-scenes look at how we operate. His article in Outside magazine includes some really nice quotes from Tim Layden, “… their best quality is that they don’t give a shit about offending people,” and Nick Willis, “It gave me a ton of inspiration. LetsRun is one of the primary reasons high-quality coaching and training have improved in America.”
*MB: Long Article on Letsrun… in Outside Magazine
Ed Whitlock – 85-Year-Old Marathoner – Gets Nearly 1,500-Word Feature In NY Times By Jere Longman The title of the article is appropriately, “85-Year-Old Marathoner Is So Fast That Even Scientists Marvel.”
Ian O’Riordan Takes A Look At 2 Hr. Marathon: It’s The Last Everest Of Athletics He notes some sports scientists don’t think it will be broken until 2075. He also wonders if Athletics Ireland should have a concerted effort to break John Treacy‘s Irish record of 2:09:15.
A Recap Of The Many Boxing Day Races In England The biggest news from a US perspective was that NCAA indoor 5,000 leader Marc Scott of Tulsa (13:38) ran a 29:33 10k.
LRC Scandal? Rigged!? LetsRun.com’s Jonathan Gault Wins LetsRun.com Running Warehouse XC Prediction Contest Insiders dominated the RunningWarehouse prediction contest as in addition to Gault’s win, a guy coached by Karissa Schweizer‘s grandfather won as well. Another winner wrote one of the greatest emails we’ve ever received.
LRC Men’s Marathon: Eliud Kipchoge Caps A Historic Year As World #1 As Breakout Marathon Star Galen Rupp Leads The AmericansLRC super visitor David Graham has rolled out his 2016 world rankings plus plenty more thoughts on the year in men’s marathoning. Obviously, the great Kipchoge is #1, but where does Galen Rupp rank?
*MB: 2016 Men’s Marathon Rankings controversy – Where should Galen Rupp be ranked?)
LRCWomen’s Marathon: London/Olympic Champ Jemima Sumgong Tops The List; Shalane Flanagan Top AmericanSumgong, like Eliud Kipchoge, was the unquestioned world #1 in 2o16. Flanagan was one of three Americans to finish in the top 10 at the Olympics (Amy Cragg and Desi Linden were the others) – only the second time a country had pulled off that feat (after Kenya in 2008).
*MB: 2016 Women’s Marathon rankings. And the #1 US rank goes to……)
LRCMen’s 3,000/5,000: Mo Farah Is #1 Again; Paul Chelimo Tops U.S. List After Shock Silver In Rio Farah’s presence at the top of the podium in Rio was no surprise, but few envisioned Chelimo, who was just 11th at USAs last year, winning America’s first Olympic medal in the 5,000 since 1964 and two other Americans cracking the world top 10.
*MB: What a year for Team USA! Three American men make our World Top 10 in our 3000/5000 rankings.
LRC Women’s 3,000/5,000: Almaz Ayana Is World #1; Shannon Rowbury Or Molly Huddle For U.S. #1? Ayana may not have earned Olympic gold in the 5,000, but she was utterly dominant apart from that, breaking 14:20 three times in 2016 (before this year, it had been done six times, total). U.S. #1 was a tough choice as Shannon Rowbury earned 3k bronze at World Indoors and set the American 5k record while Molly Huddle crushed everyone in the 5k at the Olympic Trials.
*MB: And the bad news: Zero US women crack the world top 10 in our 3k/5k rankings
Previous LRC Rankings:
*Men’s Steeple: Men’s Steeple: Conseslus Kipruto Ascends To #1 After A Year To Remember; Evan Jager (#2) Leads Americans Again
*Women’s Steeple:Ruth Jebet Leads The Way; Olympic Medallist Emma Coburn Tops U.S. List For Third Straight Year
*Men’s 1,500: Olympic Champion Matthew Centrowitz Is Our World #1
*Women’s 1,500:Faith Kipyegon Unseats Genzebe Dibaba As World #1; Jenny Simpson Back On Top Of U.S. Rankings
*Women’s 800:Caster Semenya Is the Clear World #1; Kate Grace Finishes A Shocking Year As U.S. #1
*Men’s 800 David Rudisha Is On Top For 2nd Year In A Row; Olympic Bronze Medalist Clayton Murphy Leads The Americans
IAAF End-Of-Year Reviews: *Jumps *Throws *Multis *Hurdles *Relays *Racewalks *Mid-d *Long Distance *Road & XC
New Track And Field News: Wayde Van Niekerk Named Track and Field News Athlete Of The Year Mo Farah #2, Usain Bolt #3.
*Hammer Thrower Anita Włodarczyk Named Track And Field News Female Athlete Of The Year And we bet 95% of track and field fans couldn’t name her. Almaz Ayana 2nd, Elaine Thompson 3rd.
Athletics Weekly‘s Rankings:Top 3 International Rankings For All Women’s Events You can see their top 10 rankings by purchasing a digital copy of their bumper 112-page end-of-year stats special.
Mo Farah Is Knighted And Jessica Ennis-Hill Becomes A Dame It’s Sir Mo Farah from here on out.
*Mo Farah Says Knighthood Is A “Dream Come True”
New Zealand: Valerie Adams Becomes New Zealand’s Youngest Dame She’s only 32. For more on Dames and Knights, click here.
She Said Yes: Wayde van Niekerk Gets Engaged And Is On Cloud 9 A great year for the South African with a world record, gold medal, and engagement.
And Some Jeer: Indian Olympic Association Stripped Of Government Funding And Suspended After Giving Honorary Titles To 2 Corruption-Tainted Officials
Poland’s Konrad Bukowiecki Smashes His Own World Junior Shot Put Record With 22.96m Heave Considering he’s an Olympic finalist with a 23.17 outdoor PR, it’s not a shock. Jordan Geist has his work cut out for him.
Good Read Nikki Hamblin Says Helping Abbey D In Rio Won’t Define Her “If the same sort of scenario happened in the street you wouldn’t just get up and walk away. It just so happens that it took place for me in front of a few hundred TV cameras.”
LRC Analysis LetsRun.com Breaks Down Galen Rupp’s Boston Marathon Debut – Will He (And Should He) Be The Favorite? How Well Suited Is He For The Course? + Conspiracy Theories GaloreAn American-born man hasn’t won the Boston marathon since 1983. That very well may change in 2017. In this LetsRun.com debate, the LRC staff goes back and forth about Rupp’s Boston debut. They start by debating if Rupp is the favorite but before it’s all over the venture into the conspiracy theory front: Is it possible that the Nike sub-2 attempt was created to water down Boston to ensure Rupp’s victory?
*MB: Galen Rupp to run Boston Marathon. He will need volunteers to hand him new hats throughout the race.
*MB:Calling it now, Rupp wins Boston 2017 2:07:04, prove me wrong.
Ken Goe Exclusive Galen Rupp’s Days As A 5,000m Runner Are Over, 2017 Looks To Be His Last At 10,000m Ken Goe reports, “Salazar said Rupp would continue to compete in the 10,000 through 2017, but would concentrate on marathon training.”
*MB:Discuss
More US News Of Note
LRC WTW: Europe’s Teen Phenoms Appear To Be The Real Deal And Buzunesh Deba Breaks The Boston Marathon Course Record We look at foreign transplants, junior phenoms and note it’s been 975 days since an American went sub-2:10 in the marathon. We also discussed the ailing Miruts Yifter, the 1980 Olympic 5k/10k champ, who passed away on Thursday.
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