by Larry EderPaula Radcliffe ran a brave race in Beijing. Just how fit is she, and how fit will she need to be to run with the emerging field at ING New York? Right now, my belief is that the race could come down to Radcliffe, Kara Goucher and Kim Smith, who all possess solid 10,000 meter times, and who are strength runners. That does not count the rest of the field!
But, this weekend is Bank of America Chicago Marathon weekend, so watch for good stuff on that race tomorrow!
EME NEWS (OCT 8, 2008)
First race for Radcliffe
PORTSMOUTH (GBR): Marathon world record holder Paula Radcliffe will run her first race since the Olympic Games marathon when competing in the Bupa Great South Run on October 26. Informs David Martin. After that she is scheduled to defend her title at New York Marathon. Radcliffe’s opponents will include fellow British international Jo Pavey over a 10 miles course in Portsmouth, a distance she last contested as a teenager around 18 years ago.
Rio News
Top favorites for Sunday´s IAAF World Half Marathon Championships are Zersenay Tadese, the Kenyan and Ethiopian teams on the men side and Lornah Kiplagat, Japanese Yukiko Akaba, top Ethiopian Atsede Habtamu and Kenyans headed by Peninah Arusei on the women side.
BRAZIL: Home team will be represented by South American record holder at the distance Marilson Gomes dos Santos, Franck Caldeira de Almeida, Giomar Pereira da Silva, Joao Ferreira de Lima and Ivanildo Pereira dos Anjos. The Brasilian women team will will be headed by Stramilano winner Maria Zeferina Baldaia, along with Marizete de Paula Rezende, Marizete Moreira dos Santos, Edielza Alves dos Santos Guimaraes and Rosangela Pereira Faria.
SOUTH AFRICA: Athletics South Africa announced that the road running team will consists of Boy Soke, Stephen Mokoka, Tshamano Setone, Jeffrey Gwebu and Lindikhaya Mthangayi. Ladies are Zintle Xiniwe, Annerien van Schalkwyk and Ntombesintu Ntshiliza (EPA).
Kiplagat vs. Kiptanui
NAIROBI (KEN): The Nation writes that Athletics Kenya’s polls will culminate with the election of national officials. Most of the current officials are expected to easily retain their seats. Though the chairman Isaiah Kiplagat, secretary general David Okeyo and treasurer Joseph Kinuya have opponents, they are confident of carrying the day, if the grassroots elections was any indication. Former steeple world champion Moses Kiptanui wants to take over veteran Kiplagat’s seat who has served the association in various capacities for 30 years, has been chairman since 1992 when he replaced Paul Boit. Long serving secretary David Okeyo will face off with Mike Kariuki and Robert Ouko. Treasurer Joseph Kinuya will have to reckon with Francis Afundi. Three of the officials will return to office unopposed. Ibrahim Hussein, the assistant secretary general, Peter Angwenyi, the public relations officer, and Dimmy Kisalu, the assistant treasurer, do not have any opponents.
Keys for Bolt
MONTEGO BAY (JAM): It was a heroes’ welcome for Jamaica’s Olympians as they travelled to the western end of the island where they were honoured at a civic ceremony at Sam Sharpe Square and again at Water Square in Falmouth, Trelawny. Triple gold medallist and world-record holder, Usain Bolt, 200 m Olympic champion Veronica Campbell-Brown, 400 m hurdles gold medallist Melaine Walker and 100 m champion, Shelly-Ann Fraser, all received citations from the Council, while Bolt was presented with the Keys to the City. After two hours in the second city and a four-hour motorcade along the North Coast, a similar reception met them in neighbouring Trelawny, home of five of the island’s Olympians, including Bolt and Campbell-Brown. Thousands of people, including schoolchildren, packed the small square to welcome their athletics heroes. The colourful floats entered the square amidst the beat of dancehall songs and the residents, who had been waiting from as early as 12 noon. Informs Jamaica Observer.
Soweto Marathon
JOHANNESBURG (RSA): The Nedbank Soweto Marathon is taking place on Sunday, 02 November. Starting at Elkah Stadium in Moroka, Soweto, it will cover a wide portion of this historical township with a distance of 42.2km, 10km, 20km (walk) and 5km Fun Run. As South African Federation informs the first Soweto Marathon was held on the first Sunday of December 1991. The event had a field of less than 80 participants, but was definitely a landmark in road running as it was the first time a road race was run through the streets of Soweto. In 2007, the Nedbank Soweto Marathon attracted 12 000 runners from all over South Africa as well as the African continent and the world.
Szczecin to get EA Permit
WARSZAWA (POL): Polish International meet Pedro´s Cup which is having its editions indoors (Bydgoszcz) and outdoors will get for first time European Athletics Permit category also for the outdoor version in 2009. This year the event was held in Szczecin and the top star was Asafa Powell. In the past also stars like Jeremy Wariner competed at the event. This year it was held for fourth time outdoors (in 2005 it was in Poznan and 2006 and 2007 in Warszawa).
OTHER NEWS
DOHA (QAT): Qatar Doha, whose bid to host the 2016 Olympics ended on controversy, are to stage the 12th Pan-Arab Games in 2011, the first time the quadrennial multi-sport event being will have been held in a Gulf state, the Qatar Olympic Committee said. Informs insidethegames.com. The Games were last held in Cairo, Egypt in 2007.
CHICAGO (USA): While not expected to reach the sweltering highs which plagued last year’s Bank of America Chicago Marathon, temperatures in the Windy City for Sunday’s race are, nonetheless, going to be warm for marathon running. Race Results Weekly checked the weather forecast for Chicago using three popular websites, and all predict temperatures to reach the mid-70’s F (low/mid-20’s C). The humidity will also be high at the 8:00 a.m. starting time, between 80% and 90%. Executive race director Carey Pinkowski and his team have taken steps to mitigate the effects of warm weather on the athletes, adding more aid stations and beefing up both staffing and supplies at each one.
PARIS (FRA): European 50 km walk champion Yohan Diniz will compete this Sunday at 20 km road race in Paris. The silver medalist from world championships 2007 did not finish the Olympic race this year. His Sunday entry will be for support in pink shirt to assist young seriously sick or broken adults to carry out a project of life. He also said he wants to continue until London 2012.
LAUSANNE (SUI): European Athletics has selected three project entries, one each from Russia, Sweden and Great Britain, as category winners in its 2008 European Athletics Innovation Awards. The winning entries are “Biomechanical Aspects of Training Means Selection in Track and Field Jumps” by Mikhail Shestakov (RUS) in the Coaching category, “The SPAR Athletics SPARK” by William Anderson (GBR) in the Promotion category and “Hamstring Muscle Strain in Sprinters” by Carl Askling (SWE) & Alf Thorstensson (SWE) in the Open category. All three are eligible for the overall award, including a prize of 10,000 Swiss Francs, which will be presented at the European Athletics Awards dinner in Amsterdam on 18 October. This year’s contest attracted a total of 22 entry files from 12 countries.
CHELYABINSK (RUS): Famous Pole Vault coach Vitaliy Petrov was giving classes at the a conference about his event here and also informed that he will help in the training the young Russian vaulter Dmitriy Starodubtsev. His main coach remains Aleksandr Shalonnikov. Starodubtsev (22) was fifth at Olympic Games and improved this year to 575 cm. “We will work together with his main coach, I will invite them to Formia to the Pole Vault training center in Italy,” Petrov explained.
KINGSTON (JAM): Disgraced sprinter Julien Dunkley accepted the two-year ban after testing positive for an illegal substance, citing the high financial costs associated with attempting to disprove the findings at a hearing to be staged by the Jamaica Amateur Athletics Association (JAAA). Informs Jamaica Observer.
RESULTS ADDITION
BEOGRAD (SRB, Oct 4): Best Serbian runner Olivera Jevtic won the Nike women race at 7.7 km with 24:12.6. Second place went to Kenyan Lidia Nyeri (24:37.1) and third Lucy Kimani of Bosnia (25:50.1). In total 3500 runners competed.
Used with permission of Alfons Juck, EME News.
