First Full Week In September = NCAA XC Begins In Earnest - Voting Now Open
LRC NCAA XC Fan Polls It's time for you to do your patriotic duty and give us your top 10 teams in the country. Oklahoma State, Colorado, Wisco, Oregon, Providence, NAU, Duke,
FSU? Whoever your team is, let us know. Voting now open.
LRC 2013 NCAA Men's Cross-Country Preview - We Expect Oklahoma State To 3-Peat The coaches have ranked the teams in the pre-season, as has Isaac Wood. Now that they've done the dirty work, we swoop in and tell you statistically where
they are off and why the Cowboys should 3-peat. Are you an NCAA team member dreaming of a big breakthrough? Then don't read this, as we crush your dreams. The best
way to predict the 2013 NCAAs? Just look at 2012 and take out the seniors as very little changes on the men's side.
LRC 2013 NCAA Women's Cross-Country Preview - Ray Treacy's Providence Lady Friars Are The Team To Beat This is coach Treacy's 30th year at Providence. He
deserves a second team title and likely will get it. Corrected wiith Oregon in third. By mistake, initially our final table with them in third after the we added in their transfers didn't show up initially.
MB: Cayla Hatton no longer running?!!?! The woman who ran 33:17 for 10k in HS and was a Stanford star as frosh last year is no longer on the team.
US Pro / NCAA News
- Bernie Montoya Starts At ASU With High Expectations, But Maybe Less Pressure Given He Didn't Go Sub-4 In High School We 100% think not breaking 4 was a blessing. Coach Louie Quintana says, "He (Montoya) comes with a lot of hoopla, but he's still very untapped aerobically."
- Lukas Verzbicas' Comeback Has Continued As He Won The Carlsbad Triathlon Back In July
- The Most Ridiculous Track Video You'll Watch Today: "Washed-Up" Princeton Track Alums Come Back To Race 200m At "The Race For The Hangover Cure" Formerly fit track athletes try to relive the glory days over 200 meters.
- Good Read: At 42 Years Old, Two Time US Olympian Elva Dryer Returns To The Marathon On October 6th For The US Masters Champs At Twin Cities This will be her first race in 4 years and she's hoping for something in the 2:30's (her best is 2:31:48 from 2006).
- Cory McGee Returns To Florida Trying To Catch Her Breath And Get Ready For XC After A Packed Summer Which Included NCAAs, USAs, World Champs And Racing On The European Circuit She also took online classes while traveling through Belgium, Austria and Russia.
- OSU And Arizona State Revitalizing "Dan Vs. Dave" Rivalry: Former Olympic Decathlon Bronze Medalist Dave Johnson Added As An Assistant Coach At Oregon State Johnson and Dan O'Brien were very well known decathlon rivals leading up to the 1992 Olympic Trials and now they'll coach against each other at opposing PAC-12 schools with O'Brien at AZ State.
- Can Mattie Suver Hold Her Lead In The USA Running Circuit Standings? Right now, overall points are close between her and Janet Bawcom, both of whom are hurt by the fact that they're running the NYC Marathon only 2 weeks before the US 12K Champs (a meet which is somewhat controversially worth triple points).
- Matt Tegenkamp Leads US Running Circuit Men's Standings
International News
- David Rudisha Expects To Resume Training In December It sounds like recovery has taken longer than expected as Coach Colm O'Connell "thought he would have seven weeks of training."
- Namibia Sending Its Top Athletes To Jamaica For 3-Year Program To Train And Learn From Top Sprinters
- National Olympic Committee Of Kenya Sends Stern Warning On Age Cheating Ahead Of Youth Games Team Selections
- Olympic SP Champion Tomasz Majewski And World Hammer Champ Pawel Fajdek Win For Poland On First Day Of Francophone Games In Nice, France Morocco's Hicham Bellani won the 10,000m title in 28:49.09.
- Japan's Takashi Horiguchi (2:09:16) And Hiroko Yoshitomi (2:31:28) Highlight Japanese Entries For The October 20th Scotiabank Toronto Waterfront Marathon Yoshitomi, who has avoided the corporate team track, instead working and training, is known as the "female Kawauchi."
- UKA Distance Coach John Nuttall Leaving For New Position In Qatar
Marathon News
- Ryan Hall Blogs About His Observations After His First Few Days In Kenya "I would say that the biggest lesson I have learned from my first few days here in Kenya is the importance of training with others. ... I will be much more proactive in seeking out training partners and groups to train with, even if it means starting my own."
Discuss: Ryan Hall Training In Kenya - Podcast With Jason Hartmann Talking About His Prep For The NYC Marathon And Competitor Group Cutting Elite Athlete Funding
- Boston Marathon Registration Now Open
- The Soweto Marathon In South Africa Has Been Cancelled With Organizers Blaming Athletics SA As Their Infighting Lost Them Sponsors
Sunday NFL Track Action
The Historically Super-Fast Rieti Was Sunday:
*Rieti: Ben True Impresses In 3k (2nd To Soi, Beats Ndiku), Dix 9.99, Semenya Sub-2:00, Kiplagat, Cronje, Willis, Torrence Run Fast In 1,500 (Results) Walter Dix went sub-10 for the first time in 2013, Caster Semenya
went
sub-2:00 for the 1st time in 2013, the men's 1,500m had the first 9 set seasonal bests or PRs, led by Silas Kiplagat, a national record by Johan Cronje of S. Africa and faster times by Nick Willis and David
Torrence, and (most impressively) Ben True finishing 2nd to Edwin Soi at 3,000m.
*IAAF Full Meet Recap
*Semenya After Her 1:58.92: "That's awesome. The race went according to plan."
*Jamaican Observer: 4 Jamaicans Win In Rieti
MB: Ben True 7:36.59, Emily Infeld 8:41.43
Minnesota: Ben Blankenship And Gabriele Anderson Shatter Course Records At Minnesota Mile Blankenship ran 3:52.7 to win over defending champ Craig Miller (3:53.1); Nate Brannen was 5th (3:55.0) and Matt Elliot 8th (3:58.6). For the women, Anderson ran 4:21.3 to win over Heather Kampf (4:27.1); Jamie Cheever was 6th (4:43.0).
*Team
USA Minnesota Article With Quotes From Anderson
*Bring Back The Mile Article
Other Sunday Results
- Kenyans Daniel Chebii (27:35) And Josephine Jepkoech (32:00) Win Prague Road 10k; Emily Chebet Loses Chebii won a close race over Ethiopia's Kinde Atanaw and just missed Philemon Limo's CR by one second. Jepkoech was the surprise winner over World XC Champ Emily Chebet (32:01) with GB's Gemma Steel in 3rd (32:08).
- Kenya's Kiplimo Kimutai And Alice Chelangay Win Buenos Aires Half Marathon In 1:02:51 And 1:13:20
- Germany's Eleni Gebrehiwot Wins Muenster Marathon In Horrible, Rainy Conditions, Taking 5 Minutes Off The CR With 2:29:13 It was a 3-minute PR for Gebrehiwot. Kenya's Evans Kipkorir Taiget won the men's race in 2:15:56.
- 2011 RAK Half Marathon Champion Leonard Kipkoech Runs 44:31 To Win Jaramogi Oginga Odinga 15K In Kenya Pascalia Chepkorir won for the women in 51:27.94.
- World Mountain Running Champs - *Results: Finland Dominates (PDF)
*IAAF Recap Of World Mountain Running Champs USA’s 2011 champion Max King was a DNF.
*Race Report Via Storify
*Start Lists (Excel) *Race Preview (Translated) - Kenya's Shadrack Kemboi And South Africa's Mapaseka Makhanya Win Gauteng Marathon In 2:14:02 And 2:37:06
- Chinese National Games Begin With Asian PV Record Of 4.65 By Li Ling
Potential Mary Cain XC Rival Out For Season: 2012 Foot Locker Girls Champ Anna Rohrer Has Broken Bone In Foot And Is Out For The Year Rohrer, who had opened her season with an incredible 16:52, will be missed.
MB: 2012 Footlocker Champ Anna Roher: Out For The Season
Post-Brussels News
- Bolt's #1 Goal For 2014? To Stay Injury-Free "I know I have to be more focused on staying in shape. ... The older you get the harder it is to come back from injury."
- Renaud Lavillenie's 5.96m Win Was One Of 7 European Victories In Brussels DL Finale
Big IOC News
- Alan Abrahamson: German Thomas Bach Elected To Succeed Jacques Rogge As IOC President Abrahamson tells you what it all means, including the relevancy of Vladimir Putin to the Olympic movement.
*The Guardian On Bach Sergey Bubka didn't get the job.
*NY Times Article *IAAF - USOC Head Larry Probst Gets Elected To IOC This is big news to get the US some clout within the IOC.
- Former Marathon WR Holder Paul Tergat Elected As An IOC Committee Member
- Bach "Addresses" Russia's Anti-Gay Law More of the same, as he said, "Today we cannot enter into discussion about all the details ... You will see that we will follow our values in the Olympic charter. ... We have assurances from the highest authorities in Russia ..."
Drug Talk And One More Reason To Like Asbel Kiprop
- Asbel Kiprop Voices His Support For A Four-Year Minimum Ban For Drug Cheats Kiprop: "I have no problem with it. I win clean and this vice need to be cleaned from our sport. Athletes must work hard and I believe when they have longer periods out, they will miss a lot and also learn their lesson." Remember that Kiprop was elevated to to 1,500 gold in the 2008 Games when Moroccan-Bahraini Rashid Ramzi tested positive.
- Good Read: Disgraced US Sprinter Tim Montogmery, Who Was Banned For Doping In The Balco Scandal And Later Went To Prison For Check Fraud And Heroin, Is Turning His Life Around As A Coach/Family Man He talks about his doping past, time in prison, and transformation since getting out. He says he'd like for his kids to go to school and hear that their father is known for something besides PEDs and prison.
- Montgomery On Usain Bolt: "I pray that he's clean. I pray. If he goes down, it's gonna set track and field back big time."
Saturday Free Streaming: USATF.tv To Broadcast North CityGames On Saturday Morning For Free Go here Saturday from 8:00-9:30 a.m. ET to watch for free. Athletes competing include Leo Manzano, David Oliver, Aries Merritt, Ryan Wilson and Dawn Harper.
4,000 Sign Up For Boston Marathon On First Day Of Registration This number is almost 2,000 ahead of where they were last year after day 1.
Hard-Hitting Journalism From Running Times: The Jury Is Still Out on Running Skirts
News From The Top Distance Runner And Sprinter In The Sport
- Usain Bolt Ignored Coach Glen Mills' Advice To Give Up Sex And Going To Parties "If I had followed Coach's advice though, I would have driven myself insane. I knew that every now and then I had to live fast."
- Bolt Reveals He Wanted To Quit His Sprinting Career After Being Booed By His Home Fans For Pulling Out Of A Race Back When He Was Only 19 "By the time I'd reached the sidelines, everybody in the bleachers was cat-calling me. Man they looked annoyed. Some people were even shouting, cussing ... 'What the hell is this?' I thought, feeling sick - seriously sick."
- Good Read: Mo Farah Responds To Drug Talk, Saying He Is "100 Percent Clean" And He Never Goes "Outside The System" In this article, Farah talks about getting tested, about leaving his family for so long his daughter didn't recognize him and maybe eventually taking a shot at Kenenisa Bekele's 5k/10k WRs.
- Video: Mo Farah "Confident" As He Takes On Kenenisa Bekele And Haile Gebrselassie At The Great North Run Half Marathon This Weekend
- European Athletics: Mo Farah Has Reached A Crossroad In His Career - Stay On Track Or Go To The Roads (Marathon)
Random US News
- Friday: 3:57 Miler Jack Bolas Attempting To Become The First Person To Run A Sub-4 Minute Mile On Alaskan Soil
- Parents And Athletes Protest Virginia High School's Decision To Bar Cross-Country Runners From Running On The Roads The school is probably being overprotective, but if the kids are running on trails instead of pavement, then they're better off in the long run as far as injury prevention goes.
- Nebraska's Trevor Vidlak And William And Mary's Elaina Balouris Are USTFCCCA XC Athletes Of The Week
International News
- Turkish Prime Minister Calls IOC Rejection Unfair "Both Tokyo and Madrid have hosted the games before; Istanbul hasn't. It hasn't been fair."
- After Adjusting For Wind, Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce's 10.72 In Brussels Was Actually Equal To Her Best 100m Ever Adjusted for wind and altitude, it converted to a 10.70.
- Welsh 60-Year-Old Martin Rees Sets Age Group 10k WR At 32:48
IOC News: Billy Mills Gets His Wish
- Tokyo Will Host 2020 Olympics They beat out Istanbul in the final after Istanbul edged Madrid in a tie breaker in the semifinals.
- Alan Abrahamson: Here's How Tokyo Won Abrahamson gives you the details of Tokyo's successful bid. Why did they win? Well, they are the "safe bet" and it didn't hurt they have $4.5 billion sitting in the bank
waiting to be spent on the Olympics and a Japanese athlete has never tested positive for a PED at the Olympics.
*Video: Tokyo Soil Samples Would Be Considered Nuclear Waste In The US
*InsideTheGames: How Tokyo 2020 Won Its Olympics And Paralympic Bid Despite Fukushima
*Seb Coe Writes In The Telegraph: "Tokyo 2020 organising committee must get out of the blocks quickly if they want a successful Games."
*NY Times: Madrid And Istanbul Respond Differently To Rejection By Olympics There was great sadness in Madrid, while many in Istanbul celebrated.
*Middle East Press: Syrian War Hurt Istanbul's Olympic Bid
*NY Times: For 2020 Olympics, I.O.C. Picks Tokyo, Considered Safe Choice
*Pre-Decision News: Hersh: IOC hotel lobby walls have ears but rarely hear the truth
*Message Board: It's Never Too Soon To Start Speculating: MB: Tokyo 2020: Who are the US Medal Prospects?
- Wrestling Wins IOC Vote For 2020 Olympic Games As expected, wrestling defeated baseball/softball and squash for a spot in the 2020 Summer Games as expected.
*USA Today: Wrestling Will Get Makeover Before Rio Olympics
*NY Times: Wrestling, With Revamped Rules, Returns To Summer Games New York Times
*USA Today Columnist: Welcome back wrestling, sorry softball He points out how he feels the IOC is hypocritical at times and says, "As the saying goes, the last amateurs left in Olympic sports are the people running them."
- Thomas Bach's "Favorite" Status To Become The Next IOC President Could Be Hurt By Claims That He Cheated Back When He Was An Olympic Champion Fencer
- IOC President Jacques Rogge: Olympians To Be Warned Not to Protest Anti-Gay Law in Sochi 2014
- Sochi Organizing Committee President Asks IOC To Help "stop complaints and speculations" On Anti-Gay Law Issue
Marathon News
- Makau Says His Training Has Been Going Well As He Gets Ready For WR Attempt "I have not been in the best of forms in recent marathon races but my training has been going well for the last three months."
- Boston Marathon Registration Begins Monday - Will Include Extra 9,000 Spots To Accommodate Those Who Couldn't Finish This Year
Week That Was
LRC USA The Best 1,500m Country In The World? Tokyo Gets The Olympics, Ben True Keeps Kicking Butt, Caster Semenya Is Back, Tegenkamp Playing It Conservative, And Lance Armstrong The focus on the track and field world was the Diamond League finale in Brussels. We ignore Brussels in our WTW and talk about everything else. If you want Brussels talk, we've still got you covered here.
$200,013 Worlds Prediction Contest Powered By Karhu
O Canada! LRC 44th @ World XC, 1st In The LRC Prediction Contest, Canadians Continue To Dominate LRC Contests Canada may only be 4.6% of the LRC audience, but Canadians keep dominating our contests. Our Moscow Worlds Contest Powered by Karhu was no different, as Matthew Walters (44th at World XC) came out on top. The University of Victoria kept up its fine tradition of excellence as well. Read all about it and check your scores.
Doping Stuff
- WADA To Introduce New "Steroid Passport" As The Latest Weapon Against Doping It will be introduced at the end of the year and is similar to the biological passport, which monitors and identifies changes in athletes' blood profiles.
- Lance Armstrong Still Hasn't Returned Olympic Bronze Medal Which The IOC Stripped Him Of In The Wake Of His Doping Confession
US News: Good News For College Track
- George Washington Athletics To Reinstate Track And Field Next Year
- One We Missed During Worlds: University Of Maryland Men's Track And Field
And Cross-CountryTeams Reinstated For 2013 Season The Maryland men were outdoor only. Now they will have an indoor team but still no cross-country. Bring it back and Rojo will coach it for free for a year. - Ryan Whiting Says His Greatest Moment Of 2013 Wasn't Winning The Diamond League, US Champs, Or Silver In Mosocw, But Becoming A Father "My wife was a swimmer and she's 5ft 10in; I'm 6ft 3in, so he'll probably be bigger than both of us."
- MileSplit Q&A With Potential Mary Cain XC Rival Anna Rohrer, Who Won Foot Locker Last Year She says that her injury could heal in time to race this year and "Foot Locker is not out of the question."
- Flotrack & MileSplit To Merge
Recommended Read Toni Reavis Tries To Brainstorm Ideas For Running To Become A Truly Professional Sport He's got some good ideas like turning running into the PGA Tour at the elite level and the AARP at the grass-roots level. What's holding us back? Well, as Anne Audain of New Zealand once said, "Toni, if this sport truly went professional, most of the people running it would lose their positions."
Take That, ESPN - Mary Cain Does A Guest Appearance On Fox Sports 1