International Road Results: WTF?!?

Guy No One Has Ever Heard Of Runs 2:05 Marathon In Buenos Aires In 68 Degrees And Sun! Saina Kipkemboi ran 2:05:20 to win his debut and the course isn’t flat. He dominated the race, running the last 7+ miles alone and beating Barnabas Kiptum by almost 4 minutes. Kenya’s Vivian Kiplagat Jerono won the women’s race in a CR 2:29:03.
*MB: Saina Kipkemboi 2:05:20 debut! Running alone the last 17km, heat, humidity and hilly circuit in Buenos Aires!

• South Africa’s Stephen Mokoka Wins Cape Town Marathon In A New Course Record Of 2:08:31 Mokoka won a race over a trio of Kenyans who finished between 2:09:02 and 2:09:21 behind him. Namibia’s Helalia Johannes won the women’s race in 2:29:28.
• World Silver Medalist Joshua Cheptegei (45:15) And Isreal’s Lonah (50:45) Win Dam tot Damloop 10 Miler Salpeter beat out Ethiopia’s Dibabe Kuma by just a second and won the gender pursuit race (women started 6:04 ahead of the men).

NCAA XC Top 10 Countdown

LRC No. 10 Syracuse Men Dominate While Unranked Ole Miss Women Edge Georgia Tech At 2018 Coast-To-Coast Battle In Beantown Campbell’s Amon Kemboi (24:03) held off Syracuse’s Aidan Tooker for the individual win as ‘Cuse put 5 in the top 13. Providence’s Abbey Wheeler (17:10) won the women’s race but the No. 11 Friars wound up 11th as a team.
*Brien Bell Talks About Being Syracuse’s New Head Honcho
*Andy Powell Talks About Having Centro As An Assistant
*Abbey Wheeler Talks After Winning Women’s Race
*Amon Kemboi Talks After Winning Men’s Race

LRC 2018 NCAA Men’s XC Preview: #2 BYU & #1 Northern Arizona With two 5th-year seniors and two 7th-year seniors that have all gone sub-13:40, last year’s 3rd placer BYU is very good, but NAU, with three back from last year’s top 8, has a chance to be historically good.
*MB: Will NAU be historically great and three peat? Or might they not even win the 2018 NCAA xc title?

LRC 2018 NCAA Women’s XC Preview: #2 Oregon & #1 New Mexico Can UNM three-peat? Or will Oregon, which lost their coach and their #1 and #2 from last year, get the job done? We know one thing – one of these foreign-dominated teams will win it all.

Previous Men’s Previews:
*#10 Syracuse & #9 Boise State
*#8 Wisconsin & #7 Colorado
*#6 Alabama & #5 Iowa State
*#4 Portland & #3 Stanford 

Previous Women’s Previews:
*#10 Arkansas & #9 Villanova
*#8 Wisconsin & #7 Michigan
*#6 NC State & #5 Stanford
*#4 Boise State & #3 Colorado

Doping Updates

• Investigator Richard McLaren Says WADA Got A Bad Deal From Russia “They (WADA) have lost any kind of leverage over the ongoing situation with Russia.”
• Seb Coe Opinion Piece On WADA Decision – Points Out That Russians Have Already Been Competing As Neutrals All Along Coe says the big change is now RUSADA can test its own athletes and he wonders if we’re “ready for that.”
• MB: Bahrain’s 65-Minute Half-Marathoner Violah Jepchumba Gets 4-Year EPO Ban Sara Hall reacted with this tweet: “Went from 69 min to 65 min in the half in 2016– ??.”
• MB: Bahrain 3:31 Runner Sadik Mikhou Ges Doping Suspension Mikhou was 6th at Worlds last year.
• WADA’s Former Director General David Howman Says He’s Disappointed In Russia Decision Howman accuses WADA of putting “money over principle.”
• USA Today: “Russia’s Cheating Is Rewarded As We Both Feared And Expected” While it was incredibly disappointing, we think they’re being a little over dramatic when they write, “Cheating has been rewarded. … Honesty, honor and fair play have lost. The bad guys have won.”
• North Korea Given Four-Month Deadline By WADA To Address Doping Concerns Or Be Declared Non-Compliant Only one athlete was tested in the build-up to the 2018 Winter Olympics and that athlete tested positive (though they were cleared due to “contaminated food”).
• European Athletics President Svein Arne Hansen Says WADA Decision “Appears To Be A Backward Step”

More Russian Doping News

• IAAF And IPC Warn Russia Their Bans Won’t Automatically Be Lifted Following WADA Decision The IAAF wants the Russian government to pay for the investigation expenses (several million dollars) and won’t consider lifting the ban until all the data from the Moscow lab has been evaluated.
• WADA Vice President Linda Helleland Says They Have Failed Clean Athletes By Lifting Russian Ban She said that this “casts a dark shadow over the credibility of the anti-doping movement.”
• Paula Radcliffe: “It undermines their credibility and the faith clean athletes have in them.”
• Michael Phelps Slams WADA Over Russia Ban
• Kremlin Call WADA Decision “Positive Step” While Admitting “There Is Still A Rather Long Way To Go”
• Reuters: Compilation Of Quotes Condemning WADA Decision To Reinstate RUSADA

International Distance News

• Olympic Steeple Champ Conseslus Kipruto Involved In Car Crash In Kenya; Escapes Unhurt A police officer said that he believes Kipruto was speeding and trying to get around a tractor when a car coming the opposite direction forced him to brake and he hit the tractor.
  *AP Article Apparently David Rudisha came to the scene of the accident afterwards to help Kipruto.
• Track, Road And Dirt: Sifan Hassan Says She’s Targeting The European XC Championships In December After her 65:15 half this weekend, Hassan also says she wants to move up to the marathon, but not until after a 5k/10k double at Tokyo 2020.
• Recommended Watch: MB: Recent Video Interview With Zane Robertson Some footage and discussion about Robertson’s training in Ethiopia as well as his and his brother Jake‘s initial move to Kenya when they were just teenagers.
• Beatrice Chepkoech’s 8:44.32 Steeplechase World Record Ratified By The IAAF So to were Armand Duplantis‘ 5.92m U20 pole vault record from March (although he later jumped 6.05m at Euros) and the 100k WR by Japan’s Nao Kazami.

WADA Not All On The Same Page Concerning Russia

• BBC: WADA Vice President Linda Helleland Says She Is Opposed To Lifting Russian Doping Ban “I will vote for, and support the original roadmap. This is because I believe you should never make any compromises that undermine your credibility.”
• The Guardian: Anti-Doping Rift Deepens As Agencies Turn On WADA Over Russia “Compromise” 13 agencies have spoken out against the WADA decision with UKAD chief Nicole Sapstead, saying, “It is pretty much sticking two fingers up at the athletes and the organisations that work tirelessly on their behalf.”
• Full Statement From WADA Vice President Linda Helleland Meanwhile WADA president Craig Reedie has defended their deal with Russia:  “Is doing nothing a realistic option? We couldn’t just sit back and do nothing – this moves things forward.”
• The Telegraph: Key WADA Committee Member Resigns In Frustration Over Plans To Drop Russia Sanctions Many officials aren’t happy with WADA’s plan to “compromise” with Russia.