A couple of days late on the weekend wrap-up, but…

Out at the Stanford Invitational on Friday night, Kenyon Neuman took 18 seconds off his 10,000m PB to finish 11th in the “A” Heat in 29:07.33. It was another solid step up the ladder. This kicks off his track season in earnest, with upcoming plans to compete in another outdoor meet at CU’s Potts Field, the Mt. SAC Relays, and the Payton Jordan Cardinal Invitational.

Over in the UK, John Beattie won by over a minute in the Eastleigh 10K in 29:42, a local race he had done as a schoolboy. He wrote that it was “not all out + just a good solid tempo effort ahead of coming out to US and nice to get some local recognition in my home town.” John will travel to the US next month for training, and then compete in the Payton Jordan Cardinal Invitational on May 1st.

In South Africa, Rene Kalmer had an interesting weekend, to say the least: 48.695 kilometers of racing and a trifecta of three wins in three races. Preparing for the Prague Marathon, Rene doubled on Saturday at the Yellow Pages Germistown meet, winning both the 1500m (4:20.10) and 5000m (16:07.57) by more than 10 seconds each. Then on Sunday morning, as part of a planned 45K training run in prep for Prague, Rene ran the 65th Annual Springbok Pharmacy Jackie Gibson Marathon at altitude (it makes sense…water stops, mile markers, roads closed to traffic) and won in 2:51:35, some 13 minutes up on second place. Fresh off her new half-marathon PB in New York, Irvette van Blerk also doubled in Germistown, with 2nd in the 1500m (4:31.26) and 3rd in the 5000m (16:21.10). Both Rene and Irvette will race in the Old Mutual Two Oceans Half-Marathon in Cape Town on April 23rd.