November 26, 2008 - British long-distance runner Paula Radcliffe wants to take young British talent under her wing by holding training sessions with them in the French mountains.

Radcliffe said she’s happy to give youngsters an insight on her unrivalled work ethic by guiding them round the trails in the Pyrenees that have helped her become the world’s finest marathon runner.

The reason it hasn’t happened before? No one ever asked.

Radliffe told the Telegraph:

“I am in Font Romeu, on and off, for six months of the year and I would love to show people round, to co-ordinate squad training sessions and see British distance running get somewhere.”

Radcliffe is a member of the superstar panel advising Ian Stewart as UK Athletics’ new head of endurance. One of Stewart’s plans to inject new enthusiasm into Britain’s prospects for London 2012 is to return to the squad training system that worked so well in the Seventies and Eighties.

Asked about her own chances at the next Olympics, Radcliffe believes age will be no barrier to marathon success in London 2012. After a year of contrasting fortunes in which she eased to victory in the New York marathon but saw her Olympic dream shattered in Beijing, Radcliffe, who will be 38-years-old in 2012, is confident home support and her incredible levels of fitness means a gold medal is hers for the taking at the London Games.

Watch out world - the British are coming! 

Filed under: Athletics, Marathon, Running by jane
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The Washington Huskies lived up to all the expectations placed upon them as they scored 79 points to win the NCAA Cross-Country Championships by 52 points over #2-ranked Oregon.  Washington was lead by 2 freshman, Christine Babcock and Kendra Schaaf, on a cold and windy day in Terre Haute, Indiana. 

Sally Kipyego of Texas Tech won her 3rd national title, the most of any woman in history, and did so with class.  She beat 2nd-place Susan Kuijken of Florida State by just 6 seconds; usually her competitors don’t come within 20 seconds.  During her post-race interview, could not stop talking about how lucky she was to compete against Kuijken, who she sats “brought out the best in me.”  Kipyego sometimes gets up to workout at 6:30am so she can make it to all of her classes in her demanding schedule.  And guess what?  The men’s Texas Tech team will get up to run those workouts with her because that’s how much respect they have for her as a person and a great runner.

For results and interviews galore, visit  Flotrack.com’s 2008 NCAA Cross-Country Coverage Page

Filed under: College Athletics, Cross Country, Running, Sports A-Z by anngaff
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Christine Babcock is the fastest high school miler EVER and is spending her freshman season at the University of Washington helping the #1 team in the nation dominate every single race they enter.

Babcock has consistently been one of the Huskies’ top runners and hopes to help her team win a National title next Monday at the NCAA Cross-Country Championships in Terre Haute, Indiana.

So just what is the secret to her success? You’ll be surprised at the answer! Check it out:

Video from Flotrack.org

Filed under: College Athletics, Cross Country, Running, Sports A-Z by anngaff
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November 17, 2008 - To qualify for the NCAA Division I Cross-Country Championships, teams competed this weekend at one of nine Regional Championships situated across the country. The top 2 teams in each region automatically qualified for the national meet. How the rest of the teams get in is a complicated process.

There are 13 “wild-card” spots for teams other than the 18 that qualified automatically at regionals. The way a team gets one of these 13 spots is by adding up the number of teams that have been accepted to the national meet which their team has beaten at some point during the season. So if a team was 3rd in their region but had beaten 5 of the 18 automatic-qualifiers during the season, they have a good chance of getting one of the first wildcard spots.

Individual athletes can qualify for the meet alone if their team doesn’t qualify. They can automatically qualify by placing in the top 4 individuals that did NOT already qualify on a team at regionals. There are then just 2 wildcard individuals from the entire country that are allowed in next. They are the ones that had the highest overall place at their respective regional meet; if the place is the same for 2 wildcard candidates, they then determine the qualifier by how close they were to the competitor in front of them.

The moral of the story is, every person you can edge out counts as well as every second faster you can run! When I was a sophomore, I qualified as a wildcard individual because I was 6th place overall at my regional championships AND was just 2 seconds behind 5th place.

To see all of the qualifiers for this year’s NCAA Championships, taking place on November 21 in Terre Haute, Indiana, Click Here.

For more coverage on the Regional Championships and the upcoming NCAA Champs, go to Flotrack.org

Filed under: College Athletics, Cross Country, Running, Sports A-Z by anngaff
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November 13, 2008 - The Nike Team Nationals have been renamed to the Nike Cross Nationals to reflect the fact that an individual championships has been added this year to a meet formerly scored for teams only. But everyone has to qualify at their Regional meet first…except for Californians, who are selected by a committee due to the fact that their State meet is run so late in the season.

The first set of Regionals start this weekend, with the Midwest Region in Terre Haute, IN, the Northwest Region in Boise, ID, and the Heartland Region in Sioux Falls, SD. The rest of the regional meets take place November 22 and 29, with the National meet taking place in Portland, OR, on December 6.

Visit Dyestat.com’s Coverage for Regionals sites, rankings, entries, results and analysis or the Official NXN 2008 Site for more details.

Filed under: Cross Country, Running by anngaff
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The University of Washington’s Katie Follett, Cross-Country All-American, got interviewed by Flotrack as she completed a workout on the school’s Alter-G treadmill.

An Alter-G treadmill allows you to run as if you weigh only a fraction of your actual body weight. This innovative piece of technology has allowed injury-prone runners or runners looking to up their mileage to get in more miles without the pounding and stress on the body. Only a handful of universities in the nation have access to Alter-G’s, as well as a few professional athletes. They are expensive pieces of equipment but have proven to be very worthwhile.

Follett placed 19th at last year’s NCAA DI Cross-Country Championships, making her Washington’s first All-American since 2001. This year, she is running 5th for her team–not because she is having a rough season but because her team has gotten that good.

This weekend, #1-ranked Washington faces #2 Oregon in the West Region Championships. Both teams should easily take the top 2 automatic team spots for the NCAA Championships. The question is, will the Washington Lady Huskies sweep the top 5 spots like they did a couple weeks ago at PAC-10’s?

Listen to what Follett has to say:

Filed under: College Athletics, Cross Country, Running, Sports A-Z, Student-Athlete, Technology, Track & Field by anngaff
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November 3, 2008 - History was made at the PAC-10 Conference Cross-Country Championships on Friday, as University of Washington’s Lady Huskies did the unthinkable as they went one, two, three, four, five, … and six. Not only did they take the team Pac-10 title, they obliterated the field and etched their names into history as the only team to ever win the title with a perfect score.

Washington freshman Kendra Schaaf won the women’s individual title with a course and Pac-10 6K record time of 19 minutes and 24 seconds, while lowering the previous course mark by 33 seconds.

She was followed across the finish line by sophomore Mel Lawrence, freshman Christine Babcock, senior Anita Campbell, junior Katie Follett and senior Amanda Miller. Lawrence and Babcock also finished under the previous course mark of 19:57, and Campbell tied it.

Coming into the race, Washington was ranked #1 nationally and PAC-10 rival Oregon was ranked #2. Those spots were solidified as Washington left no question as to whether or not they were the superior team. Oregon’s #1 runner would not have even been a scorer for Washington.

More interviews, videos and photos at FloTrack.com

Filed under: College Athletics, Cross Country, General, Running by anngaff
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November 2 2008 - Defending champion and noted marathon mom Paula Radcliffe stormed to victory in today’s New York Marathon and won $130,000 as the first woman to cross the finish line.

Radcliffe became the second woman to win the race three times, but unlike her 2004 and 2007 wins this was by a big margin. Her unofficial time was two hours, 23 minutes, 56 seconds, nearly two minutes ahead of second place finisher Ludmila Petrova of Russia.

Kara Goucher, in her marathon debut, took third, becoming the first American to make the podium since Anne Marie Letko was third in 1994. 

New York Marathon results:

Women
1. Paula Radcliffe (GB) 2hrs 23mins 56secs
2. Ludmila Petrova (Rus) 2:25:43
3. Kara Goucher (US) 2:25:53
4. Rita Jeptoo (Ken) 2:27:49
5. Catherine Ndereba (Ken) 2:29:14
6. Gete Wami (Eth) 2:29:25
7. Dire Tune (Eth) 2:29:28
8. Lidia Simon (Rom) 2:30:04
9. Lyubov Morgunova (Rus) 2:30:38
10. Katie McGregor (US) 2:31:14

Filed under: Marathon, News Bytes, Running by jane
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October 31, 2008 - When Paula Radcliffe celebrated with 10-month old daughter, Isla, after crossing the finish line in Central Park to win last year’s New York Marathon, the image established her as the “marathon mom.”

Great Britain’s Radcliffe, who won New York in 2004 and 2007, owns a world best at the 26.2 mile distance with a time of 2:15:25. Her daughter, now 21 months, seems a lucky talisman. Radcliffe looked in fine form last weekend as she won the 10-mile Great South Run in a British record time.

Throughout her pregnancy Radcliffe trained, in fact she trained until the day before she delivered Isla and she started running again 12 days after giving birth in January 2007. After her win there was a lot of debate about how much one can or should exercise during pregnancy but clearly an elite level athlete is different from the general population.

Radcliffe’s target now is a third victory in New York, the most by any woman after Grete Waitz’s nine triumphs between 1978 and 1988. Approaching her 35th birthday next month and coming off a 23rd-place finish at the Beijing Olympics where injuries hampered her preparation, Radcliffe hopes she is fit enough to defend her New York title.

Radcliffe insists she has nothing to prove this year. Even if she did win in New York in 2004 to rebound from Olympic disappointment and last year in her first marathon as a mother.

Seeking another New York marathon revival, Radcliffe’s husband and manager, Gary Lough, said she was her old self three weeks after the Beijing Games and is doing her customary preparation, averaging between 130 and 140 miles a week.

 According to Mary Wittenberg, the New York race director, being a “marathon mom” is now all the rage.

Wittenberg said: “I can’t stress enough how important Paula is to get people interested in running. Paula’s win after having Isla only 10 months before had a ripple effect throughout New York City and beyond.“

It’ll be interesting to see see how many more moms are running this year over previous years.

Mother or not, Radcliffe faces a deep field that includes last year’s runner-up Gete Wami, and another Ethiopian, Dire Tune, who is seeking her second major marathon victory this year after winning in Boston.

Catherine Ndereba of Kenya, coming off a silver medal in Beijing, chases her ninth major marathon title but her first in New York and American Kara Goucher is a bright spot running in her first marathon. A bona-fide star on the track and in cross country, Goucher has run few road races—but last September, she upset Radcliffe in a half-marathon.

So after New York, what’s next for Radcliffe? She hasn’t counted out a possible run at the London Olympics yet.  Radcliffe believes passion, rather than age, will determine whether her Olympic career is over.  The long road to London may well begin in New York.

See mommy run.

(Editors Note: Radcliffe successfully defended her title at the New York City Marathon on Nov. 2 2008 to become the second woman to win the race three times. Her time: two hours, 23 minutes, 55 seconds.)

Filed under: Marathon, Profiles, Running by jane
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October 31, 2008 - This Sunday, over 100,000 runners will race 26.2 miles across five towering bridges through New York’s five unique boroughs in the 39th ING New York City Marathon.

The mega-marathon that began with 55 finishers in Central Park in 1970 and moved to the five boroughs in 1976—starts at 9:10 a.m. Sunday (Eastern time) when the elite women get under way.

The race attracts many world-class professional athletes, not only for the more than $600,000 in prize money (male and female winners each receive $130,000) , but also for the chance to excel before two million cheering spectators and more than 300 million worldwide television viewers.

Last year’s winner Paula Radcliffe, along with Gete Wami , Catherine Ndereba and Kara Goucher are among the pros competing for the prize purse.

But the majority of participants are amateur runners who have two primary goals: to experience the different neighborhoods across New York by foot and to cross the finish line.

The runners come from all over and include more than a few celebs. Last year, Katie Holmes ran while hubby Tom Cruise cheered her on. This weekend, Beth Ostrosky,  a supermodel and the wife of media giant Howard Stern, is one of the celebs on the run.  Like many other celebrities, the 36-year-old beauty will be running to raise money for charity. She is the spokesperson for the North Shore Animal League of America, an organization advocating pet adoption. To date, Team Go Beth O has raised over $283,000 including $50,000 pledged from friend Rachel Ray.

The starting line will also see it’s share of Olympians. Former soccer star Brandi Chastain and former gymnastics sensation Kerri Strug are trading in their old Team USA uniforms for orange running jerseys as they take on their next athletic challenge. The two will Go for the Orange as they serve as ambassadors for the ING Run for Something Better.

All the runners can rock out this year as the marathon is expanding its course entertainment for participants and spectators with the Miles of Music Presented by New York Road Runners, featuring dozens of live bands.

For those who have more than a passing interest in the race, Runner’s World provides this preview of the women’s pro field:

1. Paula Radcliffe, PR, 2:15:25 (the world record). Prior to the Beijing Olympics, where she ran a brave 23rd despite injury-induced severe under-training, Radcliffe had never lost a marathon she finished.

2. Gete Wami, PR, 2:21:34. Wami won the 2006 and 2007 Berlin Marathons, then finished second to Radcliffe at New York last year less than two months after her Berlin triumph.

3. Catherine Ndereba, PR, 2:18:47. Arguably the greatest marathoner of all time, right up there with Radcliffe, but how many strong races can she run in a year? Ndereba’s coming off a silver medal at the Beijing Olympics, her second straight marathon silver in the Olympics.

4. Dire Tune, PR, 2:24:40. Tune has already run three major marathons this year, winning Houston (her PR) and Boston (2:25:25) and finishing 15th in Beijing (2:31:16). Just 23, she’s 10 years younger than her countrywoman Gete Wami. Making her debut in New York.

5. Rita Jeptoo, PR, 2:23:38. Jeptoo placed 4th in the 2006 NYC Marathon, her only previous appearance in New York. That spring she had won Boston, where she established her PR; she was third at Boston last April in 2:26:34. Five weeks ago, she set a course record at the RTP Lisbon Half Marathon, running 1:09:48.

6. Kara Goucher, first marathon. Goucher is making her marathon debut in New York after two years of sensational running. In 2007 she took home a surprise bronze medal from the Osaka World Championships ahi,000, and then scorched Radcliffe and everyone else with a winning effort in the Great North Run Half Marathon, 1:06:57. .

Also worth watching: Kim Smith, Magdalena Boulet,  Katie McGregor, Lyubov Morgunova,  and Ludmila Petrova.

Additional profiles of women runners can be found on the NYRR site.

If you’re not running the marathon, the race offers a great chance to celebrate those who can, and do. So if you’re in New York, join the party on the sidelines and salute the runners effort. 

Those not able to be in NY, can watch the race live online.  You can also preview the route in a great interactive tour. Share the experience and celebrate the triumph of each excruciating mile.

Runners, on your mark…

Filed under: Marathon, News Bytes, Running by jane
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