November 10, 2017 | LetsRun.com

NCAA XC Regionals *Results

LRC Georgetown Stays Home, Utah State Makes History and 6 Other Observations From The 2017 NCAA Regional Action And how about the Al Cantello of Navy. In his 50th year as coach, he’s got the Midshipmen going to NCAAs for the 2nd straight year.

LRC Projected Men’s Qualifiers for 2017 NCAA Cross Country Championships We name names and give you both the teams and individuals that will be competing at NCAAs.

LRC Projected Women’s Qualifiers for 2017 NCAA Cross Country Championships We name names and give you both the teams and individuals that will be competing at NCAAs.

Message Board Talk

Official 2017 NCAA XC Regional Discussion Thread – Find Out Who Is Dancing Here
Flotrack Monopolizing NCAA Coverage – Charging $29.99 for D1, D2 and D3 Nats – Will we ever get anything free anymore!?!? Yep, that’s right. The NCAA is now charging for D2 and D3 nats.
BYU resting guys at regionals
Grant Fisher gets 11th at regionals

LRC BYU Men (By Slimmest Of Margins) And Colorado Women Are Your New NCAA #1s In LetsRun.com Cross-Country Fan Polls The LRC faithful have spoken and we’ve got their votes.

More US Distance Stuff

Shalane Flanagan Undecided On Boston 2018 “I want to let (a decision) come naturally. Maybe in a couple of weeks.”
Recommended Read: Arizona Daily Sun: Remembering Marathoner Ryan Shay, 10 Years Later (Part 1 And 2) NAU head coach Michael Smith writes about the “shocking, heartbreaking event that sent [the Flagstaff] community reeling.”
IAAF Profile: Courtney Frerichs In “Fantasy Land” After World Steeple Silver “There’s been a lot of ups, there’s been a lot of downs … I was super happy with the coaching but I was in Portland, I was alone, and it was raining. The move was a bit tough. There wasn’t a lot of sunshine.”

LetsSprint.com

Justin Gatlin Reveals The #1 Mistake Slowing Down Young Sprinters Gatlin said he often sees “high knees” unwisely prioritized over ground force production. “Everybody in sprinting is so stuck on knee lift, knee lift. … But no one is focused on the power you need to put back into the ground.”
Tips On Sport And Life From Germany’s 2015 World 100H Silver Medalist Cindy Roleder Her fashion tip: “It doesn’t matter if casual, sporty or chic, a watch should never be forgotten!”
RIP: Jamaican 1960 Olympic 400 Bronze Medalist Runner Mal Spence, 81
Wayde Van Niekerk’s Coach Ans Botha Is Named Coach Of The Year By The IAAF

More On Shalane Flanagan’s Historic NYC Win

Q&A: Shaking, Yelling, Bawling: Shalane Flanagan’s Parents Relive Their Daughter’s Historic Victory Flanagan’s parents, two former running greats themselves, give some interesting insight on her training and younger days.
Mario Fraioli: Significance of Flanagan’s NYC Win Extends Far Beyond The Finish Line “Unlike two-time Olympic medalist and recently crowned Chicago Marathon champion Galen Rupp, Flanagan is empathetic and easy to root for, isn’t continually mired in controversy, and has made herself relatable…”
Athletics Illustrated‘s Chris Kelsall Calls Shalane Flanagan’s NYC Finish Line Celebration An “Indelible Moment”
RunBlogRun: Bill Rodgers Celebrates Shalane Flanagan’s Historic NYC Win

NYC Leftovers

MB: Wired Mag: Legal doping? Were Zoom Vaporfly 4% wearers twice as likely to negative split NYC? “The average Vaporfly runner ran the second half of the marathon a minute and a half slower than the first. But the average non-Vaporfly runner ran the second half five and a half minutes slower.”
Good Read: A Woman With Dystonia (A Movement Disorder Related To Parkinson’s) Ran The Entire NYC Marathon Backwards Justine Galloway has a 3:16 PR, but can no longer run forwards. However, determined not to stop running, she now runs backwards and finished NYC in 6:06.
MB: Allie Kieffer: “NYRR said you lose half your money if you click your watch at the end.” Was she joking?
MB: Joe Rogan and pals (stupidly) talking about Shalane Flanagan’s NYC Marathon win
MB: Was Shalane Flanagan’s close the fastest-ever by a woman in NY? How does it rank for any marathon?
The View From Kenya: Kenyan Journalist Justin Lagat Shares His Four Observations On NYC Geoffrey Kamworor proved you can have success at XC, the track and the marathon all in the same year.
NY Times: Video Of Some Of The Last Finishers Of The NYC Marathon These people finish after the official clock stops at 7:30PM, some of them taking over 12 hours.
Notes And Stats From The 2017 NYC Marathon Of the 51,307 starters, 50,766 finished.

From 3 To 26.2

jorgensen-gwen Olympic Champion In The Triathlon, Gwen Jorgensen, Is Quitting Triathlon To Run Marathons Full-Time, Says Goal Is Olympic Gold Jorgensen ran a 2:41 last year in NY on abbreviated marathon training.

USA Today: Jorgensen Will Be Upping Running Mileage From The 40 Miles A Week She Did For Tri To Over 100 “We’re on a tight time schedule. It’s not that long until Tokyo. … There’s going to be this huge learning curve in a small amount of time, and I’m going to have to take risks in training and competing.”
Jorgensen In RW: “There are a few people who think I’m crazy. Even my parents ask me, ‘Are you sure this is a good idea?'”
From The Archives: Gwen Jorgensen 2:41 off 40-50mpw

Assorted US Distance News

MB: Sandra Vi Sets Women’s Trans-USA Record She ran across America from San Francisco City Hall to NY City Hall in 54 days, 16 hours and 23 minutes.
*Check Out The Full 268-Page Thread On Sandra’s Run
Missouri State High School Association Rules Not To DQ Runners Who Gave And Received Assistance At The State Meet Meanwhile in Michigan, they’re DQing an entire team for wearing different color undershirts.
Fan Vote Open For 2017 USATF Jesse Owens, Jackie Joyner-Kersee Awards Distance runners up for the award are Galen Rupp, Emma Coburn and Shalane Flanagan.
Sad News: Runner Dies During Disney World Half Marathon

Stuff From Kenya

Olympic Marathon Champ Jemima Sumgong Gets 4-Year Doping Ban From Kenya’s Anti-Doping Agency Her excuse that she received EPO from a hospital after treatment for a ectopic pregnancy was rejected after the hospital denied treating her.
*MB From April: The emperor has no clothes: Jemima Sumgong has tested positive for EPO!!!
Recommended Read: In Just 4 Years, Elijah Manangoi Has Gone From Top Kenyan 400 Runner To World 1,500 Champion Back in 2013, Manangoi ran 46.5 to finish 4th at the Kenyan national championships, but frustrated at not making the Worlds team, he skipped right up to the 1,500 and made the Commonwealth Games the next year in only his third race.
Daily Mail Writer Visits Kenya, Calls Eldoret A “Haven For Those Who Want To Take Banned Drugs And Not Get Caught” More of the same accusations about Kenyan pharmacies where it’s really easy to get EPO and poor testing where athletes are given a day’s notice that they will be tested.
*MB: Doping rife in Kenya with little testing

Non-NYC Weekend Results

Azmeraw Bekele (2:10:33) And Muluhabt Tsega Break (2:28:08) Course Records At The Hangzhou Marathon In China
Ethiopian Pair Dejene Kelkilew (2:12:09) And Tejitu Siyum (2:33:21) Triumph At Marathon Des Alpes Maritimes In France Yuki Kawauchi was hoping to become the first Japanese man to win a marathon sub-2:10 outside of Japan, but faded to 6th in 2:15:02. *JRN Recap On Kawauchi
Panuel Mkungo (47:03) And Buze Diriba (52:11) Win Pittsburgh 10 Miler It was a third consecutive win for Diriba, who beat out fellow Ethiopian Gotytom Gebrselase by 4 seconds.
Kanagawa University Upsets Favorites To Win First National University Ekiden Title In 20 Years

NYC Men

LRC Geoffrey Kamworor Blitzes 4:31 25th Mile To Grab Lead And Holds On To Win 2017 New York City Marathon The 24-year-old Geoffrey Kamworor had accomplished an awful lot in his young career but he’d never won a marathon until today.

NY Message Board Men’s Talk:

Full NY Coverage In 2017 TCS New York City Marathon Special Section

USATF 5K Champs

LRC Shadrack Kipchirchir (13:57) Wins 6-Way Kick, Molly Huddle Earns USATF Title #25 (15:24) At 2017 USATF Road 5K Champs Kipchirchir beat out Thomas Curtin & Kirubel Ersassa as 6 men finished within 2 seconds of each other, while Huddle dusted a field that also included Molly Seidel (2nd, 15:35) and Natosha Rogers (3rd, 15:39). Full results in article.
*MB: USATF Abbott Dash to the Finishline 5k USATF Champs LIVE Thread

Good Read: RW: Desiree Linden Is Using Shorter Races To Burst Out Of A Running Slump “I feel like I would rather try to shake things up and fail miserably, but at least try, than just keep doing the same thing and getting the same result.”
RRW: USA 5-K Titles For Kipchirchir & Huddle at Abbott Dash To The Finish
USATF: Huddle Dominates, Kipchirchir Sprints To Victory At USATF 5K Champs

More LRC Exclusives

Mary Cain after an xc race last October (photo by Chris Lotsbom for Race Results Weekly) LRC Not Done Yet: Mary Cain Has Been Injured In 2017, Planning On Racing Again in 2018 Cain hasn’t raced or been heard from in almost exactly one year, but LRC has learned she’s planning on racing in 2018. The question now becomes, “How good will she be when she returns?” *Discuss

WTW Flanagan’s Close In NY Was Historically Fast, Jenny Simpson’s Roommate Gets 5th In NY And More What a week. In our weekly recap, we take one last week at the 2017 NYC Marathon and also have an update on new American citizen Sally Kipyego.

European Distance News

Mo Farah Stays On UK Lottery Funding After Switching To The Marathon Farah previously said he had likely ran his last race in a British vest, but this increases the chances he could run for GB again in 2020 in the marathon.
Saturday: Laura Muir Set To Defend Her Scottish Short Course XC Champs Title It will be her first race since Worlds. “I always think cross country at this time of year helps give you a good base for the following season on the track.”
Bizarre: French Man Receives Six Months Of Jail Time For His Controversial Running Attire The man made it a hobby to run around in custom soccer jerseys with names of notorious dictators and terrorists on them.

Some Big Names Finishing Out 2017 On The Roads

December 10: After Chicago DNF, WR Holder Dennis Kimetto To Race The Honolulu Marathon Nick Symmonds’ chances at winning his debut marathon just took a big hit.
December 17: Kenenisa Bekele And Florence Kiplagat To Compete At Tata Steel Kolkata 25K In India

LRC’s Tribute To Meb

LRC Meb Memories: A Generation of Greatness: Our Favorite Moments From The Amazing Career Of Meb Keflezighi Between our race previews and our on-site coverage of Shalane Flanagan‘s shocking victory in NYC, we never found the time to give Keflezighi a fitting sendoff. Here, we take a moment to share our favorite memories of one of the greatest distance runners in American history.
Discuss: Remembering Meb: What was your favorite moment his career?

Looking Ahead To Winter Distance Racing

December 3: Marathon Veterans Ready To Duel At USA Marathon Championships At CIM Nick Arciniaga, Janet Cherobon-Bawcom, Fernando Cabada, Patrick Rizzo, Craig Leon and Daniel Tapia lead the fields.
*UO Alum Parker Stinson, Katie Matthews And 62:54 Man George Alex Among Those Making Their Marathon Debuts At USA Champs Includes a nice Q&A with Alex and Matthews.
December 3: Former Olympic And World Champ Stephen Kiprotich, Bedan Karoki (3rd in London – 2:07:41), Defending Champ Yemane Tsegay (2:04:48) Headline Fukuoka International Marathon Elite Field Other notable names are recent 59:48 half runner Sondre Moen (Norway), Yuki Kawauchi and Jake Robertson and NOP’s Suguru Osako making their marathon debuts.
February 3: Paul Chelimo, Edward Cheserek, Craig Engels And Melissa Bishop Among Those Competing At The Camel City Elite Indoor Meet

Sprint Stuff

Former World Champ And Second-Fastest Woman In History Carmelita Jeter Retires Jeter hadn’t raced since 2016, but won 4 x 100 silver at the World Relays in 2015.
*LRC Archives: What Are Carmelita Jeter And Jason Richardson Doing With Mark Block?
Video Interview: Lolo Jones Now Thinks Of Herself More As A Bobsledder Than A Hurdler Jones says she’s gained 25 pounds since she last raced on the (indoor) track in 2016.
Controversial Lifetime Movie On Oscar Pistorius Will Come Out On November 18 Pistorius’ brother Carl said in a statement: “The ‘film’ was made with blatant disregard of both the Steenkamp and Pistorius families … Neither Oscar, the defence or the family were involved in the production of this ‘film’ in any way.” *Watch The Trailer Here
Multis: Podcast Interview With Two-Time US Olympic High Jumper And Heptathlete Sharon Day-Monroe Day-Monroe was the US heptathlon champ in 2011, 2013 and 2014. The 32-year-old talks about her future plans after she initially considered retiring after 2017 Worlds.
BBC Video: Meet Britain’s Fastest 10-Year-Old Sprinter Savannah Morgan is the younger step-sister of Commonwealth Games sprinter Corinne Humphreys.
NBC Wins Three Awards For Rio 2016 Coverage Including “Best Athlete Profile” For Their Segment On Wayde Van Niekerk

(Mostly Russian) Doping News

Is This The IOC’s Idea Of Cracking Down On Russia? IOC Considering Banning Russia’s National Anthem From 2018 Winter Games The IOC are also considering barring Russians from the opening ceremonies and a fine. Anything to avoid actually banning them from the Games altogether.
*NY Times Article
IAAF Task Force Chairman Rune Andersen Gives Positive Report After Most Recent Talks With Russia’s Track Federation “They are making progress. They are meeting more and more of the criteria that the Council has set for them to be reinstated.”
Thomas Bach Accuses Critics Of Olympic Movement Of Ignorance And Aggression “We live in a world where people are more and more thinking in silos of their own opinion. People are not ready for a dialogue anymore.” … Maybe he should practice what he preaches?
InsideTheGames‘ Nick Butler: “Olympic ‘family’ are losing their favourite thing – control – when dealing with Russian doping.” Butler criticizes Thomas Bach for lashing out at IOC critics and trying to control all “the agenda, the message and the decisions.”
Daily Mail: Three British Athletes Caught Up In Kenya Drug Scandal After Charged Doctor Says They Bought EPO The names haven’t been revealed although the Daily Mail says they know their identities.
*MB: Doping rife in Kenya with little testing
Kremlin Says Absence Of Russia At Winter Olympics Would Be A “Big Blow” To The Games

2017 Athletes Of The Year

IAAF Athlete Of The Year Finalists Announced; Winner Will Be Revealed November 24th The three men’s finalists are Mo Farah, Wayde van Niekerk and Mutaz Essa Barshim (HJ) and the women are Almaz Ayana, Katerina Stefanidi (PV) and Nafissatou Thiam (heptathlon).
Eliud Kipchoge And Mary Keitany Up For AIMS Best Marathon Runner Award Hat Trick Kipchoge and Keitany are up against World champions Geoffrey Kirui and Rose Chelimo for the award.

Irish Distance News

Recommended Read: Nice Profile On Ireland’s National 3,000m Record Holder (7:30.36) And Former NYC Marathon 6th Placer Mark Carroll Carroll, now the coach at Drake University, talks about how he once passed on a very lucrative offer to pace a world record attempt because he suspected (and it was later confirmed) the athlete was dirty.
Irish Record Setter Cathal Dennehy Writes First-Hand Account Of Running The Beer Mile Dennehy ran 5:25.2 in the race Corey Bellemore ran a new 4:33.6 WR. “The first beer, like all first beers, went down easy. The regret always comes later.”
*2nd Article From Dennehy, More On The Beer Mile In General

Kenyan Marathon Men: Watch Out, Kamworor Says He’s Just Getting Going

Geoffrey Kamworor Now Sets His Sights On Winning His Third Straight World Half-Marathon Title Normally there is a big celebration at the Kenyan airport when a champion returns, but Kamworor wanted to keep it quiet. “I didn’t want a lot of fanfare because I believe I have just started doing well in marathon and there is more to come. When that time comes, we shall celebrate.”
Sports Illustrated Q&A With Eliud Kipchoge Who Talks Breaking2, His Coach Patrick Sang And Other Random Stuff Kipchoge 14 notebooks of workouts for the last 14 years and he’s a big Roger Federer fan.

Sunday Road Action

Turkish All-Comers Records (2:10:42 & 2:27:27) Under Threat At Istanbul Marathon There are sub-2:10 runners in the men’s field including Bazu Worku (2:05:25), Jacob Kendagor (2:07:33), 2008 Olympic 10,000 bronze medalist Micah Kogo and also one of the fastest steeplers of all time in Paul Koech who is running his second marathon. Visiline Jepkesho (2:21:37) and Meseret Mengistu (2:23:26) lead the women’s race.
South Africa’s Stephen Mokoka (2:0740) And Ethiopia’s Roza Dereje (2:25:17) Will Defend Their Shanghai Marathon Titles Mokoka faces five sub-2:07 men including Dino Sefir (2:04:50) and Endeshaw Negesse (2:04:52). Dereje is up against two other former champions as well as former London champ Tigist Tufa (2:21:52).
World Champs 4th Placer Flomena Cheyech Will Try To Defend Her Title At The Saitama Marathon In Japan The second fastest runner in the field is fellow Kenyan Philes Ongori (2:23:22). *JRN Preview The race also serves as Japan’s national marathon championships. Yuki Kawauchi is running the mass participation race.
Edwin Kiptoo And Tigist Girma Return To Defend Their Beirut Marathon Titles The favorite on the women’s side might be Eunice Chumba who ran a 66:11 half-marathon earlier this fall.
Kenya’s Milton Rotich Shooting For The 2:10:37 Athens Marathon CR; Nancy Arusei Returns To Defend Her Title

Another High School Star Chooses The NCAA

Pole Vault Star Armand Duplantis Signs With LSU Mondo’s father Greg Duplantis, mother Helena, and brother Antoine all went to LSU.

Sign Of Respect Or A Cheap Money Grab?

Stadium In Kenya May Be Renamed After The Late Sammy Wanjiru Officials hope that renaming the stadium will attract sponsors who will help renovate the aging facility.

Doping News

Jemima Sumgong Tried To Get A Reduced Ban After Admitting To EPO Use WADA will offer a reduced 2-year ban to athletes who immediately admit to their doping, but Sumgong did not do that at all. She had a whole court case trying to blame a hospital that says they never even treated her.
Good Riddance: US Track Coach Kenta Bell Accepts Lifetime Ban For Encouraging And Administering The Doping Of At Least Six Athletes Bell, the coach of the Thinking Feet TC, also tried to cover up an athlete’s positive test, provided false info to USADA and has a previous doping violation from when he was an athlete himself.
How Convenient: Internal Russian Investigation Tries To Put The Sole Blame On Whistleblower Grigory Rodchenkov For Doping Scandal They claim they found no proof of the institutional doping laid out in the McLaren report.
*Russia Wants US To Extradite Whistleblower Rodchenkov This is unlikely to happen, though, as Rodchenkov is in a witness protection program. Russia and the US have no extradition treaty.
Shot Put Queen Valerie Adams Could Have Her Winning Streak Of 56 Meets Extended To 95 This thanks to a possible extra backdated ban of disgraced Belarusian shot putter Nadzeya Ostapchuk.
GPS Technology Among Ideas To Improve Anti-Doping Suggested At iNADO Symposium There were also calls for convicted drugs cheats to be barred from the medals podium, prize money and setting records … essentially a lifetime ban.
Russia Loses Two More 2014 Winter Olympic Medals After Two Cross Country Skiers Found Guilty Of Doping

International Distance News

World 5,000 Champ Hellen Obiri Stepping Up To The 10,000 For The 2018 Commonwealth Games Obiri, a former 1,500 runner, has never run 10,000m. She also wants to go for the 5,000m WR next year, held by Tirunesh Dibaba at 14:11.15.
Sunday: 2:09 Man Dominic Ruto Kipngetich Takes On Defending Champ Edwin Kiptoo At The Beirut Marathon
Callum Hawkins Named Scottish Athlete Of The Year After Setting The National Half Record At 60:00 And Placing 4th In The Marathon At Worlds In 2:10:17 Hawkins’ father and coach won the coach of the year award.
Brits Eilish McColgan And Sam Stabler Win Leeds Abbey Dash 10K

Olympic Corruption And Sexual Assault

British Athletics Suspends Javelin Coach Over Allegations Of Inappropriate Relationship With A Female Athlete David Parker is accused of having a relationship with a female student athlete at the university where he coaches.
IOC Member Apologizes After Accused Of Two Sexual Harassment Cases A journalist accused Alex Gilady of exposing himself to her 25 years ago and telling her to “talk to” his penis.
Namibia’s Former Four-Time Olympic Silver Medalist Frankie Fredericks Suspended BY IOC Following Money Laundering And Corruption Charges He is accused of accepting a bribe of $299,300 from Pappa Massita Diack when Rio won the vote to host the 2016 Olympics.
NY Times: Powerful Sheikh Linked To Sports Corruption Case Resurfaces In Prague Sheikh Ahmad al-Fahad al-Sabah of Kuwait had been out of the public eye since he was named in a sports bribery and corruption investigation, but showed up with a seat right next to Thomas Bach at this Olympic meeting.
IOC Unveil New Toolkit To Protect Athletes From Harassment And Abuse The 103-page document aims to give advice to organizations and athletes on dealing with abuse.

2017 TCS New York City Marathon *Tracking & Results

MB: Official 2017 NYC Marathon Discussion Thread

LRC The Day After: Shalane Flanagan Talks About Never Looking Back During Race, Turning Down Colbert Report Flanagan’s got a big decision to make- retire or run Boston one final time. Geoffrey Kamworor has to decide – defend his world XC title or run a spring marathon.

LRC The Running World Reacts To Shalane Flanagan’s Historic NYC Marathon Victory See how Flanagan’s fellow pros – from Desi Linden to Jenny Simpson to Jordan Hasay – reacted to her historic win.

LRC Final Shalane Flanagan Wins 2017 New York City Marathon – 1st American Winner In 40 Years The 40-year American women’s drought is over as Shalane Flanagan was fantastic in Central Park.