October 31, 2018 Homepage Archive

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Archived Homepage For October 31, 2018

Quote Of The Day

“We’ve spent a lot of time working on quicker turnover stuff and just being a little faster. I think that kind of takes the pressure off having to make it this 26.2-from-the-gun race. I think I can maybe sit in a lot longer, not feel like I need to push the pace from the beginning. And I’m definitely more confident that I can cover moves or even get to that critical point and make the move to hopefully break things open.”

– Desi Linden talking about how her approach to marathon pacing will be different in NYC compared to past races. She doesn’t feel pressure to make it honest from the gun since she’s been incorporating much more speed work since leaving the Hansons.

The 2018 TCS NYC Marathon Is Sunday

Men’s Preview: LRC Who Is Going To Win The 2018 NYC Marathon? Geoffrey Kamworor Defends As 2:04 Men Tamirat Tola & Shura Kitata Chase First WMM Victory Only twice in the history of New York has an Ethiopan man won in New York, that’s likely to change on Sunday unless Kenya’s Geoffrey Kamworor can defend his title.

LRC U.S. Men’s Preview: 43-Yr Old Bernard Lagat Debuts, & Who Will Step Up With Galen Rupp On The Shelf? Last year a 40-year old man took top US honors in NY. Might a 43-year old running the first marathon of his life do it in 2018? That would be crazy.
*MB: And the top American man in New York City will be? Read this and then give us your picks

LRC Still Chasing The Dream: Six Years After Moving To Flagstaff, Unsponsored Marathoner Nick Hilton Is (Still) Trying To Get The Most Out Of Himself Not everyone who chases the dream and moves to Flagstaff, AZ is a highly sponsored pro. Meet the unsponsored Nick Hilton, who is still chasing the dream as he nears his 30th birthday.

Good Read: Runner’s World:Where Are the Sub-2:10 U.S. Marathoners? Besides Galen Rupp, not American has gone sub-2:10 since Meb Keflezighi did in 2014. However, that could change this weekend in NYC where the field has eight Americans with PBs 2:13 or faster.
Good Read:The NY Times: NAZ Elite – Where Training For The NYC Marathon Is A Reality Show

Japanese News

December 2:Ten Sub-2:10 Japanese Men Lead Field For Fukuoka Marathon The field includes Yuki Kawauchi, half-marathon national record holder Yuta Shitara(2:06:11 PB), 2015 World Champion Ghirmay Ghebreslassie, 2011 World silver medalist Vincent Kipruto and GB’s Callum Hawkins.
Meijo University Wins Second-Straight National University Women’s Ekiden The team ran 2:05:26 to win by 34-seconds.
In Case You Missed This:NY Times: “Yuki Kawauchi Is Distance Running’s Elite Oddball” This pre-Chicago article has some cool tidbits about Kawauchi like his racing in a panda costume and ritual of getting a post-race hamburger where ever he travels around the world.
Chugoku Denryoku Takes Two Minutes Off Course Record To Beat Mazda At Hiroshima Corporate Ekiden

NCAA Conference Championships Weekend Live ResultsAll Conference Results/Coverage

ACCs LRC2018 ACC XC Recap: #15 Notre Dame Men End #10 Syracuse’s 5-Year Reign; #12 NC State Women Edge #18 Notre Dame By 1 Point The Syracuse had won ACCs every year since joining the conference in 2013 but went down today in Boston. Virginia Tech’s Peter Seufer and Louisville’s Dorcas Wasike got the individual wins.
*LRC2018 ACC XC Champs: Sean Carlson And Notre Dame Men Celebrate
*More Post-Race Interviews:V Tech’s Peter Seufer, Louisville’s Dorcas Wasike And NC State’s Laurie Henes React After Winning Titles We also have post-race reaction from Wake Forest frosh Zach Facioni, who was 2nd.
*MB:Cool story from ACCs – Coaches daughter Elly Henes delivers mom Laurie an ACC title

Big 12s MB: Iowa State Uses A Pacemaker At Big 12s, Only Finished With Five Men But They Sweep Men’s And Women’s XC Titles On their home course, Iowa State was the big winner as they took home the 2 team and 2 individual crowns.

Mountain West MB: Led By A 1-2-3 Finish, #2 New Mexico Edges #3 Boise State (33-35). #8 Boiste State Men (50) WIn Over #16 Air Force (63), #17 Colorado State (76) And #13 Wyoming (80).
The question really that remains though is simple – “Are the UNM women strong enough at #5 to win it all?” Their #5 was 28 seconds back of #4 today.

PAC-12s MB:#4 Oregon Women Destroy #1 Colorado And #6 Stanford – #4 Stanford Men Handle #7 UW, #8 Colorado And #11 OregonDani Jones and Grant Fisher were the individual champs.

SECs MB:Ole Miss Wins It First SEC Men’s XC Title! Arkansas Women Win 6th Straight The Ryan van Hoy show continued at the SEC meet today. With two freshman at #6 and #7, Ole Miss edged Arkansas for the SEC title – their first-ever SEC XC men’s title. In the women’s action, #5 Arkansas DESTROYED everyone for their 6th-straight title. Gilbert Boit and Jessica Pascoe were the individual champs.

Big Ten Wisconsin Men Win Big Ten XC Title Taking Three Of The Top-4 Spots Morgan McDonald was the individual winner. *Live Results
*Michigan Women Capture Their Third Consecutive Big Ten Women’s XC Crown Wisconsin’s Alicia Monson got the individual win.

Big East Georgetown Men, Villanova Women Repeat At Big East XC

Ivy LeaguePrinceton Men Successfully Defend Their Ivy League XC Title Princeton beat out Harvard by 31 points and put their top 4 runners in the top 6 spots. The individual title went to Harvard Kieran Tuntivate. *Results
*Columbia Women Claim Their Second-Straight Heps XC TitleColumbia beat Dartmouth comfortably by 34 points. Yale’s Andra Masterson won the individual title.

European End-Of-Year Awards

Kevin Mayer And Dina Asher-Smith Named European Athletes Of The Year Mayer set the decathlon WR while Asher-Smith won three golds at the European Championships. Armand Duplantis and Jakob Ingebrigtsen were jointly awarded the men’s Rising Star.
Now Retired Greg Rutherford Wins Lifetime Achievement Award At European Athletics Golden Tracks Awards Ceremony Rutherford is among a short list of people who have held the Olympic, World, Commonwealth and European titles all at the same time.
Ukraine’s Nataliya Pryshchepa Won The Fair Play Award After She Assisted A Fallen Runner During The 800m Heats At Euro Champs

2018 In Review

Nominees Announced For IAAF Male World Athlete Of The Year The ten athletes include distance runners Eliud Kipchoge, Timothy Cheruiyot, Emmanuel Korir as well as US sprinters Christian Coleman and Noah Lyles.
Nominees Announced For IAAF Female World Athlete Of The Year There are ten nominees including Sifan Hassan, steeple WR holder Beatrice Chepkoech and Caster Semenya.
Pics?Best Photographs Of 2018 To Be Recognized At IAAF Athletics Awards In December Did you snap any good track photos in 2018? There is a separate contest for best photo by a fan.
*Judges Announced For IAAF Photograph Of The Year Award Former USA long jumper Dwight Phillips is one of the judges.
IAAF 2018 In Review: Middle And Long Distances Highlights included eight men going sub-13 in the Brussels 5,000 and Emmanuel Korir‘s 1:42.05 was the sixth-fastest 800m of all-time.
IAAF 2018 In Review: Hurdles And SteeplechaseBeatrice Chepkoech ran 8:44.32 to break the steeple WR while Sydney McLaughlin was only .41 off the WR when she ran 52.75 in the 400H.
IAAF 2018 In Review: Sprints USA’s Christian Coleman and Noah Lyles highlighted the short sprints.
2018 In Review: Combined Events And Relays Some athletes use the “off year” for some down time. France’s Kevin Mayer used it to break Ashton Eaton‘s decathlon world record.
IAAF 2018 In Review: Jumps Russian Mariya Lasitskene has cleared 2.00m or better 32 times in the last two years, but the rest of the world combined has only gone over it seven.
IAAF 2018 In Review: Throws It was a good year for the men’s shot with a record 21 competitions where someone threw over 22m.
IAAF 2018 In Review: Racewalks Yup, it’s still a thing.

50 Years Ago – Bob Beamon Shocked The World

LRC Feature A Leap For The Ages: Bob Beamon’s 29-Foot Long Jump Turns 50 A half century later, there’s still only one way to describe the men’s long jump at the 1968 Olympics: Beamonesque. We take an in-depth look at one of the greatest singular accomplishments in sports history. Beamon improved the WR by 6.59% – that’s the equivalent of someone in 2018 lowering the marathon WR to 1:53:28 or the 100-meter record to 8.95.
*MB: 50 years ago, Bob Beamon made history. Where does his performance rank on list of greatest singular sports performances?

LRC Why Is The Long Jump World Record So Hard To Break? Mike Powell‘s WR has stood for 27 years and the #2 mark from Bob Beamon celebrates its 50th anniversary today. What explains their longevity? Are the best athletes in the NFL? Are the runways too soft? Is there a mental block?

BBC Video Looking Back On Bob Beamon’s WR The 3-minute video includes some cool old footage.
IAAF:The Perfect Jump – Bob Beamon’s 8.90m Celebrates Its 50th Anniversary The IAAF pays tribute to Beamon’s historic jump which broke the WR by a “staggering 55 centimeters.”
Mark Cullen’s Updated Story Of The 2014 Dedication Of The 1968 Olympic Trials Site/Training Center

New York City Women

LRC Who Is Going To Win The Women’s 2018 NYC Marathon? Does American Shalane Flanagan Have A Chance To Repeat? Americans Des Linden and Shalane Flanagan both have won a major in the last year but they both are big underdogs at the 2018 TCS New York City Marathon.
*MB: 2018 NYC Women’s Race: Can Shalane Flanagan or Des Linden repeat as WMM champ? Make your picks now.

LRC Meet the Fascinating American Women Who Won’t Win (But Could Break Out At) The 2018 New York City Marathon We guarantee they won’t win or your money back, but there are some cool stories with Stephanie Bruce, Sydney Devore, Carrie Dimoff, Roberta Groner, Allie Kieffer, and Sarah Sellers.

LRC The Rebirth Of Des Linden After winning her first major marathon (heck, her first marathon ever), Desi Linden didn’t play it safe. She parted ways with the Hansons-Brooks team and it will be a different Des Linden that toes the line at the New York City Marathon this weekend.
*MB: After winning Boston, Des Linden parted ways with the Hansons’ team. Bold? Crazy? Wise?

More US Distance News

Recommended Read: After Getting Lost And Going To The Hospital With Heatstroke Last Year, Jeff Stein Bounced Back In 2018 To Win The Marine Corps Marathon Stein, a 32-year-old public defender won the race in 2:22:49 and said he could only got to do real marathon training the last three weeks because his time has been taken up by a quadruple murder case.
Jenny Mendez Suanca Gets Dominant 2:40:19 Victory At The Marine Corps Marathon She finished more than six minutes ahead of second place.
MB: Boulder Track Club Elite Coach Lee Troop Stepping Away From Coaching Troop says he is still working through the death of one of his athletes, Jon Grey.
*MB: Rest in Peace Jonathan Grey

European News

Paula Radcliffe Says Mo Farah “Just Doesn’t Know How To Lose” Radcliffe dished out a ton of praise for Farah and his Chicago Marathon win (which her husband coached him to) and also said she thinks he can still run faster on the track.
Athletics Weekly:GB 61:57 Half Marathoner Luke Traynor Focusing On A Season Of XC Hoping It Sets Him Up Well For A 2019 Marathon Debut “I think doing a full cross-country season is huge in terms of putting down a strong enough base to carry you through track season and then back into the roads at the end of the year.”
All Three Ingebrigtsen Brothers Planning To Race At The 2019 European Indoor Championships In Glasgow
A Road Result We Missed:GB’s Eilish McColgan Wins Great South Run 10 Mile In 54:43 Over Steph Twell On the men’s side, Chris Thompson became the first runner to win the event for a third time.
Lilia Fisikovici Lowers The Moldovan Marathon National Record By More Than Two Minutes With 2:28:26 At The Ljubljana Marathon She was the top non-African in 6th to break a NR that had stood for 27 years.
Napoleon Solomon And Meraf Bahta Get Double Victories (4k And 8k) At The Swedish Cross-Country Championships
IAAF Inside Athletics Podcast – GB Sprinter Adam Gemili They claim to discuss some “hot topics in athletics,” but we doubt we’ll hear them talking about any controversies like the Caster Semenya debate or WADA reinstating Russia.
IAAF Inside Athletics Video:Ato Boldon Interviews Norway’s Two-Time Olympic Javelin Champ Andreas Thorkildsen Thorkildsen retired from the sport in 2014.
Athletics Weekly:Scottish XC Relays Recap
Recap Of British Masters XC Relays

Bolt Updates

Usain Bolt Hits Out At Haters As He Chases Soccer Dream Bolt posted on Instagram, “They say Bolt wasting his time. They laugh at the dream. They ridicule the hard work. Listen my youths. Every country youth, every ghetto youth, work hard at your dream and let not (a) single soul tell you that (you) can’t achieve. Remember if you don’t try, you’ve already failed.”
Usain Bolt Offered A Deal By The Central Coast Mariners, But “Unlikely” To Sign Contract From the sounds of it, the club won’t be able to offer him enough money without “the financial contribution of an external third party” and wouldn’t have him playing in the regular season games.
NZHerald:“A-League Club Shuts Out Usain Bolt From Training As Contract Talks Fail” The club statement said that he won’t practice during negotiations so “there is no distraction” to the team.
Pretty Sure That Isn’t A Compliment:Irish Soccer Player Andy Keogh Says Usain Bolt Has “Touch Like A Trampoline” Keogh also said that a contract for Bolt was “fine from a marketing point of view” but “farcical” from a soccer perspective.

Oregon News: Galen Rupp Is On The Mend

MB:Galen Rupp Undergoes Foot Surgery, Will Miss 2019 Spring Marathon Season Last week Rupp decided to get surgery “to correct a condition called Haglund’s Deformity, a bony bump on his heel that was causing his Achilles tendon to fray.” He hopes to start running again in three months. He added this will let him help his wife more as they are expecting their fourth child.
Oregon21 Gets $10 Million In State Money For The World Championships Organizers were originally asking for $40 million, then scaled back to $25 million and eventually the $10 million they got.

NCAA News

MB: College sports are affirmative action for rich white students according to The Atlantic 65% of athletes in the Ivy League are white.
MB:Former High School Star Kate Murphy Retires From Collegiate Running After two years of dealing with injuries and two surgeries at Oregon she’s decided to “step back from competitive training and running during this time in [her] life.” She says she isn’t calling it the “end of her running career”, but won’t be running in the NCAA.
Sad News:University Of Utah Multi-Eventer Lauren McCluskey Shot And Killed On Campus She was shot and killed by her former boyfriend who was found dead hours later inside a church.
*MB: Univ of Utah heptathlete Lauren McCluskey murdered on campus
MB: Two-Time Footlocker Champ Claudia Lane Commits To Dartmouth
NAU’s Jack Shea And Providence’s Abbey Wheeler Are NCAA Athletes Of The Week Shea, a freshman, lead NAU to a 1-5 sweep at the Redhawk Invy while Wheeler won the Central Connecticut State University Mini-Meet.

Amsterdam Marathon Tracking & Results TV & Streaming Info

Lawrence Cherono Shatters The Course Record To Win The Amsterdam Marathon In 2:04:06 Kenenisa Bekele was with the leaders through the half, but fell off and dropped out near his hotel at the 40k mark and walked back to his room. On the women’s side, Tadelech Bekele defended her title in 2:23:14. Making her marathon debut, two-time Olympic champ Meseret Defar was 7th in 2:27:25.

LRC An Examinaton Of Kenenisa Bekele’s Bizarre Day At The 2018 TCS Amsterdam Marathon The greatest distance runner in history had a bizarre day today in Amsterdam. We detail it for you here. Updated with quotes from Jos Hermens.

The Inside Scoop On The Sport’s Newest Star

LRC Who Is New Half Marathon World Record Holder Abraham Kiptum, And How Did He Run So Fast In Valencia? Get the inside scoop on the new half marathon WR holder. Turned down for a spot at the 2018 Chicago Marathon, he decided to test himself at the 13.1 distance and the rest is history.
*MB: Meet new Half Marathon WR Holder Abraham Kiptum – Turned down by Chicago, he ran a half marathon instead and broke the WR!!

Sunday Road Action

MB:Kenya’s Abraham Kiptum Breaks Half Marathon World Record With A 58:18 In ValenciaAfter a 28:02 1st 10k, the 29-year-old Kenyan, who has a 2:05:26 marathon PR and only started racing professionally in 2015, ripped off a 27:16 2nd 10k to break Zersenay Tadese‘s record by 3 seconds (pending verification) on a record-setting day where 8 men broke 59:30.
*IAAF Recap

Ethiopia’s Sisay Lemma (2:04:58) And Kenya’s Visiline Jepkesho (2:22:58) Shatter Course Records At The Ljubljana Marathon Lemma got a dominant win as second place was back in 2:08:36 while Jepkesho won a close race over Selly Chepyego (2:23:15). *Discuss
Kelkile Gezahegn (2:06:37) And Meskerem Assefa (2:20:36) Win Close Races At The Frankfurt Marathon It was a deep women’s race as the top 7 all ran sub-2:23 with Assefa beat out Haftamnesh Tesfay by just 11 seconds. On the men’s side, last year’s runner-up Gezahegn beat out another former runner-up Martin Kosgey by just 4 seconds. Mark Kiptoo (6th place) broke the masters world record with 2:07:50.
*MB:Sara Hall – Frankfurt Marathon prediction thread Hall ended up a DNF as Lindsay Flanagan took top American honors in a 2:29:25 PR.
Gebre Mekuant Ayenew (2:13:23) And Angela Jemesunde Tanui (2:31:30) Battle Strong Winds And Flooding To Win Venice MarathonYuki Kawauchi had a tough day and finished in a “career worst” 2:27:43 for 7th.
*Video Of The Crazy Flooding
*Olika Adugna (1:00:29) And Gete Alemayehu (1:08:46) Made It An Ethiopian Double Win At The Marseille-Cassis 20k Adugna beat out ~~Kenya’s~~ Ethiopia’s Abera Kuma (1:00:30) by one second with Gerald Vincent another 3 seconds back.
Ethiopians Asefa Bekele (2:13:42) And Mesera Dubiso (2:33:48) Win Dublin Marathon Irish national titles went to Mick Clohisey in 2:15:58 (6th overall) and Lizzie Lee in 2:35:05 (3rd overall).

Assorted Distance News

MB: Cas Loxsom Retires From Track And Field Loxsom wrote a post on Instagram saying, “I can’t believe it’s now, but really there will never be a good time. The decision was made with a very heavy heart, but also with optimism.”
Good Read:Catching Up With Shock Runner-Up At Boston Sarah Sellers Ahead Of The NYC Marathon Since finishing 2nd in Boston, Sellers has picked up a sponsor, but is still working full-time as a nurse. She thinks if she has a good day she can run in the 2:30s.
*MB:Sarah Sellers: “No matter what I do next, I’m going to be a disappointment to people.”
Interesting List:Who Are The Fastest Married Couples At The Mile In HIstory?Shannon Rowbury (4:20.34) and her husband Pablo Solares (3:54.52) top the list with a 4:07.43 average. Newlyweds Genevieve LaCaze (4:31.56) and Ryan Gregson (3:52.2) are recent additions to the list with a 4:11.90 average.
*PS – Did you know Molly Huddle is married to a sub-4 miler?
Ryan Gregson And Genevieve LaCaze Tie The Knot They were married earlier this month in Sydney.
Sad News:Former 10,000m National Record Holder And Olympic Marathoner Izumi Maki Dies Of Breast Cancer At Age 49

Our Weekly Recap – The Week That Was

WTW Canada And Cam Levins Celebrate Their 1st Sub-2:10, Kenya Outshines The World And Amsterdam And Young Ethiopians Deliver What a week. A couple of young Ethiopian studs rocked the Delhi Half, the TCS Amsterdam Marathon was historically good, a LetsRunner improved from 3:21 to 2:25 in the marathon and after more than 49 years, Jerome Drayton is no longer the Canadian record holder in the marathon as Cam Levins ran 2:09. In honor of Canada’s 1st sub-2:10, we’ve decided to list the number of sub-2:10s produced by every country – all 2,706 of them.

Jos Hermens Doesn’t Hold Back

LRC Jos Hermens Rips (And Praises) Kenenisa Bekele After Amsterdam Marathon Disappointment It’s rare for an agent to speak honestly about an athlete but Jos Hermens didn’t hold back in sharing his thoughts about the greatest distance runner in history, Kenenisa Bekele, after Amsterdam. “It all comes down to preparation. He has just as much talent as Kipchoge, but while Kipchoge will prepare for six months before a marathon, Bekele only started 7 weeks ago. That just can’t work. … It’s extremely frustrating. … I think he has some kind of dyslexia, an inability to plan. … It’s really hard with him.”
*MB: Jos Hermens holds nothing back regarding Bekele: “I think he has some kind of dyslexia, an inability to plan …”

Sound Familiar? From the Archives: 2017: LRC Jos Hermens: Kenenisa Bekele Must Become More “Professional” If He Is To Realize Marathon Potential

More Sunday Road Action: Sub-2:10 For Cam Levins!

RRW:Benson Kipruto (2:07:24) And Mimi Belete (2:22:29) Win Scotiabank Toronto Waterfront Marathon As Cam Levins Breaks The Canadian Record With A 2:09:25 Debut Tanzania’s Augustine Sulle was a close second in 2:07:46 while Levins was 4th and Jake Robertson 5th (2:09:52). Levins broke the 2:10:09 Canadian record which was set by Jerome Drayton nearly 43 years ago. Belete broke the women’s CR in a close race with defending champ Marta Megra (2:22:35).

Debutante Tsehay Gemechu Breaks Delhi Half Marathon Women’s Course Record As She Beats Out WR Holder Joyciline Jepkosgei And Tirunesh Dibaba Gemechu won in 66:50 to beat out Jepkosgei by 6 seconds and her countrywoman Zeineba Yim by 9. Dibaba struggled early and finished back in 6th (68:36). Ethiopia’s Andamlak Belihu won the men’s race in 59:18 to win over Amdework Walelegn (59:22). USA’s Leonard Korir was 6th in 60:12.
*MB:Official 2018 Airtel Delhi Half Discussion Thread