A Major Bust in Kenya?

LRC Kenyan 5000m Runner Cyrus Rutto Suspended For ABP Violation — What Does It Mean For the Sport, and For His Coach Patrick Sang? The 13:03 runner, who is coached by Patrick Sang, has been provisionally suspended by the Athletics Integrity Unit. Up until this year, no East African had ever been hit with an ABP violation but he’s #2 on the year. *MB: Another Kenyan Charged With Doping 

Boston Is Monday

LRC Editorial Boston: The People’s ‘Olympics’ The Elitist Marathon Did you know that for the first time in history Boston has banned the amateur runners from competing with the pros? When the gun goes off in Hopkinton at 10:00 a.m. on Monday, a select few “elite” men will begin their 26.2-mile journey to Boylston Street. Everyone else in the mass race will just stand there for two minutes. Pretty sad for a race known as the “People’s Olympics.”
*MB: Boston Separates Elite Men’s Start from Wave 1 Corral 1 by two minutes 

News From The UK

• Steve Cram Is The Leading Candidate To Be The New UK Athletics Chairman, But Would Need To Quit His BBC Commentary Job Former UK Athletics chairman Ed Warner feels it would be a clear conflict of interest. “It would be like he was marking his own homework, commentating on the team he chairs.”
• GB Parliamentary Chair Stands By Original Seb Coe Conclusion Damian Collins said, “Lord Coe either knew more than he suggested he did when he gave evidence to the committee, or he knew enough about the Liliya Shobukova case to have asked more questions about it within the IAAF at the time.”
• Former UKA Head Ed Warner Talks About Cheating In The Sport And How It’s “Inevitable” Warner says to combat doping you have to “look at it through the eyes of the cheat” and that the “consequences” are key.
• July 20: Stellar Quartet Will Face Off In The Anniversary Games Women’s 100m The field includes Jamaica’s double Olympic champ Elaine Thompson, two time World champ Dafne Shippers, GB’s double euro champ Dina Asher-Smith and double world medalist Marie-Josee Ta Lou.

New Facility News

• Ground Broken On New Boston Indoor Facility New Balance’s “The Track” will be a multi-sport athletic complex (including a banked 200m track) and concert venue. It will also be a training facility for the Mark Coogan coached NB Boston team.
• The Oregonian: Big Spenders Will Get First Choice For Seat Locations In The New Hayward Field Top priority for seat choice will go to donors who have contributed $50,000 or more to the reconstruction.
• Mondo Presents New “Air Cell Technology” Track Surface The new surface will incorporate air-filled cavities in the bottom layer which will supposedly make the track even faster.

More Boston News

• NY Times: “Sarah Sellers and the Craziest Schedule in Running” Last year’s Boston runner-up does elite training while working 30-hours a week at the hospital as a anesthetist, sometimes getting up at 4AM to run before work.
• Cheater’s Beware: NY Times Profiles Marathon Detective Derek Murphy Of MarathonInvestigation.com Murphy has a policy that if cheaters admit they cheated and apologize he won’t print their story on his website. It’s only the Mike Rossi‘s of the world who deny even in the face of all the evidence) that get named on his site.
• Man whose wife was stabbed to death in DC while training for Boston is running it in her memory He had proposed just 6 days before her senseless murder.
• Daily Nation: Geoffrey Kirui Leads Kenyan Quest For Glory On Boston City Streets Last year’s runner-up Kirui is self-coached and says he got “special prayers” from his pastor which he believes will help him on the course on Monday.
• Boston.com: “Wet Conditions Look Locked In For Monday” Highs in the 50s and rain all-day are what the meteorologists predict for Boston.
• WBUR.org: 6 Storylines to Watch In Boston It’s worth noting that this year’s race is the first Boston run on the actual anniversary of the 2013 Boston bombing.

Non-Distance News

• Christian Coleman Wants To Run The 100/200 Double At Worlds And The Olympics Noah Lyles, on the other hand, plans to focus on just the 200, but his coach says “all options will stay on the table.”
• Ato Boldon Expects Jamaica To Break The World Junior 4 X 100 Record This Year Boldon coaches one of the star Jamaican sprinters, double world U20 champ Briana Williams.
• June 20: Olympic 400m Champion Shaunae Miller-Uibo Will Race The 300m At The Ostrava Golden Spike Meet Miller-Uibo equaled the 300m world indoor best last year with 35.45. That’s the #2 all-time only behind the outdoor world best of 35.30.
• IAAF Inside Athletics: Ato Boldon Video Interview With Dawn Harper Nelson The former Olympic champ retired last year after revealing she was pregnant with her first child.
• Mutaz Essa Barshim And Hurdler Abderrahman Samba Donate Kit To IAAF Heritage Collection Opening In Doha Next Week Barshim donated the vest he wore when winning HJ bronze at the 2012 Games.

Super-Fast 3,200s At Arcadia Invitational *Results

• Nico Young Closes In 59 Seconds To Set Meet Record 8:40.00 And Just Outkick Cole Sprout (8:40.73) At The Arcadia Invitational 3,200m Young’s time is the third-fastest 3,200 in HS history and converts to the 8th fastest 2-mile. The top 14 finishers broke the 9-minute barrier.
  *MB: Nico MF Young wins Arcadia 3200 in New MR 8:40.00!
• Katelynne Hart Wins Girls Arcadia 3,200m In 9:59.57 She won by over 12 seconds, although she was almost 8 seconds slower than her winning time last year.
• Chloe Cunliffe Sets Pole Vault Outdoor National Record With 4.47m (14-8) At Arcadia Invitational Cunliffe is the younger sister of former Oregon sprinter and NCAA 60m record holder Hannah Cunliffe.
• MileSplit: The National Performances Worth Remembering At Arcadia

USATF: What To Watch, When And Where In April

Tokyo 2020 News

• German Athletes Group Fighting IOC For Increased Representation And A Bigger Share Of Olympic Revenue Even if the IOC doesn’t share more money with athletes (which they probably should), they need to revise the ridiculous advertising restrictions of Rule 40 (which has apparently already been scaled back in Germany).
  *MB Archives: RULE 40, is it BS?
  *MB Archives: Coburn skirts Rule 40
• SEGA Announces A Mario And Sonic At The Tokyo Olympics Video Game Coming Out This Year
• Future Of Olympic Boxing Still In Doubt After IOC Postpone Decision On Tokyo Inclusion Boxing has been contested at every Summer Olympic Games since 1904 except for Stockholm 1912 because of a Swedish law banning the sport.
• Tokyo 2020 Warn That They Are Struggling With A Lack Of Buses And Drivers For The Olympics They believe they need 2,000 buses a day with at least twice as many drivers.
• Tokyo 2020 Unveil Mascot Images Representing Olympic And Paralympic Sports
• Tokyo 2020 Hold Welcoming Ceremony As Olympic And Paralympic Flags Return To Tokyo After Tour Of The Country