Seb Coe Talks and We Listen

LRC Sebastian Coe Shares His Vision For The Future, Explains Diamond League Cuts, & Says Track & Field Has “A Lot of Work to Do” in the US Last month, Seb Coe spent 45 minutes discussing the Diamond League and his vision for the sport with LetsRun.com. Find out what he said here.

US News Mainly Comes From Oregon

• Hundreds of Nike Employees Stage Walk to Protest As Nike’s Alberto Salazar Building is Re-Opened After Renovations It appears many want his name stripped from the building. Some held signs saying, “We believe Mary.” *NY Times *WSJ
  *MB: “Hundreds” of Nike employees walk out to protest re-opening of Salazar Building 
• Oregon officials continue hunt for $20 million needed to fulfill their $40 million commitment to 2021 Worlds The event’s budget is $80 million and the state promised $40 million but so far only has $20 million. $14 million comes from tickets, $10 million comes from USATF and $5.3 million from World Athletics and its partners.
• It must be the shoes Even Honolulu Marathon president can’t believe someone just ran 2:08:00 on the course “Who ever thought we’d see times like this here?”
• Spire Institute and track  in Ohio is sold to Baltimore investment firm The owner claimed to have invested $100 million into the project, which supposedly is losing a million a year, but it sold for something close to just $11 million.
• 24-hour and 100-mile world record-holder Zach Bitter goes on Joe Rogan podcast to talk about his carnivore diet This diet is restricted to eating only animal products but he doesn’t do it all the time.

Weekend Road Action

• Pacemaker Reuben Kipyego Wins Abu Dhabi Marathon In PR Of 2:04:40 To Take Home $100,000 Prize Purse Kipyego was actually third-fastest in the field with a 2:05:18 pre-race PR, so the performance wasn’t a total shock. Vivian Kiplagat won the women’s race in 2:21:11.
• RRW: Kenya’s Titus Ekiru Defends His Title And Runs Fastest Ever Marathon In Hawaii With 2:07:59 Victory At The Honolulu Marathon Margaret Muriuki won the women’s race in 2:31:10 over Betsy Saina (2:31:51).
  *Pre-race: RRW: “Comeback Queen” Renee Metivier Eyes Olympic Marathon Trials Standard at 2019 Honolulu Marathon She ended up qualifying for the Trials with 2:43:18.
• RRW: Three-Peat For Edward Cheserek at Kalakaua Merrie Mile Cheserek’s winning time of 3:53.3 was the fastest mile ever run in Hawaii. Cheserek also won the men vs. women race (women get a 28-second head start). The battle for second overall was fierce with Kenya’s Brimin Kiprono (3:56.3) finishing .7 ahead of top woman Elinor Purrier (4:25.0).
• Kenyans Elisha Barno (2:13:36) And Jane Kibii (2:29:31) Win Rainy CIM Marathon Top Americans were CJ Albertson in 2nd with 2:13:40 and 41-year-old Meriah Earle, who PRed by more than 10-minutes to get 3rd in 2:34:35. *Results
• Ethiopians Gebretsadik Abraha (2:08:04) Hiwot Gebrekidan (2:23:50) Win At The Guangzhou Marathon
• 65:06 Half-Marathoner Peres Jepchirchir Ran Her First Marathon Outside Of Kenya To Win The Saitama Marathon In 2:23:50
• Japan’s Ririka Hironaka Breaks National U20 5000m Record With 15:05.40
• Haruka Yamaguchi Wins Nara Marathon In Japan In 2:33:22

NCAA News

• MB: Athing Mu Signs With Texas A&M
• FloTrack Profile On BYU Women’s Coach: Diljeet Taylor’s Unconventional Path To Coaching Stardom
  *MB: Article on BYU women’s coach Diljeet Taylor after runner-up finish at NCAAs

Other Assorted News

• Jesse Owens’ 1936 Olympic Gold Medal Sells For $615,000 In Online Auction
• World Athletics: Sprints And Jumps Records Fall At First Three Days Of Southeast Asian Games In The Philippines
• Australia Set To Bid For The 2032 Olympics
• The Boston Marathon Will Serve As The Trials For The 2020 Paralympics In The Arm Or Vision Impairment Classifications
• Emblem And Slogan For 2020 World Indoor Championships In Nanjing, China Unveiled
• Discussions To Build A $7+ Million National Training Center In Scotland Are At An “Advanced Stage”
• Need A Job? World Athletics (Formerly The IAAF) Hiring A Director Of Competition And Events The job is based in Monaco.
  *World Athletics Hiring A Head Of Global Development They’re also hiring an eLearning content manager.
• The Guardian‘s Sean Ingle: “Too Many Heads Remain In The Sand When It Comes To Hosting Of Sport”

Indoor Season Kicks Off At BU *Results

MB: Arkansas’ Taylor Werner Runs 15:11.19 To Win BU 5,000m Werner (4th place at NCAA XC champs) ran the 8th-fastest time in US indoor history. She was also faster than Emily Sisson‘s 15:12.22 indoor collegiate record, but her time won’t count as a record since she was racing unattached. Behind her, Arkansas’s Katie Izzo (15:13.09) and New Mexico’s Weini Kelati (15:14.71) put themselves second and third on the NCAA all-time list.
*Arkansas Recap

• NCAA XC Champ Edwin Kurgat Runs 13:24.04 At BU To Break Iowa State School Record Kurgat beat out steeplechase Olympian Donn Cabral (13:25.56) and moved to #10 on the all-time list with the fastest NCAA time in the past 7 years.
• Jordan Hasay’s Oregon Indoor Record Goes Down To Carmela Cardama Baez Baez ran 15:25.41 for 6th place at BU to beat Hasay’s 15:40.30 mark.
• USTFCCCA Boston Season Opener Recap

UK Admin / Funding News

• British Athletics Announces Funding Lists For 2020 Mo Farah, Dina Asher-Smith and Katarina Johnson-Thompson are among the 68 athletes named in the program.
• UK Olympic 4 X 400 Bronze Medalist Eilidh Doyle Says Getting Olympic Funding Is “Massive” For Her As A Pregnant Athlete Doyle is expecting in January and trying to make a quick comeback for the Tokyo Olympics. She says the funding “takes the pressure off” her.
• GB Sprinter Adam Gemili Restored To Top-Level Funding He had been downgraded to relay funding last winter, but then finished 4th in the Doha 200m to move himself back up.
• Never-Was UK Athletics Head Zara Hyde Peters Resigns From Birmingham 2022 Board And Athletes’ Advisory Committee The Birmingham 2022 board was reportedly set to discuss whether to temporarily suspend Hyde Peters.

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.