Each year, some of the finest stars of track & field visit the Aspire Academy, one of the finest training centers in the world. This year, among the fine athletes who visited, were Kim Collins, 2003 World Champion, 2011 bronze, Veronica Campbell Brown ( 3 Olympic gold, 3 Olympic silver, 2 Olympic bronze, 3 World Champs gold, 7 World champs silver, 1 World Champs bronze), Ekaterina Stefanidi (Olympic gold, European gold, Euro silver, World Indoor Champs bronze) and Andrew Butchart (fifth, Olympic 5000m final, Rio).
This is a big deal for young athletes. Meeting major athletes is something that kids treasure for the rest of their lives. I remember meeting Frank Shorter at the 1974 AAU Cross Country. Shorter spoke nice to three geeky fifteen year olds, and signed autographs. He went on that next week to winning Fukuoka Marathon for the fourth time. But, alas, I have digressed.
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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by Larry Eder
