The story about this meet is fascinating. The discussion began at breakfast in 2015, at the Beijing World Championships, in a discussion with Sven Arne Hansen, Duffy Mahoney, Stephanie Hightower, and Max Siegel. As Duffy notes in the interview, the US said yes, and the development of the event was on! Duffy gives much credit to Belorussian Federation and Europeran Athletics.
Duffy Mahoney, photo by USATF
This is a wonderful event for USA Track & Field, as it helps develop athletes, gives them a good pay day and also provides established athletes a good chance to compete.
The last time the event was held was in 1973, in Minsk! The then Soviet Union defeated the USA team. European Athletics and USA Track & Field want to revitalize this event, and so does NBC sports network.
Thanksr again to Duffy Mahoney for his time and candor.
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
