Running News Daily
Top Ten Stories of the Week
3/17/2018
These are the top ten stories based on views over the last week.
Galen Rupp runs first sub 60 to win 44th annual Roma Ostia Half Marathon
Galen Rupp ran a personal best to win the 44th edition of the Roma-Ostia Half Marathon on Sunday (March 11, 2018).
The US distance runner won the Rome race in 59:47 as he went sub 60 minutes for the first time and takes 43 seconds off his 2011 best.
He had Ryan Hall’s 2007 US record in his sights and came very close only missing Hall’s time by four seconds.
However, if he had dipped under the 59:43 mark it would not have stood as an American record however because the course is a point to point race and not record-eligible....
Rupp launched his decisive attack between 15th and 16th kilometers when, after a tactic of waiting during which he vented his most credited opponents, he lengthened the pace by breaking the Kenyans Moses Kemei, second place in 1:00:44, and Justus Kangogo, third in 1:01:02....
The female race saw Ethiopian’s Hftamenesh Haylu in first with 1:09.02 and compatriot Dera Datta close behind in 1:09:21. Third place went to Kenya’s Rebecca Chesir, who finished in 1:11:04.
(03/11/18) Views: 2,917
Time marches on but I just keep going says 102-year-old Ida Keeling
Ida Keeling is just 4-foot-6, weighs 83 pound and is 102-years-old. Ida rides an exercise bike, lifts weights, and runs up and down the hallways of her apartment building or on a treadmill.
Her daughter, Shelley, is the one who actually got her to start running – at the age of sixty-seven after some incredible hardships. They ran a 5K that year and Ida says, "I thought that race was never going to end...however I felt so good (afterward) and have been running ever since."
In 2011 she set a 60 meters world record of 29.86 seconds in her 95 year-old age group. At 99-years-old (in 2014), Ida set the fastest known time for a woman of her age in the 100-meter-dash posting 59.80. In 2016: 100-year-old Ida Keeling became the first woman in history to complete the 100-meter dash in one minute 17 seconds. Shelley could not be prouder of her mother.
“The biggest thing with my mom," says Shelley, "is that she never lets anything get her down. If somebody said to her, ‘I’m going to put you in a box and you’re never going to get out,’ she’s say, ‘Just you wait.’”
“You see so many older people just sitting around," says Ida, "well, that’s not me. Time marches on, but I keep going.”
(03/15/18) Views: 1,266Inspirational Stories
Galen Rupp is going to be racing half marathon on Sunday in Italy
The IAAF has confirmed that "Galen Rupp will be in the spotlight at the 44th edition of the Huawei Roma-Ostia Half Marathon, an IAAF Gold Label road race, on Sunday March 11 in Rome, Italy."
“I am very happy to run in Rome, I have heard great things about this race,” Rupp said. “My goal is to run a fast time in my preparation for the Boston Marathon.”
“I like the Roma-Ostia course as it is flat and it will give me the chance to fulfill my potential. I think it will be a high-level race, where I will run to win. I am aiming to run my personal best. If I am fit I can attack the US record.”
That mark in 59:43, set by Ryan Hall in Houston in 2007. Rupp’s lifetime best in 1:00:30 set in 2011. However, since this is a point to point course it would not count as an official American Record.
(03/09/18) Views: 1,050
Did 4200 Marathoners cheat to get the medal or did the timing company screw up?
Mexico City Marathon officials disqualified 4200 runners after an investigation revealed widespread cheating at their August 2017 race.
There were 28,260 finishers. There were Facebook posts showing runners allegedly cheating by taking shortcuts, beginning the race along the course (officials are now saying most everyone crossed the starting line?) or even allegedly boarding trains (this was never confirmed).
Marathon Investigation reported that most of the cheaters did not do so in order to qualify for the Boston Marathon. Rather, Derek Murphy wrote, they did it for the collectible medal. Or was this a timing company technical issue.
"I think if it turns out to be a timing error and they disqualified a bunch of runners for an error on their end, that would be really bad for them," Murphy said.
For the 2018 race the director says, “We are not handing over any medals at the end of the marathon, until we have thoroughly reviewed that [all runners] have completed the full race course,” De La Vega says.
He believes that one of the major reasons for concern is runners' desire for completing the word "Mexico." Since 2013, the medals feature a different letter from the word. This year's event will complete the letter "O."
(03/10/18) Views: 1,003
A Chance Encounter with Rupp and Salazar on a Roman Holiday
Carla van Kampen posted this Saturday on FB, "Had a chance encounter with lifelong running idol, the great Alberto Salazar and his Olympic silver and bronze medal athlete Galen Rupp! Galen had just finished an easy three mile run and was doing exercises as Salazar showed up from his two mile run.
After a quick dash into their hotel to get a change of sneakers for Galen for his 100 meter strides, Salazar measured the distance by his steps and used a broken pair of glasses on the road as his marker.
Salazar told him to run them in 14 seconds.....and Galen did just that." ...The next day Galen ran the second fastest Half Marathon ever run by an American...59:47.
(03/12/18) Views: 773Carla van Kampen (in Rome)
Seb Coe may need to make tough decisions that don’t favor Nike, then What?
“No conflict of interest as far as I'm concerned,” says Carla van Kampen in response to Nike naming a building in Seb Coe’s name. “Coe was one of the greatest runners of all time (800/1500),” Carla continued.
“If Coe shows any favoritism towards Nike in the future, well then that's something else. I met Coe a couple of years ago while he was in Rome for the World Race Walking Championships before the Rio Olympics, and he was a class act, so engaged and friendly.”
Bob Anderson, the founder and publisher of Runner’s World for 18 years (1966-1984) and now MBR answered, “I agree, Lord Seb Coe is a class act. But if he needs to make some decisions on matters that does not favor Nike, he needs to be able to do this without Nike retaliating.
"Many years ago when we published that, at the time, Brooks made a better shoe in our shoe issue, Nike retaliated by not attacking RW (since everyone loved our magazine) but Nike attacked me.
"They sent out a press release to all their dealers questioning my integrity and then pulled out one million dollars of advertising.
"They were our largest advertiser but we published the shoe ranking results in the order as our Penn State lab presented them to us. (Nike's action caused the FTC to do an investigation. After a year or so they announced no company was favored unfairly.) What is important now is that the IAAF runs our sport not Nike. However, Nike’s support (just like their support of RW from 1966 to 1980) is very valuable to our sport. It is a fine line.” Bob says.
(03/14/18) Views: 587Bob Anderson
How come you think everything is funny? Just seems funny to me!
"I can always count on Gary Fanelli Sr. to see the humor in my FB posts," says Bob Anderson. "It is refreshing." I asked him about this.
He says, "Growing up I had an unusually keen sense of humor... it runs in my family on my Mom's side aka Irish wit . I saw humor in just about everything. It got me in trouble in school. Sometimes my Mom would ask "Gary, how come you think everything is funny?"
I'd answer "Well I don't know, it just seems funny to me." He was one of the first to wear a costume in a race. After running 25 flat in a five mile race as Elwood Blues his next stop was the New York City Marathon.
He said, "Fred Lebow liked the idea...The reaction at NYC was fabulous... I enjoyed so much running races as Elwood Blues.
"I felt I was truly entertaining people." Gary started racing in 1961 as a 10 year old in the Philadelphia area. Gary kept on running until he reached World Class level.
He participated in two US Olympic Marathon Trials and has a marathon best of 2:14:15 set in 1980 in Montreal.
(03/12/18) Views: 512
New Half Marathon Record for a Mom pushing a Triple Stroller with three kids onboard
Ashlee Eskelsen set a new world record for pushing a triple stroller with her 3 sons on board in Saturday’s Montgomery Half Marathon.
“We had some hard hills out there,” says Eskelsen. Her motivation? She ran in last year’s Boston Marathon. “I was 14 weeks pregnant with my little son and it’s always been a dream of mine to do it and once I did I was looking for something else,” she said.
The previous Guinness world record was 1:47:59. The combined stroller and kids weighed about 150 pounds. But she still was able to beat the old record with a time of 1:47:29.
“Those last few miles were hard. I don’t know if I have ever had miles that hard before. I had to stay strong mentally... no one else was allowed to touch the stroller,” says Eskelsen.
(03/10/18) Views: 453
Claire Lomas wants to finish the Greater Manchester Marathon in 10 days
Paralysed from the chest down Claire Lomas will walk the Greater Manchester Marathon with the help of a ‘robotic suit’... and she reckons it will take her up to 10 days.
Inspirational Claire Lomas will take on the 26.2 mile course on April 8 along with thousands of runners. The 37-year-old was injured in a freak horse riding accident in 2007, which affected her spine and left her paralysed. Since then, Claire has set about inspiring others by taking on endurance events.
She has raised more than $700,000 for research into spinal cord injuries. Claire completed the London Marathon in 2012, finishing in 17 days. She is now preparing to take on the Greater Manchester marathon - and hope to finish seven days quicker.
(03/13/18) Views: 316
Hasay and Huddle are going after Shalane Flanagan’s national 15k Record Saturday
In the women’s race, at the Gate River Run this Saturday, the key number is 47. That’s the time, in minutes, of Shalane Flanagan’s national record 15K time from 2014 (47:03). If everything falls into place with the expected high-octane showdown of Jordan Hasay (photo) and Molly Huddle, the race director believes that mark could go down. Hasay, 25, used last year’s victory as a stepping stone to success at April’s Boston Marathon. There, she placed third with the fastest-ever time (2:23:00) for an American woman in her marathon debut. Her chief challenger is Huddle, who finished second here in 2012 and now enters in the best form of her career. The 33-year-old from Providence, R.I. broke the American half-marathon record on Jan. 16 in Houston, running 1:07:25. That surpassed Gate River Run legend Deena Kastor, whose mark of 1:07.34 had stood for 12 years. (03/09/18) Views: 247
