April 13, 2020 Homepage Archive

March April Madness (Get Your 2nd Round Votes In By Sunday At Midnight)

LRC American Distance GOAT, Second Round Recap: Pre Goes Down as a Star-Studded Sweet 16 Is Set – Vote Now The gloves are now off as our quest to find the Greatest American Distance Runner of All Time is now down to the Sweet 16 and the matchups are incredible. Who is a bigger American GOAT – Galen Rupp or Meb Keflezighi, Matthew Centrowitz or Jim Ryun, Shalane Flanagan or Lynn Jennings, and Jenny Simpson or Emma Coburn?
*MB: Unreal Sweet 16 American GOAT Matchups: Rupp vs Meb, Centro vs Ryun, Flanagan vs. Jennings and Coburn vs. Simpson.

Vote Now
*Vote in the Women’s Sweet 16!
*Vote in the Men’s Sweet 16!

Runners Doing Good

LRC Running Helped Prepare Dr. Michael Joyner (The Guy Who Predicted The Sub-2:00 Marathon) To Help Lead The COVID-19 Fight Dr. Michael Joyner is on the leadership team of the National COVID-19 Convalescent Plasma Project.

Jump Aboard The LetsRun Time Machine

LRC I Was Bored, So I Went Back And Watched The 1998 NCAA Cross-Country Championships Jonathan Gault hilariously revisits the 1998 NCAA XC meet that had it all – Adam Goucher, Abi Abdirahman, Bernard Lagat and even Billy Mills and Jim Ryun – and was held in an era where ponytails were everywhere, cross-country courses featured covered bridges, and James Madison was good at XC.
*MB: Blast from the past. 1998 NCAA XCountry. Goucher over Abdi. Lagat 7th

Random Coroanvirus News

Simulation Reveals The Dangers Of Jogging With Training Partners During Coronavirus Pandemic Viral particles from another runner could infect you even if they are six feet ahead, but running next to them may be safer.
*MB: ‘Horrifying’ simulation reveals dangers of hobby jogging during the C virus lockdowns
MB:Paris Bans Daytime Jogging!! Running Curfew between 10am – 7pm
Runner’s World Article Says You Should Be Cleaning Your Watch/Phone After Running To Help Slow The Spread Of Coronavirus You don’t have to wash your shoes though.
Former French Minister Says Allowing The Tour De France To Take Place Would Be A “Crime Against Humanity”
Cancelled Marathons In Japan Using Phone Apps To Hold Virtual Marathons

Sad RIP News

MB:RIP Italian two-time Olympic 800m finalist Donato Sabia He died from coronavirus at age 56.
MB:Jim Bailey – the world’s 5th sub-4 miler and the 1st sub-4 miler on US soil – has died at 92
MB:Bill McChesney, patriarch of the ‘First Family’ of Eugene’s track and field community, dies at 91

Kenyan Doping News

Asbel Kiprop Still Claiming He’s Going To Clear His Name; Says His Doping Ban Ruined His Marriage And Drove Him To Alcoholism “I think AIU saw me as a stumbling block to what they wanted to achieve and someone wanted to find a way to bring me down.”
Kenyan Marathon Vincent Yator Gets 4-Year Doping Ban Yator’s failed test came at the Gold Coast Marathon last year where he ran 2:09:59.

NCAA Coronavirus News

AP:College Athletics Directors Bracing For Financial Crisis With the cancelling of March Madness and other winter/spring sports, plus the possibility of disruption to the start of football season, ADs are expecting a major loss in revenue. Cancelling March Madness alone cost the NCAA $375 million.
*DyeStat:College Athletic Departments Face Prospect Of ‘Ice Age’ If Football Season Is Severely Impacted By Pandemic
NCAA Division 1 Council Votes To Provide Scholarship Relief, Extend Eligibility For Spring Student-Athletes They also voted not to extend any relief for winter sport athletes who had completed all or part of their regular seasons, but had national championships canceled.
Ken Goe:“Granting Athletes In Spring Sports Another Season of Eligibility Creates Other Problems” The NCAA ruling leaves what to do with scholarships up to individual schools, which means some athletes could have their scholarships stay at the same level while others will have them reduced or even eliminated.
UO Cocah Robert Johnson Is Social Distancing And Thinking About What’s Next He has questions about how the NCAA’s ruling is going to be applied specifically in the PAC-12. He says that Hayward Field would have been ready for this year’s PAC-12 Champs if they had happened.
Ken Goe:If The Coronavirus Forces Colleges To Cut Athletic Programs, What Happens To Track? Goe writes, “It’s possible many athletic directors soon will have to take a meat cleaver to their athletic budgets. … Non-revenue sports such as track and field are money drains.”

LRC Tokyo Postponement Coverage

LRC 6 Big Questions In The Wake Of IOC’s Decision To Postpone Olympics To 2021 What happens to Eugene 2021? What happens to people with Olympic qualifiers from 2019? Which athletes gain from the postponement and which ones are hurt by it? And a proposal for what to do with the 2020 US Champs.
*MB: Olympics are officially delayed for up to one year

LRC With Olympics Postponed, Sprint Star Noah Lyles Gets A Taste Of Cross-Country Training Perhaps no one has the potential to gain more from the 2020 Olympics than Lyles, but he’s relieved that the Olympics have been moved to 2021 as he’s been forced to dodge dog walkers while trying to train in a local park.
*MB: Sprint star Noah Lyles talks about 2020 Olympic postponement – “Actually seeing it delayed gives me a bit of security.”

Free Book Chapters – Purchase Your Autographed Book From Craig Virgin Now

LRC “Virgin Territory” Chapter 17: Front Runner Inc: When Pro Runners Had To Pretend They Weren’t ProHard to believe guys in their 60s now had to pretend they weren’t pro runners.

LRC “Virgin Territory” Book Excerpt, Chapter 1: Playing It Risky – Craig Virgin’s 1980 World Cross-Country Win Read about Craig’s win at World XC. Coming tomorrow chapter 17 from the book.

Distance News – Podcast w/ Meb Tonight @ 7PM ET

Sweden’s European XC Champ Robel Fsiha Fails Doping Test Fsiha failed the test in November in Ethiopia.
Listen To A Live Podcast With Meb Keflezighi Tonight At 7PM ET You can submit your questions for Meb by 5PM ET to get a chance to win a prize. *Stream Link
Conseslus Kipruto Disappointed He Won’t Have The Chance To Defend His Olympic Steeplechase Title And Chase The WR In 2020 Kipruto says it’s frustrating as his training was going very well. Now he’s cut it down to just training 3-4 days a week.

British News

Paula Radcliffe Pays Heartfelt Tribute To Her Father, Who Passed Away On Wednesday She posted, “Yesterday I lost the best dad anyone could ever wish for. The kindest, wisest, most patient and brave man who leaves behind so many people who loved him so much and whose lives he enriched.”
Eilidh Doyle’s Mailman Brother Delivers Her Upgraded 2013 World 4 X 400 Silver Medal “My brother Jamie is the postman where we live now so it was a nice surprise when he came to the door with a package and said: ‘I think this one might be a medal.'”
GB Ultra-Runner Ben Smith Still Training For US 50 State Capital Challenge The plan is a 104-day, 114,000-mile run-and-cycle around all 50 US state capitals.
Former GB Olympian Iwan Thomas Hopes The UK Will Have Two Gold Medals In Dina Asher-Smith And Katarina Johnson-Thompson They’re the current world champions so on paper are the favorites right now, but the Games are over a year away.
British Championships Moved To August 8-9 Due To Coronavirus They were originally scheduled for June 20-21.

Tokyo / IOC News

Tokyo 2020 CEO Hints Games Could Be In Doubt In 2021 Toshiro Muto: “I don’t think anyone would be able to say if it is going to be possible to get it under control by next July or not. We’re certainly are not in a position to give you a clear answer.”
Many Doping Cheats Banned From The 2020 Olympics Will Be Free To Compete At The Games In 2021 This seems like common sense to us, but for anyone who needs an explanation, a WADA spokesperson said, “There is no provision in the Code for Anti-Doping Organisations to cherry-pick periods of time in which the athlete would have more or fewer events to compete in.”
Olympic Flame Taken Off Display And Tokyo 2020 Staff Working From Home As Japan Declares State Of Emergency Over Coronavirus
Thomas Bach’s Planned Visit To Japan Next Month Cancelled Due To Coroanvirus Travel Restrictions
IOC President Thomas Bach Calls For People To Stay Strong And Active And Celebrate A “Festival Of Resilience” At The Tokyo Games Next Year

Sport 100History

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Francie Larrieu Smith’s 10,000m American Record Earns Her USATF Throwback Athlete Of The Week Honors Larrieu Smith made it through to the round of 32 in our American Distance GOAT bracket. She’s up against Joan Benoit Samuelson. Vote here.
AP:40 Years Later, Edwin Moses Still Says The Decision To Boycott The 1980 Moscow Olympics Was “Horrible” Publicly, President Jimmy Carter said it was “one of my most difficult decisions,” but reportedly, in private conversation with an Olympic wrestler he apologized and called it a “bad decision.”
European Athletics Looks Back At Some Running History, When Greece’s Spiridon Louis Won Olympic Marathon Gold At The First Modern Games In 1896 Louis ran 2:58:50 to become Europe’s first Olympic track and field champion.
European Athletics Highlights “Eight Outstanding Sibling Acts” Includes the Ingebrigsten and Borlee brothers.
A Look Back At Linford Christie’s Career The Brit won Olympic 100m gold at the 1992 Barcelona Olympics with 9.96 seconds.
Paula Radcliffe’s Legacy Lies On As London Marathon Celebrates 39th Anniversary
Top Highlights From The History Of The London Marathon

A Must Read If You Care About Doping Or Justice

LRC The Amazing Story Of How Jarrion Lawson Cleared His Name: He Showed That The Head Of A WADA Lab Provided False Testimony Against Him Jarrion Lawson is free to compete once again after his legal team was able to show that Christiane Ayotte, the head of the WADA-accredited doping control lab at the Institut National de la Recherche Scientifique in Laval, Quebec, lied while testifying during his case.
*MB: The amazing story of how Jarrion Lawson cleared himself: He showed the head of a WADA lab provided false testimony against him.

Athletics Calendar Revamp

LRC 3 Thoughts On The World Athletics Championships In Eugene Being Rescheduled To July 15-24, 2022 The first track World Championships in the US will be the earliest Worlds in history. What does it all mean?

LRC World Athletics Says Forget About Qualifying For Olympics Until December And Some Athletes Aren’t Happy“This takes away the last bit of hope of making 2020 a productive, meaningful year in our career” said 2017 steeplechase world champion Emma Coburn. But others, including Olympic pole vault champ Katerina Stefanidi, support the move.

Delayed World Track And Field Championships Set For July 15-24, 2022 Eugene 2021 has been postponed so it doesn’t clash with the Olympics and it was moved up to July from August so it didn’t clash with Euro Champs and the Commonwealth Games.
World Athletics Suspends All Olympic Qualification Until December 1 They are trying to make it fair for different countries which will open up later than others, but we think an ‘A’ standard should count no matter when it happens.
*MB: Overreaction or justified? World Athletics pauses all Olympic qualification until December 1
TrackTown USA’s Organizing Committee Is Back At Work On Postponed Olympic Trials New dates have not been set, but the assumption is they will be scheduled for late June again.
TCS World 10k Bengaluru 2020 Rescheduled From May 17th To September 13th

Quarantine Race Results

Washington Post: “Michael Wardian Set Out For A Virtual Ultra Marathon. He Kept Running For 2½ Days.” It was part of the Quarantine Backyard Ultra and unfortunately for all involved, Wardian ended up winning the race ended with a controversial DQ.
*MB: Coolest or weakest thing ever? Quarantine Backyard Ultra ends with controversial DQ after 250+ miles
*MB: 2020 Quarantine Backyard Ultra Race! Official Race Discussion Thread.
High Schooler Matt Strangio Runs 4:03.57 1,600m Time Trial Strangio’s senior track season is cancelled, but he still is chasing sub-4. He ran in this in breezy conditions, solo for the second half.
*MB: HSer Matt Strangio runs 1600 in 4:03.57 in CA
MB: Farah bombs 6 mile tempo on IG live?
MB:Isaiah Harris time trialed 5,000m PR…. 15:02.

Pole Vault Stuff

France’s Former Olympic PV Champ Renaud Lavillenie Claims “International Home Containment” Title Lavillenie has a pole vault setup in his backyard and used it to clear 5.61m on Saturday. *Video
Mondo Duplantis Auctioning Off His World Record Bib From Torun To Raise Money To Help Fight The Coronavirus Pandemic The current bid is about $1,500.

Tokyo News

Japan Businessman Admits To Giving Gifts For Successful Tokyo Olympic Bid Haruyuki Takahasi admits to giving gifts (including digital cameras and Seiko watches) to lobby IOC officials including Lamine Diack. Takahasi was paid $8.2 million by the Tokyo bid committee to “wine and dine” people who could help Tokyo win the Olympics.
Tokyo Olympics Expects To Secure Athletes Villages And All Competition Venues For 2021 Games The athletes village was scheduled to be sold off in autumn, but organizers are hoping to re-secure it and all 41 competition venues again for 2021.
IOC Confirm Revised Qualification Deadline For Tokyo 2020 Games The qualification period will end June 29, 2021.
Tokyo Government Considering Use Of Olympic Facilities To House People With Coronavirus Symptoms
Daily Rise In Tokyo Coronavirus Cases Passes 100 For First Time
IOC Considering Postponement Of Athletes’ Commission Elections After Tokyo 2020 Delayed To 2021 The current members’ terms would have expired at this year’s Olympics.

Update On LRC Coronavirus Patient’s Condition

LRC Update: LetsRun.com Visitor With COVID-19 Continues To Recover Good news as “justthefacts” condition continued to improve over the weekend and his fever is gone.

LRC What’s It Like For A Runner To Have COVID-19? A Long-Time LetsRun.com Visitor Shares His Story Of Being Infected With The Coronavirus A long-term visitor to LetsRun.com wants to share his story of what it is like to have the coronavirus. He also wants a LetsRun.com singlet when he gets better.
Discussion: I tested Positive for COVID here is my story

General Coronavirus Stuff

Runner’s World Cautions That The Viral Simulations On How Disease Can Spread While Running Was Not A Peer-Reviewed Study The simulations showed that running six feet behind someone could still be dangerous in spreading the coronavirus, but RW says that the simulations which work for air flow might not apply to microbiology.
*MB: ‘Horrifying’ simulation reveals dangers of hobby jogging during the C virus lockdowns
RW:How Running And Fitness Companies Are Responding And Helping During The Coronavirus Pandemic A lot of sport companies including Nike, New Balance, adidas and Under Armour have stepped up to provide financial support or make needed equipment like masks.
Towers From The 2018 Asian Games Athletes’ Village Turned Into Coronavirus Facilities Seven of the ten towers in Jakarta, Indonesia are being used as medical facilities.

Results?

An Actual Result:Sweden’s Simon Pettersson Throws A European-Leading Discus Mark Of 66.93m From a local meet in Vaxjo, Sweden.
*MB: COVID – Sweden not locking down
MB:Austrian Runner Andreas Vojta claims 28:28 road 10k at 174 lbs

LRC Has Two Podcasts This Week *All Here

#2 Guest Dr. Michael Joyner Talks COVID-19 Convalescent Plasma Project + Backyard Ultra Controversial Finish + Olympic Qualifying Cancelled + Eugene 2022 + American GOAT Joyner, the guy who predicted the sub-2 hour marathon, is now working on treatments for COVID-19.

#1 The Mike Wardian Podcast At age 45, has Wardian found his unbeatable event – the Backyard Ultra? Rojo seems to think so as Wardian hardly ever needs to sleep. After running 262+ miles over 63 hours without any sleep, Wardian proceeded to go to work. As of 5 pm Wednesday, he’d slept a total of 4:45 since Saturday morning.
*MB: Meet Mike Wardian – The World’s #1 Runner – Is He The “Eliud Kipchoge” Of Backyard Ultras?