December 3, 2020 | LetsRun.com

RIP To A Legend

1960 Olympic Decathlon Champ Rafer Johnson Dies At 85 The guy lived quite the life. Played basketball for John Wooden, won Olympic silver and gold in the decathlon, acted in movies, lit the Olympic flame in 1984 and even tackled the guy who killed RFK. *Pay your respects in this thread

Valencia Is Sunday

LRC The Deepest Marathon EVER Is Sunday: 2020 Valencia Is Going To Be Incredible The depth in Valencia is ridiculous: 25 men under 2:08, 35 under 2:10, 44 under 2:12. Plus there are some real studs running, from 2:02 man Birhanu Legese and Boston/Chicago champ Lawrence Cherono to NYC champ Joyciline Jepkosgei and World Half champ Peres Jepchirchir.
*MB: Are you ready for the DEEPEST marathon EVER? Sunday’s Valencia Marathon is laughably good.

LRC SC Jordan Hasay Looking To Get Back On Track At Valencia Maratho n The last 14 months have been tumultuous for Hasay, from losing coach Alberto Salazar to DNFing Chicago to finishing a hobbled 26th at the Olympic Trials. Find out here what new coach Paula Radcliffe is expecting from Hasy on Sunday. (Sub required until Saturday)

LRC American Record Alert: Emily Sisson Targeting Molly Huddle’s 67:25 AR At Sunday’s Valencia Half Marathon It’s been a good year to chase records (and not much else). The next one to go down could be Molly Huddle‘s 67:25 in the half, as Sisson’s coach Ray Treacy says her fitness is “really, really good.”
*MB: Emily Sisson is going for the AR on Sunday in Valencia: “Emily will try to run 67:00 pace and see what happens,”

More Distance News

Seb Coe: World Half Almost Didn’t Happen “Had it been held a couple of days or even 24 hours later it probably wouldn’t have taken place because Gydnia moved into the red zone Covid-wise in Poland,” said Coe who also revealed the timing equipment caught on fire the day before the race and almost left them without a timing system.
Learn How Lorraine Moller And Rod Dixon Excelled At Everything From 1,500 To The Marathon Thanks To Arthur Lydiard’s Training
2021 World Mountain Running Association (WMRA) World Cup Series Announced 16 races in 8 countries are scheduled.
Pete Bland, One Of The Most Popular Characters In The Richly Colorful World Of Fell Running, Has Died At Age 79 Due To Covid-19
Running Writer Matt Fitzgerald Thinks He’s Suffering From Post-Acute COVID-19 Syndrome
2021 United Airlines NYC Half Canceled Due To Pandemic-Related Health And Safety Concerns

Distance News

Good Read: The Guardian: “‘It Stretches the Limits Of Performance’ – The Race To Make The World’s Fastest Running Shoe” From shoe company arms races to Ebay scalpers to putting runners with the “wrong” sponsorship at a disadvantage, the article might as well be titled, “How Nike’s Shoes Ruined the Sport.”
MB: Switzerland’s European Half Marathon Record Holder (59:13) Julian Wanders Now Coached By Renato Canova
World Athletics Profile: After Strong Back-To-Back Runs, Yalemzerf Yehualaw Rises As A Potent Half Marathon Force Get to know this year’s fresh Ethiopian talent who last weekend ran 64:46 to become the second-fastest woman of all time.
Kenya’s World 800m Bronze Medalist Ferguson Rotich Says He Wants To Win An Olympic Medal Before Switching Events

RIP

World Class Swiss Ultra Runner Andrea Huser Falls To Death While Crossing A Stream During Training Police say she slipped and fell 140m.
*MB: Andrea Huser, champion ultra runner, falls to death while crossing a stream during training
Good Read: Tribute To 1976 Olympic LJ Champ Arnie Robinson, Who Has Died At Age 72 After Losing Battle With Cancer Robinson first learned to long jump using an old mattress in his driveway.
Four-Time European Sprint Champion Maria Itkina Dies At Age 88 Itkina won medals and set the 400m WR while running for the Soviet Union.
Longtime German Athletics Federation Official Frank Hensel Dies At Age 70
*European Athletics Tribute

NYRR President Stepping Down

RRW: Michael Capiraso To Step Down As NYRR President & Chief Executive Capiraso will end his 10-year run with NYRR on December 31st after questions raised about racial and gender equity within the organization. *NYRR Press Release
*MB: Michael Capiraso OUT as NYRR CEO after sexism, racism complaints

NY Times: NYRR Parts Ways With CEO Amid Workplace Complaints
MB Archives: Rebuild NYRR – Group starts petition asking for removal of NYRR Head Michael Capiraso

The 2020 Delhi Half Marathon *Results

LRC World Half Bronze Medalists Rock Delhi Half Marathon With Course Record Wins 21-year-old Ethiopians Yalemzerf Yehualaw (64:46) and Amedework Walelegn (58:52) both picked up $37,000 wins in event record time today at the Airtel Delhi Half Marathon as Yehualaw ran the second-fastest record-eligible half in history. Muktar Edris ran great (59:04) in his half debut as 7 men ran 59:26 or faster and six women ran 67:16 or faster.
*MB: Official 2020 Delhi Half Marathon discussion thread

Have You Purchased Your LetsRun T-Shirt Yet?

LRC The Softest T-Shirt You’ll Ever Wear Is Here For the first time in history, you can now sport the iconic look of the original LetsRun.com singlet or get one of our 1:59:40 or 1:59:40* t-shirts.

USATF Virtual Meeting

Today on LetsRun: Becca Peter is here to answer your questions on USATF Annual Meeting and why you should vote no on giving the Board more power

Opinion Piece By USATF Activist Becca Peter: “Vote No On USATF Losing Its Voice In Governance”

**The Track Meet Is Friday / Saturday *Schedule/Entries/Results**

LRC Tons of Olympic Hopefuls Will Be Looking For Olympic Standard in California The Olympic window is out and the Track Meet is loaded.

MB Talk

This Week’s Pod

LRC Podcast: Valencia Marathon Preview, Fast Times In Delhi, Guest Nick Cordes On Thorvaldson Brown Showdown Get your latest running fix with the LetsRun.com Track Talk podcast

Random / Non-Distance News

Gwen Berry Wins USATF’s Toyota Humanitarian Award, Insists US Can Do Better
*MB: Gwen Berry wins humanitarian award and then states: “I can honestly say I’m not proud of things this country stands for.”
Mondo Duplantis Receives The Prestigious Bragdguldet Award It’s given annually by a Swedish newspaper “for the most significant Swedish sports achievement of the year.” Mondo is the first athletics winner since 2005.
A Look At All 30 Usain Bolt Covers In Athletics Weekly
Scientific Study: 11 Minutes A Day Of Exercise May Be All You Need To Counteract Sitting All Day
A Giraffe Is Picked As The First Mascot For The 2021 World Relays
Interview With 100H WC Grant Holloway Holloway says the lack of competitions in 2020 was “definitely horrible.”

NCAA / HS News

MAAC And Big East Join Ivy League In Cancelling Indoor Track
Texas A&M Signs 13 Athletes From Class Of 2021 Distance recruits are highlighted by Bailey Goggans (2:04.70) and Kenyan Moitalep Mpoke (1:50.72) who is a community college transfer and NJCAA 600m and 800m champ.
NY Times: The College Athletes Who Are Allowed To Make Big Bucks – Cheerleaders While top NCAA athletes aren’t able to get rich off their sport, because cheerleading isn’t governed by the NCAA, cheerleaders can sign lucrative endorsement deals.
Return Of High School Sports In California Further Postponed; Rescheduled XC State Champs Cancelled

World Athletics Awards

Guide To The 2020 World Athletics Awards Th event will be streamed live on the WA YouTube channel at 10AM ET on December 4.
Finalists Announced For World Athletics Photograph Of The Year Award 77 photos were narrowed down to three finalists.
World Athletics Focus On AOY Finalists Elaine Thompson-Herah And Karsten Warholm
World Athletics Focus On AOY Finalists Johannes Vetter And Yulimar Rojas

Distance News

Recommended Read: Dathan Ritzenhein Talks About His Transition From Athlete To Coach “I was ready to move on – my body had just about had it! I was happy that I got just about everything I could out of it.”
AZ Big Media: College Runners Flock To Flagstaff During Pandemic Many college runners have taken advantage of virtual classes during the pandemic and moved to Flagstaff for training. This includes 14 freshman who had never even met each other.
New UK Coach Christian Malcolm Backs Mo Farah’s Decision To Appear On TV Show “I’m A Celebrity” “Mo isn’t stupid, let’s get it right. If he felt this was going to really jeopardize his preparation, he wouldn’t be in there.”
Podcast Interview With GB Distance Runner Jo Pavey Pavey talks with Carrie Tollefson about trying to make the Tokyo Olympics at the age of 48.

More Weekend Results

World XC Champ Hellen Obiri Opens XC Season With A Win At Athletics Kenya XC Series Meet She beat out a field that included world 3,000m steeplechase champ Beatrice Chepkoech (who DNFed at 6k).
Japan’s Yoshitsugu Iwanaga Breaks 60+ Master’s 10,000m WR With 33:39.52

NCAA Stars Go Pro Early / A New Pro Group Forms And Another Takes A Hit

NCAA XC Favorite Weini Kalti Goes Pro And Signs With Under Armour The two-time NCAA champ with PRs of 15:14/32:09 will train in Flagstaff.
*MB: Weini Kelati Signs goes pro, signs with Under Armour

Arkansas Star Taylor Werner Signs With Puma, Will Join A New Group In North Carolina Werner did not have NCAA XC eligibility left.
*MB: Arkansas’ Taylor Werner also goes pro – Sign with Puma and will join a North Carolina based group. Who is coaching it?

HOKA Doesn’t Extend New Jersey-New York Track Club’s Sponsorship That’s not the only big news. Gags and his assistants have split as his assistants have formed a new track club.
*MB: HOKA doesn’t renew NJNY sponsorship. Gags’ assistants split from him and form a new team.

LetsVote.com

Opinion Piece By USATF Activist Becca Peter: “Vote No On USATF Losing Its Voice In Governance” Peter explains what’s at stake at the closing session of the 2020 USATF annual meeting on December 6th and how the USOPC is trying to force changes on USATF (which will take power away from athletes/members) by threatening decertification. *Video Interview With Peter
Thomas Bach To Stand Unopposed For Re-Election As IOC President In 2021 Bach has been IOC president since 2013 and his second term will end in 2025.
Russian Athletics Federation Elects New President, Pyotr Ivanov He is the chief executive of a Russian state high-speed rail company and has also been president of the Russian Triathlon Federation since 2016.
*Reuters Article
New RusAF President Speaks To World Athletics Task Force Speaking about the new president, Russian HJer Ilya Ivanyuk said, “I think that Peter Ivanov should be given a chance … but the bitter experience of failures of the former leaders of the Federation does not strongly inspire for a bright future.”

Olympic News

Not Making This Up: Uber Helping Develop Flying Taxis Service In Time For Los Angeles 2028 Olympics The “Uber Air” service will use helicopter-like vehicles and cost $700 per flight hour to operate (so will be very expensive to use).
Tokyo2020 To Spend $960 Million On COVID-19 Countermeasures This is part of the $1.9 billion estimated cost of delaying the Games.
Human Rights Watch Urges IOC Not To Consider Chinese 2032 Olympic bid They China should not be considered unless they free the Uighur Muslims allegedly detained in internment camps.
CWG: Scotland Will Have 23-Strong Track Team For The 2022 Commonwealth Games In Birmingham

Paralympic Sprinter Blake Leeper Appealing CAS Ruling To Swiss Supreme Court In Attempt To Race Against Able-Bodied Athletes Leeper is claiming that World Athletics’ rules on prosthetic leg length are “racially discriminatory” since their study on leg length used white and Asian athletes, not black.

NCAA News

Long-Time Michigan State Head Coach Walt Drenth Retires Drenth has 30 years of coaching and has been at Michigan State since 2004.
Clemson Alum And Former All-American Writes Opinion Piece On Why The University Is Wrong To Cut Men’s Track Roger Collins writes, “Without a track scholarship, the whole course of my life would have been different.”
Top Sprint Recruit Makhaila Mills Talks About Her Decision To Sign With The University Of Southern California The former Florida 100m state champion is ranked 29th on MileSplit’s ranking of the top 50 athletes in the class of 2021.

Yiannis Kouros’ Legendary 24-Hour Record Just Became A Little More Legendary

LRC Kilian Jornet’s 24-Hour Record Attempt Doesn’t Even Last 11 Hours, Ends With Him Spending The Night In The Hospital The great mountain/trail runner Kilian Jornet ran the first track race of his life on Friday, taking a stab at Yiannis Kouros‘ legendary 24-hour world record. He ended up in the hospital after less than 11 hours of running.
*MB: Kilian Jornet will try to break the toughest ultra record in the books

Kilian Jornet Reflects After 24-Hour Challenge Ends In Hospital After tests at the hospital, Jornet said the doctors didn’t think it was “anything too serious.”

Archives: LRC GOAT: Yiannis Kouros’ 24-Hour Record Of 303.306 KM (188.68 Miles) From 1997 Is The Greatest Ultramarathon World Record

Admin News

Former Olympic 200m Champ Don Quarrie Angry With Election Process After Losing Race For Jamaican Athletics Federation (JAAA) President Quarrie complained that the process gave advantages to current admins as he lost handily to general secretary Garth Gayle, 236 votes to 28 votes.
Five Candidates In Running To Become New Russian Athletics Federation President The winner of the election will replace Yevgeny Yurchenko, who was elected in February and resigned in July after they missed the deadline to pay the World Athletics fine.