November 11, 2020 Homepage Archive

Inside Japan Distance Culture

Recommended Read:Why Japan Is An Island Of Greener Pastures For Kenyan Athletes A lot of interesting insights into the Japanese running culture why Kenyans are attracted to it and how they sometimes struggle to adjust.
British Olympian Mara Yamauchi Tries To Explain “The Magic Of The Ekiden” She describes it as, “Japan’s cultural icon of the running world which turns solitary running into the most gripping of team sports.”
Osaka Women’s Marathon To Be Held On January 31st With Limited Field Normally the race has a 3:10 entry cutoff, but that’s being moved to 2:50 which is expected to decrease the field from about 500 to around 100.

MB: 2:20 marathoner Jordan Hasay only runs 74:27 half marathon in Oregon Hasay claimed she was freezing in the 43-degree weather but chose not to wear very much clothing.

MB:17-Year-Old Tierney Wolfgram Destroys American Women’s JR Record In The Marathon With 2:31:49 She broke the 36-year-old record by almost three minutes.
*Recommended Read:Tierney Wolfgram Talks About Her Decision To Go After (And What Went Into Getting) The American Marathon Junior Record Wolfgram says she was kind of “mourning” not getting the record at the Olympic Trials (where she ran 2:42:47 for 76th place), but when COVID cancelled the XC season she decided to go for it this fall.

What?! How Can This Be Legal? Greek Government Is Trying To Get Olympic Pole Vault Champ Katerina Stefanidi To Repay The Medal Bonus She Earned At The 2016 World Indoor Champs In Portland It’s one thing to cut future bonuses, but how can the government force an athlete to repay a bonus that was paid out in 2018?
Nominees Announced For World Athletics Covid Inspiration Award The three nominees are Monaco DL, World Half Champs and Renaud Lavillenie‘s backyard PV series.

Good Read: World Athletics:Remembering Grete Waitz On The Anniversary Of Her Ninth New York Marathon Victory The story behind Waitz’s first marathon is pretty interesting as she had never run more than 12 miles and wasn’t taking the race super seriously. Afterwards she threw her shoe at her husband for “getting her into this mess,” but had won the race by 9 minutes and set a new WR at 2:32:29.
A Look Back At When Yohan Blake Became The Youngest Ever World 100m Champion At Daegu 2011 After Usain Bolt was DQed for a false start, Blake won it in 9.92.
Julie Brown Named USATF Throwback Athlete Of The Week For Setting The US Women’s 5,000m Record At 16:14.0 In 1976

LRC It’s Here: The 1:59:40 GOAT Shirt Get the premium shirt that signals and celebrates greatness. Order today.

Jordan Hasay Talks About Her Recent Half Marathon And Comeback From Injury In The Build-Up To Next Month’s Valencia Marathon Hasay says her marathon training has been “going really well,” but that she just didn’t have the half marathon turnover.
BYU’s Casey Clinger And Bowling Green’s Kailee Perry Named NCAA Athletes Of The Week Clinger is back this year after a two-year mission and got his first collegiate XC win at the Weber State Invy in 23:50.9.
December 6:World Athletics Valencia Preview With Full Field Lists irhanu Legese (2:02:48), world champ Lelisa Desisa, Rutia Aga (2:18:34) and world half champ Peres Chepchirchir lead the marathon field while 10k WR holder Rhonex Kipruto, world 5,000m record holder Letesenbet Gidey and Genzebe Dibaba are making their half debuts.
MB: BREAKING: NICO YOUNG Racing 5k (13:30 attempt) in early December
Oregon Track Photographers Selling Their Photos To Raise Money For Oregon Community Hit Badly By Wildfires

Japan Study Of 787 Races Held Since July Finds Only One Case Of Someone Contracting COVID-19 Not that surprising considering what we’ve heard about transmission outdoors.
New Study Suggests Masks Don’t Hinder Your Performance In Workouts On the one hand, Galen Rupp has raced multiple times with a mask. On the other hand, if you’ve tried running hard with a mask on, it isn’t very comfortable.

Rome To Host The 2023 European Championships The last time they hosted was 1974. They were chosen over Katowice-Silesia, Poland.
Istanbul Awarded The 2023 European Indoor Championships Istanbul has hosted big indoor events before as they held the 2012 World Indoor Champs.

NY Times On Christian Coleman: “Why Did The World’s Fastest Man Miss Drug Tests – And A Shot At The Olympics” The article explains both sides, but definitely puts more of a positive spin on Coleman.
Russian Paralympic Committee President Claims Athletes Have “Nothing To Do” With WADA Dispute Wit RUSADA If RUSADA was covering up horse racing doping, he may have a point. But since RUSADA helped cover-up doping for Russian athletes, no, he doesn’t.
WADA Has “Very Positive Meeting” With US Anti-Doping Group After Previous Public Disputes After previous animus comments between WADA and the US, “they both agreed that the partnership between WADA and the U.S. Government was vitally important for … clean sport.”