2018 US 15k Champs – The 40th Gate River Run *Results

MB: Molly Huddle just destroyed Jordan Hasay at 2018 US 15k champs (40th Gate River Run). Leonard Korir beats Chelanga and Hehir Huddle took off just after 4 miles and won by 50 seconds whereas Korir waited until the last mile to dispatch Chelanga.

Interesting News From Outside The Us

• Caster Semenya broke the South African 1k record on Thursday night with a 2:35.43
• Justin Gatlin loses 150m race in South Africa to Anaso Jobodwana (15.08 to 15.23)
• Journalist raves about Kenya’s anti-doping chief Japhter Rugut
• American Randy Huntington who is now coaching Chinese track team says doping doesn’t occur there any more. “At the provincial level, I can’t speak,” he said. “But nobody is cheating at international level any more. If you got caught, it won’t be fun. Your career will be over and your coaches’ career will also be over.”

Outside NCAA Coverage

• Good Read: Michael Saruni Looks To Follow Former Teammate Emmanuel Korir With 800m Crown To Make It Back-To-Back Wins For UTEP UTEP coach Paul Ereng also thinks Saruni can break the 1:44.84 indoor collegiate record which Ereng set himself back in 1989.
• Highlights From The NCAA Indoor Press Conference Quotes from Josh Kerr, Sydney McLaughlin, Karissa Schweizer and the top coaches.
• Sydney McLaughlin Wants To Help Kentucky Win Their First Team Title After running the #2 all-time collegiate 400 to win SEC Champs (50.52), she has a real shot at the record, but says she’s focused on scoring points for the team.

Weekend Road Action: Huddle Vs. Hasay Over 15k

• Saturday: Molly Huddle Vs. Jordan Hasay Highlights USATF 15K Champs Hosted By The Gate River Run The women’s race also has Molly Seidel, Emily Infeld and interestingly, Olympic triathlete and Ben True‘s wife, Sarah True. The men’s race has Leonard Korir, Jared Ward, Sam Chelanga and Ryan Vail.
• Sunday: Galen Rupp Running The Roma-Ostia Half Marathon; Shooting For A PB And The American Record Rupp will face Stephen Chebogut (2:06:57 in Paris last year), Justus Kangogo (59:31 in Rome last year), Emmanuel Kipsang (60:14), Dino Sefir (2:04:50 from 2012) and 2015 World marathon bronze medalist Solomon Mutai. The women’s field is led by Rebecca Chesir (68:21) and Amane Beriso Shankule (68:43).
  *MB: Rupp racing half marathon this weekend in Rome! What will he run?
• Sunday: Jonah Chesum Returns To Defend His Title At The Barcelona Marathon Last year, Chesum was a pacer who stayed in the race to win in 2:08:57. He faces two-time London winner Tsegaye Kebede and a couple of other sub-2:09 Ethiopians. Ethiopia’s Worknesh Alemu (2:30:04) and Italy’s Fatna Maraoui (2:30:50) lead the women’s race.
• Sunday: JRN Preview: Japan’s Marathon Season Wraps Up At The Nagoya Women’s Marathon Kenya’s 2:20:21 woman Lucy Kabuu and Valary Jemeli (2:20:53) top the entry list which includes a bunch of Japanese women in the mid 2:20s.

Euro $$$ News

• London Olympic Stadium Tenant West Ham Soccer Team Make $60.5 Million Profit For The Year
• Denmark Donates $70,000 To WADA

Upcoming On The Roads

• March 24: 10 Strong British Team Named For World Half Champs Gemma Steel and Charlotte Purdue lead the women’s squad.
  *Spain Names Team For World Half Champs
• April 8: Kenya’s Gilbert Kirwa (2:06:14) And Germany’s (Formerly Kenya’s) Defending Champ Fate Tola (2:25:14) Lead Fields For The Hannover Marathon Kirwa will face Cheshari Jacob (2:07:46) and Poland’s Henryk Szost (2:07:39).
• April 22: Nancy Kiprop Will Return To Defend Her Title At The Vienna City Marathon The field will have four women who have gone under 2:25.

Much, Much More On The Late Roger Bannister

• The Guardian: How Roger Bannister And Australian John Landy Raced To Break The Four-Minute Mile An interesting look at the rivalry and Landy explains how he didn’t want his sub-4 to be a paced effort like Bannister, he wanted to run it himself.
• Did A Sheffield Paint Factory Worker Ken Wood Beat Bannister To The First Sub-4 By 29 Days? Wood claimed he ran 3:59.2 in a training session at Sheffield University, but “never really mentioned it to anybody.” Wood did eventually run sub-4 in an official race and went to the 1956 Olympics. *Discuss
• The Guardian: Roger Bannister, A Gentleman Who Almost Didn’t’ Run Race That Defined Him Bannister famously almost called off the effort due to bad weather, but his coach convinced him: “If you pass it up today you may never forgive yourself for the rest of your life.”
• Sp!ked.com Takes A Look At Some Controversy Surrounding Bannister’s Sub-4 Bannister was criticized for having pacers and this author claims that the record would have been broken earlier if it wasn’t for the rules of amateurism.
• Bring Back The Mile’s “Tribute To A Titan”
• Sir Roger Bannister – A Life In Pictures
  *Bannister Video Obituary
  *Video Of Bannister’s Sub-4
• Some Of America’s Greatest Milers Share How They Will Remember Roger Bannister Jim Ryun, Alan Webb and others pay their respects to the late Bannister.
• MB: LetsRun.com Visitors Pay Their Respects to Roger Bannister
• David Epstein: “Magical Mile Was Just One of Sir Roger Bannister’s Myriad Accomplishments” Bannister would call up Epstein the last few years and talk to him.
• Olympic Legend Steve Ovett Wonders When The First Woman’s Sub-4 Will Happen Probably the same day a man runs 3:30.
• NY Times Obituary on Roger Bannister
• BBC: Lord Coe and Steve Cram hail ‘inspirational’ athlete after his death
• Bannister Quote On The Final 200m: “I drove on, impelled by a combination of fear and pride.”

Ritz And Emily Sisson Speak

LRC A Reinvigorated Dathan Ritzenhein Talks NYC Half, Hansons-Brooks, L-Carnitine, And His Upcoming Return To The Marathon When asked if the supplementation practices of the NOP is one of the reasons why he left, Ritz replied in part. “I guess we all do things over the course of time that you can look back on and say, ‘I wish I had done this or I wish I had done that differently,’ but I’ve always tried to compete with as much as honor and dignity as I can and I’ll continue to do that.” Plus Emily Sisson talks about when she’ll make her 26.2 debut.
*MB: Ritz Talks NYC Half, Hansons-Brooks, L-Carnitine, And His Upcoming Return To The Marathon in Boston.