Kenyon Neuman (Nike), Meghan Peyton (Mizuno), Patrick Rizzo (Mizuno), Matt Tebo (Boulder Track Club/Nike), Laura Thweatt (Boulder Track Club/Nike)
Patrick Rizzo
USATF 20K Championships
Adriana Nelson (ASICS), Meghan Peyton (Mizuno), Patrick Rizzo (Mizuno)
Four on the Fourth 4K
Kenyon Neuman (Nike), Patrick Rizzo (Mizuno)
Tagged Kenyon Neuman, Patrick Rizzo
Superior Downhill Mile
Kenyon Neuman (Nike), Patrick Rizzo (Mizuno)
Tagged Kenyon Neuman, Patrick Rizzo
Three Boulder Wave Athletes on Colorado Teams for Bolder-Boulder 10K
Team Colorado men after absorbing all the info at this morning's Bolder-Boulder technical meeting: (l to r) Kenyon Neuman, Jeremy Freed, Patrick Rizzo
Three Boulder Wave athletes are set to race tomorrow’s Bolder-Boulder 10K International Team Challenge as members of the men’s and women’s Colorado teams. Patrick Rizzo (Mizuno) and Kenyon Neuman (Nike) will be joined by 2011 Bolder Boulder citizens’ champ Jeremy Freed on the men’s Team Colorado. Last Sunday, Patrick set a course record at the Colfax Half-Marathon and last month he was the pacemaker for the men’s 2:11 group at the Virgin London Marathon, and says he and his teammates are ready to move Team Colorado up a place from last year’s 3rd place team finish behind Team USA. Kenyon is focusing on his track running this Spring, and will go after the 13:33.00 US National Championships “A” qualifying standard at the Portland Track Festival on June 9th.
Adriana Nelson racing at the 2011 Philadelphia Rock 'n' Roll Half-Marathon (Photo courtesy of PhotoRun, Inc. All rights reserved)
On the women’s side, Adriana Nelson (ASICS) will be joined on the women’s Team Colorado by 2006 Bolder Boulder champion Sara Slattery and Wendy Thomas. As is Kenyon, Adriana is focusing on qualifying for the USA national track championships. At the Payton Jordan Cardinal Invitational last month, Adriana ran a new 10,000m PB, and just missed the 10,000m automatic “A” qualifying standard of 32:45.00 by three seconds. She will be running the 10,000m at the Portland meet on June 9th.
Patrick, Kenyon, and Adriana are all coached by Brad Hudson.
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.
Dick’s Sporting Goods Bolder Boulder 10K
Kayoko Fukushi (Wacoal/adidas), Adriana Nelson (ASICS), Kenyon Neuman (Nike), Eri Okubo (Second Wind AC/Mizuno), Nuta Olaru (ASICS) Patrick Rizzo (Mizuno), Lidia Simon (ASICS), Laura Thweatt (Nike),
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.
