November 25, 2020 | LetsRun.com

Mark Your Calendar Now

LRC The 2021 RAK Half Looks INCREDIBLE: Women’s WR Holders Brigid Kosgei & Ababel Yeshaneh To Battle, World Half Rematch With Jacob Kiplimo Vs. Kibiwott Kandie And Sara Hall Is Entered Mark your calendars; the February 19th race is something athletics fans can get excited about. The marathon WR holder vs. the half marathon WR holder is the women’s headline. For the men, we get a replay of gold vs. silver from World Half. And Sara Hall of the US is making the trip.
*MB: The 2021 RAK HALF Is LOADED. 2 World Record holders, Jakob Kiplimo, Kibiwott Kandie and Sara Hall are racing

On The Roads

RRW: Connecticut Governor Bans Road Races This move was timed to stamp out any remaining turkey trot races that were still planned as in-person.
Athletics Weekly: How Kew Gardens Won The Race To Stage The GB Olympic Marathon Trials The south-west London venue was chosen due to its flat, sheltered course and “the huge degree of certainty it provided.” Apparently this course is 20% flatter than the London Marathon.
The Philadelphia Inquirer: Two Philly Officials And Brothers, One Who Oversaw The Broad Street Run, Have Been Charged With Embezzlement They stole nearly $150,00 in funds meant for city recreational activities and a youth baseball organization.
Runner’s World On What Factors You Should Consider When Deciding Whether Or Not To Run Your Local Turkey Trot During COVID-19 They talk about masks, staggered starts and whether you should use aid stations.

World Athletics News

Oregon ~~2021~~ 2022 Launch Logo And “Brand Identity” For Eugene World Champs Includes a 1:30 promotional video narrated by Ashton Eaton and Brianne Theisen-Eaton.
World Athletics Extends US Media Rights Deal With NBC Sports The ten-year agreement gives NBC Sports exclusive multi-platform rights to World Athletics events in the US until the end of 2029.
There Is Concern That The London Diamond League Won’t Have Top British Athletes Competing Because It’s Too Close To The Olympics It’s 17 days before the track portion of Tokyo 2020 starts, so that’s actually not a bad tune-up for a lot of athletes.
Calendar Announced For 2021 World Mountain Running Association World Cup

NCAA Updates

MB: Cooper Teare 7:44, Cole Hocker 7:45 in 3k time trial tonight
Video: Clemson Athletes Call For Reinstatement Of Men’s Track Program
No Changes To The Top 5 Teams In The Latest Men’s NCAA XC Rankings NAU, BYU, Arkansas and Notre Dame are ranked 1-4.
Updated Women’s NCAA XC Rankings Has Arkansas Stay On Top NC State moved up to #2 and BYU up to #3. New Mexico moved down to 4th.
Ohio’s Josh Park And Bowling Green’s Kailee Perry Are NCAA Athletes Of The Week These were the two individual winners at this past weekend’s Mid-American Conference Champs.

COROS Wearables Is Now Official GPS Sponsor Of Eliud Kipchoge And The NN Running Team

World Athletics Athlete Of The Year Finalists

Finalists Announced For 2020 World Athletics Male Athlete Of The Year Award They are Joshua Cheptegei, Ryan Crouser, Mondo Duplantis, Johannes Vetter and Karsten Warholm. Breaking two long-standing track WRs, Cheptegei is a pretty good bet.

Finalists Announced For 2020 World Athletics Female Athlete Of The Year Award They are Letesenbet Gidey, Sifan Hassan, Peres Jepchirchir, Yulimar Rojas and Elaine Thompson-Herah.

RunningLane High School XC Champs

MileSplit: Jenna Hutchins Runs Fastest Girls XC 5k In Prep History At RunningLane National Champs In Alabama She ran 15:58.42 to dominate the race by almost a minute.
*MB: JENNA MF HUTCHINS – Runs 15:58 – 1st US HS Girl To Break 16:00 in XC!!
MileSplit: Parker Wolfe Snags Win In Craziest, Fastest Race Of The Season At RunningLane National Champs Wolfe won in a CR of 14:26.94 as the top-8 were under 14:40.
MileSplit: American Fork Puts Down Fastest 5K Team Average In Prep XC History The team averaged 15:00.99, which is reportedly the fastest team average in HS history just ahead of the 1978 run by South Eugene with 15:01.02 at their state champs.
DyeStat RunningLane Champs Recap

Sprinters In The News

Lolo Jones Has Returned To Bobsledding Jones qualified for the 10-person national team roster after two days of team-trial races in New York.
Bahamian Sprinter Steven Gardiner Relives His 2019 World 400m Gold He said a lot of athletes struggled in the Doha heat, but he was used to it.
Ato Boldon And Sanya Richards-Ross To Host 2020 World Athletics Awards On December 5 Short Q&A with both presenters talking about the challenges of hosting/commentating during COVID and which awards they are most looking forward to presenting.
Karsten Warholm 2020 Highlights Video
Dr. Scholl’s Partners With Allyson Felix

More NCAA Updates

Weekend NCAA Round-Up: Southern And Mid-American Conference XC Champs Furman men and women swept Southern Champs while Eastern Michigan men and Northern Illinois women took Mid-American.
Big East Indoor Champs Canceled Probably many more to come unfortunately.

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Pro Distance News

Mo Farah Is Getting $401,000 To Appear On “I’m A Celebrity” Reality TV Show Farah is the highest paid 2020 contestant and one of the highest paid ever.
Running Form Analysis Of Letesenbet Gidey’s 5,000m World Record Includes an interesting comparison to the form of previous record holder Tirunesh Dibaba.
7:54 Steeplechaser (#3 All-Time) Paul Kipsiele Koech Is Transitioning To The Marathon The former Olympic bronze medalist ran the Kenyan Mountain Running Champs this past weekend as part of his transition and says, “I am targeting an even better career on the roads than I did on the track.”
December 4: Japan National Championships Distance Entries

Random Stuff

Challenge Daytona Triathlon Offering A Million Dollar Prize Purse Causing Some Debate About Holding Events During The Pandemic Organizers say they are providing a safe environment while some others aren’t sure. The entire event is being held inside the Daytona International Speedway.
Runner’s World: Do Ice Baths Have Legitimate Benefits For Your Recovery? New research found that they don’t help or can even delay muscle repair, although they can help with soreness.

Olympic / Admin News

Tokyo 2020 May Have Strict Limits Inside The Athletes’ Village There are plans to limit how long athletes can stay in the village to reduce crowding. It can accommodate up to 16,500 people, but social distancing measures may reduce that number by 10,000.
Thomas Bach Calls On Countries To Respect The IOC’s And Olympics’ Political Neutrality
Tokyo Governor Hoping For Tokyo 2020 “With Full Spectators Present”
Chicago Tribune: Olympic Organizers Promote Games As Light At End Of Pandemic Tunnel IOC President Thomas Bach suggested that the IOC may pay for coronavirus vaccines for people visiting Japan for the Games, but taking the vaccine would not be a requirement.
Donald Quarrie Is Concerned About The Fairness Of The JAAA Presidential Election Process Quarrie points out how candidates already in the JAAA have a conflict of interest and potential advantages.

D’Amato Breaks US 10 Mile Record

RRW Keira D’Amato DESTROYS American Women’s-Only 10 Mile Record; Runs 51:23 To Smash 52:12 Record At Up Dawg Ten Miler The magical season for the 36-year-old unsponsored mother of 2 continued with her first American record. D’Amato broke the previous mark of 52:12 set by Janet Bawcom in 2014. Molly Seidel was a distant second in the 53-minute range.
*MB: Up Dawg 10 miler is ON! Keira is busting it out!!!

Supporters Club Content

LRC Ask Me Anything With LetsRun.com Co-Founder Weldon Johnson – Running, Dogs, Paula Wejo has started an AMA for Supporters Club members and so far has answered question on his running career, his dogs, and whether he thinks Paula Radcliffe, whom he paced to her first world record, in the marathon was clean.

Seb Coe Speaks

Seb Coe Wants COVID Lockdown Restrictions In The UK Eased So Kids Can Play Sports He says it doesn’t make sense to close down club sports if schools are open. “Children being together is either safe, or it is not.”

International Distance Results

The 2020 NCAA Championships Were Supposed To Be Saturday

LRC What I Miss Most About the NCAA Cross-Country Championships The NCAA cross-country championships were originally scheduled for this weekend at Oklahoma State. As Jonathan Gault ponders yet another absence from the 2020 sporting calendar, he reflects on what he misses the most about one of his favorite events of the year.
*MB: NCAA xc were supposed to be this weekend. What do you miss most about the meet?

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Recent 10k Results

Spain’s Fernando Carro Runs 27:46 National 10k Record In Alcobendas This was the first significant road race in Spain since the end of February.
Charles Kamau Wanjiku’s 27:30.09 Highlights Japanese Weekend Track Action It was the second-fastest time ever by a student at a Japanese university.

High School Corner

LRC Tennessee’s Jenna Hutchins Puts Stamp On Incredible 2020 Cross-Country Season With Historic Sub-16:00 5K Hutchins, who finished 9th at Foot Lockers as a freshman and 5th as a sophomore, recorded the first sub-16:00 5k in US girls HS history. Can it be believed?

RW Talks To Jenna Hutchins After Her Sub-16 Run “It was amazing. Having fun was the first priority for me, and to achieve a mark like this that means so much.
Brynn Brown Breaks Meet Record With 16:25.9 At Texas State Meet
*MB: Add Brynn Brown’s 2020 TX State Meet 16:25.9 to the XC Record Books
Lauren Ping Gets Individual Win To Lead Team To Repeat Title At Arizona State Champs Grace Ping was 6th.
DyeStat: Dramatic Final Day Sees Wickham Distance Project Boys And Desert Vista Girls Crowned Nike Cross Virtual Champions The top individual times posted were Charlie Robertson (14:42.20) of Oregon and Angelina Perez (16:39.00) of New Jersey.
DyeStat State-By-State XC Champs Recaps

Hopefully, We Have A Diamond League Season In 2021

LRC Diamond League Announces 2021 Schedule; Pre Classic Will Be On August 21 Due to Covid-19, the season is scheduled to start later than ever (May 23rd) which means there is going to be a crazy tight schedule after the Olympics. At one point there will be 4 meets over an 8 day span and 6 in 20.