Week That Was

LRC Were The American Men Any Good In New York? Keitany Vs. Radcliffe Vs. Ndereba For GOAT We take another look at the amazing Mary Keitany in New York and where that puts her in the all-time ranks for Paula Radcliffe and Catherine Ndereba. Plus 4 American men were in the top 10 in New York. How good was that? And was this year’s NYC Marathon actually Geoffrey Kamworor‘s best marathon even though it was his worst finish?

Abbott Dash To The Finish Line USATF 5k Champs *Post-Race Interviews

Breaking: LRC Matthew Centrowitz Has Left The Nike Oregon Project After running the 5k this morning, Centro revealed exclusively to LRC that he has left the NOP. Now both its Olympic gold medalists, Centrowitz and Farah, have left the program. *Discuss

LRC Final Paul Chelimo Wins USATF 5k Champs In Sprint Over Kipchirchir, Emily Sisson Cruises We also caught up with marathoners Dathan Ritzenhein and Amy Cragg, who were bouncing back from injury. *Discuss
MB:
*Ritz talk lack of sub 2:10 US guys, Des Linden’s comments on him
*Guys who race better than they train: #1 Example: Paul Chelimo: “he’s a monster” –

LRCPaul Chelimo Leaves Army WCAP Team, Signs With Total Sports & Nike Army athletes aren’t allowed to have endorsement contracts, so considering Chelimo is now one of the top runners in the world, this is not a huge surprise. *Discuss

Recent Doping News

• The Guardian:WADA Accused Of Being Soft On Doping At Emergency White House Summit Meeting Alysia Montano was one of the athletes to speak and she was in tears as she explained how WADA’s shortcomings cost her a bronze medal at the 2012 Games.
  *MB: Al Sal this is for you: Travis Tygart says ‘grey area’ – using legal drugs when athlete doesn’t have medical need for them – is next doping frontier
• Reuters: WADA Suspends Two Romanian Anti-Doping Officials For Covering Up Positive Tests A whistleblower had come forward with the allegations and the lab was suspended by WADA last year.
  *InsideTheGames:Directors Involved In Romanian Lab Cover-Up Fired As Investigation Continues An investigator says that an “external entity” pressured the directors into covering up the samples in the lab.
• IOC Retesting More Samples From London 2012 They want to continues tests through 2019 before the 2020 statute of limitations is reached. Previously, 48 violations were found in the 500+ samples that were re-analyzed from 2012.
• WADA To Audit Russian Anti-Doping Agency In December This check will determine if RUSADA remains compliant.

A Healthy Mind In A Healthy Body

• Video:US Olympic Triathlete Sarah True (Ben True’s Wife) Talks About Dealing With Depression As An Elite Athlete She made an interesting point saying you should work on coping skills when things are going well and not waiting until you’re “in the thick of a depressive episode.”
• Athletics Weekly: British Athletics To Offer Mental Health Support To Their Athletes

Our Weekly Recap – The Week That Was

LRC World Records In Half Marathon And Masters Marathon + Oregon Pulls Upset At PAC-12s And Cas Loxom Retires All hail the Ole Miss men, who won their first SEC XC title and the Oregon women, who upset the #1 ranked team in the land to win PAC-12s after losing their coach and 2 All-Americans. Plus a reason why Galen Rupp fans shouldn’t fear his career is over.

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 PR), 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

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.

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