A New Fall Classic

LRC Michigan Pro Ekiden Preview: HOKA NAZ Elite Favored In Clash Of US Pro Squads Six of the country’s top distance training groups will gather in Michigan on Friday for a six-person, mixed-gender ekiden. NAZ Elite’s Tyler Day and Kellyn Taylor headline the entries. *Discussion: Official Michigan Pro Ekiden Prediction Thread

Jamaican News

• Statue Of Usain Bolt To Be Erected In His Hometown
• 1976 Olympic 200m Champ Donald Quarrie Running For The Jamaican Federation Presidency Quarrie, a former JAAA vice president, will challenge long-time General Secretary Garth Gayle for the job. The vote will happen at the end of November.

Other Distance News Of Note

• California Woman Runs 5:25 Mile While 9 Months Pregnant Apparently Makenna Myler made a $100 bet with her husband that she could still break an 8 minute mile at 9 months pregnant. Her PR is 4:43.81. *Instagram Video
• AW: Shocked GB Distance Runner Jake Smith Talks Tears And Triumph After Top World Half Time Smith is now 3rd on the UK all-time list after running 60:31 for 18th place. He PR’d by about a minute and a half, set a 10k PR along the way and cried when he met Seb Coe post-race.
• Bernard Lagat Says Track And Field Is “Not Doing Enough” On Social Justice; Want Olympic Protest Rules Changed But Lagat pointed out the exact problem with political demonstrations at the Olympics. Who decides which groups are allowed to protest? Lagat: “Because if we open it for everything, what will stop someone from raising a Nazi salute?”
• MB: Video Interview With Olympic Marathon Trials Runner-Up Jake Riley This is a lengthy two-part interview totaling about an hour and a half.
• Canadian Running Magazine: Are Staged Events The Future Of Track World Records?

News From The UK

• Interesting Read: Creating The Bubble, Cutting-Edge Technology, Flexible Thinking – How The 2020 London Marathon Became The Only Major City Marathon Since COVID-19 A secret hotel location, staff locked in for the week, “Bump” devices with alarms if people get too close, a lot went into making a socially-distanced London happen.
• British Olympic Trials Tentatively Scheduled For June 26-27 In Manchester The 10,000m trials are June 5 and the marathon trials March 26 in London.
• Hugh Robertson Re-Elected As British Olympic Committee Chair

Long Distance News

• Full Fields Released For The Top US Marathon Of 2020 – December 20th’s The Marathon Project Fields Sara Hall leads the way for the women. Could she possibly break 2:20? *Video
• Gary “Lazarus Lake” Cantrell Expects WR To Fall At This Year’s Big’s Backyard Ultra, Which Starts Saturday At 6:35 AM ET 14 people will be competing in Tennessee but many more will be competing at satellite competitions around the globe. How many times can you run a 4.166667-mile trail loop once every hour? *Watch It Live For Free At 6:35 AM ET
• Shura Kitata Says He Was Thrilled When He Saw The Rain In London “When I saw the rain I was excited because I had been training in heavy rain season in Ethiopia. One day I went to train in Sodere, a place outside the capital, and it rained so much that the town flooded and the coach had to come to my rescue.”
• Everything You Need To Know About Next Wednesday’s Michigan Pro Ekiden The Hansons, NAZ Elite, ATC, BTC and more will all be there.
• Allie Ostrander Joins Seattle Pacific As Volunteer Coach
• Japanese Are Breathing Easier As Everything Is A Go For Hakone Ekiden Qualifier This Saturday With so  many events cancelled in Japan, some were fearful it’s #1 sporting event would also be canned but it looks like the Hakone Ekiden will go on.
• The First Major Ekiden To Be Held On Public Streets During The Coronavirus Era Is This Weekend – Princess Ekiden Preview

Important Administrative News

• IOC Assures Many Sports Federations That The 2021 Olympics Will Start As Planned On July 23rd “We are very confident that the games in Tokyo next year will take place.”
• 2022 Commonwealth Games Organizers Condense Track Schedule So Stars Will Show Up 3 Days After Worlds
• UK Sport Announces “Big Shift” For Olympics Moving Forward Funding will primarily be based on medal potential in the next 12 years, not just 4 and the goal is not to be a cut-throat. “We will aim to support the development of the person as well as the performer.”
• LRC NCAA Names Hosts Of All NCAA Championships Through 2025 – 2026 Some new hosts are on the list as Missouri will host the NCAA XC Champs for the 1st time ever in 2025 and UVA will host for the first time since 1987 in 2023. Norfolk State and Virginia Beach, VA will also host NCAA indoors for the 1st time in 2025.
  *MB: UVA to host NCAA D1 cross country national meet
  *MB: NCAAs at Hayward Field 2024-2027
• NCAA Extends Extra Year Of Eligibility To Winter Sports Athletes

Previous World Half Champs News

• RRW: 7 Women, 2 Men Over The Age Of 40 Will Compete At World Half
• Engaged Kentucky Grads Luis Orta And Hiruni Wijayaratne Will Be Running For Ecuador And Sri Lanka At World Half
• Ultramarathoner Tom Evans Of The UK Is Stepping Down In Distance To Run World Half This Year In the past, he’s finished third at the World Trail champs as well as Western States.

• Coach Patrick Makau (Former Marathon WR Holder) Confident Team Kenya Will Dominate At World Half Champs Makau commented on a few individuals and said the team as a whole is “aware and preparing psychologically” for the possible colder weather.
• Daily Nation: Confident Kenya Squad Off To World Half Champs Some positive words from the athletes who flew out of Eldoret on Tuesday.
• World Athletics: How World Half Organizers Have Adapted To Ensure Event Can Go Ahead In 2020 With COVID, a lot of races just get cancelled, but organizers put in a lot of effort to make sure the rescheduled World Half Champs could go ahead.
• World Half Marathon Champs Course, Scoring And Prize Money Details $30,000 for the individual win and $15,000 to the top team (team scoring based on aggregate time of top 3 athletes).

Technology Debate

• InsideTheGames: Should Track World Records Undergo A Javelin-Like Reset Because Of New Shoe Technology? An interesting history lesson about the rule changes behind the javelin WR and questions over whether the new shoe tech is of similar significance.
• Sports Scientist Yannis Pitsiladis Shoe Technology Is Undermining The Integrity Of The Sport “…The level of improvement can also vary significantly from one athlete to the next. So while one athlete might get a four or six per cent improvement, another might only get one per cent or none at all. Which means it is leading to distorted results.”
• Joshua Cheptegei’s Agent Jos Hermens Defends Use Of New Tech In Breaking World Records “It’s not like we stand on the track, put on the lights and we break a world record. The athletes just have to run. We have to get our sport more interesting.”
• Independent: “Joshua Cheptegei, Nike And The Rise Of Technology In Running” GB middle distance runner Jake Wightman said, “So if you go in with the mindset that it’s unfair, you’re already putting yourself at a disadvantage. I think it’s different on the roads, but I don’t think in my events it makes that big of an impact.”