Backyard Pole Vault

Lavillenie And Duplantis Tie With 36 Clearances Of 5.0m In 30 Minutes In World Athletics Backyard Challenge Sam Kendricks was a distant third with 26. “I was really missing the feeling I get competing. It’s crazy but even doing this in my garden, I get the same feeling I’d get at a major championships,” said Lavillenie, who came up with the idea for the competition. *Discuss *Full Video

Speaking Of World Atheltics, They Didn’t Ban The Vaporflys 
Interesting Read In 1993, With The Introduction Of “Active Suspension,” Formula 1 Had The Equivalent Of A Vaporfly Moment, In 1994 They Banned The Technology Worried about the rising cost (and safety) of the new technology that had made a mockery of the results, F1 banned the revolutionary new technology. World Athletics did not take the same approach.

News From Kenya

• A Look At The Kenyan Athletes Farming During Covid-19 From Beatrice Chepkoech picking tea leaves with a mask on to Rodgers Kwemoi focusing on maize.
• Is Rhonex Kipruto Kenya’s best bet to end their men’s 10,000-meter gold drought which dates to 1968?
• Beatrice Chepkoech Says She’s Capable Of Breaking Her Own Steeplechase WR While picking tea on her parents farm, she took a break to talk to a Kenyan journalist. “I know I’m still capable of lowering my time, on the right course and with good preparations.”
• David Rudisha Is Doing Well During Quarantine, Having Reconciled With HIs Wife Rudisha talks very optimistically about his training in this piece.
  *MB: Rudisha on Covid-19: “It is sad… I was almost hitting my top form just a few months before the Olympic Games.”

10 Years Ago, Chris Solinsky Ran 26:59.60 To SHOCK THE WORLD

LRC 26:59! How Chris Solinsky Transformed A “Glorified Tempo” Into An All-Time Upset And Performance 10 years ago today, Chris Solinsky shocked the world by running 26:59 in his 10,000-meter debut. Get the inside story from Jonathan Gault and learn how the date of Solinsky’s wedding played a key role in his preparations and why his victory led to a decade-long feud between coaches Alberto Salazar and Jerry Schumacher.
*MB: Chris Solinsky’s 26:59 turns 10 years old today. Share your memories here.z
*MB:  Jonathan Gault’s new story makes Alberto Salazar look totally cringe
*MB: Does anyone have access to a recording of the live broadcast by Stanford of Chris Solinksy’s 26:59?

The Penn Relays And Usain Bolt Recall Him Rocking Philly 10 Years Ago As Well

NCAA News

• Dani Jones Goes Pro The 3-time NCAA champ had a great chance to become the most decorated Colorado runner in history in terms of NCAA titles as she won three and Jenny Simpson and Adam Goucher won 4.
• UCLA-USC Dual Meet Won’t Be Held For 1st Time in 87 Years For the men, USC holds the all-time lead at 43 to 42 (1 year they didn’t keep score) but that includes a 32-year win streak.
• 8:05/13:59 Guy Jacob McLeod Transfers From Belmont To Arkansas He was an 8:52 guy in HS.

News From The Commonwealth

• Tommy Hughes Shares His Secrets – How To Run A 2:27 Marathon At Age 59 He gives out 12 pointers and only one of them is to purchase the Vaporflys. Dude is a monster.
• Pandemic Puts Things In Perspective For Jo Pavey But She’s Still Planning On Going For Her 6th Olympic Team Next Year At Age 46
• John Bryant, Journalist And Key Figure In London Marathon, Dies At Age 76 In addition to helping London, he served as an editor at the Daily Telegraph, the Times and Daily Mail, plus wrote a book on Roger Bannister.
• Get The Details Of Malindi Elmore’s Daily Routine Want to know how to take care of two kids, work and train for the Olympic marathon during Covid-19? This is for you. It’s not easy.

Sprints / Hurdles News

• Devon Allen Has Packed Up His Car And Driven To Maryland To Train Under Old Coach Jamie Cook Cook, now the head man at Navy, coached him to 3 NCAA titles and an OT win at Oregon. “I just wasn’t running as fast as before.”
• One Half Of The Famed Pouncy Twins In Dallas Is Dead At 69. RIP Gene Pouncy They were so fast they helped integrate Texas schools as people wanted to see everyone race the best. They then starred at SMU. *Obit *Oral History Of The Twins

Georgetown’s Grad Programs And Washington, DC Are Enticing For The Extra Year Of NCAA Eligibility Due To Covid-19

• UCLA’s Robert Brandt (13:38/28:55) Will Finish Up His NCAA Career At GTown Next Year He’ll be working on a master’s degree in real estate finance.
• Southern Utah Linnea Saltz (2:05 For 800) Also Will End Her NCAA Career At Georgetown She interned in DC last year and wants to continue to work part-time at American Capitol Group while she pursues a masters degree in public relations and corporate communications.
• Video Interview With The 2 GTown Transfers

More NCAA News Top Jamaican Sprinter Kevona Davis (11.35/22.86) Signs With The University Of Texas Is it just a foregone conclusion that Edrick Floreal will win at least one NCAA title at Texas?

Catching Up With Eliud Kipchoge

• Recommended Read: The Telegraph’s Ben Bloom Gets An Inside Look At Eliud Kipchoge’s Training Camp In Kenya Some interesting insights into Kipchoge the husband and father as well as runner. Kipchoge met his wife, Grace, when they were only teenagers. She says he is a “strict and fun” father.
• Eliud Kipchoge And Kenenisa Bekele Talk About The Sub-2 Hour Marathon And Training During Lockdown Kipchoge: “Mentally, you can get tired early. because if you have an hour run and you’re running alone, then you can really get tired because you are running alone, you are thinking alone. I have been with a team for the last 15 years and it’s really crazy for me. I can say it is not comfortable at all, but safety is my number one priority.”
• The Telegraph: A Run With Eliud Kipchoge, Avoiding Cows And Battling High Altitude To Train With The World’s Best Ben Bloom writes about visit with Kipchoge in Kenya.

Seb Coe Talks And We Listen

LRC Seb Coe Talks To LetsRun.com About Suspending Olympic Qualification, Whether To Eliminate The “Off Year,” & More We spoke with Coe on Friday and share four highlights. Coe defended World Athletics’ decision to pause Olympic qualifying, called on the US to stage more high-quality professional meets, and explained how Jim Ryun helped him earn his first Olympic gold.

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