Boulder Wave Articles


Florea, Frumuz Both Take 7th in Their Legs of Chiba International Ekiden

Friday, November 23, 2012 No Comments by bw_admin

Madalina Florea (adidas) and Cristiana Frumuz (adidas) both placed 7th in their respective sections of today’s 2012 Chiba International Ekiden in Japan, helping Romania place 10th among the 15 invited international teams. In cold, rainy, and very unpleasant race conditions, 19 year-old Madalina ran 16:21 for the 5km second leg of the race, temporarily moving Team Romania into 9th place. Anchoring the race with the 7.195 km final 6th leg, Cristiana ran a very solid 24:32, passing runners from Australia and Norway to carry Romania from 12th to 10th at the finish line in 2:13:41 for the 42.195 km distance. It was the second-fastest result ever for Romania since the Chiba organizers switched the ekiden format to a mix of three men and three women per team, just two seconds slower than their 2011 result of 2:13:39, despite today’s rough weather.

Madalina and Cristiana are both part of the adidas Romania Development Program managed by Boulder Wave.

The Japan Running News blogspot carries a very thorough article on the race today.

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Florea, Frumuz Set to Run Chiba International Ekiden

Thursday, November 22, 2012 No Comments by bw_admin

Monica Madalina Florea (adidas) and Cristiana Frumuz (adidas) of our adidas Romanian Development Program are set to run this morning’s (Friday, Japan time) Chiba International Ekiden in Japan. 19 year-old Florea, who broke through this summer with a 7th-place finish in the 5,000m at the IAAF World Junior Championships, will run the 5 km 2nd leg of the 42.195 km event; and Frumuz, who won the Romanian Half-Marathon Championship this autumn in a two-minute PB of 73:39, will take the 7.195 km anchor leg.

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Irvette van Blerk Wins Final 2012 Spar 10K in South Africa

Sunday, October 14, 2012 No Comments by bw_admin

Irvette van Blerk (Nedbank/adidas) comfortably won today’s Spar Women’s Challenge 10K in Johannesburg in 34:34, her first win on this year’s circuit after three 3rd-place finishes. The victory boosted her to 2nd-place in the final overall standings behind Nedbank and adidas teammate Rene Kalmer (Nedbank/adidas). After four straight wins this year, Rene had been seeking to become the first woman in the Spar circuit’s illustrious history to sweep all five races, but a bothersome Achilles in the aftermath of last weekend’s world half-marathon championship prompted her to withdraw a day before the race.

At the post-race press conference, Irvette commented, “I’m glad about my time as it shows my fitness is coming back. I rested for a month after the Olympics [and also got married on September 29th] and training is a battle right now, and I’m doing a lot of catching up. It was a lucky race for me. I almost decided not to run, but…I pushed on.”

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Adriana Nelson Named to Team USA for World Half-Marathon Championships

Friday, September 21, 2012 No Comments by bw_admin

Adriana in last year's NY Mini 10K (All rights reserved, PhotoRun, Inc.)

Adriana Nelson (ASICS) was officially named this week to her first-ever USA national team, getting the nod to represent America in the October 6th IAAF World Half-Marathon Championships to be held in Kavarna, Bulagria. Adriana has been having a strong year following her shift to the coaching of Brad Hudson, as well as a move to Boulder as her new training base. Top-five finishes in both the US 15K and 20K national championships and an 8th place finish at the Dick’s Sporting Goods Bolder-Boulder 10K, as well as an improvement in her 10,000m to 32:38.95 and a berth in the US Olympic Trials 10,000m, have been the highlights of her year’s successes.

This will be Adriana’s third appearance at an IAAF half-marathon or road race world championship. She twice represented her native Romania, finishing an impressive 10th at the 2005 World Half-Marathon Championships in Edmonton, where she also won a  team gold medal; and 29th at the 2006 World Road Race (20K) Championships in Debrecen, Hungary.

Adriana is joined on the USATF  women’s team by Shalane Flanagan, Maegan Krifchin, Michelle Frey, and Alvina Begay.

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31:51.91 PB for Yuriko Kobayashi

Friday, September 21, 2012 No Comments by bw_admin

Fresh off a month of Boulder training, Toyota’s Yuriko Kobayashi (Toyota/Mizuno) chopped 30-seconds off her 10,000m PB this evening at the All-Japan Corporate Track Championships, taking 2nd overall behind Kenya’s Sally Chepyego (31:33.76) and finishing as top Japanese in the event. It was only the second 10,000m of Yuriko’s career, following her 32:21.03 debut at a Hokuren meeting this summer in Japan. Earlier in her career, Yuriko was the world’s fastest 1500m junior in 2006 (with her 4:07.86 PB) and has been slowly moving up in distance since her graduation from college.

In her first race since the Olympics and also on the heels of a Boulder training camp, Kayoko Fukushi (Wacoal/adidas) finished a half-second back in third in 31:52.54. Kayoko was announced this week as part of the invited field for the November 4th  ING New York City Marathon, which has assembled a spectacularly deep field of many of the world’s top women.

Fukushi’s fellow 5000m/10000m Olympian, Mika Yoshikawa of Panasonic, another recent Boulder trainee, took 5th overall in 32:09.10.

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Edna Kiplagat 2nd, Rene Kalmer 6th, Freya Murray 9th at Today’s Great North Run, All in PBs!!!

Sunday, September 16, 2012 No Comments by bw_admin

Edna Kiplagat (Nike) bounced back from her Olympic disappointment with a massive PB of 67:41 at this morning’s Great North Run half-marathon, finishing second to Tirunesh Dibaba’s 67:35. Edna crushed her former PB by 1:19 while going on-on-one with Olympic 5/10 champion Dibaba over the final few hundred meters.

Reigning South African Half-Marathon champ Rene Kalmer (Nedbank/adidas) also followed up her Olympic marathon with a PB today, running a very nice 70:13 for 6th place.

 

And Freya Murray (adidas) made it three-for-three for our trio of Olympic marathoners today, running a PB also, with 72:23 for 9th place, very impressive in the midst of her wedding planning!

 

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Diane Nukuri Johnson Shares a Few London Pics

Friday, July 27, 2012 No Comments by bw_admin

Diane (2nd from right) and her teammates showing off their traditional dress in the Olympic Village. Tonight’s Opening Ceremonies wear?

Diane and Lidia Simon, who will run a record fifth Olympic Marathon, at the Victoria Memorial fountain in front of Buckingham Palace last Sunday after a training run together on the Olympic marathon course

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Constantina, Diane, Irvette, and Rene Hang Out at St. James Palace

Thursday, July 26, 2012 No Comments by bw_admin

(Left to right) Irvette van Blerk, Rene Kalmer, Constantina Dita, and Diane Nukuri Johnson at St. James Palace last night.

Always up for a party and a palace, and with more than ten days still until the Olympic women’s marathon, last night four of our Olympic women attended the “Olympians Gala 2012” at St. James Palace. Constantina Dita (ASICS), Diane Nukuri Johnson (ASICS), Irvette van Blerk (Nedbank/adidas), and Rene Kalmer (Nedbank/adidas) got together for the reception, which was hosted by the World Olympians Association with Prince Albert II of Monaco. The WOA is an ‘alumni association’ for some 100,000 athletes worldwide who have achieved Olympic status in their careers.

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Constantina Dita Opens ASICS’ “Home of True Sport” in London

Thursday, July 26, 2012 No Comments by bw_admin

Olympic Marathon champ Constantina Dita was the featured star of the opening ceremonies at ASICS “Home of True Sport” at the University of East London yesterday afternoon. The Stratford location will be the site of ASICS hospitality for all sports and all guests throughout the Olympic Games. “It was really a great ceremony and I really enjoyed the day with ASICS. I stayed there for 4 or 5 hours with my sister, Irina. Mr. Hijikata, Jacques [Valentin], [Tatusya] Nagoshi-san, Akiko [Nagata] and a lot of my ASICS friends were there. We always have a lot of fun together. This year the Romanian Olympic team uniforms and casual clothing are also from ASICS.”

Constantina is in her tenth year of sponsorship with ASICS. In addition to Constantina, three other Boulder Wave Olympic marathoners this year are sponsored by ASICS: Lidia Simon and  Diane Nukuri Johnson on the women’s side, and Lee Merrien for the men.

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Madalina Florea takes 7th in World Juniors 5000m with new PB

Wednesday, July 11, 2012 No Comments by bw_admin

Madalina Florea (adidas) ran an impressive 7th in a new PB of 16:08.07 in tonight’s 5000m final at the IAAF World Junior Championships in Barcelona. A member of our adidas Boulder Wave Romanian Development Project, Madalina ran the best time of her career by twelve seconds while also finishing as second European in the race. 17-year old Anca Bunea, who joined our program this past winter, took 17th in her first world championship race.

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