Merrit Leads World at 44.72, Bekele has press conference by phone
March 30, 2008

Anyone who thinks that any medal in Beijing is sacred has another thought coming. La Shawn Merrit, in his 400 meter opener, ran 44.72 to eclipse the world leading mark of 44.82.

Kenenisa Bekele has a flight delay and did his IAAF press conference for Edinburgh, Scotland via his cell phone, oh technology!

A happy birthday to my brother, Brian, who is all of 45 this year. He is my youngest sibling and we have three sisters as well. A very good prep distance runner, and an even better soccer player, he now focuses his vocation, avocation on the arts: http://www.galleryAD.com

EME NEWS (MAR 29, 2008)
L. MERRITT 44.72 AT 400 m

RALEIGH (USA, Mar 28): World Championships silver medallist LaShawn Merritt showed excellent early shape at Raleigh Relays clocking the world leading 44.72 at 400 m. He never has been so fast in March. He deleted from first place of yearly lists the Australian time 44.82 by Jeremy Wariner. Second placed Jamaican Lenford Green improved to 45.56. Another Jamaican and recent World Indoors relay silver holder Adrian Findlay won his speciality the 400 m Hurdles in good 49.69. Latvian Leva Zunda was the best woman with 56.79. Shot putter Mitchell Pope confirmed his 20+ shape with 20.04 m. Recent Valencia 60 m sixth placer Damola Osayomi from Nigeria clocked in 100 m heats windy 11.22 (+3.9).

SCOTT IMPROVES CAC RECORD TO 21.45 m

TALLAHASSEE (USA, Mar 28): Jamaican shot putter Dorian Scott achieved new continental record at Florida State University Relays with impressive 21.45 m. The 26 year old recent World Indoor sixth placer improved massively from his last weekend 20.65 best. Only North America, Europe and Africa have better regional best marks. He won last year also a silver medal at Pan Am Games, but in Osaka was a non-qualifier. He is now actually second best non-US or non-European shot putter behind Janus Robberts of South Africa (21.97 in 2001). US Garrett Johnson who was last year based in UK also improved to 20.94 (before 20.84 in 2006). Good relay times at 4x200 m by men of Florida State (Brunson-Byram-Garvin-Clark) 1:22.09 and women of Texas AM (Baker-Beard-K. Carter-Facey/JAM) 1:32.40. Keith Moffatt jumped solid 225 in High Jump and Lacy Janson also good 445 in Pole Vault. Irishman Mark Carroll won the 5000 m in 13:53.72 and Canadian Kevin Sullivan (volunteer assistant at Florida State University) the 1500 m clocking 3:41.63. Irish runners behind him Gareth Turnbull (3:42.33) and Thomas Chamney (3:42.73).

CHARFREITAG WORLD LEADING 78.84 IN HAMMER

DALLAS (USA, Mar 28): Slovak Osaka third placer Libor Charfreitag started his season with so far farthest throw of the year 78.84 m. The hammer competition of Bobby Lane Arlington Invitational was held at SMU facility in Dallas, the home place for Slovakian national hammer record holder. "To be honest I wanted a 80 meters, but technically it was not as good as I planned. On the other hand my hammer preparation started in November, that is one month later than last year, so there is no worry. My next competition before returning to Europe will be at Mt. SAC in Walnut," said the Slovak Athlete of the Year 2007.

KARANJA AND GIGI WINNERS, BUT NO COURSE RECORDS

PRAGUE (CZE, Mar 29): Kenyan European debutante Elijah Karanya won the 10th Hervis 1/2 Marathon in the center of Prague. Due to strong head-wind no chance for breaking the course record (1:01:00), so his winning time was 1:02:08. Kenyans took top 11 places, second was former track world junior champion Gordon Mugi (1:02:23) and third pacemaker Mark Tanui (1:02:41). "It was very tough in the windy conditions, but I made it, so must be satisfied," said the winner. Pre race favorite Jackson Kirwa started too fast in first 5 km and then struggled to finish as 8th (1:04:42). Except of the first year, Kenya won all next men races here. Asha Gigi was on the other side the first Ethiopian female winner (1:12:00) and beat the course record holder (1:10:08 in 2006) Kenyan Caroline Kwambai who was second as last year (1:12:31). Third place for Russian Yelena Sokolova (1:17:03). Best male European was Swede Oskar Kack as 12th (1:07:38, debut). In total 5750 runners from 52 countries competed in this IAAF Silver Label race, for the winners prizes of 3500 E (men) and 2500 E (women).

SUDOL HIGH QUALITY 3:45:47 50 km WIN

DUDINCE (SVK, Mar 29): 29 years old Polands Grzegorz Sudol won the 50 km European Athletics Permit walking race "27th Dudinska patdesiatka" in South Slovakian Spa place Dudince and defended his national title with new PB and world leading 3:45:47. His best so far was 3:49:09 from 7th place at Olympic Games 2004 in Athens. He repeated his win here from 2006 and was leading with his countryman Benjamin Kucinski (a 20 km specialist who tested himself and did not finish) since shortly before 30th km. Second place and Slovak title for Peter Korcok (8th from European Champs 2006) who for first time in his career achieved sub 3:50 with 3:48:17. With national title win he also secured for himself the Beijing participation. It was his third win here after 2002 and 2004. Third Lithuanian Donatas Shkarnulis achieved not only national title of his country but also new national record 3:49:30. Lithuanian improvement was confirmed as his twin brother Darius Shkarnulis debuted at 50 km with excellent 3:56:38 as fifth and in-between the fourth placer Tadas Shushkevicius also improved to 3:54:37. Slovakian Athens Olympic participant Kazimir Verkin as sixth clocked PB 3:57:17 and secured for himself the third place in Slovak Olympic Team. Milos Batovsky who did not finish today is the second Slovak for Beijing because of last year 3:54:10. Seventh place for new Czech Champion already 40 years old Roman Bilek who improved to 3:58:42 and secured his Olympic participation. Last sub 4 hours (and Olympic A-qualifier) breaker was as 8th Polands Artur Brzozowski who celebrated his 23rd birthday with 3:59:43. Great depth in ideal weather conditions, cloudy and 10 degrees with 8 walkers sub 4 hours, top three sub 3:50 and top 7 achieving personal bests. Five countries organized their 50 km walk national championships here (Poland, Slovakia, Czech, Lithuania) and the last to note is Hungary where 45 years old Zoltan Czukor a former winner here (1990) was the best as 13th with 4:06:12. German champion 2007 Maik Berger and French Denis Langlois did not finish the race. (there will be an update in the evening after 20 km races)

WORLD CHAMPION WILL OPEN WITH RELAYS

ORLANDO (USA): The Jamaican 100 m world champion Veronica Campbell Brown will open her season with relay outing next weekend at Florida Relays. Her first serious 100 m race will be at Jamaican Invitational in Kingston early May. She also has a website now at www.veronicacampbellbrown.com. She is not planning to compete in Europe before Jamaican Olympic Trials which will be end of June.

X-MAN PREPARES FOR BIG WEEKEND AT FLORIDA RELAYS

GAINESVILLE (USA): Xavier ,,X-Man" Carter is getting ready for a big next weekend on his new home track. The X-Man has four events planned for Florida Relay next weekend and one maybe an open race. At the moment he is scheduled for the 4x200m relay on Friday night, and the 4x100m and 4x400m relays on Saturday. The final event will be decided later in the week.

GHEZIELLE DENIES

PARIS (FRA): Reuters reports that top french middle distance runner Bouchra Ghezielle denied any wrong-doing after it was revealed by LEquipe she had a positive A-sample from out of competition test early February at her home in Franconville. ,,I am very surprised and very angry and even if the B-sample confirms the result of the first test, I will fight to the end," Ghezielle told French sports daily L'Equipe.

CHAMBERS AND RUGBY?

LONDON (GBR): As the website insidethegames.com informs Rugy Super League club Castleford have called a press conference for Monday morning to make a major announcement amid speculation that they have persuaded Dwain Chambers to try his hand at rugby league. No-one was available for comment at Castleford but Damion Silk, Chambers' spokesman, confirmed on Friday night that the athlete will be going to Castleford to have a look at the club and to discuss the possibility of a rugby league career. However, Silk stressed that it is just a visit and does not mean that Chambers will be committing himself to the Super League club.

GAZZETTA WITH NEW LOOK

MILANO (ITA): La Gazzetta dello Sport, one of the world's most famous sports daily newspapers, is changing to a smaller format with more color photos, but will remain mainly pink. The new edition was launched today. Earlier in the month the website of gazzetta.it added also a English section. IAAF Press Commission chairman and AIPS President Gianni Merlo is one of the main journalists of the newspaper.

OTHER RESULTS

JOHANNESBURG (RSA, Mar 29): Favorite and Olympic marathon qualifier Norman Dlomo won the Nedbank Matha Series Half-Marathon in Limpopo clocking 1:03:31. His next target is Rotterdam Marathon on April 13 where he plans to achieve a 2:07 mark. Jabulane Gwebu as second registered 1:04:17. Zimbabwean marathon record holder Tabitha Tsatsa won the women race in 1:15:31.

SACRAMENTO (USA, Mar 28): At Sacramento State Nike Elite Meet the winner in decathlon made huge improvement of his best. Ashton Eaton scored 7792 points (7123 before) and second placed Lithuanian Darius Draudvila got 7722.

BATON ROUGE (USA, Mar 28): Former Triple Jump world champion Walter Davis who passed indoors season achieved at LSU Tiger Relays a solid 793 cm (+1.3) Long Jump win.

ATLANTA (USA, Mar 28): Slovakian female hammer record holder Martina Hrasnova (formerly Danisova) achieved at Yellow Jacket Invitational 68.37 m toss. She is at training camp in USA.

CARBONDALE (USA, Mar 28): Another interesting hammer result by NCAA indoor Weight Throw champion and world best holder Brittany Riley. At Spring Classic meet she registered 68.79 m.

JERUSALEM (ISR, Mar 27): Ethiopian Dereje Teferi won the 16th Jerusalem Half-Marathon clocking 1:09:22. Home runners followed Dastao Svonach (1:10:34) and the super vet Ayele Setegne (45 years, 1:10:34).

LAS TUNAS (CUB): Cuban former double world champion in hammer throw Yipsi Moreno achieved in Las Tunas early in March (but only now reported) her seventh best mark exactly 75.00 meters. It is world leading for the Osaka silver holder who had also in series 74.30 and 74.97 m throws.

CHENGDU (CHN, Mar 29): Osaka hammer bronze holder and Asian record breaker Zhang Wenxiu started the year with 70.56 at local meet, informs tilastopaja.

EDINBURGH UPDATE

Around 10,000 spectators are expected to line the route under the shadow of Arthur's Seat for the most prestigious athletics meeting to be held in Scotland since the 1986 Commonwealth Games. A global TV audience of 25 million is being anticipated for a race that will unfold just yards from the Scottish Parliament, over one of the most picturesque courses anywhere on the planet. Most eyes, however, will be trained on two Ethiopians (Bekele and Dibaba) with a point to prove. A headline from local media.

The weather forecast is between 5-10 degrees for the race day and possibility of rain and sun. That means totally different conditions than last year in Mombasa.

Australian Craig Mottram will be chasing a top fifteen finish when he lines up against the world's best distance runners, informs Athletics Australia.

Last European individual medals? Senior men Mohamed Mourhit of Belgium winning in 2001 and Sergiy Lebid of Ukraine being second. Junior women Annemari Sandell of Finland being second in 1996. And the oldest Junior men gold of Spanish Pere Casacuberta back in 1984. Only women have recent title with Lornah Kiplagat winning gold for Netherlands last year in Mombasa.

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Edinburgh Will Celebrate Cross Country!
March 28, 2008

Someone said, Joe Henderson, I believe, that cross country is the meeting place of the marathoner and the miler. How true. There is nothing like a good race in the mud and muck over eight to twelve kilometers with your friends, and then carrying on about it for several hours afterwards, assisted by a few stories, and perhaps, some liquid refreshments.

Well, the cast of characters in Edinburgh this weekend, besides the 70 plus teams, will be a whos-who of distance running. From the sold out Distance Running Summit on Friday night, to the open 5k on Sunday morning, to the World Cross on Sunday afternoon, the city of Edinburgh is celebrating one of the most hallowed traditions in the world's oldest sport-the world of cross country running!

The World Cross Country Championships will be held in Edinburgh, Scotland on Sunday, but the celebration is just about to begin!

Seventy countries are fielding teams for the World Cross Country championships, the de facto distance running championships of the world. The meeting place of marathoner, miler, middle distance runner is the meeting place of real distance runners from around the world. Over 12 kilometers, at a break neck pace, the best in the world run hard, until there is one left-the king, or queen of global cross country!

This year, Kenenisa Bekele, who had such a difficult year last year, and Tirunesh Dibaba, both of Ethiopia will do their best to show that they are the kings and queens of their domains. Who will challenge them?

That is the fun part. There are new runners each and every year who come through the ranks, trying to challenge the best, trying to take the global stage from the past champions.

I for one, am disappointed about the drop in the short races. I do like the one day schedule, but I feel that the domination of the Kenyan and Ethiopian athletes in the long races, does take away from the interest globally.

Sports Fans respect global domination, well in football and basketball, but does not seem to resonate in athletics. Great thing is to see the Ethiopians challenging the Kenyans, and there are always the great surprises. Being in the top 25 in the World Cross country means something-you are a real distance runner.

Not sure what to do, though, but it is one of the challenges that the sport has. How does one make this a global sport, when the same runners win, year in and year out?

This does not take away from the brilliance of the running by Bekele or Dibaba. Or the amazing depth of the Kenyan and Ethiopian teams. But the challenge on marketing our sport is celebrating pure competition, and that is what cross country is all about!

The twelve kilometer race was a race run, in the seventies, by miler, 5,000 meter runner, 10,000 meter runner and marathoner. From John Walker, to Ian Stewart, to Bill Rodgers, to Pekka Paavarinta, the Finnish Cross country specialist.

Twelve kilometers for the men, eight kilometers for the women, featuring the best distance runners in the world-what a great afternoon of distance running!

For more on the World Cross Country, please try: http://www.insidethegames.com/show-news.php?id=2022

For even more, try the official site, located at : http://www.iaaf.org

Olympic Flame Lighting Disrupted by Tibetian Protest

It is ironic that the Olympic Torch relay was started in 1936 by the Nazi Government in Germany to further promote their upcoming Olympics. While some repression was already known to the world by 1936, the Olympic flame traveled around the world without any protest. It was the first time that a repressive government had used the Olympic ideals to showcase their political plans.

No one, in this cynical age, thinks that a large part of the Olympic movement is pure as new snow. But, the goal persists: In 776 BCE, the ancient Olympics were used as a way for men to compete and even war between the Greek city states was stopped. When the ancient Olympics were canceled around 329 BCE, the goals had failed, due to man's inhumanity to man, and the greed and cheating that was going on in the Olympic contests.

One of the goals of the Olympic Games is to celebrate sport, celebrate youth and show the world that competition in sport is preferable to war. Most sports fans will put up with the nationalist bravado of most countries as they parade into the Olympic stadiums. And in the last few summer Olympics, while we see and appreciate the countries that host the Games, we were not overrun with propaganda nor have we felt that the Olympic ideal has been completely left in shambles....

While the Bird's Nest will be finished, and the hotels will be ready, the Chinese government has something much more detrimental to their Olympic extravaganza than bad smog: it is their repression of Tibet, and their further issues in Darfur and Nepal.

Today, at the very beginning of the Olympic Torch ceremony, where the Olympic flame is lit and begins its journey around the world, bringing with it the pagentry and history of the Olympics, there was a small protest. While, apparently Greek TV avoided it as did Chinese TV, the BBC did catch the protest by shooting very wide. The flag as unfurled by a member of Reporters without Borders, a group of journalists concerned with the Chinese governments poor standings on human rights, especially in Darfur, Nepal and Tibet.

As the Olympic torch was passed through Athens, there were several acts of defiance against very tough security measures, all focused on Tibet and Darfur. The Chinese government , in some ways, seem incredulous to the protests and world outcry about what they consider to be internal issues. They seem to hope that the protests will die away, but they more than likely will increase as we get closer to the opening ceremony.

The Olympics symbols, in many of the protestors minds, are being used to sanitize a regime that has half a century of repression in its history, not only with Tibet and places like Darfur, but with their own people. Some would say, in the defense of the Chinese that a) the Olympics will open the country to more observation and commentary from the outside world, and that is true. But, without pressure, according to the protesting groups, China will not change their stance on any of these issues.

The $40 billion dollars being spent to improve the infrastructure of Beijing and China before the Olympics will benefit all of the Chinese in the major cities. The control of the media that the Chinese goverment has will, more than likely, keep many Chinese from seeing how the outside world feels about their government's actions.

The power and majesty of the Olympic symbols will over power many fans. The power and strength of the Olympic movement comes at a huge cost, and global sponsors pay that cost. They want to tie into the goodwill that the modern Olympics brings to the world-and there is much good that the events do!

There is a cultural divide between China and the West. It is said that the late Chou en Lai, who survived the Long March and spent more than a few years in jail during the Popular Revolt, always felt that Richard Nixon would rise back into power after his resignation. It was something that the Politbureau just did not comprehend. Perhaps that is the problem today.

However, the battle for the hearts and minds of the world's sports fans is not won or lost yet. For China to benefit truly from the 2008 Beijing Olympics, they must consider changes to their policies on Darfur, Nepal and Tibet. Without that, the pictures of the Olympic torch, traveling around the world will be negated by black booted Chinese security forces beating unarmed protestors in Tibet. That is not the warm and fuzzy feelings toward China that the Chinese government wants to promote over the next six months.

The Chinese government is masterful at propaganda. Tney must find a way to respond to the outcries against government repression before their $40 billion coming out party turns into months of bad publicity going to worse about China. Time will tell.

To get a good picture of the Olympic Torch ceremony, plus the protests in Greece, London and Nepal, please check the BBC link below: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/in_pictures/7311 298.stm

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RunBlogRun - The Weekend of Athletics
March 21-22, 2007
(plus EME News, by Alfons Juck)

Two weeks after the World Indoors in Valencia, Spain, the outdoor season is about to erupt. The World Cross Country is about one week away and high school track is less than a month old in the US.

Bernard Lagat will be running the Payton Jordan Invitational on May 4 in Stanford, making their 5,000m, like the 10,000 m, huge races in the Stanford event. Former East German sprinter Marles Gohr, first women under 11 seconds for 100 meters and former world record holder at 400 meters, offers some concerns for athletes competing in Beijing....

EME NEWS (MAR 22, 2008)

EBUYA WANTS TO BEAT BEKELE

NAIROBI (KEN): Joseph Ebuya is a special person from Turkana, a community that is not renowned for producing athletics talent. Informs East African Standard. The athlete, who was born in Nyahururu District, hails from Barrkoi in Turkana District. ,,I am the only athlete from my district," he jokes. The runner is confident of stopping five-time long race winner, Ethiopia's Kenenisa Bekele and defending champion, Eritrea's Zersenay Tadesse, at the World Cross in Edinburgh, Scotland, next Sunday. Together with national cross-country champion, Gideon Ngatuny, and last year's long race bronze medallist Bernard Kiprop, Ebuya is well poised to challenge for the podium. "He is in high spirits and it is evident he rates his chances of performing well highly. I expect him to deliver," national team head coach, Julius Kirwa."I want only gold," the double medallist (silver, 10,000m and bronze, 5,000m) at the Beijing World Junior Athletics Championships in 2006 states his mission for next weekend. Coming from a very humble background - his parents could not even afford to send him to school - Ebuya has overcome many obstacles to become a star. After Ebuya's upturn in fortune, he has bought his family a 10-acre farm in Nyahururu where he is constructing a house for them.

LAGAT TO RUN ONE 5000 m BEFORE TRIALS

TUCSON (USA): Double world champion Bernard Lagat plans three competitions before US Olympic Trials. Early May (4) he will run at Payton Jordan Cardinal Invitational the 5000 m in order to achieve an Olympic A-qualifier. In last year his fastest was 13:30.73 and with expecting US Trials being a tactical race he needs the 13:21.5 in his records. Then he will compete at Carson Invitational on May 18 at 1500 m and 2 miles at Prefontaine Classic on June 8 in Eugene. Afterwards he will try to qualify in 1500 m and 5000 m for Beijing. Indoors he ran 4 races and won all of them.

MARLIES GOHR IS 50

JENA (GER): First sub 11 seconds auto-timed sprinter Marlies Gohr from former East Germany celebrated on Friday her 50th birthday. As Dobelner Allgemeine Zeitung informs that in recent discussions about boycott of Olympic Games she has a clear stance. "For me the boycott of 1984 Games was a catastrophe. And I think that would be the same for current athletes this year. We should really now differ between sports and politics and not only talk about it," said Gohr who still has her competition weight (57 kg). Her sporting activities are skiing in winter and tennis in summer.

NAME CHANGE IN PLAN

STUTTGART (GER): All is set for changing the Gottlieb-Daimler Stadium in Stuttgart to football-only arena. The latest infos that the football club VfB Stuttgart is going to sell together with the city the name of the stadium to a sponsor is a clear sign of this plan which should be approved in spring by the city representatives. The site of European Championships 1986 and World Championships 1993 will so have its farewell athletics event this September with IAAF World Athletics Final. Regional athletics federation (WLV) is against the change of the stadium name. There is no right for VfB to sell this name, says WLV.

EUROPEAN CUP GROUPINGS 2008

LAUSANNE (SUI): European Athletics informs at its website about final composition of groups for this years European Cup during the weekend June 21-22. It will be the last edition in current format. Starting in 2009, the event will be called the European Team Champions and will be modernized to include 12 teams in the top divisions, combined men and women's team scoring and a number of innovative new regulations designed to make the event more attractive. In 2008 the SPAR European Cup will take place in Annecy, France, while the three lower divisions will be held in Leiria, Portugal, Istanbul, Turkey, Tallin, Estonia and Banska Bystrica, Slovakia. There will be no relegation or promotion, but the composition of divisions in 2009 will be based on this years results. The teams:

SPAR European Cup (Annecy, FRA) - men: FRA, GER, GBR, GRE, ITA, POL, RUS, ESP, wom: BLR, FRA, GER, GBR, ITA, POL, RUS, UKR

First League Group A (Leiria, POR) - men: AUT, BLR, BEL, CZE, FIN, NED, NOR, POR, wom: BEL, CZE, FIN, IRL, LTU, NED, POR, ESP

First League Group B (Istanbul, TUR) - men: CRO, HUN, ROM, SLO, SWE, SUI, TUR, UKR, wom: BUL, CRO, GRE, HUN, ROM, SLO, SWE, TUR

Second League Group A (Tallinn, EST) - men: BUL, DEN, EST, ISL, IRL, LAT, LTU, LUX, wom: AUT, DEN, EST, ISL, LAT, LUX, NOR, SUI

Second League Group B (Banska Bystrica, SVK) - men: Small States, ALB, AND, ARM, AZE, BIH, CYP, GEO, ISR, MKD, MDA, MNE, SRB, SVK, wom: Small States, ALB, AND, ARM, AZE, BIH, CYP, GEO, ISR, MKD, MDA, MNE, SRB, SVK

US RESULTS

TUCSON (Mar 21): Reigning Olympic 10 000 m champion Chinese Xing Huina is in US for Olympic preparation. At Willie Williams Classic she won the 5000 m in 16:50.42. Week before her 1500 m winning time in Eagle Rock was 4:32.24. New national record for Iran by shot putter Amin Nikfar with 19.58 m. He is volunteer assistant coach at Northern Arizona University.

CONWAY (Mar 21): One week after his silver at NCAA Championships hurdler Jason Richardson competed already outdoors and clocked solid 13.62 (+0.7) 110 m Hurdles time at Shamrock Invitational Meet. 2005 World Championships participant Amber Campbell started her season with good 68.49 m hammer mark.

TALLAHASSEE (Mar 21): US Champs silver holder from February Joe Allen attacked in Long Jump his PB with windy 803 (+3.6) at Snowbird Invitational. His legal best from 2004 is 806 cm.

LAKE BUENA VISTA (Mar 21): US hurdles champion David Oliver competed during first day of Walt Disney World Invitational and achieved 13.48 in the heats against -1.1 wind. In other heat Aubrey Herring (13.73, -1.9) beat Joel Brown (13.95). They will meet in Saturdays final. Chris Hargrett clocked good 10.31 at 100 m.

SCOTTSDALE (Mar 19): Last year Canadian decathlon champion Massimo Bertocchi improved at Multis Meet here to new PB 7963 points.

WINSTON SALEM (Mar 21): 26 years old Brian Chaput who competed last time at US Nationals 2006 in javelin (3rd place) achieved at Wake Forest Open his second best career mark 79.97 m. World junior best holder in indoor weight throw Walter Henning improved with senior hammer to 68.75 m and that is new US junior record with senior implement. Henning achieved US junior record last year with 6 kg hammer (73.59). The former one with mens hammer was by Jacob Freeman 65.89 in 1999.

OTHER RESULTS

MOMBASA (KEN, Mar 21): During Navy Championships 2002 Commonwealth gold medalist Wilberforce Talel won the 10 000 in 31:02.84. Richard Geemi was the best at 5000 m (14:59.0) and national record holder Tom Musinde achieved 10.5 at 100 m.

EME News is published on www.runblogrun.com courtesy of the publisher, Alfons Juck.

-- EME NEWS is news service relating to the sport of athletics. It is published on daily basis with additional updates, as required. Copyright is held by Alfons Juck, Perinvest SK, a.s., Krikova 10, 82107 Bratislava, Slovakia. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. The redistribution and/or direct reproduction of material from EME NEWS is prohibited unless permission is given by c Perinvest SK (such as being included in a subscription agreement).Email to respond: ajuck@rainside.sk

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RunBlogRun: A Meditation on Coaches
March 21, 2008

My first job in the industry was ad production assistant at the old Runner's World magazine in Mountain View, California. My direct manager was one Derek Clayton, who was the VP of Advertising at RW. Derek was Irish by birth, English by upbringing and Australian by choice. A former St. Stephen's harrier, Clayton was a contemporary of Ron Clarke. In fact, Clarke and Clayton trained together, from time to time. One of my treasured memories was sitting with Derek, after work, and discussing his racing and training. I remember the memory that Derek gave me in allowing me to see his sports room. In it were his awards from Fukuoka, his Olympic citation, and his vests from the various clubs he was on. In our conversations one of the most dominant marathoners of his generation, Derek confided in me that he should have had a coach, that it might have helped him cut back on his injuries and reached what he knew he was capable of. Clayton was a brutal trainer and needed someone to advise him on when to hold back, when to go for it. That person, in any parlance, is a coach, or an adviser....

I have spoken of my college coach, Dan Durante, and his effect on my life. I still feel it to this day. I can close my eyes, and smell the fog coming in on Los Gatos track as Paul Gyorey, Rick Allen and I do repeat miles, or 20 times a 400 meters. I can hear Dan, in his Boston accent hollar, "Okay, now a 64," after having done nearly two dozen repeat quarters. I can remember him jogging a cooldown with us as he gave us our readings, and asked us to " check your pulse". Dan would keep readings of each quarter, each pulse reading afterwards and would then talk to us about the rest of the week. Under his careful eye, I dropped four minutes off my 10k in college and ran a respectable two mile as well.

After college, for the four years I seriously raced, Dan was also my coach and advisor. We would meet on Sundays for a 20 miler, an 18 miler or a fast 15 milers, depending on the weekend. Dan had found miles of trails to old summer vacation homes from the 19th century in the Santa Cruz mountains. Dan would run with us for five or six miles and then we would get moving. As we came back up the hills, sometimes we were greeted by Steve Wozniak, just as he was doing that Apple thing, on his motorcyle, getting a newspaper. He might ride along side, say hello, ask how we were feeling, and then he was off!

After college, working full time and married, I ran 120 mile weeks like they were easy and learnt to focus my training. I then dropped my mileage, did my hard days harder, and easy days easier and began to set personal best in all distances. My coach still had a place in my life, even if it was once a week, or once a month.

I write this, as it has come to a big story recently about elite athletes changing their coaches. Now, these things do happen, but there should be a caveat: the coach-athlete relationship is art, not science. A coach is disciplinarian, confidante, cheerleader, and most of all, the person who knows the athlete's good days and bad days, and is there for both. The athlete does grow up, and perhaps, the term coach changes to advisor, but the need and the role and the chemistry are there.

But then, you get an elite athlete. Gets successful, real successful. Over a couple of years, sitting in Zurich, Berlin, Osaka, after a race, having a couple of cold ones with some buddies. He or she hears the buddies talking about running their own programs, running their own lives. Perhaps hears an agent disparaging a coach, perhaps someone notes that a certian coach is old school. Egos get involved. Feelings get hurt.

In an Olympic year, there are only a few things an elite athlete should be working on, and changing coaches is not one of them. It may work out, it may work out fine, but with all of the issues that can go wrong, why play with a relationship that has worked for seven to ten years? And with success?

At the end of the day, an adult athlete, an elite athlete knows that much of the reasons for success is because of their developing their God given talent and their working very, very hard, and being very, very lucky during their careers. But, they also have to realize that the person they call coach, the person who convinced them to move from the 200 meters to the 400 meters, or from the steeple to the 5,000 meters had a hell of lot to do with that success.

Sometimes, it is the coach just saying no. I remember getting into a workout, that after two repeat miles, out of a proposed six, I was stinking up the track. My coach, Dan, came over and pulled me off the track. " Go cooldown, and then go to bed." I was angry, but he was right. Three weeks later, I ran my fastest 10,000 meters. Running a hard day, then two easy days for three weeks did it.

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Kluft Out of Heptathlon for Beijing, Focus on Triple and Long
March 20, 2008

In a news flash early this morning, March 19, Carolina Kluft told the Swedish press that she will not be competing in the heptathlon in Beijing. Instead, she will concentrate on the long and triple jumps....why?, this blogger will attempt an explanation.

Carolina Kluft is the worlds' best women multi event athlete, period. She is not only a technical whiz, she is the consumate competitor.

This past February I had the pleasure of watching Carolina Kluft and Kelly Sotherton compete in an indoor triathlon in Birmingham at the Norwich Union GP-Birmingham. Kluft and Sotherton competed over the long jump, hurdles and 400 meters. The competition was telling and the crowd of 12,000 sports fans were into it. When it came down to the 400 meters, Sotherton was out, hitting the 400 meters in just under 25 seconds! Around the back stretch, Carolina Kluft pulled out another gear and came up on Sotherton's back. Sotherton broke 53 seconds, 52.47, in fact running the 8th fastest UK time indoors at 400 meters-her personal best. Kluft broke 53 seconds as well, 52.98, for her personal best. Kluft won the competition, and afterwards, had very kind things to say about Sotherton. Having interviewed Carolina and observed her in all of her major mulits but the Euros, I believe her feelings for her competition in general, and for Kelly in particular are true. She respects her competition and enjoys their respect as well.

Kluft is an anomaly. In Sweden, she is a rock star. Her youngers sister, a police officer, uses another last name in order not to be stopped and to have a normal persons' life. In Sweden, they appreicate her athleticism, her competitive nature, and also the way she comports herself.

Last summer, the conditions in Osaka were very difficult. The heat, the humidity were atrocious, yet Kluft scored a personal best. In the end, she is so talented, that she has to look for competition. And that, in my mind, is her curse.

The cynic philosopher, Diogenes (412 BCE to 322 BCE), searched the streets of Athens, Greece at night, "Looking for an honest man." Diogenes considered direct dialogue much better than writing ( how would he think of blogging?).

Carolina Kluft has searched the stadias of the world, looking for honest competition. She has found it, and she has won all of her major competitions. At the end of the day, Klutf is a a unique athlete and she is looking for new challenges. The long jump and triple jump will bring her new competition, new challenges and perhaps a time to renew her spirit and body. The heptathlon is an event that challenges the heart and soul.

This past January, at the Reebok Boston Indoor Games, Carolina competed in the long jump. She was not happy with her jumping. But, during the interviews before her event, she let it be known that she was not certian about Beijing-just as she had mentioned after Osaka and her historic win there in the heptathlon.

A telling statement for Kluft was one of her comments to me at Osaka. " No one is unbeatable. On any given day, we can all make enough mistakes to loose an event." Carolina Kluft is searching for competiton, and perhaps the long jump and the triple jump will give her the new challenges she seeks.

The Beijing heptathlon will be the lesser for her departure.

The following is the complete news flash from EME News on Kluft withdrawing from the Beijing Heptathlon competition:

EME NEWS (MAR 19, 2008) FLASH

Kluft confirms no Heptathlon in Beijing STOCKHOLM (SWE, Mar 19): Olympic, world and European champion Carolina Kluft confirmed for Swedish media on Tuesday she will not compete in Heptathlon at Olympic Games in Beijing. She wants to concentrate on Long Jump and Triple Jump this summer. She still may compete end of May in Heptathlon at the traditional fixture in Gotzis, Austria.

-- EME NEWS is news service relating to the sport of athletics. It is published on daily basis with additional updates, as required. Copyright is held by Alfons Juck, Perinvest SK, a.s., Krikova 10, 82107 Bratislava, Slovakia. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. The redistribution and/or direct reproduction of material from EME NEWS is prohibited unless permission is given by c Perinvest SK (such as being included in a subscription agreement).Email to respond: ajuck@rainside.sk

EME News always used with permission of the publisher, Alfons Juck. We are grateful for his diligence.

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Global News, Torres, Haile and some thoughts March 18, 2008

EME News had some good stories this weekend. Haile Gebrselassie won his last road race of the spring, running and winning in Lisbon over the half marathon in 59:15. After that, Mr. G will be training for the track. After his statement that he may not run the marathon in Beijing, the Ethiopian federation made it know that they will decide where Haile runs.

Jorge Torres and Shalane Flanagan won 8 kilometer races in Central Park this past weekend. Both Torres and Flanagan will be dangerous over 10,000 meters this coming spring and at the US Olympic Trials.

EME NEWS (MAR 15, 2008) UPDATE
Osaka podium repeated: Kanter, Harting, Smith, Italian wins for Lingua and Legnante

SPLIT (CRO, Mar 15): Osaka podium situation was repeated in discus competition during first day of 8th European Cup Winter Throwing in Split before around 500 spectators. In sunny, but windy conditions (not favorable for discus) Gerd Kanter won for the fifth time this competition, on Saturday his best throw was 65.25 m. German Robert Harting was second as last year in August in Japan (64.34) and Dutch Rutger Smith third (63.80). Fourth place for Turkish record holder Ercumet Olgundeniz (62.04) and former olympic medalist Frants Kruger now representing Finland was fifth (61.71). Interestingly young talent Mykyta Nesterenko of Ukraine had six fouls. Italian Marco Lingua was the surprise hammer winner with new PB of 77.87 m. Hungarian Osaka fifth placer Krisztian Pars was second (77.06) and Belarus winter throws champion Dmitry Shako third (76.86). Only behind him former olympic medalist Nicola Vizzoni of Italy (75.88) and Turkish World Championships finalist Esref Apak (75.81). Osaka 8th placer Markus Esser of Germany had a poor outing with 70.51 and five fouls (11th overall). Bergur Petursson of Iceland won the B-group with new national record 73.00 m and was overall 9th.

Italian success continued after hammer also in women Shot Put. European Indoor Champion 2007 Assunta Legnante made ground after beeing knocked out in Valencia in qualification last weekend and won with 18.98 m. It is her second best ever outdoors after 19.04 in 2006. Russian champion Anna Omarova who was 9th in Osaka and 8th in Valencia was second (18.38) with Valencia fifth placer Chiara Rosa of Italy third (18.05). German indoor sensation Christina Schwanitz was out of podium as fourth (17.65, far away from her indoor best 19.68). Interesting results also in U23 competitions with three titles going to Russians. Mariya Abakumova achieved excellent 62.07 in Javelin (meet record and would be enough for bronze in senior competition). Last year European junior champion Nikolay Sedyuk won the discus and greatly improved to meet record 63.20 m. Irina Tarasova won the third russian U23 gold in Shot Put (16.73).

Earlier in the day British javelin record holder Goldie Sayers achieved in fourth round winning throw and Olympic qualifier 63.65 m, her second best ever after last year national record 65.05. Interestingly already in the weaker B-group a great mark was registered, a huge new Slovenian record for Martina Ratej who improved to 63.16 and was overall second. Her best before was 58.49 m, so she was better by nearly five metres (4.67 m). The former Slovenian record was 61.14 by Eufemija Storga in 2000. Italian World Championships 2005 fifth placer Zahra Bani was third (59.42) and experienced Romanian and Osaka finalist Felicia Tilea Moldovan fourth (59.33). Belarussian hammer thrower and last year U23 European Champion Yury Sayunov won his event in U23 category achieving new meet record 73.32 m.

Kenyan wins in Switzerland

KERZERS (SUI, Mar 15): Kenyan triumphs at first race of Swiss running series Post Cup. The 30th Kerzerslauf winners at road 15 km were Wilson Kipkogei (44:23.9) and Anita Kiptum (52:53.2). Also second places for Kenyans Elijah Mbogo (44:28.5) and Regina Nguria (54:47.7). Best European placing was the Swiss third woman Angelina Fluckiger-Joly (55:17.2) who wants to attack the olympic standard at Zurich Marathon later in Spring. Best male European runners was Russian Dmitriy Semyonov as 6th (45:56.5) with best Swiss runner Jerome Schaffner ninth (46:36.9). There were 8600 entries registered, but top home runners did not compete due to marathon preparation (Rothlin, Bandi, Jenni) or injury (Belz).

Makau wins PCP

DEN HAAG (NED, Mar 15): Kenyan world half-marathon silver medalist Patrick Makau won his third this years HM race as he was the best at the 34th City-Pier-City Loop in Den Haag. He clocked second fastest in race history 1:00:08. Faster was only Samuel Wanjiru with his still valid last years world record 58:33. Lille HM winner 2007 Joseph Maregu was close second (1:00:12) and last weekend Alphen winner at 20 km Dennis Ndiso third (1:00:33, PB). Sub 1:01 also for fourth Wilson Kiprotich (1:00:43) and fifth Francis Kibiwott (1:00:52). Dutch title for ninth Michel Butter (1:03:17, PB), next best European as 10th Briton Peter Riley (1:03:18). It his third title after 10 km road and cross country. Kenyan Pauline Wangui improved first time in her career to sub 1:10 (1:09:49) and won the women race. German Susanne Hahn was second (1:11:29) and third Nadja Wijenberg achieved for 1:16:32 the Dutch HM title.

Wind blows fast times

STELLENBOSCH (RSA, Mar 15): During second day of South African Championships wind was blowing all hopes away for fast times. Commonwealth Champion LJ Van Zyl got his title at 400 m Hurdles but 49.86 was not the time he was expecting. Afterwards he said the wind was costing all competitors at least one second. Ter De Villiers was second (50.14) and Ockert Cilliers third (50.89). African discus record holder Elizna Naude won her competition with 56.24 m.

Torres and Flanagan in Central Park

NEW YORK (USA, Mar 15): At the inaugural Central Park Challenge here today, which incorporated the U.S. Men's 8-K Championship, Jorge Torres and Shalane Flanagan won their respective races convincingly. But the paths taken to their titles were completely different. In the men's race, all eyes were on U.S. mile record holder, Alan Webb, running in only his fourth professional road race and his first race of 2008 was leading at 5 km, but later struggled, and appeared to stop. He actually paused, resumed running and would later finish 16th, forfeiting his $1500 5-K prime because he did not finish in the top-10. Torres clocked 22:41.2 to beat Andrew Carlson 22:41.9 (both received 22:42 official times).

Flanagan, the recent U.S. Cross Country Champion, surged to the front immediately from the gun, and was the race's only leader, from start to finish. She hit the tape in a personal best 25:40 (25:39.7). Katie McGregor also broke 26 minutes in 25:56, with Molly Huddle taking third (26:07). Amy Rudolph moved up from seventh place at the 5-K to take fourth in 26:25. Canadian Carmen Douma-Hussar just outkicked Erin Donohue for fifth; both were timed in 26:28. Both Torres and Flanagan earned $10,000 as race winners, but Flanagan earned an additional $1500 for being first through 5-K.

EME News is used with permission of the publisher, Alfons Juck by www.runblogrun.com.