November 30, 2019 | LetsRun.com

Valencia More Than Lives Up To The Hype

Joshua Cheptegei Smashes 10k WR with 26:38 WR in Valencia It was great day for the Vaporflys in Valencia.
Roza Dereje Runs 2:18:30 at 4 Women Break 2:19 and 5 Break 2:20
Unheralded Kinde Atanaw Alayew Debuts At 2:03:51 As 4 Break 2:05 and 8 Break 2:07 The 26-year old, who was 4th in the world junior 10000 in 2012, hadn’t dont a whole lot as a pro and only had a 60:12 pb.
MB: Vaporflys (presumably) crush it again. Produce amazing times in Valencia. 26:38 10k, A 2:03:51 and 4 2:18s!!!

*Pre-Race: LRC Preview The Best Marathon Of The Fall? 10 Sub-2:06 Guys Plus A 10K WR Attempt At Sunday’s Valencia Marathon

Farah Back On Track

LRC Three Thoughts On Mo Farah’s Return To The Track For The 2020 Olympics Here’s our take on Farah’s decision and chances to win gold in Tokyo.
*Discuss: Official: Farah will run 10k in Tokyo

Mo Farah Will Return To The Track To Defend His Olympic 10,000m Title Farah said, “I was watching the World Championship in Doha. I watch the 10,000m, and watch other races, and part of you gets excited. You’re seeing people winning medals, for your country and stuff, and you ask yourself. It almost felt like I needed to be there.” He’ll be 37 in Tokyo, making him the oldest athlete to compete in the men’s Olympic 10,000m final. *World Athletics Article
With Farah in 10,000, Callum Hawkins almost certain to be pre-selected for marathon team “If I get pre-selected. It will allow me to not do a spring marathon and focus completely on getting ready for Tokyo.”

UK Athletics Is A Mess

UK Athletics Announces Independent Review Of Its Botched Decision To Allow Mo Farah To Continue Working With Alberto Salazar When the first allegations against the NOP surfaced in 2015, a UKA investigation found “no reason to be concerned” about Salazar. *BBC
*Reuters: UKA Launches Review Into Handling Of NOP Issues
British Athletes Claim UKA Encouraged The Use Of Thyroid Medication To Enhance Performance One athlete claims that when their tests came back negative for thyroid problems, they were told to do another training session before taking a second test (fatigue can influence thyroid levels).
UK Sport To Hold Crisis Talks With UKA And Will Demand Assurances Before Signing Off On Funding For 2024 Paris Olympics
*The Guardian Clickbait: UKA Risks Cut In $35 Million Funding Warns UK Sport Head Sally Munday Her actual statements make it seem extremely unlikely that UKA will lose its funding.
Former Detective Who Brought Claims Against Hyde Peters Which Kept Her From UKA Head Job Criticizes Her Statements; Says She Should Apologize

Other News

Japanese 61-Year-Old Mariko Yugeta Becomes First 60+ Woman To Run A Sub-3 Hour Marathon She ran 2:59:15 to break the previous 60+ record of 3:02:05.
World Athletics: RIP Italian Coach And Former Director Of Development For The IAAF Elio Locatelli (Age 76)
IOC Praises Paris 2024 Progress

Kenya / South Africa News

WR Holder Brigid Kosgei Says That Winning The Olympics Is Her “Main Target And Challenge In 2020”
Athletics South Africa President Aleck Skhosana Doesn’t Want To Send Athletes To Tokyo If They Aren’t Going To Win Medals “If we are not going to go there and deliver what is expected of us, then we should not go there. We are not visitors. That’s our policy and philosophy at ASA.”
Eliud Kipchoge Gets Honorary Doctorate Degree From Laikipia University In Kenya
Nike Launches Short 3-Minute Film To Celebrate Caster Semenya The video, titled “The Birthplace of Dreams” shows Semenya touring around her small village in South Africa, talking about her start in sport. You can watch it here.

Nike Issues

Saucony Sponsored Molly Huddle Is Concerned About The Nike AlphaFly She tweeted that she was “kinda nervous how [they] would affect the Olympic Trials.”
Mary Cain Still Calling On Nike To Hold Third-Party Probe Into Disbanded Oregon Project Cain says she thinks Nike has “kind of victim-blamed her” and asked if she planned on taking any legal action she said, “I do’’t really know going forward. The truth is a lot of that I’m keeping closer to my chest.”

Pre-Turkey Day News

Past Winners Edward Chesrek And Sally Kipyego Lead Fields For The Manchester Road Race Cheserek faces Donn Cabral, Eric Jenkins, Hillary Bor, Johnny Gregorek and Andy Butchart. The women’s race also has Edna Kiplagat, Molly Seidel and Sharon Lokedi.
Hartford Courant: Local Olympian Donn Cabral Feeling Good About The Manchester Road Race Cabral is a Connecticut native so grew up running this race. He says winning it “would be on the same level as making the Olympic team.”
Strong Winds In Forecast For Manchester Road Race Winds could be greater than 20mph.
Runner’s World History Lesson: How The Turkey Trot Became The Most Popular Race In America The first turkey trot was an 8k XC race 123 years ago in Buffalo, NY (it’s also the oldest race on the continent). Six runners started and only four finished, but today it’s capped at 14,000.

Athlete Of The Year News

Eliud Kipchoge And Dalilah Muhammad Named World Athletes Of The Year Other end-of-year awards from World Athletics included male and female rising star, which went to world 5,000m silver medalist Selemon Barega and world HJ silver medalist Yaroslava Mahuchikh.
Adam Gemili And Katarina Johnson-Thompson Voted British Athletes Of The Year
World Marathon 4th Placer Callum Hawkins Named Scottish Athlete Of The Year Hawkins beat out other shortlisted athletes, including Laura Muir, Eilish McColgan and Jake Wightman.

Non-LRC NCAA Coverage *DII And DIII Results

The Denver Post: Colorado Men Third At NCAA XC Behind Joe Klecker’s Runner-Up Finish Coach Mark Wetmore on finishing one point by NAU: “I’m pleased to end up on the podium today, but I wouldn’t mind for it to have been one point less. I should have yelled louder out there somewhere.”
The Denver Post: Colorado Women Finishes 10th At NCAAs Wetmore: “Our team wasn’t brilliant, but they got around the course.”
Colorado School Of Mines Men And Adams State Women Win NCAA DII XC Champs Colorado School of Mines had the largest margin of victory (79 points) since 1978 while Adams State equaled the lowest score in meet history with 23 points.
Pomona-Pitzer Men And Johns Hopkins Women Win DIII NCAA XC Champs Pomona-Pitzer had never finished in the NCAA top 5. Three-time defending champions North Central were second 18 points back.
USTFCCCA DI Champs Recap
Oklahoma City Men And Madonna Women Win NAIA XC Championships

News That Passed Our Stringent Vetting Process

Crazy Boyfriend of mom of French distance runner who tested positive for EPO says he injected her while she was asleep and thus didn’t know
*MB: AlSal was RIGHT! Athletes can be sabotaged; french runner administered EPO while sleeping by mom’s BF
Recommended Read AP: An in-depth look at how Bill Staab has dedicated much of his life to helping immigrants via the West Side Runners’ Club Girma Bekele Gebre‘s third-place finish in NY got the group a lot of publicity but Staab has been helping the runner for roughly 40 years and they are appreciative, “For Ethiopian runners, he’s like a father. We love him.”
RR #2 Tianna Bartoletta blogs about visiting a women’s prison in the UK where the prisoners determined she was the guest speaker because she’d had a “shit life” despite her 3 Olympic golds
Alan Abrahamson says Christian Taylor should be worried if Nike pulls its support for track, not if triple jump is part of DL tv window
Mercedes-AMG formula one team treats Eliud Kipchoge to an exclusive experience (pics)
Tokyo’s 2020 Olympic stadium is officially complete as it’s handed over to Japan Sports Council It cost $1.4 billion to build.
Jamaican-Born Derek Thompson – Coach Of Ajee Wilson And Raevyn Rogers – Thinks Jamaica Could Be An 800 Power “Put it this way,” Thompson contended, “If Puerto Rico can have three 800m runners clocking sub-1:45.00 minutes, Jamaica should have more than that.”
World Record Holder Brigid Kosgei Says Tokyo Gold Is “Main Target And Challenge” For 2020
Brit Overcomes Muggings And Getting Shot At To Run A Marathon In Every Country In The World
Cathal Dennehy Remembers How All Of Ireland “Ran With Sonia” As O’Sullivan Is Inducted Into Irish HOF On Her 50th Birthday The former WChamp and Olympic silver medalist had the “greatest career in Irish sport” according to Dennehy.
The Keys To Peter Seufer’s 4th Place Finish At NCAAs – 90-95 MPW On 6 Days A Week Seufer took it easy early in the summer as he was working in NYC.
*Seufer Admits Weight Loss Was Key To 4th-Place Finish At NCAAs Getting rid of the “summer vest” is something he always has to do.
Many Africans Are Outraged They Can’t Vote For Kipchoge as BBC World Sport Star of The Year 2019 Due To Geo Restrictions “Denying Kenyans to vote for Eliud Kipchoge by BBC Sport is another form of colonization,” said one fan.
The Extreme Lengths Runners Go To Run A PB From peeing in your pants mid-marathon to forging a doctor’s note to get out of school, Canadian Runing Magazine has some interesting stories.

It’s A Big Weekend For US High Schoolers

They’ll Be In College Soon

Track and Field News ranks Georgia’s women’s recruiting class as #1 Then it’s Tennessee, LSU, Florida, Oregon.
Track and Field News ranks Stanford’s men’s recruiting class #1 Then it’s Georgia, Oregon, Texas A&M and Florida.

Sprint Stuff

The Telegraph Interview With Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce On Feminism, Religion And Why Tokyo Will Be Her Last Olympics “I never pray to God to help me win. I pray to be ready, healthy, give my best. I pray against fear, because fear kills promise. Fear makes you focus on the other athletes, not yourself.”
Good Read: US 400m Sprinter Vernon Norwood Writes About How Track Helped Him Escape A Very Rough Early Life In New Orleans Where “Only A Small Percentage Of People Make It Out”
World Athletics Podcast With 400H WR Holder Dalilah Muhammad

End-Of-Year Stuff

World Champions Donavan Brazier And Dalilah Muhammad Named USATF Athletes Of The Year
Bosnia & Herzegovina’s Amel Tuka And Bulgaria’s Ivet Lalova-Collio Named Balkan Athletes Of The Year Tuka won World 800m silver in Doha while Lalova-Collio was 7th in the 200m.
World Athletics 2019 Reviews: *Throws *Relays *Multi Events *Race Walks

Upcoming Action

December 15: 2017 World XC Silver Medalist Leonard Barsoton, Former Olympic 10,000 Bronze Medalist Tariku Bekele And Israel’s Euro 10,000 Champ Lonah Salpeter Lead Field For Kolkata 25k
December 8: Elisha Barno (2:09:32) And Jane Kibii (2:30:01) Lead Fields For CIM
*European 10k And Half Marathon Record Holder Julien Wanders Will Compete At Euro XC Champs
*Italy And France Confirm Teams For Euro XC Champs
December 8: Final Entries For Euro XC Champs
February 4: Jakob Ingebrigsten Announced For Dusseldorf Indoor Meet 1,500m Older brother Filip will also race.
February 8: Olympic Champ Ryan Crouser Vs. World Champ Joe Kovacs Announced For Millrose Games Shot Put
Japan Weekend Preview: Fukuoka And Osaka Marathons Highlight
World Athletics Announces Continental Tour For 2020 This will be a series of one-day meets to make up for the cuts to the DL.

Doping News

New Blood Doping Test Could Be Approved For Tokyo 2020 The new test would allow the detection of blood doping for many months instead of only days.
*The Telegraph: IOC Confident New Genetic Drug Testing Can Help War On Doping Rather than testing for traces of the drug in a person’s urine, the test identifies changes to a person’s genetic structure.
Good Read: Brother Colm O’Connell Talks About How Kenyan Distance Running Has Been Tainted By Doping “It is still a small section, but that’s enough to damage all of Kenya, and cast a doubt on everybody.” O’Connell also talked said he doesn’t know if David Rudisha will be able to make a comeback, but that he still dreams of Tokyo 2020.
17-Year-Old Kenyan Angela Ndungwa Munguti Gets 4-Year Drug Ban After Testing Positive For A Steroid The former African Youth Games 800m silver medalist is the 43rd Kenyan suspended for doping this year.
Ethiopian Marathoner Etaferahu Temesgen Wodaj (2:27:21) Gets Provisional Suspension After Testing Positive For EPO *Discuss

More Weekend Distance Action

Crazy: 138 Men Go Sub-29 For 10,000m At Two Meets In Japan Evans Keitany won the Hachioji long distance meet in 27:46.63 to lead 12 under 28-minutes.
Britain’s Jessica Piasecki Moves to #5 on All Time UK List With 2:25:29 In Her Debut Ethiopia’s Nigussie Sahlesilassie won the men’s race in 2:10:14.
Liam Brady After Winning Irish XC Champs Men’s Title: “I said if he wants to beat me, he’ll have to be willing to die for it as well.”
Fionnuala McCormack Dominates Irish XC Champs With Her 9th Title As Her Younger Sister Una Takes Third McCormack won easily by 1:41. She and her sister are the first siblings to ever both get on the podium in this race.
Japan Post Leads Start to Finish to Win National Corporate Women’s Ekiden
Burundi’s Thierry Ndikumwenayo And Kenya’s Eva Cherono Win World Athletics XC Series Meet In Alcobendas, Spain
Athletics Weekly Weekly Round-Up

Assorted European News

Jess Judd And Ben Connor Take Victories At GB European XC Trials Former NCAA champ Kate Avery was third in the women’s race.
Track Is Popular Somewhere: The 2020 British Championships Sell Out In Three Days
Poland’s 2015 World Discus Champ Piotr Malachowski Announces His Plan To Retire At The End Of The 2020 Season The 36-year-old is dreaming of Olympic gold after finishing 2nd in 2008 and 2016.
European Athletics Athletes Committee Responds To Diamond League Changes They say they don’t think cutting events is the answer and “sets a dangerous precedent.”

More Cain / Hasay News:

Jordan Hasay Addresses The Mary Cain – Alberto Salazar Scandal Hasay says she believes NOP was a bad fit for Cain when she was still so young and that she can sympathize with both sides of the issue. She says Salazar is “obsessed about weight, but he’s obsessed about everything.” She added that he even told her to gain weight sometimes. *MB: RW Alberto wanted Hasay to wear a wetsuit at Boston 2018 and other fun stuff
Paula Radcliffe Clarifies Her Coaching Role With Jordan Hasay “It’s not an official coaching role since I am not actually qualified to coach … my role is more of a mentor/advisor than a coach.”
Podcast Interview With LRC’s Own Jon Gault From The Sports Opinions Podcast Gault talks about Mary Cain‘s allegations against Alberto Salazar as well as DL changes and his beloved New England Patriots.
Kara Goucher Criticizes Nike Doing An Internal Investigation Nike executive John Capriotti emailed Goucher as part of Nike’s investigation into Mary Cain‘s allegations against Alberto Salazar, but Goucher argued they should hire an independent third party to conduct the investigation.
Outside: Mary Cain And The Dark Side Of Pro Running

LRC Podcast / Turkey Trot News

One We Missed Thursday Shannon Rowbury Defeats Kim Conley, Emily Infeld, Stephanie Bruce At Applied Materials Silicon Valley Turkey Trot Aaron Templeton won the men’s race. Results and race videos.

RRW: Eric Jenkins, Edna Kiplagat Win Blustery Manchester Road Race Jenkins outkicked Edward Cheserek by 3 seconds while Kiplagat beat out Sally Kipyego by 13 seconds. *Discuss
*Local Fox Article With Video Interviews

Craig Engels Wins His Hometown Turkey Trot In Winston-Salem, NC Engels won the Turkey Strut 5k in 15:05 and did another mile afterwards to complete the workout. Asked about cutting his trademark mullet and mustache, he said, “I feel like if I had the mullet and mustache year round people wouldn’t appreciate it, but I’ll have my fancy mullet and mustache again by June.”

Turkey Trots On The Forums: Gobble, gobble: Official Turkey Trots Results Thread
Turkey Trot DEVASTATION
Did anyone get “chicked” at their Turkey Trot today?

LRC Gobble, Gobble: Post-NCAA Cross-Country Turkey Trot Podcast NCAAs are in the books and Turkey Trots are here.

Catching Up On Russian Doping Scandals

Russian Athletics Federation Officials (Including President Dmitry Shlyakhtin) Charged With Obstructing An Investigation Into A Whereabouts Failure By HJer Danil Lysenko An AIU investigation found the cover-up included fabricating documents from a fake clinic to show Lysenko was too ill to provide his whereabouts. *2nd Article
Russian Athletics Federation Selects New President As Dmitry Shlyakhtin Resigns World HJ champ Maria Lasitskene was very critical of his replacement, claiming that Yulia Tarasenko “is Shlyakhtin’s appointess and should immediately quit.”
Associated Press Obtains Report Showing Depths Of Russia Cover-Up The tampering apparently went to extreme lengths by even writing fake memos to cast doubt on the Russian whistleblower.
NY Times: Inside Russia’s Failed Doping Cover-Up *Discuss
WADA Says Russian Data Tampering Throws 145 Cases Into Doubt
World Athletics (Formerly The IAAF) Halts Russian Reinstatement Process After Most Recent Cover-Up Scandal
*World Athletics Statement They are considering the “expulsion of RusAF from membership of World Athletics.”
WADA Pushes For Russia To Be Banned From Tokyo Olympics Over Tampering With Anti-Doping Data WADA will meet December 9th and decide whether to approve the recommendations from their investigators to ban Russia for 4 years and strip them of hosting sports events. *2nd Article
*Previously: IOC Suggests It Will Oppose Blanket Bans On Russian Athletes From The Olympics Typical apathy we’ve come to expect from the IOC when it comes to Russian doping.
USADA Head Travis Tygart Calls For Complete Ban Of Russian Athletes From The Olympics “Russia continues to flaunt the world’s anti-doping rules, kick clean athletes in the gut and poke WADA in the eye and get away with it time and time again. WADA must stand up to this fraudulent and bullying behavior.”
CAS Confirms Bans For Two Russian Athletes Over London 2012 Retests The athletes banned are sprinter Yuliya Gushchina and LJer Anna Nazarova. It’s not surprising at all that most of the relays Gushchina had competed on were already stripped of medals because one of her teammates tested positive.
Provisional Suspension Against Russian Sprinter Artyom Denmukhametov Lifted By The IAAF Denmukhametov was originally accused of working with a banned coach. Denmukhametov opted to not have the decision published, so we don’t know the details which lead to the suspension being removed.
World Athletics Approves The Application Of Six Russians To Compete At Euro XC Champs As Neutral Athletes

NCAA / HS XC News

NXY New York / Northeast Previews And Projections Katelyn Tuohy will highlight on the girls side.
MileSplit: Foot Locker Northeast Preview – Individual Stars Head To Van Cortlandt Park
MileSplit Video: A Day In The Life Of Foot Locker Champ Sydney Masciarelli
MileSplit Video About The Girls XC Team At The Islamic High School, Salam School In Wisconsin
USTFCCCA: Which Region Ruled The Day At The 2019 NCAA XC Championships? The Mountain Region dominated both the men’s and women’s races with five of the eight possible spots on the podium (top 4 on each side). They also took the top 3 men’s team spots.
2019 NCAA DI National XC Awards Edwin Kurgat and Weini Kelati were athletes of the year; Ed Eyestone and Lance Harter the coaches of the year.

A Look Back At The 2019 NCAA XC Meet And The Last 10 NCAA XC Meets

LRC The LetsRun.com Decade Awards: Which NCAA Cross-Country Programs & Athletes Were The Best Of The 2010s? We hand out awards, including Runner of the Decade, Upset of the Decade, & Program of the Decade. Plus, what were the best single-season teams of the last 10 years? *Discuss

LRC WTW: Was BYU’s Win Really An Upset? How Would An All-Star High School Team Do At NCAAs? A full look back at the 2019 NCAA cross-country champs.

UK News

New UK Athletics Chief Zara Hyde Forced To Stand Down Before Job Begins After Allegations About Her Husband It was alleged her husband was allowed to continue coaching at a club where she was vice-chair after he was banned from teaching over alleged relationship with a 15-year-old girl. *BBC article
The Guardian: UK Athletics Thrown Into Crisis As New CEO Loses Job Before Starting An insider said the Hyde Peters’s scandal confirms track is “the most dysfunctional Olympic sport in Britain”.
December 8: Andrew Butchart Leads Announced Team GB For Euro XC Champs The women’s team includes Jess Judd and Kate Avery.
GB’s Former 400m Olympic Champ Christine Ohuruogu Talks About Why She Doesn’t Comment On Doping Debates She says, “I never cast aspersions – not with my history.” (She served a one year ban for three missed tests.)
Dina Asher-Smith And Katarina Johnson-Thompson Nominated For BBC Sports Personality Of The Year Award
GB Olympic 4×400 Bronze Medalist Anyika Onuora Retires From The Sport The 35-year-old said, “Physically, I can do any workout. But mentally, I’m not where I want to be so I just want to move onto the next chapter of my life.
Another Short Course: Leeds Abbey Dash 10k Found To Be 23m Short; Charlotte Arter’s 31:34 Won’t Count

NCAA XC Champs Men’s Results Women’s Results

LRC Final Men’s XC Champs: #3 BYU Shocks #1 NAU To Win 1st Title, Iowa State’s Edwin Kurgat Delivers As Favorite Edwin Kurgat of Iowa State came through as the individual favorite but there was a big upset in the team race as BYU won its 1st-ever title.

LRC Final Arkansas Holds Off BYU To Complete Triple Crown, Weini Kelati Runs Becomes Second Foot Locker/NCAA Champ Both Arkansas (NCAA title #1) and Weini Kelati (NCAA title #1 to go with her Foot Locker title) made history in Terre Haute. LRC Post-Race Interviews Hear from the stars of Saturday’s action.

MB Talk:
Official 2019 NCAA XC Discussion Thread
NAU GOES HOME DEVASTATED!!!!!! 4th ranked BYU stunned NAU to win the men’s title whils Arkansas won the women’s to complete the calendar-year triple crown. Edwin Kurgat and Weini Kelati were your individual champions.
The Athlete Special goes home devastated almost 34 minutes and almost dead last.
Just ran the NCAA course in Terre Haute — a couple observations
Fiona O’Keeffe out of NCAA
Worth running for NAU?
NCAA Banquet Photos Up
What is the worst team score in men’s NCAA XC history?
NAU and Mike Smith Training

UK Admin Stuff

BBC: Some Of Britain’s Top Athletes Threaten Legal Action Against BOA Over Olympic Sponsorship Regulations Earlier this year the IOC softened its stance on the Rule 40 sponsorship restrictions and said national Olympic committees are free to implement them as they see fit. The USOPC relaxed its rules, but GB athletes weren’t happy with the limited changes made by the BOA.
*The Telegraph: “Adam Gemili Leads Team GB Group Threatening Legal Action Over BOA’s ‘Window Dressing Relaxation’ Of Rules” Mo Farah, Laura Muir and Katarina Johnson-Thompson are also among the athletes who could sue the BOA.
Incoming UK Athletics Chief Zara Hyde Peters Faces Questions Over Her Husband’s Coaching Past There are allegations that her husband was allowed to continue coaching at a club where she was vice-chair despite being banned from teaching over an “inappropriate relationship” with a 15-year-old schoolgirl. *BBC Article
UK Sport Under Pressure To Lead Probe Into Accusations Against New UK Athletics Chief
British Athletics Appoint Interim Performance Leadership Team Ahead Of Tokyo 2020 To Replace Neil Black Their top choice (sprint/hurdle coach Stephen Maguire) turned them down, so the pair of Steve Paulding (former cyclist) and Tommy Yule (former weightlifter) are taking over on a temporary basis.