International Distance News

• Japan Selects Marathon Team For 2017 Worlds The team includes Yuki Kawauchi and Yuka Ando, who ran the fastest debut by a Japanese woman (2:21:36).
• One Small Kenyan Village Has 6 Of The 28 Members On Kenya’s World XC Team The athletes from the village of Keringet, which means “a hole” in the local language, include Olympic 1,500 champ Faith Kipyegon.
• Kenya Escapes Threat Of Ban After Promising To Adopt A New Constitution Later This Month And we’re sure this will be the end of it because of course Kenyan officials never miss deadlines.
• Mo Farah Wins 2017 British Ethnic Diversity Sports Award

Pre-NYC Half News

*Men’s Preview *Women’s Preview
RRW With Weather Fluctuating, Tactics Could Change At NYC Half The temperature is expected to be 33F at race time.
RRW Emily Sisson Is Pumped For Her Half Marathon Debut At Sunday’s United Airlines NYC Half Marathon
RRW Callum Hawkins – Former Butler Bulldog – Hopes To Battle For Win At United NYC Half Marathon

The World’s Hardest Foot Race To Win – 2017 World XC – Is Just Around The Corner

• REPEAT? Geoffrey Kamworor Says He’s In Much Better Shape Than At Kenyan Trials – Thinks He Can Defend Title He says he was back at the Kenyan Trials as he only started training in December as he was trying to get over a nagging injury.
• Leonard Patrick Komon Guarantees Kenyan Victory: “We will win. I believe it will be an easy run and we assure Kenyans of a win.” Six days after Worlds, he’ll race Galen Rupp in a half marathon in Prague.
• Is This The Secret To Kenya’s World XC Success? Kenya Has Had Its Training Camp At Kigari Teachers Training College Every Year Since 1986 Some think the special terrain makes it ideal for XC.
• WADA Has Conducted Two Different Unannounced Tests At Kenyan Camp
• Kenya’s Junior Men Say They Are Ready To Dominate World XC But Many Of Them Want Individual Gold World Youth 3,000m champion Richard Kimunyan won the Trials but world jr steeple champ Amos Kirui (5th at Trials) says he’s the one to beat.
• Have Fans, Will Travel Athletics Kenya Will Send 8 Buses Full Of Fans To Uganda Some of them are going from Nairobi, which is a 20-hour bus ride when you throw in stops. The LRC staff is flying in from Nairobi.

More News From Kenya IOC Drops Funding Of Kenya’s National Olympic Committee Until They Adopt A New Constitution And New Officers

Jamaican News

• Controversy In Jamaica: High School Officials Stand By Decision To Let Ugandan Distance Runner Compete At “Champs” EvenThough He Failed 2 Of 3 Eligibility Criteria Aryamanya Rodgers is expected to dominate the distance races and some parents are so irate they walked to the ISSA offices and handed in the winner’s trophy before the competition is even held.
• Calabar Boycotts Champs Launch The Champs start March 28.

Upcoming Meets In Jamaica

• LaShawn Merritt Will Face Andre De Grasse At 200m At Jamaica’s IAAF World Challenge Meeting On May 20th The women’s fields are loaded as it included 100H WR holder Kendra Harrison and double Olympic champ Elaine Thompson.
• Van Niekerk Will Evidently Be In Jamaica Awhile As He, David Rudisha, Mo Farah And Usain Bolt Will Race At JN Racers Grand Prix On June 10th We guess the big names are showing up as it’s Bolt’s going away party.

Doping News With A Slightly Positive Angle To Them

• Roger Bannister Says Track & Field’s Rampant Doping Brings Him “Extreme Sadness” – Hopes USADA And WADA Can Kill It Off So Track Can Have A Revival “It pains me a lot, but I still believe there is something very healthy underneath the whole of this activity and I long to see this brought into ascendancy again.”
• Proof Positive That Not All Dopers Are Bad People – Particularly When They Grow Up In A State Where Everyone Was Doing It 1991 World 100 & 200 Champ Katrin Krabbe Now Helping Terminally Ill In A Hospice Her official title is “dying companion” which she rejects wholeheartedly, “Dying companion? I am a companion for living!”

Previous 2017 World Cross News

• Spain’s Adel Mechaal Isn’t Scared To Race The World’s Best – He’ll Be In Uganda For Next Weekend’s World XC Champs And this is after he won both the European 3,000 and Spanish XC crowns this winter.
• Athletics Legend Tegla Loroupe Will Lead A Team Of Refugee Athletes At World XC She held a similar role for the refugees in Rio.

• Deena Kastor Looks Back Fondly At Her World XC Experiences: “My best years as an athlete have been when I’ve incorporated XC into my season.” Kastor had many World XC appearances (including 7 consecutive), finishing second twice, once to Paula Radcliffe and the other to Ethiopia’s Worknesh Kidane.
• Kampala, Uganda Set To Host The Largest World XC Meet In More Than A Decade It will be the biggest the meet has been since 2006, although the numbers get a boost from the new mixed relay race.
• World 10K 8th Placer Timothy Toroitich And Former Olympic Marathon Champ Stephen Kiprotich Lead Uganda Team For Home World XC Champs
• Australia’s First And Only Champ Benita Willis Shares Her World Cross Memories
• Spain Name Team Of 24 Athletes For World XC
• British Athletics Officially A Joke: UK Announces World XC “Squad” No senior men and only four senior women will make the trip to Uganda.
• GB May Be Forfeiting World XC But They Announced Yesterday They Are Sending “A” Teams To World Relays

Will Sub-2 Go Down This Spring? We Say No!

• Ed Caesar In Wired: “Nike’s Controversial New Shoes Made Me Run Faster” Caesar, the journalist following Nike’s sub-2 project and author of “Two Hours,” writes that Nike’s new controversial Vaporfly shoes have him “running more like a Kenyan than I ever had before.”
• Team Of Researchers At The University Of Houston And University Of Colorado Claim The 2-Hour Marathon Can Be Broken Now Their mathematical “calculations” show that four and a half minutes could be shaved off the current record through lighter shoes, a collaborative drafting strategy and ideal course “like a paved loop through a pine forest.”

Not Your Everyday Running News

• Seattle Female Runner Uses Moves From Self-Defense Class To Fight Off A Rapist The man, a registered sex offender, was hiding in a bathroom stall where she stopped during a run, but she was able to fight him off and lock him in the stall until police arrived.
  *MB: Seattle rapist goes away DEVASTATED after attacking female marathoner
• UK Transgender Runner And Former UK Mountain Running Champion Lauren Jeska Gets 18 Years In Prison For Attempted Murder Of UK Athletics Official Jeska had a dispute with UKA on her eligibility to compete as a female since she had not provided samples of her testosterone levels. She stabbed one UKA official in the head and neck and injured two others. *The Guardian Article *BBC
• Video: Crazy 40+ MPH Wind Brings Runners To A Standstill In French Road Race Runners going over a bridge were hunched over as they tried to not be blown over by the strong gusts.

We’ve Lost One Of Our Own

LRCRest in Peace Our Friend - Running Legend Ed Whitlock Dead at the Age of 86