So, Robert Hartings’ current idea, to throw something across a river, makes a lot of sense! Could be a lot of fun, and great on TV! Heck, it has to be more enjoyable that watching the current TV detritus focused on half wits from state of  New Jersey.

HARTING WANTS TO THROW OVER A
RIVER

BERLIN (GER): Disucs world champion Robert Harting
has urged organizers to come up with new competition formats and ways of
entertaining the public. The German athlete would be prepared to meet the
public and competing in events organized in public spaces, as some of the pole
vault events do. The 26-year old believes competition could be more attractive
for television when there are smaller fields which makes it easier to follow
for the general public, Harting said for leichtathletik.de. He even proposed
throwing over the Spree river in Berlin.
Throws with 60, 65 or 70
meters will do it in a special place in Berlin.

          Robert Harting after winning the 2009 WC in Berlin, photo by PhotoRun.net

CHAMBERS RUNNING IN TEMPE

TEMPE (USA): 32nd Sun
Angel Classic meet will have a special guest World indoor champion Dwain
Chambers from Great Britain.
He will run the 100 m
on Saturday. In the start list is also one of the fastest collegians Rakieem
Salaam with last indoor season improvement to 6.54 at 60 m.

              Dwain Chambers, 2011 Euro Indoors, March 2011, photo by PhotoRun.net

FOUR ATHLETES SELECTED FOR DAEGU

AUCKLAND (NZL): Athletics New Zealand has announced the
initial selections for the World Championships in Daegu. Four athletes named
are shot put title defender Valerie Adams, javelin thrower Stuart Farquhar,
middle distance runner Nikki Hamblin and hurdler Andrea Miller. Further
selections will be announced in June and the final team selection will be
announced after 8 August.

BUBKA ON UK BID

LONDON (GBR): Sergey Bubka has claimed that London’s bid to host the 2017 IAAF World Championships
will be harmed by Britain’s
three previous failures to secure the event. Britain’s bid to host the 2003
Championships were shelved after plans to build an athletics track in the new
national stadium at Wembley were abandoned and despite London being awarded the
2005 Championships, the city pulled out of staging them because then Prime
Minister Tony Blair backtracked on the promised that the Government would build
a brand new stadium at Picketts Lock. The latest failure for the 2015 World
Championships came at the end of last year after the Government claimed they
were unable to commit to backing the bid because of uncertainty over the future
of the Olympic Stadium. Bubka says the trio of disasters is damaging for Britain’s bid
to host the 2017 Championships. “I can’t speak for all of my colleagues at the
IAAF but this is not positive for Great Britain. When you pull out a
third time, serious questions must be asked and it is understandable that the
IAAF grow tired of this”. Bubka was quoted on Insidethegames.

BOLT´S BOOK IN CZECH

OSTRAVA (CZE): One of the first non-English Usain Bolt
books My Story: 9.58 will be published in Czech language. Organisers of Ostrava
Golden Spike meeting where Usain comes since 2006 (and missed only 2007)
together with a Czech publishing house decided to agree with the publishers.
The translation is nearly finished and the book will be ready by the time of
Ostrava Meeting on May 31. “We hope Usain will read for us some parts in Czech
language,” said meeting director Jan Zelezny with a smile. Bolt also commented
on that: “I am delighted that my autobiography Usain Bolt 9.58 My Story will be
translated into Czech.
This will give my Czech Republic
fans a chance to read about my life growing up in Jamaica and my journey to the 2008
Beijing Olympics.”

KENYAN MEN AND ETHIOPIAN WOMEN

DAEGU (KOR): The 3rd Daegu International Marathon on Sunday will have
strong elite field. Kenyans should rule in the men competition. Elijah Keitany
has 2:06:41 from Amsterdam 2009 and also has 2:09:19 from last Frankfurt. Former track world champion Richard Limo
clocked sub 2:10 every year since running his first marathon in 2007 and
2:06:45 as the fastest. Elias Kemboi is having 2:07:04 from Frankfurt 2010 as
third and Felix Keny 2:07:36 being second last year in Barcelona. Japanese Takeshi Hamano is having
2:09:18 on his credit and best European is Ukrainian Oleksandr Sitkovskiy with
2:10:18. Home Ji Young-yun the Asian Games winner will also run. In total 16
runners in the entry list are having sub 2:10 bests. In women race Ethiopians
are the favorites. Atsede Bayisa was fifth in Dubai
in January (2:25:08) but has 2:22:04 best from winning Paris last year. Atsede Habtamu was better in
Dubai this year (2:24:26) and Alemitu Abera
registered 2:27:56 last year in Istanbul.
Best Kenyan is Irene Jerotich (2:28:57), best European Russian Yelena Sokolova
(2:28:01) and best Japanese Yuko Machida (2:29:35). A total of 15,000
marathoners consisting of 300 elite athletes and 14,700 amateurs are expected
to participate. The course is the same as planned for World Championships
marathon. Elite athletes will be required to complete a 15km-loop twice, and a
12.195km loop once. The Marathon will start and finish at the historic Gukchae-bosang Memorial Park in downtown Daegu.

OTHER NEWS

DAEGU (KOR): IAAF Council meeting held in Daegu from Saturday till
Monday will as one of the main issues establish the qualification standards for
Olympic Games 2012. Also first calendar for 2012 should be approved.

MADRID (ESP): Competitor Group (CGI) has announced an
agreement with the Madrid Marathon and the global expansion of the Rock ‘n’
Roll Marathon Series. The ‘Maratón de Rock ‘n’ Roll Madrid’ is set to become the famous Rock ‘n’
Roll series’ first international event in 2012. The deal includes retaining the
existing Madrid Marathon operations team, Elipse Iniciativas, to compliment
CGI’s marketing expertise. The event’s rebranding as part of the Rock ‘n’ Roll
Marathon Series will focus on providing an enhanced on-course entertainment
experience for runners.

YAOUNDE (CMR): Cameroon’s Hamad Kalkaba Malboum is
heading for a 3rd term as president of the African Confederation as he stands
as the only candidate for the position. The AAC elective congress will be held
on April 17-18 in
Yaounde. Informs
African Athletics facebook.

MONTE CARLO (MON): IAAF announced further ‘free to air’
broadcasting deals in five European territories. Belarus,
Denmark, Estonia, Latvia
and Turkey deals have been
concluded by IEC in Sports, IAAF’s exclusive media rights agency for Europe and
Africa, for the 2011-2013 IAAF World Athletic
Series. With the announcement of these latest five territories, IEC in Sports
has now completed broadcasting agreements in over 70 territories. In Europe the
agreements are with EBU members in all but two territories and on a ‘free to
air’ basis in all but one territory, Cyprus. Informs IAAF.

DUBLIN (IRL): Europe’s
leading cross-country runners Briton Charlotte Purdue and Ukrainian Sergey
Lebid lead the fields for Spar Great Ireland Run on Sunday at 10 km. The top European
finisher in Punta Umbria Purdue will compete against Ethiopian Berhane Adere.
Also running home stars Fionualla Britton and Mary Cullen along with Hungarian
Aniko Kalovics. Ireland´s Martin Fagan, Spanish Jesus Espana, recently improved
on the track Rui Silva of Portugal
are other male top names. The event serves also as Irish road 10 km championships. With
help from Athletics Weekly.

AUSTIN (USA): Sanya Richards-Ross will be
followed by Get Up Sports Radio in the build up to the IAAF World Championships
in Daegu. ‘Defending the dream’ is an exclusive series of interviews that will
include Richards-Ross training, pre/post race analysis, goals, game plan and
life. She plans to run the 4×400 m on Saturday at Texas Relays in case her team
will have enough top runners available.

NEW YORK (USA):
A 30 million dollar slander lawsuit against the US Anti-Doping Agency, filed by Trevor
Graham,  has been dismissed. According to Federal judge James Fox his court
lacked jurisdiction to hear claims by Trevor Graham, who said USADA had
slandered him based on allegations he gave performance enhancing drugs to
athletes and affiliated his name with the Bay Area Laboratory Co-Operative
doping scandal. Graham was banned from coaching for life by the USADA in 2008
reports Eurosports.

NEW ORLEANS (USA):
Women world cross country champion, Vivian Cheruiyot might be competing at the
Crescent City Classic 10k on April 23 in New
Orleans with the aim of breaking the world record over
the distance. Cheruiyot, who clocked a strong 31:02.07 in her debut 10 000 m in Spain last
Saturday expressed her desire to lower Britain’s Paula Radcliffe 30:21 all time
best in women’s 10k. “I’m going to prepare and try to break the world record in
10k in the USA
later this month then I will focus on the Diamond League,” Cheruiyot was quoted
on Capital Sports.

MELBOURNE (AUS): With just one week to go before the 89th Australian
Championships Athletics Australia has revealed almost 700 athletes are set to
compete at Melbourne Olympic Park. With the championships doubling as the
selection trial for the IAAF world championships in Daegu, Australia’s
best track and field stars will be keen to ensure that they have both the
qualifying standard and the national crown, which is needed for the automatic
selection. this year’s Championships also marks the last time the event will be
held at Melbourne Olympic Park as athletics in Victoria prepares to move to a new,
state-of-the-art venue at Albert Park reports Athletics Australia.

BUDAPEST (HUN): Before this weekend´s huge marathon
Sunday Dubai leads in the All-Athletics.com marathon rankings 2011. Second is Tokyo ahead of Rome.
In special men order Lake Biwa is the number one ahead of Tokyo
and Dubai and in the women marathon ranking Dubai leads ahead of Yokohama
and Rome. But
this might change after this weekend. More details on www.all-athletics.com.

DES MOINES (USA):
Olympic pole vaulter, Derek Miles is used to an occasional twist – but even
he’s intrigued by the Drake Relays co-ed competition April 27 at Jordan Creek
Town Center.
Miles will be among the elite male and female vaulters who will be paired into
teams for a unique competition in the West
Des Moines mall. Miles will also compete solo as part
of an invitational event April 30 at Drake Stadium. The pairings for the mall
event are interesting: Miles/Steiner-Bennett, Hollis/Owen, B. Walker/Hutson, J.
Scott/Holliday, Lanaro/Schwartz. Writes Des
Moines Register.

RESULTS

AUSTIN (USA, Apr 7): Second day of Texas
Relays saw Leo Manzano winning an 800
m invitational race in 1:47.89 ahead of Kenyan Jackson
Kivuna 1:48.17. NCAA indoor 5th placer Michael Morrison scored 7921 points in
decathlon, his personal best. Also women heptathlon winner improved to lifetime
best, Chelsea Carrier to 5927 points. Puerto-Rican Jamele Mason clocked in
heats of 400 m
hurdles 49.97.

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