The South African Olympic Committee’s website with a rightly positive view of Irvette van Blerk‘s (adidas/Nedbank) chances to qualify for the London Olympics in her debut at the distance tomorrow in London. Irvette is rooming here in London with Rene Kalmer (adidas/Nedbank), who will be pacing he 2:28 women’s group tomorrow morning. Rene already has a slot on the team by means of her impressive 2:29:59 5th-place finish in last year’s hot and humid Yokohama Women’s Marathon. Click here.
Irvette van Blerk
Kalmer gears up for Olympic marathon
South Africa’s Super Sport website writes about Rene Kalmer‘s (adidas/Nedbank) Olympic prep in the aftermath of her win at Saturday’s Old Mutual Two Oceans Half-Marathon, where Irvette van Blerk (adidas/Nedbank) took 2nd place. Rene’s next run will be pacing the 2:28 group at the Virgin London Marathon on April 22nd, where Irvette will make her marathon debut with an eye toward joining Rene on the SA Olympic marathon squad. Click here for the article.
Old Mutual Two Oceans Half-Marathon
Rene Kalmer (adidas/Nedbank), Irvette van Blerk (adidas/Nedbank)
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.
Quick Snapshot of the Weekend: Kayoko 3rd in Chicago; Lidia, Nuta 1-2 in Denver; Irvette Wins in Joburg
Very good day for our group yesterday. In her first race since signing with Boulder Wave this summer, and her first-ever road race outside Japan, Kayoko Fukushi (Wacoal/adidas) took 3rd place in a huge 18-minute PB at the Chicago Marathon. She was trying the sub-2:20 with Liliya Shobukova and they came through the half together in 69:25; but Kayoko had a lot of “bowel problems” in the second half and had a tough run. Nevertheless 2:24:38 and 3rd place in a World Marathon Majors is a great run. This also gives her a huge boost mentally going into the Japanese Olympic marathon trials, and she will likely race either Osaka in January or Nagoya in March to try to make the team. Patrick Rizzo (Mizuno) did a spectacular job of pacing the lead women’s group through 20 miles (i.e. Liliya Shobukova’s spectacular 2:18:20), afterwards praised heartily by the coaches of both Kayoko and Liliya. This was Patrick’s final long run day (he ended up with 26 miles for the day) as he preps to represent the United States at the Pan American Games Marathon on October 30th.
Lidia Simon (ASICS) and Nuta Olaru (ASICS) went 1-2 at the 5400 ft (1650m) altitude Rock n Roll Denver Half-Marathon. Lidia took the win in 74:54 and departs for Japan later this week where she will race the new Osaka Marathon on October 30th. Nuta was right behind in 75:16, with plans herself for a late-Autumn marathon. Interesting note that Adriana Nelson’s sister-in-law, Brianna Nelson, who recently qualified for the US Olymopic Marathon Trials, took 3rd in Denver.
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In Johannesburg, South Africa, Irvette van Blerk (adidas) took the final Spar 10K title race of the season in 34:22. The Joburg course was also at altitude (5740 ft/1750m) with hills thrown in the boot. Irvette’s next race will likely be the Great South Run 10 mile in the UK at the end of this month.
