September 23, 2017 Homepage Archive

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Archived Homepage For September 23, 2017

Quote Of The Day

“Respect, yes; fear, no. What Eliud has achieved over the past years is phenomenal. I am talking mostly about all his victories and less about this Breaking 2 hours project in Monza. His time of 2:00:25 is impressive, but I believe that the entire setting from the flat loop course to the alternating pacemakers to the refreshments probably made a difference of about two minutes. Alone when you have to pick up your own drinks, you lose half a minute. If I had the same assistance, I believe I could achieve a time like that as well.”

– Wilson Kipsang talking about Eliud Kipchoge and his accomplishments ahead of their showdown at Sunday’s Berlin Marathon.

Until 2017 BMW Berlin Marathon Men’s Preview Women’s WR History in Berlin TV & Streaming Tracking, & Results Ken Nakamura’s Berlin Stats

Berlin Mania on the MBoard

LRC1 Hour Berlin Preview Podcast We break down the field, the world record odds, and the pacing.

LRC Men’s Preview: The Big 3: Kipchoge, Bekele And Kipsang Chase The WR In Berlin – Who Breaks It, And By How Much? The full LRC preview of the men’s race is here.

RRW Get the Inside Scoop on the Pacemaking That Might Make A World Record Possible at Sunday’s BMW Berlin Marathon Nike’s Sub-2 event taught us pace-making is CRITICAL to running fast. There is some big pre-race drama as Bekele and Kipchoge won’t agree on what pace should be the goal.
*Kipchoge wants to go out in 60:45
*Bekele says “60:45 has no place in my plans. I shall follow the lead if I can.”
*Kipsang prefers 61:00-61:10

Previous Berlin Coverage

RRW Ryan Vail – America’s Lone Elite Men’s Entry – Is Hoping For A PR At 2017 BMW Berlin Marathon Vail, who has been running as much as 130 miles per week on just six days of running, has been battling the injury bug of late as he hasn’t finished a marathon since November of 2014.

LRC The Craziest Guy In Berlin? Japan’s Yuta Shitara Ran 60:17 For A Half LAST Weekend And Likely Will Go Out With Leaders He’s got a 2:09 PR. We’re not sure how to say cojones in Japanese.

Wilson Kipsang Says He Respects, But Does Not Fear Eliud Kipchoge Kipsang also weighed in on Kipchoge’s Breaking2 run and said he thinks he’d run just as fast as Kipchoge.
Wilson Kipsang: “My motivation continues to be great. I have not yet had enough.” Interesting stuff from Kipsang, who says he wants to win all the marathon majors (he only needs Boston and Chicago), has dropped his mileage and increased speed for Berlin 2017 and hints that the newest adidas sub2 shoe could give him an edge.
InsideTheGames’ Mike Rowbottom Thinks Berlin Will Be Great, But Doesn’t Want To Hear Talk About The “Greatest Of All Time” (GOAT) Rowbottom thinks the race will be historic, but actually hopes they don’t run the WR.
Gladys Cherono Wants To Break 2:20 And Maybe Even The CR In Berlin
SPIKES: Berlin Marathon By The Numbers Eliud Kipchoge, Kenenisa Bekele and Wilson Kipsang have each won Berlin once so far in their career.
MB: Get A Look At Eliud Kipchoge’s Training Log In The Month Leading Up To Berlin Some interesting insights into the training of the best marathoner in the world.
LRC Let’s Get Excited: Eliud Kipchoge Vs. Kenenisa Bekele Vs. Wilson Kipsang Vs. World Record Sunday In Berlin It doesn’t get much better than this. 3 global titans, including the greatest distance runner ever (Bekele) vs. the greatest marathoner ever (Kipchoge) on the only course where the world record has fallen the last 15 years.
Full Berlin Coverage on 2017 Berlin Marathon Page

Russian Doping Updates

Russian Whistleblower Grigory Rodchenkov Writes OP-ED In NY TImes Rodchenkov says (and we believe it) that former sports minister Vitaly Mutko knew about the Russian doping program.
Reuters: New Russian Anti-Doping Chief Yuri Ganus Looking For A Fresh Start Ganus: “We have changed our director, our leadership, 90 percent of our staff. All inspectors in charge of taking samples are new … We need to understand that the culture needs to change, not only RUSADA.”

Stuff From Last Weekend We Missed On The Homepage

Ben Blankenship Runs The Fastest Mile Ever In Alaska With 3:57.85 Blankenship broke Kyle Merber‘s recent outdoor record as well as Jack Bolas‘ 3:58.3 indoor mark from 2013.
Sara Hall Moved Herself To #9 On The US Half Marathon All-Time List With 69:37 For 10th Place In Copenhagen
Harvey Lewis III Is USATF Athlete Of The Week For Winning The US 24-Hour Championships This Past Weekend 41-year-old Lewis ran 142.034 miles in 24 hours (10:08 pace). Tara Langdon won the women’s race with 131.448 miles (10:57 pace).

Oscar Pistorius Back In The News

“Oscar Pistorius: Blade Runner Killer” Movie Coming Out On Lifetime The movie is told from the point of view of Reeva Steenkamp and follows Pistorius’ track career through the tragic events on Valentine’s Day 2013 and the subsequent court cases.
South African Supreme Court Will Convene On November 3rd To Decide If Oscar Pistorius Should Get More Jail Time Prosecutors want the sentence upped from 6 years to 15.

High School XC

USA Today:XC Homecoming “Proposals” Are Becoming A Thing A sign that read, “I would be XCited if you ran to hoco with me” got one high schooler a date to homecoming. (includes video)
Chicago RD Carey Pinkowski Recalls His Indiana XC High School State Title Race

Before Berlin On Sunday, A Look Back

LRC Classics #1 A Look Back At A Race For The Ages: Eliud Kipchoge Takes Down Kenenisa Bekele & El Guerrouj At The 2003 World Championships In 5,000 14 years ago, three of the greatest distance runners of all-time squared off at 5,000m and hardly anyone realized it.

More Berlin

LRC Kenenisa Bekele, Eliud Kipchoge and Wilson Kipsang Talk Big Before 2017 BMW Berlin Marathon (videos + transcript) Bekele has “complete confidence” he can compete with any athlete, Kipsang says his fitness is “far much better” than last year and wonders if Kipchoge has recovered from Breaking2, and Eliud Kipchoge says he’s “really, really looking forward” to Sunday but refused to talk about Bekele or Kipsang.

LRC History Lesson A Look Back At The Men’s Marathon World Records Set In Berlin The last six world records in the men’s marathon (and 7 of the last 9) have all been set in Berlin. We take a look back at those historic races.

LRCWomen’s Preview: Which New Star Will Emerge On The Big Stage? 2015 champ Gladys Cherono (2:19 PR) is the strong favorite on paper and will be going for the course record. Her main competition is Ethiopia’s Amane Beriso (2:20 PR) and fellow Kenyan Valary Aiyabei (2:21 PR), who has won 4 straight marathons and is making her WMM debut.

Kenenisa Bekele says it’s been raining in Ethiopia so his training hasn’t been perfect – “I would put it at 90%.” He’s been running between 160km and 180 km per week (100-112 mpw).
Adidas’s Wilson Kipsang has his own special new shoe which he says is amazing – adizero Sub2 He wore them in Tokyo and broke the course record by nearly 2 minutes. Adidas has held the marathon WR for 10 straight years.
*MB: Memo to Nike fanboys: Adidas adizero Sub2 is the real deal. Adidas has held WR for 10 straight years
Interesting: NY Times: Berlin will show us if barriers are all just mental After Bannister broke 4:00, psychologists think sub-4s became common. Will Kipchoge’s 2:00:25 do the same in the marathon? Answer: No.
Prof Sean Hartnett takes a look back at the km by km splits of the 3 fastest legit marathons in history
Jos Hermens won’t be surprised if top 3 break WR
Berlin Marathon (and letsrun.com) gets article in Wall St. Journal

Full Berlin Coverage on 2017 Berlin Marathon Page

Random

US Field Event News

Week That Was

LRCWTW: Galen Rupp Picks It Up Then Slows Down, NorCal Disbands, And It Was The Weakest Year In The 5,000 Since 1994

The Week That Was is in fine form this week as we talk about Galen Rupp's half in Philly, Jordan Hasay's slowdown in Philly, sub-4 mania in Alaska, races with interesting prize money structures and of course the twosuper-fast half marathons in Europe.

Corruption, Doping And More Negatives

Sergey Bubka Being Investigated Over $45,000 Payment To Disgraced IAAF Treasurer Valentin Balakhnichev It is suspicious because almost at the same time as Bubka paid Balakhnichev, Balakhnichev sent $45 grand to Papa Massata Diack‘s company. Bubka’s representatives claim the money was for “consultancy services … to expand the reach of the annual Pole Vault Stars tournament.” *2nd Article
New RUSADA Leader Warns McLaren Report Accusations Must Be Taken Seriously If Confidence In Russia Is To Be Restored Whether it was for show or not remains a question, but new RUSAD head Yury Ganus had some of the most reasonable statements by a Russian official that we’ve seen.
South Korean President Promises Pyeongchang 2018 Winter Games Will Be Safe After Meeting With Thomas Bach There are a lot of concerns given North Korea’s recent missile tests.
RIP:Olympic Jav Thrower Martin Broomall Biles Dies At 98

Bizarre: MB:Woman jogger dubbed ‘The Mad Pooper’ wanted by police for defecating outside a family’s home

Last Week’s NCAA XC Updates

MB:Harvard women run ‘B’ team at HYP’s, Princeton men don’t show up – the death of rivalries in sport?
*Harvard Article
MB:Best Running Youtuber getting SHUT DOWN by NCAA Texas A&M freshman Ryan Trajan may have to shut down his YouTube channel due to NCAA rules preventing him from using his “image or likeness.”
*MileSplit:Ryan Trahan Battles With The NCAA Over Being An Athlete And A Business Man Trahan owns his own company, the Neptune Bottle Company, where he sells sophisticated coolers.
The Daily Orange: Sophomore Kevin James Hoping To Break Out And Help Syracuse Toward A National Title
Updated Men’s XC National Coaches’ Poll: Top 8 Remain Unchanged WIth NAU, Stanford And Syracuse Ranked 1-3
*Updated Men’s Regional Rankings
No Changes To Top 8 Women’s National XC Rankings As Colorado, Oregon And New Mexico Are Ranked 1-3
*Updated Women’s Regional Rankings
Stanford Men And Women Sweep USD XC Invy
NC State Women Win Adidas XC Challenge
Michigan Men Win Adidas XC Challenge
Last Week’s NCAA XC Athletes Of The Week Were Columbia’s Ryan Thomas And Missouri’s Karissa Schweizer Thomas won the Paddy Doyle Meet Of Champions at Van Cortlandt Park and Schweizer broke Erin Finn‘s CR at the Commodore Invy.
Ohio State Women Claim Commodore Classic XC Title
Middle Tennessee Men Win Commodore Classic XC

International Distance News

Good Read:SPIKES Profile On Eliud Kipchoge And His Low Tech Training Camp Where He Is Known As “The Boss Man” Kipchoge: “It is critically important [to have training partners]. They are a big motivation. You cannot perform when you train on your own.”
IAAF Profile:Worlds 1,500 Bronze Medalist Filip Ingebrigtsen Continues Norwegian Renaissance Before London 2017, it’d been 22 years since Norway had won a track medal at Worlds. Now Ingebrigsten and his brothers are making Norway a force on the European distance scene.
October 29:Vivian Cheruiyot Joins Field For Frankfurt Marathon The Olympic 5,000 champ will run her second career marathon after making her 2:23:50 debut for 4th in London.

Non Berlin News

Good Riddance Unreal: Former 2012 Olympic champ Asli Cakir Alptekin gets popped for drugs for 3rd time – Banned for life
Give her another WR No woman had ever broken 50 flat for 10 miles but based on analysis of the video it looks like Joyceline Jepkosgei ran 49:05

Bureaucracies at Their Worst and Best

Unreal City of Walnut sues block construction of new stadium that would host 2020 Olympic Trial Most cities beg for events like this but the wackos in California are upset a more thorough environmental report hasn’t been done. The University President says this setback won’t impact the 2020 Trials.
France, being France France may skip 2018 Winter Games due to security concerns
NCAA compromises with Texas A&M xc runner with his own water bottle company He can keep his youtube channel but can’t talk about A&M.
*MB: Best Running Youtuber getting SHUT DOWN by NCAA

Non-Berlin Distance News

Apparently Jake Robertson’s Finish Line Proposal At The Great North Run Wasn’t Planned “It just clicked with one mile to go that she’d (Magdalyne Masai) be there waiting for me. I was thinking about how our six years together had allowed us to become who we are today. If she has any flaws, I can’t see them.”
Pierre-Ambroise Bosse’s Attacker Claims That Bosse Threw A Beer Can At His Head First
*MB:Bosse assaulted!!
MB: Terrence Mahon out at BAA – to return to California at end of 2017
Shannon Rowbury And Maggie Vessey Traveling To Morocco To To Train Young Women
After Breaking German U23 Half Marathon Record With A 71:21, Alina Reh Looks Ahead To Going Sub-15 For 5,000 In 2018

Jamaican Sprint Stuff

Gatorade Settles $300 Thousand Lawsuit Over “Bolt!” Mobile Game The state Attorney General filed a complaint when Gatorade’s free Bolt mobile game gave the impression that water hindered athletic performance.
Asafa Powell Launches His Own Fitness Band Activity Tracker
The Gleaner:Post-Bolt Jamaica Facing The Future

African News

The Guardian:“Untold Stories: Why We Should Known More About East African Runners” The writer laments that we don’t know more about African distance stars like Worlds silver medalist Tim Cheruiyot and 10,000 5th placer Jemal Yimer. He argues why more journalists should do what we already do at LRC, and get to know the non-Asbel Kiprop/Kenenisa Bekeles of the East African distance world.
Watch Replay Of National Geographic Documentary On Breaking2 Project
*MB:Breaking2 – the film – aired last night on Nat. Geographic – Official Discussion Thread
Recommended Watch:Documentary On The Hard Road Of Kenyan B-Level Runners This 42-minute program is definitely worth a watch.
Kip Keino’s Bid To Remain Chairman Of The Kenyan National Olympic Committee (NOCK) Expected To Fail Former world marathon record holder Paul Tergat had already declared he planned to stand to replace Keino and is the favorite to take over the role.
On United Nations International Day Of Peace, The IAAF Looks Back At The Achievements Of The Athlete Refugee Team Former marathon WR holder Tegla Loroupe lead the team to the Rio Olympics, the World Relay Champs and more.

Track Season Isn’t Over For Everyone

Germany Takes team Title At Fly Europe Meet In Rome The unique street meet puts team from France, Germany, GB, Italy and Spain against each other over three events: the 30m sprint, PV and LJ.
Majd Eddin Ghazal Sets Meet Record (2.26m) To Win Asian Indoor Games High Jump Gold Qatar’s Jamal Hairane won the 800 in 1:49.33 and India’s Ajay KumarSaroj took the 1,500 in 3:48.67.
*Worlds Bronze Medalist Olga Rypakova Wins Asian Games Triple Jump To Complete Horizontal Jumps Double India had more distance gold with Lakshmanan Govindan taking the men’s 3,000 (8:02) and Chitra Palakeezh the women’s 1,500 (4:27).
Germany’s Rico Freimuth And Carolin Schafer Pick Up $30,000 For Winning 2017 Combined Events Challenge Series Winner is the athlete with the most total multi-event points (from their three best meets) throughout the series.

Previous Berlin Marathon News

Mario Fraioli Looking Forward To Watching The Best In The World Actually Compete Rather Than The Solo Time Trial That Was Breaking2 “Will they get [the WR]? I don’t know, and I almost don’t care. I just want to see what happens …”
How Good Do You Have To Be To Be A Pacer In Berlin? The team for Sunday includes Tokyo 3rd placer Gideon Kipketer (2:05:51), 2015 London 5th placer Sammy Kitwara (2:04:28), and Geoffrey Rono (sub-60 half).
Toni Reavis: Berlin’s Dream Race Reavis compares 2017’s three-way clash to London 2002 when there was a showdown between Haile Gebrselassie, Khalid Khannouchi and Paul Tergat.
AK Region Head Barnabas Korir: “I’m 100 Percent Convinced That The [World Record] Will Not Survive”

Chicago Adds Some Much Needed Depth

MB2017 BOA Chicago Marathon Adds 4 Sub-2:07 Guys, Including Olympic Silver Medalist Feyisa Lelisa, To Challenge Galen Rupp Chicago will now feature a clash between the Olympic silver and bronze medallists as Feyisa Lelisa (2:04:52), Stanley Biwott (2:03:51), Ezekiel Chebii (2:06:07) and Bernard Kipyego (2:06:19) have been added to the field. *Organizer Press Release