by Larry Eder
Haile photo courtesy of adidas communications…
Haile Gebrselassie will try and run 2:47 a kilometer for 8k road race on New Years Eve…Nike NXN is tomorrow, December 5, 2009…Lynchburg started indoor season on Dec. 2 with first indoor meeting of 2009….Cal International numbers up, Luis Luchinin debuts, Josh Cox should run 2:15-2:16 (Good Luck to John Mansoor, PAUSATF chieften and CIM race director, Las Vegas has strong numbers (good luck to my neice, Tess Henric, who is jogging the half marathon, her first), and an early happy birthday to my three sisters, Mary Lou Henric and Mary Beth Wikle are twins, and Kathy Eder was born on their first birthday! December 5 was a busy day in our house!
GEBRE NEWS
TRIER (GER): Next race for Ethiopian legend Haile Gebrselassie will be the Silvesterlauf in Trier, Germany. He recently confirmed he wants to attack the course record here and that would mean to improve the 22:11 at 8 km achieved in 1997 by Kenyan Isaac Kariuki. It would require a 2:47 pace. „In case the weather will be good and the course not too wet I think I can break it,“ he was quoted. Bitburger Silvesterlauf will be held on December 31, 2009. Gebre will than later in January attack the marathon world record in Dubai.
CAPE TOWN (RSA): Haile Gebrselassie was today in action at FIFA World Cup Draw among such celebrities as actor Charlize Theron or football star David Beckham. He was drawing teams from 3rd and 4th pot. From the draw interesting for athletics meetings are following matches. On June 12 Diamond League in New York and meetings in Torino, Cottbus and Istanbul will be held and the matches played will be Argentina vs. Nigeria, Korea vs. Greece and England vs. USA. On June 14 when Odlozil Memorial in Prague is staged Netherlands plays against Denmark, Japan vs. Cameroon and Italy with Paraguay. During the weekend of June 19-20 (European Team Championships in four categories) Ghana plays with Australia, Netherlands with Japan and Cameroon with Denmark on Saturday and Slovakia versus Paraguay, Italy with New Zealand and Brazil with Ivory Coast on Sunday. End of following week on June 24 Zaragoza meet will be held while Paraguay plays New Zealand, Slovakia with Italy, Denmark with Japan and Cameroon with Netherlands. On the 25th (Leverkusen meet) Portugal with Brazil, North Korea with Ivory Coast, Chile with Spain and Switzerland with Honduras. Also during this weekend US Championships will be held.
BOLT NEWS
MONTEGO BAY (JAM): TrackAlerts writes that American rapper and actor Ludacris is scheduled to arrive in the island on Friday afternoon for Saturday night‘s (Dec 5) Usain Bolt‘s 9.58 SuperParty. The Party will be held at Richmond Estate in St. Ann. Ludacris, the highest-selling Southern hip hop solo artist of all time with over 17 million units sold in the United States and 24 million records worldwide. Ludacris, who has won several awards – among them the Critic‘s Choice, MTV and Grammy Awards – during his career, will arrive on his private jet at Montego Bay international airport. Also expected are sprinters Wallace Spearmon, Richard Thompson and Debbie Ferguson.
LONDON (GBR): British newspaper Guardian in its review of memorable sporting moments of the last decade is having Usain Bolt´s olympic sprinting wins at 100 m and 200 m during Olympic Games in Beijing on the top.
LEWIS YES, GOMES NO
DOHA (QAT): While checking whether the title defenders from Valencia 2008 are planning to compete in Doha 2010 it came out that Australian Tamsyn Lewis despite her last season switch to 400 m hurdles still might to try the 800 m in Doha. On the other hand the long jump champion Naide Gomes of Portugal is so far not having plans for indoor season 2010. Two athletes will for sure not defending their world indoor titles. Both ended their careers in the mean-time. Swedish high jumper Stefan Holm and Tia Hellebaut of Belgium who got world indoor crown 2008 in pentathlon.
ENNIS PLANS FOR DOHA
LONDON (GBR): British media are informing that heptathlon world champion Jessica Ennis plans to compete at World Indoor Championships in Doha and European Championships in Barcelona in 2010. She is short-listed for the BBC Sports Personality of the Year. She never competed at World Indoors and from Goteborg 2006 Europeans has a eighth place. For Doha as world leader 2009 she will be invited. Also because her preparation to defend the world title in Daegu 2011 at summer world championships she is not planning to compete in October´s Commonwealth Games. Her pentathlon indoor best back from 2007 is 4716 points and if in shape she can importantly improve as her only weaker events are shot put and 800 m in comparison to 60 m hurdles, high jump, and long jump.
NO WR ATTEMPT BY MERGA
HEERENBERG (NED): Ethiopian Deribe Merga is injured and will not compete at Montferland Run on Sunday where he wanted to attack his own 15 km road world record. Organizers confirmed instead of him the young Ayele Abshiro who is world CC junior champion from Amman in March. Abshiro was fourth in Nijmegen in November with 43:10 but has 42:17 from Nijmegen 2008 when he won. That is the fastest ever 15 km by a junior. He can still attack that mark as he is junior until end of this year. Biggest women star is olympic marathon winner Constantina Dita of Romania. In men race to mention also another Ethiopian Getu Feleke and group of Kenyans headed by Linus Chumba.
MARATHON WEEKEND
LAS VEGAS (USA): An international field of elite athletes will lead more than 27,000 registered runners down the Las Vegas Strip on Sunday, December 6 for the inaugural Rock ‚n‘ Roll Las Vegas Marathon and Half Marathon. Organizers are writing in a release. With over 35 live bands interspersed with cheerleaders and themed water stations along each mile of the course, the race will embody the spirit of Las Vegas. The main event will match the elite women against the elite men in a special ‚Battle of the Sexes‘ format that awards the first marathon runner of either gender to cross the finish line a $10,000 bonus over and above the first place prizes of $15,000. The elite women will begin the race first, starting 19 minutes ahead of the men, a differential representing the average time gap between the top 50 men‘s and women‘s marathon times of 2009. The first person to break the finish tape will earn $25,000. Leading the men‘s field is 25-year-old Kenyan Matthew Koech, who owns a sub-60:00 half marathon best. Las Vegas will mark his marathon debut, but he won the prestigious Berlin 25k in May with a time of 1:13:24, the seventh fastest time ever run for the distance. Leading the American contingent will be Justin Young, a Butler University graduate who recently represented Team USA in the marathon at the 2009 World Championships in Berlin, Germany (2:13:54 PB). With a 2:06:36 marathon PR, France‘s Benoit Zwierzchlewski owns the fastest time in the field. He has battled injuries the over the past couple of years, but is now healthy and anxious to challenge for the ‚Battle of the Sexes‘ crown. Ethiopian-born Abebe Yimer won the 2008 Las Vegas Marathon and rounds out the men‘s favorites. The women‘s elite field is led by two runners with 2:26 PRs;
Kenyan Alice Timbilili and Russian Alevtina Ivanova. Timbilili is a two-time world cross country medalist, who set her marathon PR of 2:26:39 in Paris last year. Ivanova also ran her PR last year, winning the Nagano marathon in Japan in 2:26:39.
SACRAMENTO (USA): 27th California International Marathon in Sacramento expects more than 14 000 runners. Race organizers limited initial entries in marathon to a record 7000 runners in November but then accepted 250 more. The total number includes also about 4000 relay runners and 3000 children. Writes Sacramento Bee. US runner Louis Luchini will debut in marathon, Josh Cox plans to earn a place in the 2012 US Olympic trials. The U.S. women‘s contingent isn‘t as strong because their qualifying window for the 2012 trials doesn‘t re-open until Jan. 1.
SINGAPORE (SIN): Kenyan Luke Kibet rescued a relatively dismal 2008, by winning the Standard Chartered Singapore Marathon in a course record 2:13:01 a year ago. This year hasn‘t been much better for him so far, and he recognizes that it‘s going to be a lot harder to repeat his rescue act against an improved field in Sunday‘s race around the city-state. Writes Pat Butcher before Sunday´s race.
After victory in the Lagos half-marathon at the beginning of the year, Kibet failed to finish the London Marathon in April, suffering from a left achilles‘ tendon injury, which endured for several weeks, and took him at one stage to the celebrated Dr Hans Wilhelm Mueller-Wohlfahrt in Munich, for treatment. Other Kenyans running will be John Kelai, winner in 2003, Vincent Kipsos, Evans Ruto and Leonard Mucheru, all of whom like him have run well under 2.10. But there is the little matter of the ever-constant heat and humidity in Singapore, which has kept the course record somewhat higher than those personal bests. Theevent is the biggest and best in south-east Asia. There will be 50,000 runners in the three events, including 10k and ‚half,‘ with over 15000 in the marathon. And a first prize of USD 35 000, for both men and women has ensured a vastly improved elite entry. Fastest woman in the field with 2:25:12, Russian Lyubov Morgonova has run over 40 marathons. „But none,“ she said, „in conditions like this. The closest was in Hawaii, but even that was not as humid as Singapore.“
BEIRUT (LEB): Former world marathon record holder Paul Tergat praised organizers of the Blom Beirut International for offering the next generation of African runners to sample the atmosphere of a big city marathon. Tergat admitted to being impressed by the how the Beirut Marathon which despite the instability of the Lebanon has grown from strength to strength since its inception six years ago. Entries raised to almost 32,000 participants from around over 50 countries around the world – a vast increase on the inaugural 6,000. Tergat not competing himself is instead looking forward to watching several unknown athletes notably from Ethiopia and Kenya performing in the seventh staging of event which also incorporates 5000m and 10000m road races this Sunday.
FUKUOKA (JPN): Twenty-three years before Fred Lebow founded the ING New York City Marathon, and two years before Virgin London Marathon race director Dave Bedford was born, the first edition of the Fukuoka Marathon was held in Japan. The year was 1947, Toshikazu Wada got the victory in 2:45:45, and one of marathoning‘s great traditions was born. That tradition continues Sunday with the 63rd edition of Japan‘s most important marathon for men. Writes Race Results Weekly. Last year‘s winner, the tiny Tsegaye Kebede of Ethiopia, set a course record of 2:06:10 and is favored to win again. Kebede, who won the bronze medal at both the 2008 Beijing Olympics and the 2009 IAAF World Championships, was also second at London last April in a personal best 2:05:20. His top challengers are likely to be Kenya‘s Evans Cheruiyot, the 2008 Bank of America Chicago Marathon Champion with a 2:06:25 personal best, and Mekubo Mogusu, who will be making his marathon debut but has a 59:48 half-marathon personal best. Ukraine‘s Dmytro Baranovskiy is also entered (he was the surprise Fukuoka winner in 2005). Baranovskiy has a 2:07:15 personal best. Tekeste Kebede of Ethiopia (2:09:49 PB), Jon Brown of Canada (2:09:31), Oleg Kulkov of Russia (2:10:13) and Tomoyuki Sato of Japan (2:09:43) also enjoy invited status. Late withdrawals were Eritrean Yonas Kifle and home runner Tsuyoshi Ogata.
DUBLIN TEAMS
LAUSANNE (SUI): European Athletics published final entries for the European CC Championships in Dublin (Dec 13).
ITALY: Andrea Lalli is the leader of the team, he had some good positions recently at CC meetings and is U23 title holder from the past. This year he is already running with the seniors. Also in the men senior team are Giammarco Buttazzo, Martin Dematteis, Gabriele De Nard, Stefano La Rosa and Daniele Meucci. Women‘s team headliner European indoor medalist Silvia Weissteiner. Other members are Federica Dal Ri, Martina Facciani, Fatna Maraoui, Emma Quaglia and Elena Romagnolo. Italy will send to Dublin all six teams. In younger categories – men U23: Stefano Casagrande, Antonio Garavello, Patrick Nasti, Riccardo Sterni, Alessandro Turroni, junior-men:
Diego Campagna, Xavier Chevrier, Michele Fontana, Francois Marzetta, Dario Santoro, Davide Uccellari. Women U23: Valentina Costanza, Giovanna Epis, Touria Samiri, Giorgia Vasari, junior-women: Federica Bevilacqua, Laura Bottini, Lucia ColÄ›, Veronica Inglese, Chiara Renso, Marica Rubino.
POLAND: Only senior man is Lukasz Parszczynski, no senior woman. In the U23 category Poland is sending full men team (Ankiel, Kabat, Kujawski, Olejarz, Oslizlo) and two women (Gul, Wojtulewicz). In the junior category two boys (Roszko, Zebrowski) and two girls (Benedyk, Broniatowska).
RUSSIA: Interestingly Russia is sending no seniors. Only single U23 male junior Yegor Nikolayev. Then full female U23 (Abdullina, Khasanova, Puchkova, Sergeyeva, Shutova, Vlasova) and junior (Fazlitdinova, Kudryashova, Lebedeva, Prorokova, Sedova) teams.
ROMANIA: Another top distance running country is not sending seniors, only single female representatives for U23 category Roxana Barca and for juniors Monica Florea. And a full junior boys team is not very usual (Cimpoieru, Farkas, Mineran, Pop, Preda, Trifan).
SLOVENIA: Here no seniors, two U23 boys are Peter Oblak and Mitja Krevs, two junior girls Tina Bercic and Mateja Golenac. Full junior boys team is composed of four runners (Brezniak, Dezelak, Torkar, Zver).
SWITZERLAND: The only male representative is the senior Stephane Joly, than U23 female runner Celine Havert and three junior girls (An Der Maur, Formaz, Schläpfer) with three U23 boys (Kern, Ryffel, Zermatten).
HUNGARY: The only representative is the senior runner Barnabas Bene, European U23 track medalist.
LIECHTENSTEIN: This small country sends female junior Olivia Bisegger.
BELARUS: Two runners are senior women and national steeple champion Iryna Padabed and junior boy Siarhei Platonau.
LATVIA: Latvia will be represented by two senior runners Sandis Bralitis and Raivis Zakis.
MONACO: Only runner from Monaco is male U23 entry Antoine Berlin.
MALTA: Four runners coming from the Island. Senior Jonathan Balzan, U23 runner Allister Bezina, senior women Giselle Camilleri and U23 Joelle Cortis.
OTHER NEWS
LONDON (GBR): Pure Life Replaces Vittel as Official Water of Virgin London Marathon http://www.sportcal.com/News/news_article.aspx?articleID=70806&source=e&cid T037 next April.
KINGSTON (JAM): Olympic and world winner legendary Michael Johnson supported while being in Jamaica the planned USA against Jamaica meetings. Both national federations are discussing ways to organize it already in 2010. „I think it could be very good for the sport,“ Johnson said for Jamaica Observer. Johnson was in Jamaica on behalf of BBC which is producing a one hour program about Usain Bolt.
RESULTS
LYNCHBURG (USA, Dec 2): US indoor season is starting this weekend. At Liberty Opener 23-years old NCAA II sprinter Dennis Boone equaled his PB of 6.69 at 60 meters. In the pole vault Israeli Yevgeniy Olkhovskiy cleared 550 (his indoor PB is 555) on count-back over Brian Mondschein (also 550).
For more on sport, please click on www.runningnetwork.com
