2010 Titus Van Rijn (TVR) One Hour Distance Classic - Sun Valley Edition

The turnout alone was spectacular, add in sunshine, temps in the 60s, and relatively calm conditions, and it set up to be a great day on the Wood River High School track for the 2010 running of the Titus Van Rijn One Hour Distance Classic - Sun Valley Edition.  Nineteen stalwart runners toed the line in the 60 minute timed test, nearly doubling the combined number for the previous three years.

The early running played out pretty much as it does every year.  Jokes on the line and around the first corner. A little talking over the first mile or so, then just a silent dance with one's aerobic threshold for the remaining fifty minutes.

Brad Mitchell (La Sportiva) took top distance honors making it 15,500 meters (9.63 miles).  Andy Jones-Wilkins took runner up (14,850 meters; 9.23 miles) in his now-storied fish shorts, the wearing of which caused Patagonia and La Sportiva to disavow any sponsorship ties (photos below).

On the women's side, Liv Jensen took top distance with 12,960 meters (8.05 miles), which currently places her third on the all-time TVR list.  Julie Cord took second spot on the day, with a solid 12,429 (7.72). Full results below.

In the end, no dreams were shattered, some PRs were set, and there was much rejoicing with Black Cherry Soda and lite beer.  A great time all around.

(click to enlarge photos) (more photos here)

Olympics: Bolt Wins 100 in Record Time of 9.69

Usain Bolt of Jamaica won the 100 meter final at the Beijing Games in a blazing 9.69, with Thompson of Trinidad and Tobago snagging the silver and Dix of the USA nabbing the bronze. Yahoo story.

Olympics: Tyson Gay Out of 100 Finals

Although seemingly healthy following a hamstring strain sustained at the Olympic Trials, Tyson Gay failed to qualify for the finals of the 100 meters after finishing fifth in his semi race. The lost time spent nursing his injury kept him from his best it seems. The finals, though, should still be a good battle of the established Jamaicans and remaining two upstart Americans. Yahoo story.

Not How, But 'Y': Sex-Determination Testing Still on Olympic Docket

A nice piece in today's New York Times on the continuing quest to weed out cheating athletes at the Olympics, this time focusing on chromosomal men trying to compete as women (story). What quickly comes to the fore in the article, though, is that gender is a murky issue that no lab in the world can easily disentangle. When all is said and done, the old school "visual inspection" may work as well, or as poorly, as anything.

Pres. Pardon for Jones? USATF Hopes Not

With the end of the Bush administration in sight, talk of Presidential pardons is in the air. And one of those who seems queued up for one is the former sprint darling and now disgraced, Marion Jones. But the USATF wants none of it, as reported in today's New York Times (story), sending a letter to Mr. Bush urging him to keep the ruling against Jones in place and let her ride out her time
up river. We have to agree.

Lagat Wins 1500m at Olympic Trials, Webb Fifth and Out

Sunday night's 1500 meter final at the US Olympic Trials in Eugene, OR was filled with outsized personalities, and it certainly didn't disappoint. As expected, Bernard Lagat took the victory in 3:40.37. Leonel Manzano came in second with 3:40.90, with former Lost Boy, Lopez Lomong, coming in third with 3:41.00, nabbing the final spot for Beijing. Former Stanford Cardinal, 2000 Olympic trials winner, and free spirit, Gabe Jennings, made a valiant effort to make the team and the "A" standard time needed to actually compete in the event in Beijing, but it wasn't to be. Neither was it for American record holder, Alan Webb, who came in fifth, and had the talent to make the team but has had an on and off season so far. Today's New York Times has a nice deconstruction of the race and the players (story)

Usain Bolt Sprints to New 100m Record

It seemed only a matter of time the way things were heading (previous post), and it played out to perfection. Jamaican sprinter, Usain Bolt, set a new world mark in the 100 meters yesterday at the Reebok Grand Prix in New York City. The blistering 9.72 bested the old mark by a solid 0.02 seconds, leaving current world champion, Tyson Gay, wondering what happened as he came in at 9.85. (Eurosport.com story).

How Far Can You Go? 10th Annual Titus Van Rijn Invitational One-Hour Distance Classic

Get ready to lace-up and hit the local track to see how far you can run in 60 minutes. If it's June, it's time for the Titus Van Rijn Invitational One-Hour Distance Classic, an international festival of local one-hour running events, now in its 10th year. See the specifics below, but the "rules" are really quite simply. Grab some friends and hit the track sometime in June, record how many laps you completed in 60 minutes, and send the results to the event director. You know you've always wondered just how far you could make it; now's the time to find out.

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10th Annual Titus Van Rijn Invitational One-Hour Distance Classic

What: A one-hour footrace
Where: Your local track
When: Anytime between June 1st-30th, 2008

Rules
* Your performance must take place on a standard 400 meter/440 yard track. Include partial laps in your final total; estimate distances as accurately as possible within reason.

* Send results to by midnight, 30 June 2008. In your results, please note name, total distance completed (in meters or yards), age, date, and location. We encourage you to include a brief report of your experience for the official race report.

* You may run the event more than once if desired, but only submit your best mark.

* You are encouraged to invite others to participate in the event. In many cases, our address list of past participants is incomplete, so we especially appreciate your forwarding this invitation to past runners not included in the original mailing.

* Complete results and race report will be sent to all participants.

* 'And you can dance…for inspiration' -- http://youtube.com/watch?v=e5fgejdS4gQ

Tradition
World champions in football and baseball celebrate with champagne; the victor at the Indy 500 gets a bottle of milk. At Titus Van Rijn, the celebratory beverage of choice for all participants is black cherry soda. We encourage you to maintain the tradition.

One-Hour Track Records
World, women: 18,340 meters (~11.4 miles)
Tegla Loroupe (Ken), Borgholshausen, Ger 8/7/98
World, men: 21,285m (~13.2 miles)
Haile Gebrselassie (Eth), Ostrava, Czech Republic 6/27/07

U.S., women: 17,273m (~10.7 miles)
Nancy Conz, Amherst, MA 6/25/81
U.S., men: 20,547m (~12.8 miles)
Bill Rodgers (GBTC), Boston, MA 8/9/77

TVR, women: 12,800m (~7.96 miles)
Kate Jennings (WA), Winthrop, WA 6/2/2007

TVR, men: 18,115 (~11.25 miles)
Greg Crowther (WA), Seattle, WA 5/27/2006

Join the fun!

Additional Questions?
Please contact Andy Roth (andyleeroth@gmail.com) or Mike Persick (mpersick@comcast.net), TVR Race Directors.

Bekele to Make Run at Own 10,000 Record at Prefontaine Classic

Not content to rest on his laurels, current 5,000m and 10,000m world record holder, Kenenisa Bekele, will make a go at breaking his own 2005 10,000m record at next month's Prefontaine Classic (Eurosport.com story; meet release). Meet directors looked at decades of data to help choose the optimal time for the attempt, concluding that morning held the best chance to try to topple his already herculean time of 26:17.53.

Flanagan Runs to 10k American Record

Shalane Flanagan broke the women's 10k American record this weekend at the Payton Jordan Cardinal Invitational at Stanford University (GoStanford.com story). Her winning time of 30:34.49, was the quickest in the world so far this year, and bested Deena Kastor's American record set at the same meet in 2002.

Bolt Bolting Toward 100m World Record

Jamaican sprinter, Usain Bolt, posted the second fastest 100 meters of all time on home soil this weekend at the Jamaican International Invitational (Eurosport.com story). Seems a clash of titans is in the offing between Bolt and current world champion, American Tyson Gay, possibly as early as May but definitely by August on the track in Beijing.

Today's NY Times: Ryan Hall's Rookie Hubris in London; Maurice Greene's Possible Doping

At Run Junkie we love all the standard running mags, but our fondness for the Gray Lady is hard to hide as well. And today she didn't disappoint, with two good pieces. One on Ryan Hall's London Marathon, where he had the temerity to ask the pace-setters to pick it up at mile 16...and then immediately get dropped (story). And another piece on retired sprinter and former world champion Maurice Greene's apparent implication in the Trevor Graham doping case (story).

Postscript: (4-15-08) In a surprise move, the IAAF puts full support behind Greene, despite some pretty damning evidence (story).

Ryan Hall Toes Line at London Marathon on His Way to Beijing

Nice profile of marathoner Ryan Hall in today’s New York Times (story) as he gets ready for this weekend’s London Marathon (race site), a key waypoint on his way to Beijing this summer. The piece has some nice background on the 5’10” 140 pound former NCAA standout from Stanford; a good review of his past results; and a dash of insight into his recent training sessions (10 mile tempo runs at 4:48/mile!). With his current trajectory, Olympic hardware seems a real possibility.

Amputee Pistorius Appeals Olympic Ban

South African runner and double amputee, Oscar Pistorius, is appealing the ruling of the IAAF that his prosthetic blades give him an unfair advantage in open competitions. Their ruling would ban him from competing in the 400m at the Beijing Olympics in August. The Court of Arbitration for Sport will hear the appeal on April 29/30 (Eurosport.com story). With bad publicity swirling around the summer games--from Beijing's choking smog to China's crack down in Tibet and eco-political support for Sudan in the Darfur crisis--a feel-good story like Pistorius' could give a needed boost to the summer games, as Eurosport.com conjectured today (story).

Below is Pistorius' run at the 2007 Golden Gala meet in Rome, originally aired on the Italian RAI network.

HGH Athlete Testing: Ready for Prime Time....and the Beijing Olympics

Doping authorities can be forgiven if they feel they have a Sisyphean task. Forever two steps behind cheating athletes, a frustrating job it must be. But, today they may have gained a step (dare we say two?) with the World Anti-Doping Agency's announcement that a blood test kit for human growth hormone (HGH) can now be mass produced and will, therefore, be available for widespread use at the Olympics for the first time (NY Times story).

Bekele Favorite for 2008 World Cross Country Championships

On the eve of the 2008 World Cross Country Championships in Edinburgh, Scotland, it looks like Kenenisa Bekele is the one to beat in the 12km men's test. Despite missing a connecting flight in London, which delayed his arrival to Edinburgh until this evening, he's still the odds on favorite given his string of championship titles from 2002-2006. With a near miss in 2007, the Ethiopian should be even more motivated for victory. Eurosport.com has a nice preview of Sunday's races (story), and the IAAF has a site chock full of details of the events, with links to press conferences and live updates (IAAF site).

Kenyan Running Camps Not Just for Kenyans

Despite the post-election strife that ravaged most of Kenya recently (previous post), many international runners with Olympic hopes have been flocking to the Kenyan high plains to try and capture the magic of its fleet-feeted natives. The Kip Keino running camp in Eldoret has runners from Estonia, Guyana and Sri Lanka, and seems to be bringing out the best in them as reported today on Eurosport.com (story).

(photo by World Resources Institute Staff, under Creative Commons)

Bernard Lagat Sprinting for 1500 Meter Gold in Beijing.

Bernard Lagat frequently relives his close call with gold in the 1500 meters at the Athens Olympic Games in 2004. He came up second to Hicham El Guerrouj by a mere .12 seconds---so close he still sweats when he watches films of the race, good naturedly hoping that maybe this time it’ll come out in his favor. Lagat and his quest for 1500 meter gold this summer in Beijing is the topic of a great feature in today’s New York Times (story). Weaving details of his defeat in Athens with tales of his life in Kenya, his approach to training (less is more), and his reasons for becoming an American citizen, the feature is a moving portrait of Lagat with something for runners and non-runners alike.

Check out the You Tube post of the 2004 Athen's race, with Lagat in the red singlet of his native Kenya.

IAAF Reports Only 10 Positive Doping Tests in All of 2007

The International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF) reports that of over 3,000 drug tests in track and field athletes, only 10 came out positive in all of 2007 (IAAF data; IHT story) . The small number shows general progress toward cleaner running competitions. While athletes will always be able to beat the system with undetectable drugs or "smart" timing with their doping, the absolute number of positive tests is so small it seems that balance may be beginning to shift toward a cleaner sport.

(Photo by Mel B. used under Creative Commons)

Beyond 26.2: Beginners' Guide to the Ultra-Marathon

See also:  Run Junkie's Your First 50 Miler

The April issue of Runner's World has a nice collection of articles for runners looking to see what's on the other side of 26.2 miles. Meant for the newbie but an interesting read for others as well, the collection includes a 50 mile training plan (link), a primer on surviving your first ultra with minimal effort (link), and, of course, a number of stories of personal triumph. The articles seem a bit scattered online. For a nice soup -to-nuts read, you may want to grab the hard copy (on newsstands now!).