Blake: Performance of the Year, by Alfons Juck, note by Larry Eder

Yohan Blake, 2011 IAAF Gala, photo by PhotoRun.net

Just as this year is celebrated, can one even fathom the finals in next year’s London 2012 Olympics in the 100 meters and 200 meters? And then, think about the men and women’s hurdle races? Add on that, a shot put final where several global stars who were shut out of Daegu? Well, a 200 meters with Yohan Blake and Usain Bolt in the final could be a crowd pleaser!
And over in the former colonies, if you do not think that Tyson Gay and Walter Dix, among others, are working each day to insure that they will be in that final, insuring that a sprint race with no absentees, no excuses and one simple goal: all finalists will intend to win the race.
Be it the 100 meters or 200 meters, all finalists will be wanting to be victorious in front of a TV audience that could surpass three billion. That is why, dear readers, that the price on the streets for the finals for the 100 meters and 200 meters will be quite high.

One of the reasons why the 200 meters will be so highly anticipated is one Yohan Blake, World Champion at 100 meters and the second fastest 200 meter runner of all times. 19.26 is, well, scarily fast….

Sally Pearson, 2011 IAAF Gala, photo by PhotoRun.net

PEARSON
DELIGHTED

MONTE
CARLO (MON): World Athlete of the year Sally Pearson is delighted to have won
the award and added she was a little surprised to win the award over
three-time world champion Vivian Cheruiyot and ‘role model athlete’ Valerie
Adams. “To be able to win this for my country and for my region Oceania means
a lot and hopefully will inspire junior athletes to stay in athletics”
Pearson was quoted after receiving her award, interestingly both her and World
male athlete of the year Usain Bolt both won the World youth championships in
2003.

Yohan Blake, 2011 IAAF Gala, photo by PhotoRun.net

BLAKE
PERFORMANCE OF THE YEAR

MONTE
CARLO (MON): World champion Yohan Blake and three-time world champion Vivian
Cheruiyot won the Performance of the Year Awards at the World Athletics Gala in
Monaco. Blake won the award for his time of 19.26, the second fastest 200m
performance in history at the Memorial van Damme in Brussels. Kenyan athlete
Vivian Cheruiyot was recognised for her 5000m and 10,000m double victory at the
World Championships, while she also the 2011 World cross country champion.

JAMES
AND HUSSONG

MONTE
CARLO (MON): At the World Athletics Gala world 400m champion Kirani James from
Grenada has been recognized with The Rising Star Award. James won his 400m
world title just two days before his 19th birthday. Also receiving the Rising
Star Award is Germany’s Christin Hussong, winner of the World Youth javelin
title in Lille with a championship record.

DAEGU
THE CITY AWARD

MONTE
CARLO (MON): Daegu received the IAAF World Athletics City Award in recognition of the wonderful atmosphere
during the 2011 IAAF World Championships. This is the fourth time the award has
been presented following the same distinction given to Helsinki, Gothenburg and
Stuttgart.

Usain Bolt, 2011 IAAF Gala, photo by PhotoRun.net

BOLT
THINKS ABOUT LONG RELAY

LONDON
(GBR): IAAF World athlete of the year Usain Bolt has said to be so inspired by
London winning the 2017 IAAF World championships that he is contemplating
extending his career by an extra year just so that he can compete again in the
city where he hopes to make history next summer. “I’ve always said that
I want to retire after the 2016 Olympics but you never know. If I can
do well at the London Olympics, then it would be awesome to retire after the
London World Championships” Bolt was quoted by The Telegraph. Bolt added he is
already back in training for three weeks and believes his coach Glenn Mills is
right that he will be at the peak of his athletic powers next summer. Bolt has
mentioned that his training is going so well that he is thinking about winning
four medals in London by adding the 4x400m relay to the 100m, 200m and 4x100m
relay that brought him triple Olympic glory in Beijing three years ago. The
London schedule would technically allow him to run the 4x400m final.

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NYC
RECORDS

NEW YORK
(USA): The ING New York City Marathon broke two significant records last
Sunday. Not only did Geoffrey Mutai run a sparkling course record of
2:05:06, which also is a new USA all-comer’s record, also the finisher
total of 46,795 was the largest of any marathon in history, surpassing the
44,829 recorded at the ING New York City Marathon in 2010. In addition the
prize money and time bonus payout of 1,205,000 dollar was the largest ever
recorded for any road race, according to the independent Association of Road
Racing Statisticians. From RRW.

KARDONG
NAMED

HOLLYWOOD
(USA): Don Kardong, the 1976 Olympic marathoner turned race director, was named
the MarathonFoto/Road Race Management Race Director of the Year. Kardong, who
directs the Lilac Bloomsday Run in Spokane, Wash., was honored at
a reception at the Road Race Management Race Directors’ Meeting. Writes
RRW.

EL
IDRISSI WINS IN TORINO

TURIN
(ITA, Nov 13): Ennaji El Idrissi has produced a major upset by winning the
25th edition of the Turin Marathon Gran Premio La Stampa (IAAF Silver Label
Road Race). El Idrissi, who was born in Morocco but has been living in Italy
since 1988, clocked an impressive 2:08.13 personal best when chasing the
victory. No less than four athletes managed to break the 2:09 barrier with
William Chebor also smashing his personal best to 2:08:21, beating Ethiopian Bacha Megersa (2:08:55) and
Kenyan Peter Kurui (2:08:56). Kenyan Antony Wairuri finished a distant
fifth in 2:09:48. The women’s race was a one women’s show won by Ukraine’s
Yuliya Ruban, clocking 2:27:10 to take the win. Rasa Drazdauskaite from
Lithuania finished runner-up in 2:29:47 ahead of former Rome Marathon winner
Silvia Skvortsova from Russia (2:30:09).

TOGOM AGAIN

ELDORET
(KEN, Nov 12): Nicholas Togom continued his stellar introduction to senior
running when he took his second senior men 12km victory at the 2nd KCB/AK
National Cross Country Series meeting in Eldoret. Togom, who’s brother Matthew
Kisorio (2:10:58) made a commendable full Marathon debut in New York last
Sunday, ran unchallenged to the win and now leads the jackpot series. Timothy
Kiptoo and World Half Marathon and Africa 10,000m gold medallist, Wilson Kiprop
closed the podium. Joseph Ebuya, the 2010 World Cross Country champion is
returning from injury and finished just outside the top-ten. Unknown Phanencier
Jemutai, trained by the Berlin 10,000m bronze winner Moses Masai, announced her
arrival on the distance running scene after pulling off a forceful victory
leaving runner-up Farida Jelagat over eight seconds behind her. The highlight
of the junior competitions was the chastening of World Cross titleholder Faith
Chepng’etich and Lille World Youth 3000m gold winner William Malel.

Author

Larry Eder
Larry Eder has had a 52-year involvement in the sport of athletics. Larry has experienced the sport as an athlete, coach, magazine publisher, and now, journalist and blogger. His first article, on Don Bowden, America's first sub-4 minute miler, was published in RW in 1983. Larry has published several magazines on athletics, from American Athletics to the U.S. version of Spikes magazine. He currently manages the content and marketing development of the RunningNetwork, The Shoe Addicts, and RunBlogRun. Of RunBlogRun, his daily pilgrimage with the sport, Larry says: "I have to admit, I love traveling to far away meets, writing about the sport I love, and the athletes I respect, for my readers at runblogrun.com, the most of anything I have ever done, except, maybe running itself." Also does some updates for BBC Sports at key events, which he truly enjoys. Theme song: Greg Allman, " I'm no Angel."
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