by Larry Eder
Amby Burfoot was the editor of Runners World and writer for the magazine for over thirty years. I had the fortune to work with him, for a several years. Amby has written with passion and love for the sport for most of his entire adult life.
Amby Burfoot has a huge following in our sport. He resonates with the Runners World reader and the running community because his love and passion for the sport show in all of his writing. A consumate professional, Amby took over Runners’ World when it was sold to Rodale press and helped move RW and running into the global phenomenon it is. The sport is better for Amby’s devotion to running.
Amby Burfoot, in a conversation one time told me that an editor does not edit the magazine for their personal needs, they edit the magazine for the needs of their consumers. He and George Hirsch, his longtime publisher,
formed a team that took Runners World to the next level.
It is truly appropriate that Amby Burfoot receives the George Hirsch Journalism Award. On behalf of the running community, we would like to congratulate Amby Burfoot on his well deserved recognition.
BARRAS STARTS TO TRAIN
BORDEAUX (FRA) : European decathlon champion Romain
Barras is slowly returning to training after a lingering injury flared up at
the Decastar IAAF World Challenge combined events meeting in Talence. Barras
still is not able to fully train but is focusing on rehabilitating the injury
and feels confident about the 2012 Olympic Games. However, he will not have as
much time for training as in recent years as he has started teaching at the
University in Bordeaux.
In a column for L’Équipe Barras also pointed out the team of Jean-Yves Cochand
is now continuing training without fellow coach Bertrand Valcin, who has been
severely injured after an accident in which he was set on fire.
TAHRI AFTER SURGERY
PARIS (FRA): French steeple European record holder Bouabdellah Tahri
succesfully underwent surgery in early September and is likely to train on
spikes again as early as mid November. The surgery to his shin was already
proposed in 2010 but due to the possible consequences Tahri had delayed the
surgery according to sports.fr.
BRUGNETTI ENDS THE CAREER
ROMA (ITA): Ivano Brugnetti, 2004 Olympic champion in the 20 km walking race and 1999
World champion in Seville
in the 50 km,
has retired from sport at age of 35. He celebrated his farewell in Rome last Saturday during
the second leg of Italian Walking Race Grand Prix at the historic Stadio dei
Marmi. Brugnetti farewell party was a gathering of past and present stars of
walking race like Robert Korzeniowski, Maurizio Damilano, Vittorio Visini,
Gianni Perricelli, Alex Schwazer, Giorgio Rubino and Elisa Rigaudo.
5
TEAMS FOR GLASGOW
GLASGOW (GBR): Next years indoor Aviva International in Glasgow on January 28 will
have five teams competing. Apart of home Great
Britain also USA,
Russia, Germany and Commonwealth select.
FARAH NO FOR VELENJE
PORTLAND (USA): European Athlete of the Year and World champion at 5000 m Mo Farah will not
compete at the European CC event later this year in December in Velenje,
Slovenia but considers to try races during the indoor season 2012. Farah is
currently at his Oregon
base under guidance of coach Alberto Salazar.
QUESTIONS ABOUT 30 KM WR
TORONTO (CAN): Organizers of the Scotiabank Toronto
Waterfront Marathon confirmed that their women’s winner, Koren Yal of Ethiopia,
would be paid a CAD 25,000 bonus for achieving a new course record, even though
under present international rules she had only tied the record. Yal, a 24
year-old Ethiopian, clocked 2:22:43 in winning Sunday’s race, the same time
achieved by Kenya’s Sharon Cherop in last year’s contest when Cherop set the
event record. However, when Yal’s time was looked at to the tenth of a second,
it was 2:22:42.5 compared to Cherop’s 2:22:42.8, a scant 3/10ths of a second
faster. Under present international rules, road race times are expressed in
whole seconds, and shown to the next highest second in official results.
However, Brookes thought that paying Yal a bonus–not quite the CAD 35,000
promised had she surpassed the record by at least a full second–was the right
thing to do. Informs RRW. Yal and compatriot Mare Dibaba ran race aggressively,
blasting through the half-way mark in 1:08:36, a time which would win all but a
handful of half-marathons held in the world this year. They kept up the hot
pace through 30 km
where the pair was timed with 1:38:31 what is faster than current world record
1:38:49 by Mizuki Noguchi of Japan at Berlin Marathon 2005. But in Chicago
Liliya Shobukhova went through 30
km in 1:38:23. Despite earlier informations this mark is
now listed as the pending WR at iaaf.org. But in case of the new rule to
recognize records in only women races this is all under question. By the way,
IAAF is also listing as pending men 30 km WR the split of Peter Korir from Berlin
Marathon this year 1:27:37. In initial thinking this mark was not considered
due to the fact that he did not finish the race.
ANOTHER SPRINT RECORD FOR OMAN
MANAMA (BRN, Oct 18): Oman sprinters continued winning at
1st GCC Games as they dominated the 4×100 m in 39.49 (national record). In
steeple Ali Abubaker Kamal won the gold for Qatar
8:50.40 ahead of Tareq Mubarak Taher of Bahrain 8:51.51. Kuweit favorite
Mohammed Al-Azemi won the 800
m in 1:47.35 beating improved Saudi Arabian Abdulaziz
Abdulla 1:47.78 PB. Jassem Waleed won the 400 m hurdles for Kuweit in 52.15 when the
favorite Yahya Sharakhili of Saudi
Arabia (medalist from Asian Games) did not
finish the race. Mohamed Essa Zankawi a junior from Kuweit was the best in
discus with national senior record 57.60 m.
AWARD FOR BURFOOT
NEW YORK (USA): For a career that has spanned
more than three decades as editor and feature columnist at Runner’s World
magazine, as well as numerous books, Amby Burfoot (65) has been named recipient
of the George Hirsch Journalism Award, presented by New York Road Runners, it
was announced today by NYRR president and CEO Mary Wittenberg. Burfoot will be
honored at a news conference during ING New York City Marathon race week on
Friday, November 4. A
special award created by Tiffany & Co., an official sponsor of the ING New
York City Marathon, will be presented at that time. Longtime track and field
journalist Dick Patrick was the inaugural honoree in 2010. NYRR informs in a
release.
