October 19, 2017 | LetsRun.com

Q & A With The Legend Who Has Held An American Track Record Longer Than Anyone Else

LRC Q&A Johnny Gray Talks About Having American 800 Record For 32 Years, Why He Considered Taking Drugs, & His Thoughts On Ajee Wilson Gray, the longest holder of a US track record (32 years and counting), shares all in this no-holds-barred interview. Who does he think has more potential – Clayton Murphy, Donavan Brazier or Boris Berian? Does he have doubts about Ajee Wilson after her positive test? All of that and more.
*MB: Fantastic Johnny Gray interview
*MB: Is Johnny Gray’s American Record run the fastest negative-split 800m of all time?
*MB: JOHNNY GRAY TRAINING

Elite Distance Stuff: Team Ajee Wilson Grows

Kendra Chambers Joins Joins Ajee’ Wilson’s And Charlene Lipsey’s Training Group Under Coach Derek Thompson In Philadelphia Now sponsored by Oiselle, Chambers does a quick Q&A about the move to Philly and more.
Lawrence Cherono Feels Like He’s Ready To Race The World Marathon Majors After Winning Amsterdam In A CR 2:05:09 Tilastopaja.org says Cherono has run 10 marathons, but most of them have been over 2:10 and this was a big PR from his previous 2:06:21.
Mary Keitany’s Husband Hints That She’ll Arrive In NYC In Similar Shape As When She Ran 2:17:01 In London Keitany has ruled out going for the outright 2:15:25 WR in the future though, saying, “You don’t plan to run a world record time, but run as fast as you can. Then see where it leads you to.”

End Of 2017 News

Ryan Hall And Lornah Kiplagat Among The Class Of 2017 NYRR Half Of Fame Inductees SI’s Tim Layden won the George Hirsch Journalism Award.
Quick Quotes From The Ten 2017 IAAF Male Athlete of The Year Candidates Distance quotes include Mo Farah and Elijah Manangoi.
Entries Open For IAAF Fan Photograph Of The Year Contest Win a free trip to the 2018 World Indoor Champs in Birmingham.

Olympic News

California Governor Gives LA 2028 Financial Guarantees The bill allows the state to spend up to $270 million if the Games go over budget.
The Telegraph: Pole Dancing Now Recognized By International Sports Body – Leaves Door Open To Olympic Inclusion The Global Association of International Sports Federation (GAISF) gave pole dancing, along with arm wrestling and dodgeball, 2 years to meet requirements (WADA compliant and increased membership) to become an official sport.
*International Pole Sports Federation Founder Katie Coates: “Why I’m Glad Pole Dancing Is Finally Being Recognized As A Sport” Coates has lead the charge to try to get pole dancing to the Olympics.
USA Today: USOC Expresses Interest In Bidding For Winter Olympics Denver, Salt Lake City and Reno are possible bidders.
Salt Lake City Forms Exploratory Committee To Look Into Bid For 2026 Or 2030 Winter Olympics Salt Lake City hosted the Games back in 2002.

NCAA Updates

Arkansas To Host A New “National Relay Champs” This April Sixteen “power programs” will compete in a 2-hour, televised relay-only meet with team scoring. Events tentatively include a 4 x 100, 4 x 200, 4 x 400, 4 x 800 and DMR.
Oklahoma State Men Have Been Ranked #1 In The Midwest Region For 58 Straight Weeks They haven’t lost the Midwest Region since 2010 (they tied in 2012).
Justyn Knight And Ednah Kurgat Are NCAA Athletes Of The Week After Winning Wisconsin Invite
Latest Men’s Regional XC Rankings
Updated Women’s Regional Rankings

The US Officially Has A New Teen Phenom

MB: Katelyn Tuohy smashes historic VCP record by 30+ seconds! Tuohy, who ran a 4:24 1,500 in 8th grade and broke Mary Cain‘s NY state mile record as a freshman, ran 13:21.8.
*From The Archives – 2016 – MB: The Next Girls Phenom Has Arrived

Marathon News

Good Read: ESPNW: The Inspiring Story Behind Aliphine Tuliamuk’s Rise To The Top Of Elite Running Tuliamuk was one of 32 siblings and ran her first races in loafers and sandals. Now she’s getting ready to try to win the NYC Marathon as a US citizen.
Sunday: World Marathon Champ Rose Chelimo Faces 66:19 Woman Ruth Chepngetich At The Rock ‘N’ Roll Lisbon Half Marathon World 10,000 4th placer Senbere Teferi is also in the field while Eritrea’s Yohanes Ghebregergis (60:21) is the men’s favorite along with three other sub-61 men and former World XC champ Imane Merga. Tokyo Marathon champ Sarah Chepchirchir (2:19:47) leads the women’s marathon while the men’s has 2:07 men Edwin Koech and Jacob Cheshari.
A Marine With Prosthetic Legs Is Running 31 Marathons In 31 Days To Raise Awareness For Wounded Veterans Rob Jones lost both his legs when he was wounded by a landmine while serving in Afghanistan.
Kathrine Switzer (The First Woman To Complete Boston With A Race Bib) To Receive USATF Pioneer Award

Euro AOY Awards

European Golden Tracks Awards Ceremony Is Today In Portugal
Formidable Foursome Of Euro AOY Contenders Were All Undefeated This Summer High jumper Mariya Lasitskene, pole vaulter Katerina Stefanidi, heptathlete Nafissatou Thiam and hammer thrower Anita Wlodarczyk make for a hard choice.
Distance Runners Konstanze Klosterhalfen And Yasemin Can Compelling Nominees For Euro AOY

Upcoming Action

October 22: Kenyan 2:26 Woman Angela Tanui Looking To Turn The Tables On Ethiopia At The Toronto Waterfront Marathon Ethiopian women have won seven of the last ten years, but Tanui is hoping for big improvements in what will be her second marathon.
November 12: After A Surprise Win In 2016, Edwin Kiptoo Returns To Defend His Title At The Beirut Marathon
Saturday: MileSplit Manhattan High School Invitational Preview
*Finish Line Live Webcast / Meet Schedule

Week That Was

WTWWTW: A Closer Look At BYU's Dominance, Praise For Mo Farah, Galen Rupp, & Katelyn Tuohy, Let's Get Excited For World Indoors

We also take a look at the 2017 TCS Amsterdam Marathon and tell you what Bulldogs of Yale show what they have in common with Georgetown other than a bulldog as a mascot. Plus Kyle Merber's wedding makes the Daily Mail.

Negative News

MB: RIP Former Michigan All-American And 2:10 Marathoner Bill Donakowski, 61 Donakowski was the 1977 Big Ten XC champ, a multi-time All-American and won the US Marathon Champs in 1986. *Obituary
RIP Former William And Mary Coach Dan Stimson Stimson was the head coach at W&M for 25 years, coaching 64 All-American performances and an Olympic appearance.
Fundraising Campaign For Triathlete Matt Russell, Who Was In The ICU After Colliding With A Vehicle During The Ironman World Championships Last Weekend Russell has been released from the hospital and is recovering under medical observation.

LetsThrow.com

Russian SPer Got A Reduced 1-Year Doping Ban After The Russian Federation Took “Into Account The Athlete’s Explanation” … However, they failed to specify what that explanation was.
IAAF Profile: Second Best Is Enough For Now For Polish Hammer Thrower Wojciech Nowicki Nowicki is consistently one of the best hammer throwers in the world, but is overshadowed considering he is Polish so his countryman is the top-ranked Pawel Fajdek.
Former Discus WR Holder Mac Wilkins Reviews The 2017 Throws
World Masters Discus Record Earns Carol Finsrud USATF Athlete Of The Week She threw 40.76m (133-9) to break the 60-64 world mark by five feet.

US Distance Stuff

Kyle Merber’s Wedding Makes Headlines In The UK For His Funny Irish To English Slang Translator Merber and his Irish bride Patricia Barry made up a sheet to help their American and Irish guests bypass the language barrier.
Appalled Mother Wants “Revealing” High School Cross-Country Uniforms Banned The mother wants women’s running briefs banned at the high school level. “I turned to my husband and said, why are our girls wearing their underwear?”
*MB: BAN IT! Down with bun huggers!
Video Interview: 2016 NCAA Indoor Mile Champ Kaela Edwards Joins Emma Coburn Training Group She will train alongside Coburn and Aisha Praught.
Updated Men’s National XC Rankings See NAU And BYU Maintain Their 1-2 Rank The story of the rankings, though, is Portland jumping 22 spots from a 25th ranking to #3.
Women’s Cross-Country National Coaches Poll Has Oregon Move To #1 New Mexico moved up to 2nd and Colorado moved down from 1st to 3rd.

GB News

Mo Farah To Race The Great Manchester Run 10K Next Spring
GB’s 8:33 Steeplechaser Ieuan Thomas Gives Some Steeple Tips For Beginners Accelerate into the barrier, have forward lean and get used to using both legs as your lead leg.
Tips On Sport And Life From GB’s Former World Indoor 60m Champ Richard Kilty “Be completely relentless in what you do. Success in athletics doesn’t just happen overnight. It is a long-term plan and to achieve your goals it is important to never put limitations on yourself – in both training and competition – and keep striving for more.”
BBC Video: How Much Easier Would Life Be With A Racewalker As An Errand Boy? Don’t most people run errands though?
GB’s Dina Asher-Smith Finished The Dreaded 4th In The 200m At Worlds, But Is Proud Of Her Year After Battling Back From Injury Just To Get There “I break my foot and there’s uni, exams, dissertation, rehab, pushing, pushing, pushing, having to find form, into outdoors, going straight into Worlds, phew!”
Short Video: Relive Paula Radcliffe’s 2:15:25 Marathon WR
Brother And Sister Duo Win Great Birmingham Run Half Will and Chloe Richardson ran 66:38 and 81:40 to get the Ws.

TCS Amsterdam Marathon TV & Streaming Tracking And Results

Amsterdam Delivers: Lawrence Cherono Runs 2:05:09 Course Record As 5 Guys Break 2:06, 8 Break 2:08 And 14 Break 2:10! Cherono’s close was impressive as Tadelech Bekele won the women’s race in 2:21:54. Zane Robertson was a DNF.
*Audio Interview With Coach Canova After The Race
*MB: Official 2017 TCS Amsterdam Marathon Live Discussion Thread
*MB: So if Galen Rupp had run Amsterdam, he would have been at best 3rd and maybe 5th?

Lisbon: Eunice Chumba Upstages World Marathon Champ Rose Chelimo On A Hot Day At The Rock ‘N’ Roll Lisbon Half Chumba ran 68:48 while Chelimo was 3rd (69:48). Birhan Nebebew won the men’s race in 62:02 while Sarah Chepchirchir (2:27:57) and Ishhimael Bushendich Chemtan (2:10:57) took the marathon titles.

More News From Europe World Javelin Champion Johannes Vetter Of Germany And Greece’s Pole Vault Champ Katerina Stefanidi Were Named 2017 European Athletes Of The Year At The Golden Tracks Gala In Lithuania On Saturday

NY Is In 3 Weeks Time To Raise The White Flag? Mary Keitany Says Her Training For NY Has “Gone Well” Her husband/coach is “optimistic” that she can run like she did in London (2:17:01).

The Sprints

Four Years After Quitting, Asafa Powell Returns To The Stephen Francis-Coached MVP Track Club Powell left MVP when Francis gave an ultimatum for Powell to leave his long-time agent, Paul Doyle, whom Francis blamed for Powell’s positive stimulant test.
From Miss Universe Malaysia Finalist To National Sprinter Malaysian model and actress Tanalaksiumy Mahenthiran Rayer is hoping to make the Commonwealth and Asian Games.

RW: Devastating California Wildfires Wreak Havoc for Races, Runners, And Their Families Sara Hall‘s and Kim Conley‘s families were among those affected by the fires and had to evacuate.
*MB: Bay Area Smoke: Train normally, dial back, wait it out?

Corruption Stuff

Chicago Tribune: Why Chicago Didn’t Have The 2016 Olympics In The Bag In light of the bribery charges against Rio 2016, the Chicago Tribune writes, “No, it appears that Chicago lost because it wasn’t corrupt. We pause here to allow you to linger over that sentence. You may never see it in print again.”
Um, You Think? European Athletics Council Proposes Honorary Membership Of Disgraced Former Russian Athletics Federation President Valentin Balakhnichev Be Revoked He has a life ban from the sport for blackmailing Liliya Shobukhova. How was this not automatic?
USOC Among Those Getting Frustratd By How Long The IOC Is Taking To Make A Decision On Russia Ahead Of 2018 Winter Games
The IAAF Replaces Suspended Athletics Kenya Official David Okeyo With African Athletics Confederation Vice Pres. Vivian Gungaram In other news, ADAK found runners Shieys Chepkosgei and Florence Chepsoi guilty of doping and upheld their 4-year bans.

Field Eventer News

Russia’s High Jump World Champ Maria Lasitskene Plays Down Her Chances At Winning The IAAF Athlete Of The Year Award Lasitskene competed as a neutral athlete and was undefeated in 2017, but thinks the award is so subjective that she doesn’t expect to even make the top 3.
Lengthy Video Podcast With USA Shot Putters Ryan Crouser, Darrell Hill And Ryan Whiting
Syria’s World High Jump Bronze Medalist Majd Eddin Ghazal Says The Greatest Challenge Of His Career Was Rio 2016 When He Tried To Compete While Battling Anemia In Rio he could barely run or walk, but managed to finish 7th place with a 2.29m clearance. Afterwards at the hospital, the doctors told him he should have been given the gold for even competing.
Tips For Sports And Life From Latvia’s World Heptathlon Bronze Medalist Laura Ikauniece-Admidina She says to be “personal but not too personal” on social media and that “people who text and drive are crazy.”

Upcoming On The Roads

October 22: RRW: Scotiabank Toronto Waterfront Marathon Remembers Ed Whitlock Whitlock, a well-known masters running legend who passed 7 months ago, set a slew of WRs in Toronto, including being the oldest to go under 3 hours when he ran 2:54:49 at age 73.
*LRC Archives: Ed Whitlock Has Died – Rest in Peace
November 12: Filomena Cheyech Daniel (2:21:11) Leads Saitama International Marathon Elite Field On the men’s side, Yuki Kawauchi headlines in what will be his second marathon in a week.
November 26: Osaka Marathon Elite Fields Led By “Amateur” Japanese Women With PRs In The Mid 2:30s And 2:12 Eritrean Kaleab Ghilagabr

An Olympic Champ Hangs 'Em Up

Spanish Olympic HJ Champ Ruth Beitia Announces Retirement At 38 Years Old Beitia retires after an impressive career where at 37 years old in Rio she became Spain’s only female Olympic champ ever.
*European Athletics Article On Ruth Beitia’s Retirement When Beitia won Rio gold she became the oldest athlete to win an Olympic jumping event. *IAAF

Drug / Corruption Updates

NY Times: Accused Of Corruption On Multiple Continents, And Comfortably Defiant In Senegal Papa Massata Diack has had hordes of corruption accusations made against him, but he’s still professing his innocence, claiming the accusations come from racism and jealousy. Meanwhile, he continues running his business from and living large in Senegal.
Two More Russians Get Drug Bans Seven-time shot put national champ Maksim Sidorov got a 1-year ban and former Youth World Cup racewalk winner Alexei Bartsaikin got 4 years. A coach was also banned for “persuading” an athlete to dope.
Russia Opens Its First Criminal Investigation Under New Anti-Doping Law An unnamed medical staff member of a Russian athlete could face one year in jail and fines up to $17,400 under the new law.
Recent CAS Ruling Banning Russian TJer Strengthens Credibility Of McLaren Report Russians and others have criticized the report for lack of evidence, but here the evidence was used to push through a drug ban.
InsideTheGames‘ Nick Butler: Is It A Good Thing That Only One Retest From The Vancouver 2010 Winter Games Came Back Positive A Good Thing? Butler analyzes the possible good and bad reasons that so few athletes tested positive at the 2010 Games.

2017 Wisco And Pre-Nats Were Fri. / Sat. Wisco Results Pre-Nats Results *Other Results

MB: Official 2017 Wisco / Pre-Nats Discussion Thread- Who you got?

Pre-Nats LRC 2017 Pre-Nats Analysis: Who Surprised And Bombed Today In Louisville? The #1 Colorado women were upset by #2 Oregon but don’t write them off. Individually, UNH’s Elinor Purrier upset Karissa Schweizer as well. In the men’s race, BYU’s Rory Linkletter got the win as the Cougars CRUSHED it. Who is better on the men’s side, #1 NAU or #2 BYU?
*USTFCCA Recap

LRC 2017 Wisco XC Men’s Recap: Justyn Knight Edges Grant Fisher As NAU Dominates, But Who Were The Biggest Winners And Losers? Friday’s 2017 Nuttycombe Wisconsin Invitational in Madison played out very much the same as the 2016 Nuttycombe Wisconsin Invitational as for the second year in a row, the No. 1 Northern Arizona men and Syracuse’s Justyn Knight emerged as the champions. We break it down for you and tell you which teams flopped and which teams surprised.

LRC Wisconsin XC Women’s Recap: Ednah Kurgat Leads New Mexico To Victory (Updated with table) New Mexico claimed individual and team victories at the 2017 Nuttycombe Wisconsin Invitational in Madison on Friday.