Boulder Wave Articles


38th BMW Berlin Marathon: Lidia Simon, Eri Okubo Ready for Action

Saturday, September 24, 2011 No Comments by bw_admin

Lidia Simon (ASICS) and Eri Okubo (Second Wind AC) are fit and peaked for tomorrow’s BMW Berlin Marathon, annually one of the world’s fastest events. A year ago, our group featured Tomo Morimoto taking 3rd, and Adriana Nelson in 6th.

As usual, race director Mark Milde has assembled a world class field, including for only the third time in world marathon history, both the men’s (Haile Gebreselassie) and women’s (Paula Radcliffe) world record holders racing in the same event.

Lidia trained all summer in Boulder for Berlin. In tomorrow’s race, she will be looking to post a fast time to put her in strong consideration for selection by the Romanian Athletics Federation for next year’s marathon team for the London Olympics. Lidia is also aiming to become the first woman in Olympic history to compete in five (!) Olympic marathons.

Eri is also in top shape, and Coach Manabu Kawagoe will have her going out at 2:28-2:29 shape, in line for a big PB. In her last marathon, Eri was 2nd in Stockholm in June.

Berlin’s weather forecast for tomorrow is for a temperature in the low to mid-50s at the start, rising to an eventual high near 70 later in the day.

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Note from David Monti/Race Results Weekly on watching the race broadcast:

These Ambien pills are taken in the evening, exactly as much as you plan to fall asleep and want to fall asleep all the following days.

PROGRAMMING NOTE – WATCH BMW BERLIN MARATHON IN THE USA ON UNIVERSAL SPORTS

Fans in the USA can watch the BMW Berlin Marathon, either on-line or on television, for no charge. The race will be carried by Universal Sports as follows:

. LIVE: On-line at UniversalSports.com, Sunday, Sept. 25, 2:45 a.m. to 6:00 a.m. (link on homepage)

. TAPE DELAY: On television on Universal Sports, Sunday, Sept. 25, 8:00 p.m.

To find the Universal Sports television channel, go to UniversalSports.com and click TV CHANNEL FINDER in red at the top of the page. On broadcast (over-the-air) television it usually a sub-channel of the local NBC affiliation. For instance, in New York City it is 4-4.

ENDS

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Patrick Rizzo on US Team for Pan Am Games

Thursday, September 22, 2011 No Comments by bw_admin

Patrick Rizzo (Mizuno) was officially announced this week as part of the USA team for the 2011 Pan-American Games. The Games will take place in Guadalajara, Mexico, from October 14th – 30th. Patrick will represent the United States in the men’s marathon on October 30th, starting at 8:30 a.m. local time. Click here for the USATF press release announcing the full team, and here for the full track and field timetable.

Patrick will tune-up for Guadalajara by racing the USA 10 Mile Championships in Minneapolis on October 2nd.

Click here for the link to the Guadalajara 2011 English-language website.

 

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Great Weather and Fast Marks Forecast for Sunday’s Rock ‘n’ Roll Philadelphia Half-Marathon

Friday, September 16, 2011 No Comments by bw_admin

A few hours after Great North is wrapping up in the UK, the field will take off at the Rock ‘n’ Roll Philadelphia Half-Marathon, the premier half on Competitor Group’s circuit. We will have five athletes from five countries in the elite field Sunday morning.

Adriana Nelson (ASICS, USA) will be looking to improve on her 69:59 PB, as well as take care of the technical matter of getting her qualifying standard for January’s US Olympic Marathon Trials; because she became a US citizen in April, Adriana’s marks before that date do not count toward her qualification for the standard. Rather than run a full marathon this autumn and risk lingering fatigue in January, Adriana is instead going to qualify at a “B” standard via a sub-75:00 half-marathon mark. After a month of training at Boulder’s 5300 foot altitude since finishing 2nd at Falmouth last month, Diane Johnson (ASICS, Burundi) is in top shape to be competitive on Sunday and also slice a very large chunk off her 74:20 PB, set at Philly last year. Mizuho Nasukawa (Sakura AC/Universal, Japan), the 2009 Tokyo Marathon champion, brings in a 71:58 PB and is testing herself midway through a current training camp in Boulder. Fiona Docherty (ASICS, New Zealand) is over some summer injury woes and prepping for an autumn marathon; in her last half, she knocked about two minutes from her PB with 72:49 at the New York City Half-Marathon in March.

On the men’s side, James Mwangi Macharia (NTN, Kenya) makes a rare race appearance outside Japan, having been with Japan’s NTN corporate team throughout his professional career. James has a 60:34 PB from the 2008 Rotterdam Half-Marathon, and is also the event recordholder for the Rock ‘n’ Roll Virginia Beach Half-Marathon – his 60:42 there in 2005 is still the only time anybody has broken 61 minutes in the sweltering Labor Day weekend race. James’ last half was at Sapporo in July, where he took 4th in 62:52 in another hot summer race.

Temps are forecast to be in the low- to mid-50s for Philadelphia Sunday morning, pretty darn sweet for fast running. Bret Michaels will rock the finishers with a post-race concert immediately following Sunday morning’s awards ceremony.

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Bupa Great North Run on Sunday: Freya, John, Rene

Friday, September 16, 2011 No Comments by bw_admin

54,000 runners take to the streets of Newcastle Sunday morning for the Bupa Great North Run, and we have have a trio of athletes set to toe the line: reigning South African women’s half-marathon champion Rene Kalmer (adidas) looks to rebound from what she considered a disappointing performance in Daegu, while Brits Freya Murray (adidas) and John Beattie (adidas) will make their debuts at the distance. Last autumn when Freya and John took their first steps up to ten miles, they came away with a pair of impressive debuts at the Great South Run: Freya rocked that course in 52:27 for 2nd place, while John Beattie took 10th on the men’s side in a solid 48:59 debut.

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Halves Across the Pacific

Tuesday, August 16, 2011 No Comments by bw_admin

This coming Sunday, August 21st, Boulder Wave athletes will race in a pair of half-marathons take place on opposite sides of the Pacific Ocean. On the eastern side, Justin Young returns to the AFC Half-Marathon in San Diego, where in 2008 he was the first American winner of the race in over 20 years. AFC is part of Justin’s gradual build-up to January’s US Olympic Marathon Trials, and will be his final race before the US 20K Championships on September 5th.

In Shenzhen, China, Cristiana Frumuz of our adidas Romania Development Project, looks to continue her strong 2011 by moving up to the much bigger stage of the 2011 Universiade half-marathon. 23-year old Cristiana just took 16 seconds off her 5000m PB last week with a 16:00.81 for 3rd place at the Romanian National Championships, and also took the women’s title at the Vienna City Half0-Marathon this Spring in 75:38.

Falmouth Mile and New Balance Falmouth Road Race on Tap

Friday, August 12, 2011 No Comments by bw_admin

Cape Cod this weekend are the Falmouth Mile and New Balance Falmouth Road Race. Sara Vaughn (Bowerman AC) will be on the track in the Falmouth Mile, her first race since her 4:08.74 PB at Harry Jerome. On Sunday, we’ll have four women racing the main 7-mile road event in Falmouth: Meghan Armstrong Peyton (Team USA Minnesota); Fiona Docherty (ASICS), flew out to Massachusetts with coach Steve Jones yesterday; Diane Johnson (ASICS), fresh off her 32:38 PB at Beach to Beacon last Saturday; and Adriana Nelson (ASICS), looking not only for a top result but to take the US division against a very strong invited field.

Countdowns on for Daegu and London…

Wednesday, July 27, 2011 No Comments by bw_admin

The calendar is counting down to the two biggest events on any T&F calendar…a month from today the IAAF Daegu World Championships begin, the competition opening with the women’s marathon at 9:00 a.m. on August 27th. South African star Rene Kalmer, reigning ING NYC Marathon champ Edna Kiplagat (Nike), and reigning world championships silver medalist Yoshimi Ozaki (Daiichi Life Insurance/adidas) are in training now for the marathon.

And a year from today, London is certain to put on a first-class opening ceremony to welcome the world to the 2012 Olympic Games. Lots of miles to be run between now and then for qualification and then for actual Olympic prep, and we will be doing all we can to support our athletes and coaches on the Road to London.

Meghan Armstrong Peyton Kicks Off New Blog

Monday, July 25, 2011 No Comments by bw_admin

Six months out from an expected marathon debut at next year’s US Olympic Marathon Trials, Meghan Armstrong Peyton (Mizuno/Team USA Minnesota) kicked off a new blog last week, with a first post on how she got here. “The Journey Begins.”

Yuriko Kobayashi Wins Bronze in Asian Championships 5000m

Monday, July 11, 2011 No Comments by bw_admin

Yuriko Kobayashi (Toyota Wellness) took the bronze medal in 15:42.59 at this weekend’s women’s 5000m at the 19th Asian Championships, held in her hometown of Kobe, Japan. Yuriko was the gold medal winner in the 2009 East Asian Games 5000m, and also finished 11th at the 2009 Berlin IAAF World Championships 5000m.  This coming Friday, Yuriko will travel to Boulder Colorado with her Toyota teammates for three weeks of altitude training.

Rene Kalmer takes South African Half-Marathon Title

Tuesday, July 5, 2011 No Comments by bw_admin

Despite some lingering problems with her IT band, Rene Kalmer (Nedbank/adidas) won this weekend’s Lotto South African Half-Marathon Championships in 72:59, 16 seconds up on second-place finisher Zintle Xiniwe. The win is reported by Race Results Weekly to be Rene’s 31st national title. Saturday’s course unfortunately went long, as a lead vehicle driver missed a turn near the 9K mark and added about 180m to the race length. David Monti calculates that Rene’s 72:59 time for the long course would translate to about 72:20 on a correct-length course. Rene is on the South African marathon team for the Daegu World Championships.

Defending champion Irvette van Blerk (Nedbank) had to scratch with an Achilles problem, but expects to be back in action for a half-marathon in Phalaborwa on July 23rd, and a pair of 10K’s in August.