mzungo exclusive: Andi Jones

2:16:38, Top 10 and 2nd Brit home - you can be pleased. Are you?
Very pleased with position. No secret about it, I wanted to break 2.15 and knew I was in shape to do it. The very fast first seven miles will have effected things, but you have to do these things. Aim was to get selected for the Europeans and Commonwealths and I achieved this. These will be my first major championships having already represented GB at the World XC and World Half Marathon.

What is more important for you? Scoring a new PB, which you didn't, or finish high up in the ranking?
Scoring a PB. A PB is personal and we all set ourselves personal targets. Mine was to break 2.15 and I didn't do this so it means I will be back and refocusing on breaking the 2.15 mark.

Please give our readers some background on your career, how it all started etc.
Started when I was 18 and I entered the London Marathon. Aim was to break 4 hours so with no training I went off to London and ran 3 hours 58mins. Things went from there and I entered more races and eventually did the Tour of Tameside and finished first junior. Then I joined local club East Cheshire Harriers where I got loads of support and coaching before joining Salford Harriers. I joined my coach Bob Merrell at Salford Harriers who has coached me since then and helped me achieve the successes I have had so far.

You are still working as a teacher and have a family to maintain. How do you manage your weekly training? Please give us a example of a typical week 4 weeks out of a goal race.
I work full time as Head of Design & Technology at Falinge Park High School, Rochdale. I love my job and have the opportunity to work with many great students. I also have a young daughter who is two years old. Time is tight and between working, training and having a family it doesn't leave much time for anything else. But this is our choice and what we want to do. We also have to fit my wives training in which is very different to the training I do with her being a 800m runner.

Typical weeks training in the build up to the marathon consists of running every day. Two runs Monday 5am and 10pm. Tues- 5am and track session pm. Wednesday, 5am and 10pm, Thursday 5pm, Friday 5am and 5pm, Sat session in Heaton Park usually at 5pm, Sunday long run up to 24 miles. (Full build up training for the London Marathon can be viewed on the Power of 10 website)

Have you decided on what to race next? Any plans for going Sub 2:15 in the near future?
Not sure what my next race will be but I have been selected for the European and Commonwealth marathons so I am sure there will be some racing in the build up to these races. I want to go sub 2.15 but can not see this happening in either of the two marathons later this year due to the conditions these races are held in. Spain on 1st August will be hot and New Delhi will be humid and hot.

What would you suggest a 2:30 guy who wants to become a sub 2:20 guy?
Read what others have done. Many good books out there like Charlie Speddings book and there are loads of people who have ran these times who will be able to give great advise.

What keeps you training hard day by day?
The determination to reach ones goals. I want to run faster than I have before and this drive to keep getting PBs keeps me pushing on and training hard.

Are you training on your own or do you have running partners? If the latter, who are you training with and what level are they at?
I train on my own and in the good group that has developed at Salford Harriers. The group is a mixed group level wise with athletes breaking 30mins for 10k or running 32mins for 10k. Sometimes it's just good to have a group around all training hard and having the same focus of pushing themselves as hard as possible.

What shoes are you training and racing in?
I train in Asics and race in the Asics DS Racer. Asics have been sponsoring me for a little while now and the quality of the shoes is second to none. The range of shoes they design and make for runners of all styles and abilities is excellent.

What's your favorite training session?
I like the session of 6 x 1mile off two minutes recovery, but equally like my Thursday night long 15 mile good pace runs.

What's your favorite running route?
I love running straight out of my door over the moors and not seeing anyone for miles and hours, but recently have been keeping off the moors and sticking to the low level paths and canals as this means I can run that little bit quicker and am not beating the legs up on the down hills. I like running up over Alphin and Chew Reser because once on the top you get to see for miles around.

List the five races you want to do before you die.
An Olympic Marathon!
New York Marathon
Mountain races

Do you support a football club?
Oldham Athletic

What's on heavy rotation on your iPod or car stereo?
Any CD that the wife leaves in or Radio 1.

Who wins the World Cup in South Africa this year?
England

Of course. Thanks for the interview and best of luck at the championships and for breaking that 2:15!

Healthy Kidney 10k NYC preview

NYRR report - Rising American stars Bobby Curtis, Patrick Smyth, and Mo Trafeh will join three-time Olympian Abdi Abdirahman and four-time Chicago Marathon winner Khalid Khannouchi, who is looking to make his running comeback, at the UAE Healthy Kidney 10K on Saturday, May 15, in Central Park.

The top Americans will face a tough international contingent, which includes 2010 NYC Half-Marathon champion Peter Kamais of Kenya, Australian 10,000-meter record-holder (27:29.73) Collis Birmingham, and seven-time NCAA Champion Alistair Cragg of Ireland. Also toeing the line on May 15 will be 2009 World Cross Country Champion Gebre Gebremariam of Ethiopia, who boasts the fastest 10,000-meter time in the field (26:52.73).

Khannouchi, 38, of Ossining, NY, will return to New York City for the first time since he finished fourth at the 2008 U.S. Olympic Marathon Trials. His last competitive race was in 2008 at the Steamboat Classic 4-mile in Peoria, IL, where he finished ninth. Khannouchi became the American marathon record-holder in 2002 at the London Marathon, where he finished in 2:05:38.

“I am very happy to be back running the Healthy Kidney 10K and am excited that I am going to be racing very soon, especially in my backyard—Central Park,” said Khannouchi. “After a painful and slow recovery from foot surgery last year, I decided Central Park is the best place for a new beginning in my running career.”

Abdirahman, 33, of Tucson, AZ, will make his second appearance at the UAE Healthy Kidney 10K in 2010, after an 11th-place finish last year. Abdirahman won the 2009 U.S. 10K road championship in 28:11.

Curtis, 25, of Ardmore, PA, is a two-time member of the U.S. team at the World Cross Country Championships. He became the second-fastest 5000-meter runner in Villanova University history when he won the 2009 NCAA championship at that distance in 13:33.93.

Smyth, 23, of Minneapolis, MN, is off to a fast start in 2010. The Team USA Minnesota member won his first race of the year at the Emerald Nuts Midnight Run 4-mile in Central Park in 18:35 and finished second at the USA Half-Marathon Championships in January.

Trafeh, 24, of Duarte, CA, is looking to improve upon his finish at the 2010 NYC Half Marathon on March 21. After a duel for second with Kenya’s Moses Kigen Kipkosgei, Trafeh finished third, one second behind Kigen, in 1:00:39. He won the USA 15K Championships in Jacksonville, FL, on March 13 in 42:58.

“Our American men are on a roll in New York City and we can’t wait to have them back,” said Wittenberg. “With Khalid making his racing comeback, and Abdi, Bobby, Patrick, Mo, and others racing tough, we know red, white, and blue will be in the mix for an exciting race.”

The athletes will be taking aim at the course record of 27 minutes, 48 seconds, set in 2009 by Tadese Tola. Tola broke the previous record, set by Dathan Ritzenheim at the UAE Healthy Kidney 10K in 2007, by 20 seconds and earned a $20,000 bonus for running the fastest-ever 10K in Central Park.

The Healthy Kidney 10K is an open race led by a select field of professional male runners and offers $25,000 in prize money to the top finishers, with $7,500 for the male winner.

The race is sponsored by the Embassy of the United Arab Emirates to benefit the National Kidney Foundation, in appreciation of American medical excellence in the kidney transplant field. The late UAE president Sheikh Zayed Bin Sultan Al-Nahyan benefited from American expertise, knowledge, and research when he received a kidney transplant in 2000. Among his many honors and accomplishments, he was most proud of being a kidney transplant survivor.

Blog Roll: Andrew Lemoncello "No Barca but Amsterdam"

After 2 days off of running and my legs feeling great, I went for a run on Woody Mountain Rd with a my friend of mine, Rob. My legs certainly didn't feel like they had a marathon in them and felt quite loose and frisky. We just ran easy and I was only supposed to go 20 mins but I ended up running 47 mins as it was an out and back run. On the way home, I stopped by Burritos Fiesta and got one of the best burrito's that I have ever had. That is saying something as that is always the first thing I order where ever I go in the states. I'm really glad that Scotland has a good place to get burritos now also. Illegal Jacks is doing a great job of churning out some great Tex Mex food and its perfect for after training.

I'm really looking forward to getting back into some hard training in a few weeks time and getting back into a good routine. I'm all over the place right. I'm waking up very early and the days are going on for ever as I don't have work until tomorrow and no real training so passing the time is the hard part of my day. I got an email from my agent, Jurrie, with a list of road races in the summer that I could run in. They are all big races and will be very competitive so that will great for me to be pushed to the limit every time I race. I let the selectors know that I will to be running the European Champs marathon in the summer and I think they were rightfully a bit annoyed with me. It was a spur of the moment, post marathon that I said that I want to run the marathon so I will now always talk to Greg and Jurrie first before deciding on anything. I will now look towards a fast marathon in the autumn. Chicago and Amsterdam are the 2 I think I would like to choose from but Amsterdam is a Mizuno race and my agents organise the race so that may be the perfect set up for me.

Julie and I walked through the house last (the roof is now on and will be getting wired for electricity next week) and everything looks great. We are getting really excited about the progress and can't wait to move in. Our house being the first one on the plot means that when we move in, there will be a lot of building going on around us but that will only last for a couple of months.

I'm now going to run a hot bath and add some epsom salts to help my legs to relax. I am predicting that I will also pass out as soon as I get out of the bath so that will be great as I have been waking up so early.

SOURCE

Something smells fishy in Düsseldorf

It is the year of the European Championships and it will be European runners, who take center stage at the METRO Group Marathon Düsseldorf this Sunday. It is likely that both winners will come from an eastern European country while German hopes Falk Cierpinski and Melanie Kraus could do well. The men will target a time of around 2:10 and the women will go for sub 2:30. Adding all running events the 8th edition of the METRO Group Marathon Düsseldorf has a record entry of 13,000 athletes. Among them are 4,200 marathon runners.

Due to the absence of African elite runners it is very unlikely that winning times of well under 2:10 will be seen on Sunday. “It is a pity, because I am convinced that our event provides everything needed for world-class times. But due to the lack of finances we simply are not able to sign Kenyan or Ethiopian stars this year,” explained Race Director Jan Winschermann, who has to accept that the fine development of the METRO Group Marathon Düsseldorf in recent years sees a set-back regarding the international significance.

Despite a weaker elite field there could still be good races on Sunday. 33 year-old Iaroslav Musinschi is the runner entered with the fastest time. The Moldavian improved to 2:10:15 when breaking the national record in Ljubljana in 2009. Three months before the European Championships in Barcelona he could confirm his position as one of the continent’s strongest marathon runners. At present the European season’s best run by Henryk Szost (Poland) in Vienna stands at 2:10:27.

Iaroslav Musinschi’s strongest opponent will probably come from Russia: 24 year-old Sergey Rybin is the reigning national champion and has a personal best of 2:11:48. Pavel Ochal (Poland/PB: 2:12:20) and Andrej Toptun (Ukraine/2:12:41) could also do well. And if Falk Cierpinski is in good form the 31 year-old son of double Olympic marathon champion Waldemar could get one of the top places. So far he has a personal record of 2:13:30.

For Melanie Kraus it will be her first marathon start in one year on Sunday. In 2009 the German had come to Düsseldorf as the defending champion. But then she suffered of a hamstring injury during the warm-up for the race and was forced to drop out after a few kilometres. The 35 year-old did not feature in a marathon since then and had to cancel her participation at the World Championships in Berlin.

“I expect that we will see a close women’s race on Sunday. Besides Melanie there are four more women able to go for victory and run sub 2:30,” said Christoph Kopp, the elite race coordinator of the METRO Group Marathon Düsseldorf. Among those are the two Russians Natalya Volgina (PB: 2:27:32) and Svetlana Semova (2:29:56). 33 year-old Volgina clocked her personal record when taking second place at the Paris Marathon in 2006. She will be the fastest woman in the field ahead of Melanie Kraus (2:27:58). Norway’s Kirsten Otterbu (2:29:12) and Turkey’s Mehtap Sizmaz (2:31:13) could be in with a chance as well.

Even though there will be no African elite marathon runners at the METRO Group Marathon Düsseldorf there will still be a group of pacemakers from Kenya. So some of Europe’s runners could benefit from their support on Sunday.

mzungo says: So they have money for Kenyan pacemakers but not for appearance fees for foreigners? No big deal but spending potential prize money entirely as appearance fee for the locals - as it seems - is just wrong. Beat the Kenyans fair and square on the street!

Great rant about (London) Marathon

By Anna Kessel for The Guardian

Oh dear. I knew agreeing to write this column was a terrible idea. What do they say? Don't defecate in your own backyard. Yes. So help me God. Listen, I have a confession. I know I am not supposed to say this, but, for the past week I have been living a lie. It is time to come clean. I just hope I don't offend anyone (sorry Auntie Jeanne, I know you like watching it on the telly). I just really – intensely – dislike the marathon.

I know, I know, I'm the athletics correspondent. But before you rip my head off I'm not talking about the proper marathon, I'm not talking about the elite race with Paula Radcliffe and Haile Gebrselassie – that race is great, sensational even, an event I have genuinely grown to love. For anyone who has yet to be converted, please, settle down in front of the television and prepare yourself for a fascinating, beautiful spectacle that unfolds over two hours as the athletes whizz along at mind-blowing speed.

My beef is with the marathon that everybody else does. That long thing that, I am frequently told, I must run at least once in my life before I die. The very fact that life and death are mentioned in the same sentence as the marathon should give you some clue as to how cultish the whole thing is.

It is like those chain emails that start off with a friendly piece of advice on how to be happy – appreciating birdsong, say – before finishing off with a vile footer that if you do not forward it on to five people you love in the next seven minutes you will meet with a sticky end.

Pro-marathoners are quick to forecast me a miserable life should I choose to live it without even trying the marathon once. People who think that way are the same ones who dream up lists of 50 places to see before you die. I protest, life is not one big tick-box exercise, we are not living in Super Mario Land where collecting coins along the way elevates us to a better place.

My marathon-sceptic tendencies first began when I realised that you cannot say a single bad word about the marathon. It has become a national institution, as loved as the Queen, or Cheryl Cole. Plus, it's good for you! So what's there to complain about?

Most untouchable of all it raises money for charity. I would not sniff at anything that raises money for charity, or at anyone who runs in memory of someone they loved and lost. Anything as dignified and special as that should rightly be celebrated. But what about everything else?

For a start, men in white T-shirts with bleeding nipples. I've never seen anything so disgusting. How can this be associated with an event that is supposedly good for you? Also I object to the notion that if you run the marathon you will instantly become healthy. Anyone who has ever seen a group shot of the people running the marathon will realise this is a fallacy. Close up you can see plenty of porkers running it.

The other thing I hate is this ridiculous can-do attitude: anyone can run the marathon, just go out and do it! No, you can't.

For a start you have to learn how to run properly, and there are enough examples of skew-whiff running like Phoebe out of Friends (Google it) in my local park to leave me unconvinced. Second you need to get some proper gear – running in Primark plimsolls or a dress (yes, a real-life example!) does not count.

I probably won't sleep a wink tonight, worrying about the backlash. You see, the marathon is like a religious movement the way people go on about it, preaching at you. One little criticism, even an eyebrow-raise, can get you an expulsion order.

I swear I lost out on a job because of the marathon once. I went for an interview to write a book with a well-known runner, and inevitably was asked if I did any running myself. Well, that wasn't a problem. "Yes I do," I chirped back, but I knew what was coming next. "So, why haven't you run the marathon?" I squirmed in my chair, flashed bright red, and said very quietly that I probably wouldn't. Ever. I might as well have burped in the Queen's face.

What worries me is where it all ends. Once you've cracked the marathon, the next level up is ultra running, extreme running, 24-hour running, ironman, woman and child. It's endless.

Or, you can always just take the option that – pending receipt of official stats – I reckon 80% of one-off marathon runners take, which is to grab yourself a beer, pat yourself on the back, slob out on the sofa and never, ever, do any exercise again.

Cleveland Marathon on May 16

CLEVELAND - The Rite Aid Cleveland Marathon, Half Marathon & 10K has officially partnered with the City of Cleveland to conduct its 33rd running on Sunday, May 16, 2010.

The new partnership makes the Rite Aid Cleveland Marathon an official city supported event. The partnership entails city assistance in awareness and promotion of the weekend event to its constituents and event access to city assistance as required.

"The Rite Aid Cleveland Marathon attracts tens of thousands of people each year to come enjoy all of what Cleveland has to offer and tour its best and brightest locations," said Cleveland Mayor Frank G. Jackson. "We are pleased to help further efforts to grow this international event in the City of Cleveland."

The Rite Aid Cleveland Marathon, began in 1978, is now in its 33rd year. The 2009 marathon generated more than $12 million in economic impact for the City of Cleveland and set a new record for runner participation, with 12,400 registrants. Last year's race saw a 140 percent increase in runners since 2003 and marked the seventh consecutive year of growth. Currently in 2010, registrations are up 56 percent from this time last year, and race directors are expecting between 14 and 15,000 participants on May 15 and 16.

"Receiving the endorsement of the city means a lot to the marathon," said Executive Race Director Jack Staph. "This race was created to in an effort to bring a positive and meaningful fitness event to the City of Cleveland. It's grown into a source of pride for city residents, a fundraising mechanism for non-profit organizations and a catalyst for physical fitness in our community."

The city and the marathon have been working in partnership for the last five years on the We Run This City Youth Marathon Program, which is also in conjunction with the Cleveland area YMCA, Cleveland Public Health and Cleveland City Schools. The program provides a running curriculum for city students who run 25 miles from March to May in their neighborhoods and then run the last 1.2 miles of their "full marathon" on race day, where they finish along with the runners at the official finish line. The 2010 program has over 400 middle school and high school students signed up to participate.

"There has been a lot of momentum and excitement building for the marathon within the city in the last few years, and Councilman Joe Cimperman has been instrumental in helping us harness this excitement and turn it into action items," said Staph. "With Councilman Cimperman's influence, we have been able to gain the support of prominent Cleveland organizations like Positively Cleveland, The Downtown Cleveland Alliance and the Cleveland Neighborhood Development Coalition, along with the city."

Councilman Joe Cimperman represents Cleveland's 3rd Ward and has served in that position since 1997. He is also the newly elected chair of the Health & Human Services Committee. "I focus my efforts on the revitalization and health of our community," said Cimperman. "The Cleveland Marathon consistently brings positive attention to our city and is worthy of the city's full support."

City of Cleveland is committed to improving the quality of life in the City of Cleveland by strengthening our neighborhoods, delivering superior services, embracing the diversity of our citizens, and making Cleveland a desirable, safe city in which to live, work, raise a family, shop, study, play and grow old. More information on the city is available at: www.city.cleveland.oh.us

The Rite Aid Cleveland Marathon offers the following opportunities for people to participate in the event: full marathon, half-marathon, 10K, full marathon walking division, half-marathon walking division, 10K walking division, a new 5K (run or walk), Kids' Run and 10K Corporate Team Challenge. The events take place May 15 and 16, 2010.

To register for any of the events, or learn more about the Rite Aid Cleveland Marathon, visit: ClevelandMarathon.com.

Blog Roll: Jenny Barringer

At the risk of sounding clich, I'll admit that I've been thinking about mountains a lot this week and how they illustrate my racing season. Now, you can't really blame a person that wakes up in the morning and runs dew West directly toward one of the most majestic mountains in all of Colorado. A towering mark of God's creativity, reaching over 14,000 ft, and welcoming me to each new day with a different morning hew, is Pikes Peak. I am a little disposed to thinking about mountains with this sort of scenery at every westward turn.

So, in the morning I exit the Olympic Training Center and turn down (ironically?) Boulder street towards the Rockies. I'm thinking about my racing season and the imminent beginning. I'm thinking about how each season is always so exciting but notoriously secretly laced with anxiety. The travel, meeting of familiar faces, finishing, going to the team meal, all of the "easy" parts make me smirk a little bit as I'm beginning to warm up as my run is getting underway. Warmed up... now my thoughts turn to the pre-race shake-out and the warm-up before I go to the track and the butterflies and the 30 seconds bouncing on the line that feels like all of the earth is dragging it's feet just for the sadistic pleasure of watching you sweat out the start one last moment. These moments make me anxious, just thinking about it even a week out can make my stomach turn. Then, I collect myself and think, 'I'm probably running about 7:10 pace right now; I just have to run ONE mile a little less than 3 minutes faster than this pace....' and that doesn't help one bit.

At some point during this turmoil I fortunately lift my head up to see Pikes Peak. I'm actually approaching the foothills that are just in front of the actual mountain range. As I approach these measly mounds (relative to the height and majesty of the actual Colorado Rockies), a common optical illusion takes place before my eyes. The foothills, despite being thousands of feet shorter than Pikes Peak, begin to rise to the same height. The foothills seem to grow as I get closer to them until they completely cover the larger mountains behind them. A few miles later I get all the way to the base of the foothills and now towering of in front of me are these 8,000 ft "hills" that a few miles back graveled to my original focal point.

I'm getting ready to run my season opener, first race as a professional, and first race in a New Balance uniform. I have fortunately had my share of "Pike's Peaks" in my career and I know there are even greater peaks ahead yet, as I approach what may seem later on as a little "hill" along the way, I can't help but respect the task at hand. It's not easy getting up an 8,000 ft peak and there are quite a few of them before I get to Paris, Beijing, and Belgium. It's going to be a little intimidating and I've got the butterflies, but I couldn't be more excited about the unseen peaks behind this race. Thank you Juli, Ray, and New Balance for believing in me and here we go.

Jenny blogs on Flotrack

Rumor mill: Mottram back to triathlon?

Rumor has it that Craig Mottram considers going back to triathlon in an effort to race at the London Olympics. The Aussie is plagued by running injuries and spends more and more time in the pool and on the bike. Before he became a runner, Mottram actually raced tris but then fell in love with the purity of running.

Quote of the day: Steve Jones

"I just run as hard as I can for 20 miles, and then race."

London Marathon Recap

Josh Cox analyzes a race with many surprises.

Were you asleep during last weekend’s Virgin London Marathon, which started at 5:00 am EDT Sunday? Not to worry. RunCenter brings you the highlights plus analysis from Josh Cox, who did a little racing of his own over the weekend.

CLICK HERE FOR VIDEO

Home marathons to get facelift

By AYUMBA AYODI

Athletics Kenya (AK) is seeking to upgrade Kenya’s four major marathon races in Eldoret, Nairobi, Kisumu and Mombasa to the required international standards in the next two years.

At the same time, AK chairman Isaiah Kiplagat, announced that the changes would go alongside the introduction of a jackpot where athletes who win three out of the four series events will get handsome cash rewards.

Kiplagat, however, disclosed at a press conference on Tuesday that the realisation of that dream would depend on sponsorship to cater for, among other things, dope tests and time, equipment and the overall prize fund.

“We really need to think ahead and find ways of improving these races to make them real and professional. Someone could break a world record here when we don’t have the right programmes in place,” Kiplagat explained.

“We will be required to invest in doping and time equipment in all the four races. The jackpot, which could go as high as Sh3 million makes it quite an expensive affair.”

Kiplagat said that each race would require funding of Sh5 million to Sh60 million and called on the corporate world to help make the programme a success.

The top AK official was speaking before receiving sponsorship of Sh800,000 from mobile telephone service provider Safaricom towards the prize kitty for the Mombasa International Marathon, due on May 9.

The marathon will follow the New KCC/Athletics Kenya weekend meeting at the Mombasa Municipal Council Stadium on May 6 and 7.

Safaricom’s chief supply chain and administration officer, Francis Murabula, handed the sponsorship cheque to Kiplagat, who was accompanied by AK Coast branch chairman Dimi Kisalu.

Sponsorship package

Kiplagat further cautioned that AK will not sanction any marathon race in the country whose sponsorship package is less than Sh100,000.

“We shall not permit people to solicit for sponsorship around then pocket the money instead of rewarding athletes for their sweat. Most of these races are mismanaged, with athletes being on the receiving end,” said Kiplagat.

Murabula detailed that the men’s and women’s full marathon winners shall pocket Sh200,000 apiece, an increment from Sh50,000 won last year.

Second-placed athletes will get Sh100,000 each, and those coming in third place Sh50,000. Fourth-placed athletes will each earn Sh20,000, followed by Sh15,000, Sh10,000 and Sh5,000 in that order. Those finishing eighth to 10th will get Sh2,000 each.

The total package is Sh816,000, and Kiplagat said AK will offset other miscellaneous expenses.

Lemoncello to race second ever marathon at Europeans

Andrew Lemoncello will run in the summer's European Championships after finishing eighth in Sunday's Virgin London Marathon in only his first race over the distance (David Wearn/Virgin London Marathon)

In his first ever race over the distance in Sunday's Virgin London Marathon the Scot finished a creditable eighth in a time of two hours, 13 minutes and 40 seconds and was the highest placed Brit.

The former steeplechase runner believes he has it in him to run a lot faster and is aiming to break the two hours, ten minutes barrier in Spain.

And in the build up to London 2012, a strong performance at the Europeans would banish his memories of Beijing 2008, when he could only finish ninth in his heat in the steeplechase.

Also running within the qualification time of two hours, 18 minutes was Andi Jones, who finished the race tenth stopping the clock at two hours, 16 minutes and 38 seconds.

Rounding off the men's team will be Ben Moreau, Lee Merrien, Dan Robinson and Dave Webb, who have all run under the required time this season.

Meanwhile, Mara Yamauchi has confirmed she will not be competing for the Great Britain's women's team, instead concentrating on some hard training to improve upon her tenth place finish in the London Marathon.

The Japan-based runner finished second in the capital last year but after a nightmare six-day journey to reach British shores inevitably affected her performance this time around, the 36-year-old wants to focus on one of the other three World Marathon Majors left his year.

Representing Great Britain will be Sue Partridge and Helen Decker, who were the second and third placed Brits in the weekend's race and both finished under the required standard of two hours, 38 minutes.

Joining them will be Rebecca Robinson, Jo Wilkinson, Michelle Ross Cope and Holly Rush.

Blog Roll - Lee Merrien

12th at the Virgin London Marathon

Hi folks

I'm writing this up from a guest house, myself Teresa and Thomas head off to Turkey tomorrow for a well earnt family holiday so I wanted to get a race report up before I headed out as I probably won't get online while I'm away...


So, I finished in 12th place as the title suggests in a time of 2.16.47 inside the qualifying time for the European Championships which are in Barcelona later this summer. Qualification will be confirmed tomorow (tuesday 27th April) on the UK Athletics website http://www.uka.org.uk/.


I must admit I'm not completely satisfied with the time as I believe I was capable of running 2.15, possibly faster, however all things considered it was a solid debut, perhaps if I hadn't missed the couple of weeks of training at the start of March the time may have been quicker but still much to be pleased with and a good starting point to build on for the future.


London was a fantastic experience and has taught me a lot for future marathons, the crowd support was awesume and I could hear lots of familar voices cheering me along the course. Thanks to all who sent through well done message over the past 24 hours too.


Before I sign off here are a couple of piccies courtesy of Mark Shearman from Sunday...

Lee Merrien selected for Great Britain marathon squad

BBC SPORTS

Guernsey's Lee Merrien has been selected to represent Great Britain and Northern Ireland in the European Athletics Championships this summer.
He will compete in Barcelona in the marathon on 1 August.
He qualified after finishing 12th in the London Marathon on Sunday, his first ever attempt at the distance.
He ran inside the qualifying time of two hours and 18 minutes, but outside the top three Britons meaning he had to rely on the selectors' trust.
He has been chosen to wear the British vest alongside the three men who finished a short distance ahead of him, Andrew Lemoncello, Andi Jones and Ben Moreau, as well as Dan Robinson and Dave Webb.
They'll compete for the European Marathon Cup, which is incorporated into the 20th European Athletics Championships beginning on 26 July.

Liliya Shobukhova: an interview

courtesy of European Athletics

Liliya, how did you start the day?

I got up at 5.30 in the morning, because at 7.10 I had to leave the hotel. (the race started at 9.00am local time). I had porridge for breakfast, ate some toast and drank tea with lemon.

What race tactics did you have?

We had a pacemaker (Hungary's Anita Kalovics), who was supposed to get to the half way point in 71 minutes, that's perfect for 2 hours 22 minutes and that's how it happened (Kalovics did her job and ran 70:56 before dropping out). I felt great, the weather was good for a Marathon, somewhere between11-15 degrees Celsius. In the early part of the race there was a little rain, but it did not interfere, although in some places the asphalt was slippery.

Who were your most feared opponents?

Irina Mikitenko, Inga Abitova and the Ethiopians. I was running in full control but at one of the water stations I looked around and saw Mikitenko was not there in the leading group. I was very surprised. (Mikitenko dropped out just before the halfway point with shin problems.) Ноwever, I noticed that Inga Abitova was in our leading group, which made me very happy.

When the Ethiopian woman Mergia made a break, were you ready for it?

I was expecting that someone would attempt to break away so I was alert but she waited until it was too late and by the 40km mark I started my run to the finish. However, at the finish line, I was a little bit confused, fortunately there was a man who indicated where to run, but I had to ask the way.

Did the collision with Mergia affect you?

I had some breath knocked out of me but I quickly recovered and it is something that happens in road running. My general feeling was so good that at any moment I could have increased the pace.

This is your third Marathon, which has been the hardest?

The first two were a little easier but this result is much better. Now I know how to run 2:22.

What are your plans now for the season?

I'm going to prepare to run the 10,000m at the European Athletics Championships in Barcelona. In the autumn, I want to run another Marathon. It's likely to be in America but we have not decided yet. I'll talk it over with Igor (her coach and husband Igor Shobukhov). We'll think about it.

Shobukova also said at the official post race press conference that she was looking forward to returning to London for the Olympic Games in 2012.

"The Russian coaches won't decide until the actual year of the Games who is going but I really hope I get picked because I think I can win there. At the Olympics, I will know the course and I think that will help me having won on it now," said Shobukhova.

One interesting statistic emerged after her victory, she ran the last 2.195km (i.e. from 40km to the finish line) in 6:53 which was faster than Great Britain's Paula Radcliffe ran on the same course in 2003 when she set the current world record of 2:15:25.

Shobukhova also vaulted into first place on the World Marathon Majors Series women's leader board with 60 points after her back-to-back victories in London and at the Chicago Marathon last October.

The Series men's and women's champions will each collect $500,000, with the rankings decided by a runner's best four results over a two year period at the five annual Marathons in Boston, London, Berlin, Chicago and New York, along with the Olympic Marathon and IAAF World Championships Marathon.

Sidestepping put in perspective

"When I jump on the curb to pass a Sisterhood of Traveling Skorts who are walking hand-in-hand, six abreast (so to speak), it doesn’t seem gauche. At least not as gauche as their Sisterhood Is Powerful statement amongst the runners at the start of a 10k. It’s a bloody necessity to side step them on the concrete to avoid ruining their day of unity with a body slam from the rear. Maybe that’s what Robert [Cheruiyot] was thinking, too. I just need to get out of this freaking herd so I don’t plow the American golden boy."

Scratch the World Marathon Majors: an opinion

By Peter Gambaccini

I’ve been intending to write this for a very long time, but a crushing workload and chronic insomnia kept severely undermining my desired combination of a cogent argument and mellifluous prose. Never mind all of that. The case I want to make is a simple and straightforward one, and pretty tough to refute.

This is not meant to be a bitter negative screed. I’m not big on those. I can be so nauseatingly and unrelentingly positive that my ex-girlfriend disdainfully calls me "The Bluebird of Happiness." From me, seldom is heard a discouraging word, unless it’s about Leonard Chuene.

This is a love letter. I love and cherish the Boston, London, Berlin, Chicago, and New York City Marathons (to name them in calendar order). I agree with Chris Brasher, who way back in 1979 called the New York City Marathon “the greatest folk festival the world has ever seen,” and went home to create another of the greatest folk festivals, the London Marathon. Chicago, Berlin, and venerable Boston make it a quintet of such festivals.

Each of the five is flourishing and expanding. Each transforms the host city into an extraordinary celebratory exercise in urban cooperation for a day. They’re growing and growing; laudably, they’re expanding their charitable ventures by leaps and bounds. There’s everything to admire about all of them… and I’m one of the biggest admirers.

Individually, the races make their own news, exhaustively now on the Internet. This spring's Boston and London coverage from Runner’s World, our teammates Running Times, Letsrun, Universal Sports, Track & Field News and other websites was abundant and appreciative. The patience of Ryan Hall and Meb Keflezighi, cooperating with interview after interview after interview, needs to be saluted as much as their running achievements. These five events that are collectively called the World Marathon Majors are not suffering for attention, or respect, and at least three of them could find enough interested athletes to double their fields next time around if their systems and facilities (ie, roads and bridges) could handle the burden.

What stories stood out in this past ten days or so? Well, obviously Robert Kiprono Cheruiyot’s scorching course record 2:05:52 in Boston, and Teybe Erkesso’s barely holding on as a massive lead became miniscule on Boylston Street. And there was Tsegaye Kebede scaring the London course record and Chicago champ Liliya Shobhukova showing us she might be the #1 female marathoner on the planet right now; they were both so masterful that it didn’t really matter if the race’s “big names” didn’t even make it to the finish line. For the second year in a row, watching on cable TV, I was reminded that London doesn’t get the credit it deserves for such a breathtaking and, in surprisingly large measure, bucolic course it has.

What was on virtually no one’s mind – although I got a press release about it seemingly within minutes of London’s race being over – was the World Marathon Majors Series. In the media coverage, the WMM was virtually invisible. It’s a failure, and a complete one. Other than the people directly involved in it, no one cares about the WMM. No one. It has most definitely NOT captured the imagine of the running community or the general public. Members of the “running media” consider the World Marathon Majors to be ridiculous and pointless.

The WMM is a very bad idea poorly executed. I think we should all just be adults and face up to that and drop the entire enterprise right now. No shame attached. The point, again, is that each of the five races has a thriving identity. Trying to create some collective identity isn’t working and isn’t necessary anyway.

The World Marathon Majors is a consortium, of course. It’s a way for the heads of the five families … umm, five major marathons … to keep tabs on each other and keep other marathons at bay. For what it’s worth, the original criteria for “membership” in the WMM was to be a massive urban 26.2-mile race which combined an elite echelon with some extremely massive masses. Rotterdam and Paris, and one or two events in Japan, manage to do that now, too, of course.

But the professed goals of the World Marathon Majors included coming up with a prize ($500,000 each for the male and female series winners) that impresses with its enormity – though if that total of $1 million was divided and distributed to the five races’ first prizes, some of those awards would be pretty hefty, though still not as much as Paula Radcliffe’s combined winnings and appearance fees in London in her heyday.

The World Marathon Majors concept was also supposed to be roadrunning’s response to the Grand Slam in tennis or golf, and that is something it could NEVER be. You can’t DO all five of these marathons in one year. You’re expected to do one in the spring and one in the fall (fitting in the Olympics or World Championships in appropriate years). You’re not even supposed to do two in the same season in short succession. Race directors frown on that sort of thing, but Gete Wami did that in 2007, when a Berlin victory in late September and a New York City second place in early November gave her enough points to top Jelena Prokopcuka for the 2006-2007 series win and give her $500,000. Runnersup like Prokopcuka get nothing.

The World Marathon Majors scoring uses two-year cycles, but there’s a desire to name male and female winners and dole out money each year. As a result, the second year of one series (ie, 2008-2009) is also the first year of the next series (ie, 2009-2010). You can be rewarded for essentially the same achievements twice – which has already happened with Irina Mikitenko, the WMM winner in 2007-2008 and 2008-2009. Despite his DNF at last Sunday’s London Marathon, Sammy Wanjiru probably only needs a middling performance in the fall to be the WMM’s 2009-2010 winner, largely because of all the points he accumulated in 2009 and was already compensated for as the 2008-2009 champion.

There was a tie in the point standings between Wami and Mikitenko in 2007-2008, and the rules to break that tie weren’t in place. The five race directors made something up after the fact, giving the money to Mikintenko because she’d earned the same number of points in a smaller number of races. There’s SOME logic to that, I suppose, except that it actually means the World Marathon Majors honored someone who did fewer of their races than the other woman did.

New rules will prevent that embarrassing snafu from being repeated. But again … how many people really care anyway? No one that I have spoken to. The chief goal of the World Marathon Majors is to give marathoning a higher profile, but trying to explain who’s #1 in this contrivance to a stonefaced media and public is not something worth doing anymore. Boston, London, Berlin, Chicago, and New York City are their own attention-grabbing spectacles. Let the focus be on each and every one of those when its weekend comes up. That notion of a collective World Marathon Majors? It’s a lemon. It’s even counterproductive. Put an end to it now.

Prague Marathon

Prague, Czech Republic - Organisers of the Volkswagen Prague Marathon are looking forward to the third visit of top Kenyan Patrick Ivuti to their event, on Sunday 9 May.

On his two previous trips to the beautiful Czech capital, the 31 year old Ivuti has come away with record breaking victories, 1:01:00 for the half-marathon in 2007, and 2:07:48 for the full distance last year in this IAAF Silver Label Road Race.

“If Patrick could set another record, that would make this our most successful marathon ever," said race director Carlo Capalbo.

Ivuti’s win last year left him just two seconds shy of the personal best he set in his debut in Chicago 2005. Two years later, on a sweltering day in Chicago, Ivuti had the biggest win of his career, outsprinting twice world champion Jaouad Gharib of Morocco.

Due to the 30C heat, the time was slow (2:11:11), and a recommendation from brother-in-law Jimmy Muindi, a six-time winner in Honolulu himself, that Ivuti go there has resulted in similarly slow times for Ivuti’s successive two victories in Honolulu. But Prague last year proved that in temperate climes, Ivuti can still run fast. And he is unbeaten in four marathons over the last two years.

His manager Federico Rosa said today, “We are still expecting him to be one of our very best, and very soon." With a squad that includes former world record holder, Paul Tergat, and current Olympic champion, Sammy Wanjiru, that’s high praise.

Ivuti will have plenty of top class opposition to make or mar his race, notably Yemane Tsegay, fourth in last summer’s IAAF World Championships. The Ethiopian has run 2:06:30, and finished a close third in the Hervis Prague Half-Marathon on 27 March.

And Ivuti should be wary of his own colleague, Nicholas Kipruto, who lowered Ivuti’s half-marathon record to 1:00:07 in Prague last year.

While the men’s race will doubtless be another Kenya v Ethiopia contest, Lyubov Morganova (2:25:12) can take the example of a Russian one-two in last weekend’s London Marathon women’s race into her struggle against race favourite Helen Kirop of Kenya whose best of 2:24:54 is also under the current Prague women’s record of 2:26:33, set by Maura Viceconte of Italy in 2001.

Entries, which remain open until the day before the race, have already reached 6600, with a huge 50% representation from abroad. Last year’s field numbered 5800, so race director Capalbo’s target of a 15% increase has already been outstripped with almost two weeks still to go before the race.

Pat Butcher (organizers) for the IAAF

Hamburg Marathon in pictures

As the spring marathon dust settles without WR, Geb is back

“When I broke the world record in Berlin, I had trained for the 10,000m on the track too and I did a lot of speedwork,” Gebrselassie said. “I did not win a gold medal in Beijing but the speedwork I put in during training helped me break the marathon world record - and I know I will break it again, soon - 2:02 is very possible.”

However, the former Addis Ababa Police officer, now one of Ethiopia’s wealthiest men, said he is not sure when he would run his next marathon and neither would he succumb to questions over his retirement plans. “My next major race is the Great Manchester Run but I’m not sure about the marathon.... may be Berlin or may be Chicago. I’m not sure yet,” he said at the Nyayo National Stadium.

Full Story

Blog Roll: Andrew Lemoncello

I woke up at around 5.40am so I could get my breakfast 4 hours before the race. I had some porridge with honey, toast with jam, coffee and orange juice. I sat with Dan and then Richard Nerurkar joined us for a little while. I went back to the room and double checked all my running gear and then headed down to Starbucks to get a big coffee for the ride over to the start. They had set up some tents for the elite athletes and it was great to feel the warmth of the fans they had installed in there. There were a bunch of yoga mats set up on the floor for everyone to sit on and relax before the race. With about 45 mins to the start, I went for a short jog before going through all my stretches. I then put on my waterproof gear as it had started to rain and headed over to the adjacent field to jog for 10 mins. I was feeling good and ready for the race. I went back to the tent and dried off my feet and covered them in vaseline before putting some dry socks on. I then put vaseline on every other part of my body and then headed out to the start. I wanted to wear my new Oakley's but with it being a little darker outside now with the rain I decided against it. I stood on the start line knowing that I was ready to run well and confident with what I had to do over the next couple of hours.

I felt very easy at my desired pace as we ran through the first few miles. This really helped my head as I knew I would need to get through the first half of the race as easily as possible. The 3rd mile is very downhill so it was good to have some time in the bank if we slipped off pace at any time. The crowds were really loud and enthusiastic especially once we passed Cutty Sark. Our splits were fluctuating a little bit which was a little annoying as I prefer to run a steady pace but I don't know if my pace maker had ever done any pacing before. I wasn't confident that he was going to be able to get me through the contracted 20 miles so I decided to leave it for a few miles and then reassess the situation. We got to 10 miles about 10 secs off pace and then came a 5.07 mile so I decided to take off as I didn't want to lose any more time by waiting for the pacer to do his job. I went through the half way point in 65.25 (the pacer went through in 65.45) and was lifted by the support of the crowd crossing over Tower Bridge. I knew I was going to have to dig deep for the rest of the race as I was going to be alone and I was getting to the windy section of the course. There were a lot of corners and straights and it didn't matter what direction I was going in, I was always running into the wind! I really dropped some slow splits here (a few 5.20s and even a 5.30 later on) so I had to refocus and motivate myself and try to keep a good pace. It was pretty demoralising knowing that a fast time was out of reach now and Greg was was bang on the mark when he said that I would really have to start caring after the 20 mile mark. It would have been so easy to stop running and jog it in but my long training runs had set me up for this type of feeling and it was easy to block these thoughts out. The last few miles were a lot easier, mentally as the crowds are there the whole way. Although I wasn't running fast, I was able to dig a little deeper but again, I the headwind was getting stronger all the time. Approaching Big Ben was a great feeling as I knew I only had a few minutes of running left so it felt like the time flew by at this point. Running down Birdcage Walk was great but the crowds weren't being that enthusiastic (I don't think they knew I was British) so on a couple of occasions I put my hands up to my ears to get them going a bit as I would need the help getting to the finish. I felt like I was jogging at this point so it was good to reach the final straight and finally make it though the finish line. I finished in 8th place with a time of 2.13.40. I was really disappointed and I was quite emotional so it took a little while for me to relax and be ready to speak to the BBC. The good thing was that my legs felt fine so I knew there was still a lot left in the tank. This bodes well for my future marathons and I'm already looking forward to the next one. I got a short massage before heading to the bus back to the hotel. The bus actually took us to the river where we got a boat along the river to the front of the hotel. I had a shower (I had no chaffing so the shower was a good one) before heading down to grab some lunch. The rest of the afternoon was spent relaxing and then my friend Andy came and met me and we had a drink down in the bar. There was a banquet at 6pm so I got changed for that and we headed off on the buses to the venue.

The banquet was good and I was presented with the Jim Peter's Trophy for being first Brit. Unfortunately I was starting to get pretty sleepy, as were the others at my table, so we decided to head back around 10.30pm and get to sleep. I passes out right away!

Overall, the experience of the marathon was fantastic. I had so much fun running in front of the home crowd and finishing in the top ten of a major marathon.

I will be continuing the blog but maybe not everyday now as I will be taking a short break now and giving my legs a nice rest. I hope that all of you that were running the marathon had a fantastic day and ran well.

SOURCE

Madrid Marathon

Leading Results -

Men: 
1. Thomson Cherogony (Kenya) 2:11:27 (Course record)
2. Dickson Chumba (Kenya) 2:11:54
3. Jonathan Kipkosgei (Kenya) 2:13:06
4. David Toniok (Kenya) 2:14:45
5. Miguel Ángel Gamonal (Spain) 2:17:27 (Spanish champion)

6. Rachid Nadij (Spain) 2:18:01
7. Pablo López (Spain) 2:18:43
8. Yousef Aakou (Spain) 2:19:44
9. Asier Cuevas (Spain) 2:20:30
10. Kahsay Kidane (Eritrea) 2:21:23


Women:
1. Desta Girma Tadesse (Ethiopia) 2:34:39
2. Dais Letay (Ethiopia) 2:34:58
3. Justyna Bak (Poland) 2:37:52
4. Lydia Njeri Mathati (Kenya) 2:38:55
5. Tioist Kilte (Ethiopia) 2:43:31
6. Ana Casares (Spain) 2:47:50
7. Magdaline Chemjor (Kenya) 2:50:38
8. Esther Hidalgo (Spain) 2:51:52
9. Leonor Pérez (Spain) 2:57:31
10. Marta Figueredo (Cuba) 3:04:40

Wilfred Kigen takes Hamburg - 15,000 runners but 2:28 was good for 10th

Wilfred Kigen and Sharon Cherop took the 25th edition of the Möbel Kraft Hamburg Marathon on Sunday. The two Kenyans clocked winning times of 2:09:22 and 2:28:38 respectively. The jubilee edition of Germany’s biggest spring Marathon had 15,174 runners.

After a fast 10 k split time of 30:02 the pace settled in the men’s race. Five runners were still in the leading group after 30Km. Then Urige Arado Buta (Norway) and Beyene Zerea Beraki (Eritrea) increased the pace and opened a gap. But Kigen managed to get back to them, overtook Beraki and had something left. On the long finishing straight he kicked perfectly and passed Buta to win in 2:09:22. Buta clocked a personal best of 2:09:27 while the next three runners achieved sub-2:11 times: Beraki ran 2:10:06, followed by Kenyans Justus Kiprono (2:10:16) and Matthew Kibowen (2:10:57).

Deena Kastor does it again - not

"At about the half-way point I started to get really hot and itchy," she said. "I've had problems with exercise-induced allergies before, and the last time I had that kind of systemic response was six years ago at Stanford where I broke out in hives. I thought it was strawberries, and I stopped eating strawberries. But I had it in the race today and I had to go to the medical tent after the race to get some antihistamines to calm my skin down. Just a really off day in so many ways."

mzungo says: we have nothing good to say, so we better say nothing at all.

Meanwhile in Santry/Dublin...

...at the IUAA intervarsities.

Blog Roll: Nick Arciniaga

“Happiness and Success equate with a philosophy of life and attitude, not with a destination. There’s nothing magic about the locations, runners go there because a lot of other runners have gathered there and have a social life, not because of the utopian environment.” - Joe Vigil.

The past couple months have been pretty hectic for me in terms of traveling, racing, relocating, and trying to restructure my life. I have recently settled down in Flagstaff, Az, and have joined up with the McMillan Elite team and am representing Adidas. My initial impressions of the team – Awesome. My initial impressions of Flagstaff – Beautiful. Now, after being here for a month, I am glad that I can still say that my feelings are still the same. Everyone is happy here, there are a lot of elite athletes coming and going, meaning that there are new people to run with and hang out around every week.

The most exciting part, for me, is that I get to train at Altitude, which is something that I have only been able to do during high school and college summer camps. Those were some of my most enjoyable memories in running, basically just being out in nature, exploring new trails and seeing all sorts of animals everywhere I run. I’ve already seen six elk this week, one of which was literally walking on water. I wish I had brought my camera with me last Sunday to prove it, but true story, I saw an elk walking across a lake, literally 100 meters from shore and in no more than ankle deep water. Just amazing.

It’s been great the past few weeks to train with the team. Everyone here makes flagstaff even more enjoyable by adding their own quirky attitudes to the runs. Things are both laid back and intense at the same time, it reminds me of how much fun I had training in high school and college. It is extremely motivating and uplifting to have such a positive attitude from everyone. The group feeds off of each other really well, and I am thrilled to be a part of it now.

Nick blogs on Flotrack

Fantastic Boston recap by Matt Fitzgerald

Written by: Matt Fitzgerald

All week I have been talking with my running friends and colleagues about Robert Kiprono Cheruiyot’s amazing 2:05:52 course record run at Boston. Most have expressed astonishment at the performance. One in particular expressed outright disbelief. “I think he’s on drugs,” she said.
I’m not sure how widespread this suspicion is, but the thought had never crossed my mind until my friend voiced the notion. You see, I had thought that a new Boston Marathon men’s course record was not unlikely before the race. I had also thought it not unlikely that Cheruiyot would win the race. You’ll have to trust me on the first claim. I had thought about including a discussion of the possibility of a record time in the predictions segment that my colleague Sean McKeon and I filmed for the April 18 edition of RunCenter, but I decided against it in consideration of time. If you watch the show, though, you will see that we did pick Cheruiyot as the leading dark horse contender to win.

I am pretty sure Robert Kiprono Cheruiyot is not on drugs. To begin with, I am pretty sure most Kenyan runners are not on drugs. There are too many other factors to explain their dominance in the sport of running. Plus, doping tends to happen in cultures of doping. So, if any Kenyan runners are doping, then most are. But very, very few Kenyan runners have ever been busted. Lots of Chinese runners have been busted. Lots of Russians, Moroccans, Spaniards, and Italians too. But almost no Kenyans. Why not? Because runners of other nationalities are being picked on? Please.

Furthermore, the Kenyan runners who are least likely to dope are the very young ones who have seldom been outside of their country. There is simply no access to drugs like EPO in the remote mountain village of Eldoret, where 21-year-old Robert Kiprono Cheruiyot has trained. Westerners who have spent time there have told me that the idea of Kenyan runners supporting their altitude exposure and hard training in that environment with performance enhancing drug use is utterly laughable.

So how did Robert Kiprono Cheruiyot run 2:05:52 in Boston? Here’s how.

1. Incredible talent
Two weeks after his 20th birthday, Cheruiyot won the 2008 Frankfurt Marathon (his first) with a time of 2:07:21. Let that sink in for a moment. I don’t know about you, but my understanding of the sport tells me that a 20-year-old who runs a 2:07 marathon is destined to do astonishing things in future marathons.

2. Experience
The reason I thought that Cheruiyot would be a strong contender to win Boston was that he now has experience to alloy his talent. When I asked Cheruiyot’s manager, Valentijn Trouw, if his client’s breakthrough performance had been preceded by any breakthrough in training, he answered, “I think his breakthrough in Boston is much more because it’s his fourth marathon and he is now really starting to understand how to compete [in] a marathon. He was a bit too aggressive in his third marathon in Frankfurt.” (Trouw here refers to last year’s Franfurt Marathon, where Cheruiyot finished second and lowered his PR to 2:06:23.) “He learned from that experience and now did everything right in Boston. He needed his first three marathons to really understand the marathon. In Boston he showed the experience paid and he understands the marathon distance now!”
It bears mentioning that Cheruiyot’s second marathon was a fifth-place performance at Boston last year. All who have competed on Boston’s unique course agree that specific experience on it is invaluable preparation for future Boston Marathons.

3. A very deep men’s field
The reason I thought a course record was much more likely in the men’s race than in the women’s was that the men’s elite field in Boston this year was incredibly deep, while the women’s was not. Even with four-time winner Robert Kipkoech Cheruiyot scratching with injury, no fewer than eight sub-2:07 marathoners remained in the field. So there were plenty of runners capable of beating the existing 2:07:14 course record. But there was also a critical mass of talent to make for a very competitive, hence fast, race, provided it got off to a reasonably fast start.

4. Boston is a faster course than people think
The Boston Marathon has a reputation as a slow course, but it’s really not. The route is a net downhill and while its uphill segments certainly slow runners down, the numbers suggest that they do not slow down the top elite runners as much as is perceived. Heartbreak Hill climbs a
measly 80 feet. Cheruiyot and Deriba Merga ran a 4:37 mile over Heartbreak Hill this year. That’s not only a testament to the amazing fitness of Cheruiyot and Merga. It’s also proof that such a thing is possible.
Boston’s course is not as fast as the pancake-flat, London, Chicago, and Berlin Marathons. But Boston’s hills are not the primary reason that winning times in Boston tend to be a little slower. A more important factor is the lack of formal record attempts in Boston. Consider that, in 1994, Cosmas Ndeti ran 2:07:15 in Boston. The world record at that time was 2:06:50—just 25 seconds faster. Over the next 15 years, the world record dropped by almost three minutes, to 2:03:59, largely because the races in which new records were set were set up for record attempts, with record-craving runners offered huge appearance fees and bonus prizes to chase records and with rabbits employed to aid them. Meanwhile the Boston course record was lowered by just one second between 1994 and 2010, because such measures were not used.
I believe that the gap of 25 seconds between the Boston and world records in 1994 was more representative of the true difference in the relative speed between Boston and Berlin et al than was the gap of 3 minutes and 16 seconds that existed until Monday. Cheruiyot’s run was a bit of a correction.

5. Ideal Weather
Besides the lack of world record bonuses and rabbits, the other factor that is more influential than Heartbreak Hill in making Boston Marathon winning times typically a little slower than winning times in some other marathons is that the weather in Boston on Patriot’s day is not often ideal for fast running. It’s usually either too wet, too warm, or too windy. 2010 was one of those years when Mother Nature cooperated. Research has shown that temperatures in the 40’s (colder than you might think) are optimal for fast marathon running. The start line temperature in Hopkinton on Monday was 47 degrees. The winds were out of the north-northwest, thus acting as tail/crosswinds on the eastward-headed runners. And the air was dry.

6. De Facto Pace Making
Ryan Hall made a strategic decision to keep the pace honest through the first half of the race. He led the pack through the two-mile mark in 9:40. That pace of 4:50 per mile was just off the pace of 4:48 per mile that Cheruiyot wound up averaging over the full distance of the race. In other words, Hall set up Cheruiyot perfectly for his record.
But Cheruiyot got even more help. When Cheruiyot made his lethal second surge at 14 miles, Merga made a suicidal bid to stay with him as long as possible. Although Cheruiyot was clearly the stronger man that day, Merga did not merely shadow Cheruiyot (a la Salazar shadowing Beardsley in 1982), but ran shoulder to shoulder with him until he exploded into a million tiny pieces.
Consider that Merga ultimately finished nearly three minutes behind Cheruiyot. That tells you he had no business engaging in the crazy escalation he engaged in with Cheruiyot from the time the surge began until his competitive self-immolation was realized at 24 miles. By essentially flushing his own race down the toilet (yes, he still finished third, but he almost certainly could have finished second had he run the last 10 miles more conservatively), Merga handed the possibility of a sub-2:06 performance to Cheruiyot on a silver platter.
And Cheruiyot, who actually tweaked a hamstring at eight or nine miles and ran in pain the rest of the way, had the talent, experience, desire and toughness to take it.

LONDON CALLING: The race in pictures!

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LONDON CALLING: The rise and fall of Deena Kastor

LETSRUN.com MESSAGE BOARD FINDING

It has been 4 years since Deena has run a respectable Marathon but she has had a few things that make her appealing to a major race.

1. She was the only female American that was any good.
2. She is the American record holder.
3. She interviews well.
4. She has an Olympic Medal.

However, she is not currently as good as Magdalena, Kara, or Desiree Davila. She was smart to sign with NY last month as her days are numbered. She may still have a 2:25 left in her. but she will never see anything faster than that again. Take a close look at her last few years. She is not getting younger.

2010 2:36:22 London
2009 2:28:50 Chicago, IL 11/10/2009
2008 2:29:35 Boston, MA 20/04/2008
2007 2:35:09 Boston, MA 16/04/2007
2006 2:19:36 London 23/04/2006
2005 2:21:25 Chicago, IL 09/10/2005
2004 2:27:20 Athína (Olympic Stadium) 22/08/2004
2003 2:21:16 London 13/04/2003
2002 2:26:53 Chicago 13/10/2002
2001 2:26:58 New York, NY 04/11/2001

LONDON CALLING: Commanding victories for Kebede and Shobukhova

IAAF REPORTS

Tsegaye Kebede turned silver to gold in London this morning as the 2009 runner-up triumphed in a drizzly Virgin London Marathon while Liliya Shobukhova became the first Russian ever to win the women’s race when she added the London title to her 2009 Chicago Marathon victory.

Kebede, who has won Olympic and World bronze medals in the last two years, took his first World Marathon Majors victory in some style at this IAAF Gold Label Road Race, crossing the line with more than a minute to spare become the first non-Kenyan winner since his fellow Ethiopian Gezahegne Abera triumphed here in 2003.

"I was second last year, so it is good to win this year," said Kebede. "Maybe next year I could run 2:04. I thought I could get the course record but the rain made it difficult."

World silver medallist Emmanuel Mutai of Kenya had to be satisfied with second again, in 2:06:23, with the evergreen Moroccan Jaouad Gharib third for the second year in a row in 2:06:55.

DNFs for defenders Wanjiru and Mikitenko

After second here last year, and a storming victory in Fukuoka last December, Kebede’s win was hardly a surprise. Indeed, the defending champion, Sammy Wanjiru, said on Friday that if he didn’t win, Kebede was the man to watch.

But he didn’t predict the big shock which came when he dropped out at around 27km with a right knee problem, the first time in six marathons he has failed to finish.

"I was confident about winning but you can’t predict the body," he said. "I started to feel pain about 20km and it became very serious. I was thinking about hanging on and finishing in the top 10 but I didn’t want to make it any worse."

Irina Mikitenko, the defending women’s champion, also failed to finish - also in her sixth marathon. The German dropped out with a shin injury after 11 miles, while Britain’s Mara Yamauchi, second last year, fell off the pace just before half-way and finished 10th in 2:26:16, the trials of her much-publicised journey to London clearly taking its toll.

By contrast, Shobukhova, third in 2009, never looked troubled as she led the field for much of the race before pulling away from her compatriot Inga Abitova in the final mile to win in 2:22:00, a personal best by all of two minutes 24 seconds.

Abitova made it a great day for Russia as she finished second in 2:22:19, beating her PB by more than three minutes, while the World championships bronze medallist Aselefech Mergia of Ethiopia was third, another 19 seconds behind, nearly two and a half minutes inside her previous best.

Kebede exuding confidence - men’s race

Wanjiru’s problems started just before half way. Twelve months ago the leading men went through in 61:35, the quickest split ever in a marathon. This time they’d planned to hit the half in 62:00 but the pacemakers had taken it easy, clocking 63:06 with no fewer than 12 on their heels.

The Kenyans were living up to their promise to run as a team and, as the pace picked up through mile 14 (4:39) and 15 (4:39), Wanjiru ran alongside Mutai, plus World champion Abel Kirui, and the world’s second quickest ever, Duncan Kibet.

Mutai and Kirui drove on towards Docklands but as the pace lifted again, Wanjiru began to feel his pain, and Tadese, the World Half Marathon record holder, started to struggle. By mile 16, the group was down to five with Kirui and Mutai leading Kebede and then Gharib, followed by the surprise in the pack, Abderrahime Bouramdane. The Moroccan’s best of 2:08:20 was under significant threat.

It was Kebede and Kirui who took the lead as they went through 30km in 1:28:46 - a 10km split of 28:52. They were now running at 2:05-pace and just inside course record schedule.

These two opened a gap on Mutai as they wound through London’s Docklands under the Canary Wharf tower.

A year ago, Kebede had battled Wanjiru over the last eight miles. This time, it was Kirui who emerged as his main rival. But with a swift 20th mile (4:28) Kebede made his move. Maintaining his punchy, compact style the 23-year-old kicked away and by 35km (1:43:30) he had a seven-second lead.

Now he not only had Wanjiru’s title in his sights but his course record too. He ran hard through miles 22 (4:55), 23 (4:51) and 24 (4:46) building an unassailable lead as he swept down to the Embankment for the lone, glorious run to the line.

As he turned into the The Mall he spotted the finish line ahead of him and made a last sprint for Wanjiru’s record. It wasn’t to be, those slow early miles proving too much to overcome. He crossed the line as the third quickest ever at London, behind Wanjiru and Martin Lel, missing his PB by just one second.

"I had to make the pace on my own at the end," he said. "The pacemakers were not good, so I am happy to run 2:05 on a day like today."

Behind him, Kirui blew up in the last mile and a half and was passed by Mutai, who improved from fourth in 2008 and 2009 to take second, with the remarkable Gharib third again.

"When Kebede pushed I was left behind," said Mutai. "I couldn’t go with him, so I focused on getting on the podium. I have finished fourth twice, so I am very pleased to be second at last."

As for Gharib, he had to overcome stomach problems. "I was aiming to do better," he said. "But after the problems I had I’m happy with the result."

Bouramdane smashed his PB to take fourth in 2:07:33, 47 seconds inside his previous best, while Kirui limped home in fifth in 2:08:04. The sad Tadese jogged home for his first marathon finish - seventh place in 2:12:03.

Shobukhova takes advantage of ‘almost perfect’ conditions - women’s race

With the temperature at 10 degrees and winds light to non-existent, the conditions were pretty good for marathon running when the women set off. Indeed, in contrast to the men, who complained that the unexpected rain had slowed them down, Shobukhova described the conditions as "almost perfect".

No fewer than 17 athletes had asked to be taken out at 2:22 pace and the experienced Hungarian Aniko Kalovics set about her pacemaking task with determination, clipping through the first couple of miles in 5:25.

Mergia, Mikitenko, and Yamauchi all showed early at the head of the large group alongside Shobukhova but after just two miles the Olympic champion, Constantina Dita, was already 100m behind the leaders, just over 20s adrift. She eventually finished 50th.

Shobukhova’s compatriot, Mariya Konovalova, was also struggling, while 2006 champion, Deena Kastor, was six seconds back, a gap which grew to 33s at 10km, a point passed by the leaders in 33:17.

By mile nine it was clear the defending champion had already lost her title. Mikitenko was 50 metres behind, suffering with a shin injury. She stopped and started three times before eventually dropping out at mile 11, saying afterwards, "My shin hurts now, but my head hurts more."

At 15km (50:10) the lead group numbered 13, with Yamauchi still leading the pack behind Kalovics. The World champion Bai Xue, and World silver medallist, Yoshimi Ozaki, were both in the hunt too, looking comfortable.

Shobukhova made her first move as they crossed Tower Bridge and strode towards half way, passed in 1:10:56, bang on schedule. Kalovics’ job now done, the lead group quickly shrunk to seven with Shobukhova pushing the pace alongside Mergia, followed by Bai, the Ethiopians Askale Tafa and Bezunesh Bekele, the Japanese pair Mari Ozaki and Yukiko Akaba, and Abitova, who was quietly making her presence felt.

They passed 25km in 1:24:04, and as they twisted through the Docklands it became clear the tall Russian was running with real intent, her compact style and low stride looking smooth and efficient. At 30km (1:41:08) she was still striding at 2:22 pace.

Ozaki and Bai began to fall off the pace as Shobukhova turned west again and the race was now down to four - Russia versus Ethiopia. Mergia made a move, forcing ahead of the Russian, as she clocked 5:18 for mile 23 - the quickest of the race so far.

But Shobukhova had plenty in reserve. She locked onto the Ethiopian’s heels for a mile as Bekele now dropped behind. The two leaders ran together under the tunnel at Southwark Bridge and on towards to the Embankment with Abitova close behind.

But Shobukhova was merely gathering herself for the final push. As the rain returned it was the Russian who upped the pace. She is the European record holder over 5000m and has plenty of track speed when she needs it.

She turned off the Embankment with a 30m lead and, in front of massive crowds, strode on up past the Houses of Parliament, along Birdcage Walk and into the The Mall to become the first Russian to win in London since Yakov Tolstikov took the men’s title in 1991 for the Soviet Union.

After finishing third here 12 months ago, Shobukhova completed a wonderful first year as a marathon runner with her second World Marathon Majors victory.

"The pace was easy," she said. "I felt comfortable running at the front and decided to push in the second half to break up the pack. It is my third marathon and my second win. Now I want to win the Olympics."

"My race was amazing," said Abitova, the reigning European 10,000m champion. "I had to work really hard but I know I have good track speed and that helped me break through at the finish."

Ethiopia filled places four and five, through Bekele and Tafa, while Britain’s favourite, Yamauchi had to accept her fate. "I just wasn’t as prepared as I was last year," said Yamauchi. "I think my journey to get here tired me out more than I thought."

Matthew Brown for the IAAF

HAMBURG MARATHON: Kigen sprints for the win!

Kigen, 34, has a proud history of success in Germany with multiple wins in Dusseldorf and Frankfurt and crossed the line in two hours, nine minutes and 22 seconds.

Eritrea's Beyene Zerea Beraki completed the podium - 44 seconds behind the winner.

Meanwhile, Cherop Sharon won the women's race in two hours 28 minutes and 38 seconds, well over a minute ahead of second placed Biruktayit Eshetu Degefa, of Ethiopia.

Namibia's Beata Naigambo was third, over four minutes off the pace