Running News Daily
Top Ten Stories of the Week
11/21/2020
These are the top ten stories based on views over the last week.
The Kenya’s National Mountain Running Championship will be Sunday with 500,000KES of prize money confirmed
Athletics Kenya (AK) have set aside Sh500,000 ($4672US) as prize money for the National Mountain Running Championships due Sunday in Naivasha.
AK Mountain Running coordinator, Peter Angwenyi, disclosed Tuesday that the prize money will be for the senior men 10km, senior women 8km and junior men's 8km races.
The winner in the men's race will pocket Sh 50,000, second-place athletes Sh25,000 and third-placed Sh20,000 in a prize fund that covers top 10 finishers.
The athlete winning the women's race will get Sh30,000, while second and third-placed athletes will go home with Sh24,000 and Sh19,000 respectively. All those finishing in top 10 vanguard will get cash awards.
Junior men winners will get Sh20,000 with those finishing second and third going home Sh15,000 and Sh 10,000 richer respectively.
The races that have attracted 300 athletes will start at Cornerstone Preparatory Academy on Mai Mahiu - Naivasha and end at Flyover.
The demanding course will consist of flat track and steep climbing of 930m and downhill of 330m.
Two-time world champion Lucy Murigi is among the athletes expected for the inaugural National Mountain Championships
Also expected in the women's 8km race is the inaugural 2020 Mount Kenya Mountain Running champion Purity Gitonga from Meru, Esther Waweru, who finished second at the Mount Kenya event, and Theresa Omosa from Kisii among others.
It was during the 2018 World Championships where Murigi, Gitonga, Viola Jelagat (silver) and Joyce Njeru teamed up to win the team title.
Geoffrey Gikoni, who has taken part in a series of mountain running circuits in Europe, is the favourite in the men's 10km race that will have the likes of Mount Kenya Mountain Running champion Emmanuel Bor and Dickson Simba.
Also heading to Longonot are Martin Magu and Denis Kemboi.
Interestingly, World Under-20 3,000m steeplechase silver medallist Leonard Bett has registered for the race.
Also UjENA Fit Club from Thika will field a team of ten.
Angwenyi said registration of the event will be done on Saturday at Kamunyaka Mini Supermarket in Longonot, Beryn Hotel in Naivasha, Run2gether Training Camp in Kiambogo and Kobil Petrol Station in flyover.
All the Covid-19 protocols will be maintained during the one day event.
(11/19/20) Views: 68Ayumba Ayodi
Nike will release a carbon-plated trail shoe
Nike will release its first carbon-plated trail shoe – the ACG Mountain Fly. This futuristic (almost Yeezy-looking) shoe has a Gore-Tex upper to keep water at bay and a React midsole, coupled with a carbon plate for stiffness and propulsion.
This is a shoe that’s designed to be weatherproof. This shoe is part of Nike’s new ACG all-conditions gear line.
For trail runners, a solid outsole is a key detail that the ACG takes care of. This shoe features a hard rubber that wraps up around the big toe for ample protection and uses thick lugs on a sticky outsole for a strong grip. The upper is also unique with its turtleneck-like ankle cover and new enclosure system.
The lacing system doesn’t require the user to tie their shoes – in fact, the laces are hidden under the Gore-Tex. All they have to do is pull or loosen, and they’re on their way.
While the Mountain Fly seems geared toward the trail runner, it could also certainly be used as a winter running shoe for those who live in harsher climates. If you’re someone who’s looking for a versatile cold-weather shoe, this could be your perfect buy. At $285 CAD ($217US), it’s also slightly more affordable than Nike’s top-end carbon-plated racing shoes.
One caution about this shoe: while its stack height is certainly lower than the company’s road racers, it still appears a little higher than other trail shoes. If you’re new to roots, rocks and unsteady footing, maybe opt for a shoe that sits a little lower to the ground until you’re comfortable with your new running surface. The shoe will be available on Nike.ca next Thursday.
(11/14/20) Views: 65Madeleine Kelly
Japan's Kane Tanaka 117-year-old set to carry Olympic torch ahead of Tokyo Games
Kane Tanaka, the world’s oldest person, will take part in the Olympic torch relay ahead of the Tokyo Games, according to a report in the Japanese newspaper the Mainichi Shimbun. At 117, Tanaka is officially recognized by Guinness World Records as the oldest person alive.
She was already scheduled to carry the torch in the 2020 relay, but those plans were put on hold when the Games were postponed due to COVID-19. Tanaka’s new date to carry the Olympic flame is set for May 11, by which time she will be 118 years, 129 days old.
Tanaka was born in Fukuoka, Japan, on January 2, 1903, just seven years after the first modern Olympics in Athens. Now, more than a century later, she is ready to play a role in the 2021 Olympics. At her care home in Fukuoka, Tanaka will be pushed in a wheelchair for 200m as she carries the Olympic flame. She was added to the relay lineup when Nippon Life Insurance Co., a Japanese company that has sponsored the 2021 Olympics and Paralympics, suggested it to organizers. The Nippon team said they “wanted her to send a positive message about this time of long-living.” Tanaka’s 61-year-old grandson accepted on behalf of his grandmother, saying his family wants “people to see Kane happily carrying the Olympic flame.”
The Mainichi Shimbun report says Tanaka is in good shape, but notes that the plans may be cancelled if she isn’t feeling well on the day of the relay. Because of this, the torch relay is going to be a surprise event for Tanaka, who has not been informed of the plans. “When we were first approached about her doing it, we worried what might happen given her age, but we were getting worked up over nothing,” her grandson told the Mainichi Shimbun. “We’ll be happy if the people who see her holding the torch up and looking well can think, ‘There’s hope in going on living.'”
The last time the Olympics were held in Tokyo (which was in 1964), Tanaka was 61, as old as her grandson is now and almost half her current age. In her lifetime, she has lived through a total of 49 Olympics (both summer and winter editions), and the 2021 Games will be the 50th.
(11/13/20) Views: 56Ben Snider-McGrath
A look at why running in the dark can feel that you are running faster
The clocks went back over the weekend, which means that your evening runs might have gone from dusk to full-on dark this week.
Running in the dark produces a strange phenomenon that most runners notice – you feel like you’re going faster. It seems that by removing the spatial cues that we get when it’s light out, our perception of pace changes. We can sometimes feel like we’re running way faster than we actually are.
A 2012 study of cyclists looked at something called optic flow influence and how this changes our perceived effort. Perceived effort is basically how hard we feel we’re working, although it can be different from the actual effort (as seen when comparing outdoor running to treadmill running). Optic flow creates a perception of movement relative to someone’s surroundings.
Through trials on a stationary bike, the researchers found that when the subjects’ surroundings were going by them more quickly, they felt like they were working harder and going faster (even if they weren’t). Conversely, they didn’t feel like they were working very hard when the scenery was going past them more slowly.
This same phenomenon can happen at night. Because we can only see objects when they’re close to us, it feels like our surroundings are passing us quickly, making us feel like we’re running faster.
When you get home from a run that you thought was blazing fast only to discover that it was your normal (if not slower than normal) pace, know that it’s not your fitness failing you, it’s the optic flow influence.
Another 2014 study, which had runners complete three 5K time trials using different optic flow rates, came to the same conclusion regarding the rate of perceived exertion, but took things one step further. These researchers also looked at how optic flow changes the runners’ perception of the distance they’d run. When things were coming at them quickly, as they do at nighttime, they would stop short of 5K, guessing that their run was over.
On average, when the optic flow was sped up, runners assumed they’d reached 5K of running about 400m before they had. When optic flow was slowed down, runners guessed their run was over about 1K after it actually was.
Both of these studies help explain many runners’ feeling that workouts in the dark can feel faster and go by more slowly than those runs in the light. While this doesn’t necessarily change your training, it’s something you can anticipate during the first week of November, after the return from daylight time to standard time.
(11/18/20) Views: 53Madeleine Kelly
The Tokyo 2020 Olympics may have limited spectators but the Games will be held at any cost in 2021
The head of the International Olympics Committee (IOC) has said he is "very confident" that spectators will be able to attend the Tokyo Olympic Games next year.
Thomas Bach added that the IOC would take "great efforts" in making sure fans were vaccinated before arriving.
He is currently in Japan to discuss how the Olympics can be held next year.
The Tokyo Games were originally due to start in July, but were postponed for a year due to the coronavirus outbreak.
More than 11,000 athletes from around 200 countries had been scheduled to take part in the Games, now due to begin in July 2021.
"We are putting really a huge tool box together in which we will put all the different measures we can imagine," Mr Bach told reporters after meeting Japan's Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga, according to news agency AFP.
"This makes us all very, very confident we can have spectators in the Olympic stadium next year."
Mr Bach said he was 'very confident' some fans would be able to attend
Mr Bach's visit comes after Tokyo held a one-day gymnastics meet earlier this month, an event which saw several thousand fans and 22 athletes from various countries participate.
The international athletes were quarantined for two weeks prior to arriving in Japan and were largely kept in their Tokyo hotel in isolation. They were also required to take daily PCR tests - the virus test that has been used most commonly globally.
Tokyo Olympics will happen 'with or without Covid'
Both Japan and the IOC have stressed that the Games will go ahead next year.
Japan's Tokyo 2020 chief executive Toshiro Muto said earlier this year they wanted to avoid the possibility of having no spectators at all at the Games, adding it was possible events might be held with a "limited" audience, while the number of staff and delegates from each country could also be reduced.
Earlier last week, Mr Bach was asked if he was going to Tokyo to talk about contingencies for cancelling the Games, to which he firmly replied "no", with his deputy earlier vowing that the Games would go ahead "with or without Covid".
Japan's Olympic minister Seiko Hashimoto similarly said that they must be held "at any cost" in 2021.
There are now hopes that an effective vaccine against Covid-19 could be available within the next year, with a preliminary analysis showing that a vaccine by Pfizer and BioNTech could prevent more than 90% of people from getting the virus.
(11/16/20) Views: 52
2020 Delhi Half Marathon (Nov 29th) Is Loaded As Usual – 12 sub-60 men and 9 sub-70 women will compete
Race promoters Procam International are happy to announce that defending champions Andamlak Belihu and Tsehay Gemecu will return to the Airtel Delhi Half Marathon for the 16th edition of this prestigious World Athletics Gold Label Road Race on Sunday 29 November.
The Ethiopian pair will both be aiming for an unprecedented third successive victory in the Indian capital.
“I have been training well in (the Ethiopia capital) AddisAbaba for the last couple of months and I am very thankful to have the opportunity to race in Delhi, a city I always enjoy returning to and racing in,” commentedBelihu, who will turn 22 just over a week before race day.
“This has been a difficult year, for everyone around the world, not just professional athletes, due to the COVID-19 pandemic and I have been training alone much more than that I am normally used to but my fifth place at the World Athletics Half Marathon Championships in Poland last month has assured me that I am in good shape and I am confident I can put up a good defence of my title,” he added.
Belihu’s compatriot Guye Adola still holds the ADHM course record with 59:06 that the latter clocked in 2014 but Belihu has gone very close in the last two years with 59:18 and a personal best 59:10 in 2018 and 2019 respectively.
He will be aiming to finally go into new territory on the streets of Delhi, perhaps even going under 59 minutes, and confirm his place as the most successful runner in ADHM history after having also placed second in his race debut in 2017.
An unprecedented 13 men in the ADHM 2020 elite field have run under the world class benchmark of one hour, and five of them have actually run faster than Belihu in their careers including Adola who returns to Delhi for the first time since his record run six years ago.
The fastest man in the field is Bahrain’s 2018 World Athletics Half Marathon Championships silver medallist Abraham Cheroben, who holds the Asian record for the distance with 58:40.
Two other men to watch will be the Ethiopian pair of Amdework Walelegn, who was second in Delhi last year and also took the bronze medal at 2020 World Athletics Half Marathon Championships last month, and 2017 and 2019 world 5000m champion Muktar Edris, who will be making his half marathon debut.
Last year, Tsehay Gemechu improved her own women’s course record from 2018 by no less 50 seconds when she ran a stunning personal best of 66:00
Ideally, Gemechu would like to go even faster this year but, like so many runners around the world, her training and racing this year have been hugely impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic.
“COVID-19 is a disaster which has affected everyone’s life all over the globe and, definitely, it has affected my training, not least in the early stages of the pandemic when we were all fearful of infection. Later, my coach and I decided to take care of ourselves, taking into account all the advice from the World Health Organisation, and I started my own individual training programme with my main goal of coming back to Delhi, although since September I have had some races on the track,”reflected Gemechu, who will turn 22 in December.
“Like all the athletes who will be coming to Delhi, I’d like to express my thanks to the race promoters Procam International who have committed their time and effort and invested their money in making sure this race goes ahead while we all respect the appropriate health measures,” sheadded.
Gemechu will have a host of outstanding rivals in this year’s race, arguably the strongest women’s field ever seen in the history of the ADHM with seven women having run under 67 minutes.
Among them are two of her compatriots, Yalemzerf Yehualaw and Netsanet Gudeta.
The in-form Yehualaw finished second in the ADHM 2019, just one second behind Gemechu, and showed she’s a rising star of women’s distance running by finishing third at the World Athletics Half Marathon Championships last month in a personal best of 65:19. Gudeta, the 2018 world half marathon champion. was eighth in Poland but helped Ethiopia to team gold.
Both the men’s and women’s races have a first prize cheques of US$27,000 with a total prize money purse (combined men and women) of US$233,270.
The ADHM 2020 will be unlike any previous edition with an estimated 60 elite international and Indian runners in action on the Delhi roads, with the traditional start and finish still in the Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium. The event will follow the highest level of safety and hygiene standards with bio-secure zones to ensure a COVID-19 free race.
Non-elite runners of all abilities will have the chance to participate virtually from any location, running at any time between 25-29 November via the ADHM App. Details of how to download and use this app can found on the ADHM 2020 website airteldelhihalfmarathon.procam.in
Procam International Pvt. Ltd. A-262, 1st Floor, Defence Colony, New Delhi – 110024. India, Tel. +91112433 5984/85/86 Fax +911141634836
Elite fields for the Airtel Delhi Half Marathon 2020 (with personal bests)
Men
Andamlak Belihu (ETH) 59:10
Abraham Cheroben (BRN) 58:40
Guye Adola (ETH) 59:06
Amdework Walelegn (ETH) 59:08
Leonard Barsoton (KEN) 59:09
Solomon Berihu (ETH) 59:17
Josphat Boit (KEN) 59:19
Edwin Kiptoo (KEN) 59:26
Stephen Mokoka (RSA) 59:36
Abrar Osman (ERI) 59:47
Aron Kifle (ERI) 59:51
Dawit Wolde (ETH) 59:58
Women
Tsehay Gemechu (ETH) 66:00
Yalemzerf Yehualaw (ETH) 65:19
Ruth Chepngetich (KEN) 65:30
Netsanet Gudeta (ETH) 65:45
Evaline Chirchir (KEN) 66:01
Brillian Kipkoech (KEN) 66:56
Irene Cheptai (KEN) 67:39
Mimi Belete (BRN) 68:16
Failuna Matanga (TAN) 69:36
Nazret Weldu (ERI) 70:51
Tsigie Gebreselama (ETH) debut
Hawi Feysa (ETH) debut
Eva Cherono (KEN) debut
(11/15/20) Views: 51Lets Run
Golden Ultra sells out 500 spots in 5 hours
After a wave of registrations in just a few hours, anyone who put off signing up for the 2021 Golden Ultra was sorely disappointed
After opening registration for the 2021 Golden Ultra, event organizers were shocked to see their race’s 500 slots all filled in just five hours. Athletes could register as of 9 a.m. MST on November 2, and by mid-afternoon, anyone looking to run the Golden, B.C., event was out of luck. With the fields set (and 150 runners on the packed waiting list), the race will make its return September 17 to 19, 2021, after organizers were forced to cancel this year’s event due to COVID-19.
The Golden Ultra is a three-day stage race. The stages — titled Blood, Sweat and Tears — are 88K, a little under 60K and 22K. Since all runners aren’t necessarily up for a three-day ultra event, participants can run as many or as few of the stages as they like. Magi Scallion founded the race in 2015, and it has been a hit on the Canadian ultra calendar ever since.
In February, it was announced that Scallion had sold the race to the TransRockies Race Series. This year would have been the first edition of the event under new owners, but the pandemic put that milestone on hold until 2021. While this was unfortunate and disappointing for everyone involved, it did give organizers the chance to focus on next year’s race, and race director Kevin McDonald says they will be ready to hold a COVID-friendly run in September.
“I do think there’ll be COVID restrictions in the fall,” he says. “I like the fact that our race is in late September, but we still have a plan in place to make it safe for everyone.” This includes wave starts, adjustments at the various checkpoints throughout the race and restrictions at the end of each stage.
McDonald says they could host up to 700 runners, but with the uncertainty of the coronavirus, they didn’t want to accept too many this far out from the event. “We did a self-imposed cap of 500 runners,” he says. While he and the TransRockies team expected high engagement when they opened registration, McDonald says they weren’t anticipating the race to fill up so quickly. “We have race ambassadors throughout North America, so there was good buzz on social media, but you can never predict something like this.”
(11/15/20) Views: 50Running Magazine
Organizers of San Antonio’s Rock ‘N’ Roll Marathon have decided to postpone the 2020 events due to concerns about Covid-19
Organizers of San Antonio’s Rock ‘N’ Roll Marathon & Half Marathon, scheduled for Dec. 5 and 6, have decided to postpone the 2020 events due to concerns about Covid-19.
World Triathlon Corp., which does business as Ironman, operates the Rock ‘N’ Roll Marathon series in cities across the U.S. and abroad.
Its officials said there were indications from meetings leading up to the San Antonio event that regional health and safety authorities were “satisfied” that the marathons’ participants, staff and the public would have been “sufficiently protected” from potential Covid transmission.
Yet, after further conversations with city and health officials, and following a recent spike in Covid cases in the area, the decision was made to call off the event.
Thousands of runners from across the U.S. participated in the 2019 San Antonio marathon. The plan now is to bring the event back to the Alamo City on Dec. 4 and 5 in 2021.
(11/13/20) Views: 49W. Scott Bailey
Africa cross country silver medalist Leonard Barsoton is now eyeing New Delhi Half Marathon
Fresh from competing at the World Half Marathon in Gdynia, Poland, former Africa cross country silver medalist Leonard Barsoton is now eyeing honors in New Delhi Half Marathon.
In an interview, Barsoton said his mission in New Delhi will not only be to win the title but also to improve on his 59:09 personal best.
“I am working towards this and I am sure come the New delhi event, I will be ready,” said Barsoton.
The New Delhi race will be his third this year after finishing sixth at the Ras Al Khaimah (RAK) Half Marathon and winning Kolkata 25km road race, where he lowered Ethiopia’s Kenenisa Bekele’s
“This will be my first race after World Half Marathon and I know I am capable of pulling it off,” he noted.
Barsoton, who is also the Africa Games 10,000m silver medalist, bragged that he is an all weather runner hence he is not worried of the harsh climatic conditions in New Delhi.
Barsoton will enjoy the company of fellow Kenyans Josphat Boit (59:19) and Edwin Kiptoo (59:26).
Others in the race are Abraham Cheroben (Bahrain) and Ethiopia’s Guye Adola, Amdework Walelegn, Andamlak Belihu and Solomon Berihu.
(11/18/20) Views: 48Emmanuel Sabuni
The Rock 'n' Roll Nashville Marathon and Half Marathon scheduled for Saturday has been canceled due to the rising number of COVID-19 cases in the area.
The 21st annual event, which starts on Lower Broadway and finishes at Nissan Stadium, originally was scheduled for April 25, but was postponed because of the pandemic.
In October, race officials announced the event, which routinely draws about 50,000 participants and spectators, would be scaled down this year and not include the 6.15-mile run, 5K, 1-mile run/walk and Doggie Dash.
On Monday, however, the announcement came that the race has been canceled altogether and will return April 25, 2021.
Ironman, owner of the marathon, released a statement:
"In meetings leading up to the event, the regional safety and health authorities were satisfied that the Rock ‘n’ Roll Marathon Series’ proposed health and safety measures were well designed, and that participants, staff and the wider public would have been sufficiently protected from potential COVID-19 transmission. However, following a recent increase in cases across the greater Nashville region, we regret to share that the Rock ‘n’ Roll Nashville event cannot take place in 2020."
Registered participants of the 2020 Rock ‘n’ Roll Nashville Marathon and Half Marathon will receive an email with further details.
(11/16/20) Views: 47
