Irvette van Blerk (Nedbank/adidas) won the 40th edition of Italy’s Scalata al Castella 5K in Arezzo, Italy, this evening, completing the six-lap course in 16:25 for a 32-second victory.
Boulder Wave Articles
Team Japan Women Ready to Challenge for Top 3 at Bolder-Boulder 10K
Team Japan at today's Bolder-Boulder welcome luncheon at the Millennium Hotel in Boulder: (l to r) Eri Okubo, Yuko Watanabe, Kayoko Fukushi
With most attention in the International Team Challenge women’s race at Monday Bolder-Boulder 10K focused on an expected battle among the USA, Ethiopian, and Kenyan teams, the Japanese women are looking to put themsleves in the mix and make it to the Top 3 podium. Kayoko Fukushi (Wacoal/adidas) heads up the team, with a stellar resume that includes the Asian record in the half-marathon (67:26), the Japanese record at 5,000m (14:53.22), a 30:51.81 PB for 10,000m, and a 3rd place finish at last year’s Bank of America Chicago Marathon (2:24:38). Kayoko will be doubling at the 5/10 in next months’ Japan national championships/Olympic Trials. Eri Okubo (Second Wind AC/Mizuno) has been rocketing up the charts the past 12 months – at the 2011 Berlin Marathon in September she improved her marathon PB from 2:35:24 to 2:28:49 for 9th place, and then in February jumped another big step with 2:26:08 for 4th place at the Tokyo Marathon. Last weekend Eri was 3rd at the Gifu Seiryu Half-Marathon, a race won by Boulder Wave athlete Rene Kalmer (Nedbank/adidas). The third member on Team Japan is Yuko Watanabe, who finished 11th at last year’s Bolder-Boulder, followed a month later by a 32:27.89 PB.
At Bolder-Boulder, the big prize money is in the Team Challenge. While money extends to the top 10 finishers, including $3,000 for the victory, the team prizes begin at $15,000 for 1st, $10,000 for 2nd, and $7,000 for 3rd.
The International Team Challenge women’s start is at 11:00 a.m. Monday, with the men going off 11 monutes later. The race winds through Boulder’s streets before finishing at the University of Colorado’s Folsom Field, where many of the estimated 54,000 runners from the citizens’ race will be on hand for the elite finish and the day’s Memorial Day services.
Eri Okubo and Kayoko Fukushi are represented by Boulder Wave. There other athletes rerpesented by Boulder Wave … Adriana Nelson (ASICS), Patrick Rizzo (Mizuno), Kenyon Neuman… will run for the Colorado teams (article tomorrow). Also Nuta Olaru (ASICS) and Lidia Simon (ASICS) will run in the citizens’ race, which begins at 7:00 a.m.
The Case for Lee Merrien for Olympic Selection
Lee Merrien and his wife at Sunday night's farewell party in London
In Sunday’s Virgin London Marathon, Lee Merrien (ASICS) took his marathon down another notch, improving from 2:14:27 to 2:13:41, thereby winning the Jim Peters Award (photo above) as the top British finisher for a second consecutive year. Despite now being well clear of the Olympic “A” standard of 2:15:00, Lee was left off the team by UK Athletics in their team announcement on Monday. There has been some commotion in the UK this week over the Federation’s selection standard of 2:12:00 for UK Men; as one knowledgable guest at the Tower Hotel in London pointed out earlier this week, the marathon and race walking events are the only ones for which UK Athletics decided to set qualification standards higher than those set by the IAAF.
The website Ethical Athletics posted strong support for Lee on their site yesterday in an article simply titled, “The Case for Lee Merrien.” Please read the comments and add your support for Lee’s cause.
Tagged Ethical Athletics, Jim Peters Award, Lee Merrien
Nine Boulder Wave Athletes Set for Tomorrow’s Virgin London Marathon; Olympic Berths At Stake
In about 12 hours, the gun will go off for the 9:00 a.m. start of the elite women’s run in the Virgin London Marathon, followed 45 minutes later by the start of the elite men and mass races. Boulder Wave has nine runners from five countries in this year’s race, and interesting stores abound, with an overwhelming focus on Olympic qualification.
John Beattie (UK/adidas): budding star of the Twitter universe and Athleticos whose London prep has been entertainingly documented in a several on-line videos. John learned some valuable lessons in his 2:23 marathon debut in NYC last November, and will run with the 2:11 group with a target to be one of the top two British men AND run under 2:12:00, thereby taking one of the two remaining spots on the UK Olympic men’s marathon team.
Louise Damen (UK/adidas): debuted in 2:30:00 in last year’s Virgin London Marathon and is among 4-5 top British women with the best hopes of gaining the third spot on the British Olympic Marathon team. It is expected that the top British woman tomorrow will also have to be under 2:28:24, which is the recent best of Jo Pavey, who is currently in line for the third spot on the team.
Constantina Dita (ROU/ASICS): the 42 year old reigning Olympic Marathon Champion is aiming to qualify to return to the Olympic Games. It will take a sub-2:37:00 mark to hit the qualifying “A” standard and join Lidia Simon for a third time on Romania’s Olympic team.
Rene Kalmer (RSA/adidas/Nedbank): secured a place on South Africa’s Olympic marathon team with a wonderful 2:29:59 PB in last November’s very hot, very humid Yokohama women’s marathon. Rene is pacing the 2:28 women’s group here, which is expected to include most of the British women fighting for the final spot on their Olympic marathon team, as far as 20 miles. Last month, she paced the 2:23 lead pack of the Nagoya Women’s Marathon for 24 km.
Edna Kiplagat (KEN/Nike): the reigning IAAF Marathon World Champion is aiming to win tomorrow, and also to confirm her spot on Kenya’s Olympic team.
Lee Merrien (UK/ASICS): won the Jim Peters award in the 2011 Virgin Marathon as the top British finisher. Has had a fantastic autumn and winter of training including three stints in Kenya. Two spots remain on the British Olympic men’s marathon team, and Lee will be going out with the 2:11 pacemaking group with a target of sub-2:12 and top two British finish.
Freya Murray (UK/adidas): her maraton debut and she is jumping right into the thick of it by targeting both a fast debut and the final spot on the British Olympic Marathon team.
Louise Damen (UK/adidas): debuted in 2:30:00 in last year’s Virgin London Marathon and is among 4-5 top British women with the best hopes of gaining the third spot on the British Olympic Marathon team. As in Louise Damen’s case, Freya will need to be top British woman and finish under 2:28:24 (which is the recent best of Jo Pavey, who is currently in line for the third spot on the team) to secure that Olympic berth.
Patrick Rizzo (USA/Mizuno): will pace the 2:11 men’s group potentially as far as 20 miles. After improving his marathon PB by over two minutes with his 2:13:42in January’s US Olympic Trails, Pat will also use the race tomorrow as part of his longer-term goal of running under 2:11 in a marathon this autumn.
Irvette van Blerk (RSA/adidas/Nedbank): With a 70:56 half-marathon PB, Irvette has a promising marathon career ahead, with tomorrow’s race being her debut at the distance. A sub-2:37:00 finish to achieve the Olympic “A” standard will put her on South Africa’s Olympic marathon team.
Mt SAC Results: 5000m PB for Laura Thweatt
Friday night results from the Mt. SAC Relays, with Laura Thweatt running a new PB for 5000m and Matt Tebo running his 2nd- fastest ever 5000m
Men’s Olympic Development 5000m
5th Matt Tebo (Boulder Track Club) 13:48.19
7th Kenyon Neuman (Nike) 13:52.72
10th Tomoyuki Morita (Kanebo) 13:54.36
Men’s Invitational Elite 5000m
14th Kensuke Takezawa (S&B Shokuhin) 13:46.73
Men’s Open 5000m – Section A
9th Ryouhei Kawakami (Kanebo) 14:03.54
Women’s Olympic Development 5000m
7th Laura Thweatt (Boulder Track Club) 15:55.20 PB
18th Meghan Peyton (Mizuno) 16:14.82 Read more »
NYC Half: Diane Johnson Hits New PB/NR, and PB also by Freya Murray
Irvette van Blerk (l) and Diane Johnson (r) trying to keep warm after this morning's NYC Half-Marathon.
Quick news from the Big Apple: In this morning’s NYC Half-Marathon, Diane Johnson (ASICS) broke her PB and Burundi National Record by 73 seconds with 70:55 for 11th place. Freya Murray (adidas) took 12 seconds off her best half-marathon with 72:33 for 17th place, with Irvette van Blerk (adidas) right behind in 18th in 72:36. Freya and Irvette are both in the middle of peparations for their marathon debuts at next month’s Virgin London Marathon, where they will also attempt to qualify for the Olympic teams of the UK and South Africa, respectively. Diane will be in Chicago a week from today for the Shamrock Shuffle 8k.
Nagoya Women’s Marathon will be high noon for Olympic hopefuls
Short preview article (click here) in the Asahi Shimbun on the March 11th Nagoya Women’s Marathon…last train to London OG for Japanese women. On the Japanese side, we have 2009 WC silver medalist Yoshimi Ozaki (Daiichi Life Insurance/adidas) and reigning (i.e. 2010 champ, as last year’s Nagoya was cancelled in the aftermath of the Great Tohoku Earthquake and Tsunami) Nagoya champion Yuri Kano (Shiseido/adidas). Lidia Simon (ASICS), whose last marathon was a victory in the inaugural Osaka Marathon last autumn, will be looking to lock down qualification for her 5th (!!!) Olympic Marathon. So far as we have found out, Lidia could become the first woman in Olympic history to qualify for and compete in five Olympic Marathons. Rene Kalmer (adidas), who has been on fire this winter in South Africa since qualifying for the Olympic Games with her 2:29:59 for 5th in November’s hot and humid Yokohama women’s marathon), will be a pacemaker for Nagoya, which is expected to go out at 71:00 for the first half.
Constantina Dita arrives in Osaka
Constantina (left) with 2004 Olympic champ Mizuki Noguchi (center) and 2000 Olympic champ Naoko Takahashi (right) on a chilly morning at the Boulder Reservoir last week (Photo by Boulder Wave, Inc. All rights reserved.)
Reigning Olympic marathon champ Constantina Dita (ASICS) arrived in Osaka today for her final fine-tuning before the January 29th Osaka International Women’s Marathon. Accompanied by her sister/coach, Elisaveta, Constantina wanted to do her final training at sea level, after preparing in her US hometown of Erie, Colorado, throughout the past three winter months. “The preparation has been good, and I feel it is better than anything I have done the past two years. In Osaka, the main priority is to make my qualification for the Romanian team for this summer’s London Olympic Games. I have heard the lead group in Osaka will go about 71 minutes for the first half; to be honest, this is a bit too fast for me. I hope to run 2:28-2:30 and make the top eight in Osaka. Before the Beijing Olympics also I made my final training in Osaka, so I am comfortable there. I am planning the same pattern this year as I did in 2008: Osaka in January, the Virgin London Marathon in April, and then the Olympic Games.”
Adriana Nelson Tabbed in Latest Track & Field News with Shot at US Olympic Team
Adriana in action in this year's NYC Half-Marathon (Photo courtesy of PhotoRun, Inc. All rights reserved)
In the new January 2012 issue of Track and Field News, Adriana Nelson (ASICS) is among the US women pegged by writer Sieg Lindstrom with a good possibility to make the US Olympic Marathon team in the January 14th trials race in Houston. Lindstrom writes: “There’s a fledgling quintet, each with a realistic shot to win: Davila, Flanagan, Goucher, Hastings, Nelson…The 31-year-old Nelson (nee Pirtea) has gained expedited release from her native Romania to represent the U.S. She lost the ’07 Chicago by just 3 seconds in her debut. The UTEP alum has had good big-race finishes since: 3rd Rotterdam ’09, 6th Berlin ’10, 7th Osaka ’11.”
[Adriana also was 10th in London ’08 in her 2:28:52 PB.]
Six athletes represented by Boulder Wave will compete in the US marathon trials. On the women’s side in addition to Adriana, we will have Meghan Peyton (Team USA Minnesota). On the men’s side will be Patrick Rizzo (Mizuno), Justin Young, Josh Moen (Team USA Minnesota/Mizuno), and Kenyon Neuman (Team Alchemy). Meghan and Kenyon will be making their marathon debuts.
