This weekend’s Wisconcin Green Bay Marathon was halted by organizers due to the excessive heat. This was done just over 2 and 1/2 hours after the start and only 10 marathon runners had actually finished (almost half the half marathon field had been finished).

Are race organizers being too cautious? Shouldn’t runners be fit enough and sensible enough to adjust their runs accordingly? 

Read more here courtesy of the AP.

He came second in last year Chicago Marathon. He now has the opportunity to be a consecutive World Major Marathon winner.

Read more here courtesy of the IAAF.org

A chiropractor who had to give up running due to chronic knee problems, brought on by a lack of meniscus cartilage turned to barefoot running with enough success to not only allow him to start running again but to put him in a position where he is going to run the Fargo Marathon this coming Saturday.

This is great news for this individual but should it be seen as yet another reason for us shoe runners to start thinking about throwing away our shoes? I think not but that’s just my point of view, I know there are others out there who disagree.

Read more about the Chiropractor here courtesy of inforum.com.

Can he hold on?

Read more here courtesy of CBC.

But still, is it wrong of us to want some reward if we are lucky enough to have improved enough to get say in the top three in your age category?

A while back I wrote a blog about what should be expected in terms of awards;

http://www.mynextrace.com/2011/11/race-prizes-whats-expected/

I feel compelled to post this follow up today to discuss the prizing for The GoodLife Toronto Marathon, an event that attracted over well over 10,000 runners.

Prizes were awarded to only the first in each age category, you had to be at the awards ceremony to collect your prize and the prize was…….wait for it……a free entry into next year’s event.

Okay yes these large events need to make money and are a great source of revenue for charities but to have this sort of prizing in place for a large city marathon is I am afraid just cheap.

While yes many runners like to run the same event each year the majority don’t so in effect we have a lot of runners at the weekend who had some great performances (no mean achievement to win your age category when there are thousands of runners) winning nothing because they won’t be running the same race next year.

Am I overreacting? Would like to hear other people’s views and would be great to hear what some race directors think.

The event comprises of 2 men and 2 women and entails each completing a super sprint of swimming, cycling and running and by all accounts is a fantastic sport for the spectators to watch.

Good to see the Commonwealth Games moving quickly to adopt new sports that capture the imagination.

Read more here and to find out more about the event click here.

Canada’s top triathlete Simon Whitfield and the seven time Tour de France winner Lance Armstrong have been ‘arguing’ about the merits of the Olympic Triathlon. Lance claiming it is a ‘shampoo, blow dry and 10K foot race’ much to the annoyance of Simon.

I have to admit to finding Lance’s description of the race as quite amusing but equally to nullify the efforts of Simon and his fellow competitors is ridiculous.

Lance has had his fair share of controversy over his career and no doubt will have more to come, so does he really have to try and generate any more?

Maybe with over 3 million twitter followers Lance feels the need to keep them amused and every now again he will over step the mark.

To be fair to Lance he has clarified his comments and claims not to have been mocking the Olympic Triathlon distance but simply the fact that drafting is allowed during it.

Read more about the twitter debate here courtesy of the National Post.

The London Marathon is the world’s largest sporting event for raising money for charities and Claire like so many of her fellow runners was doing just that – she had prior to the race raised over $800 for the Samaritans (they provides confidential emotional support 24/7 to those experiencing despair, distress or suicidal feelings).

Since her death which has resulted in a huge outpouring of grief, over a 1 million dollar has now been raised.

Read more here courtesy of The Star.

Wilson Kipsang winning the London Marathon

One of the hardest jobs in sport was completed today when Kenya named their marathon runners to compete in this year’s Olympics.

Kenya is undoubtedly the top country in the world for marathon runners and have hundreds of athletes who have made the marathon qualification time but each country can only pick three men and three women to go to the games.

Cue a number of disappointed athletes…..

Here is their team;

Wilson Kipsang (winner of this weekend’s London Marathon), Abel Kirui (winner of the 2011 World Chapionships) and Moses Mosop (winner of 2011 Chicago Marathon)

Mary Keitany (winner of this weekend’s London Marathon), Edna Kiplagat (winner of the 2011 World Chapionships) and Priscah Jeptoo (third at this weekend’s London marathon behind Keitany and Kiplagat.

So at first glance it looks like current form has been a big factor in the selections.

A host of ommisions but the biggest one has to be that of Geoffery Mutai the holder of the fastest ever marathon time (Boston 2011). He actually dropped out of the heat effected Boston 2012 Marathon 10 days ago and many people thought that this was more an attempt to keep himself fresh for the Olympics but maybe it was more an indication of his fitness.

So will Kenya win both the male and female Olympic marathons?

Lanni Marchant

After Krista DuChene and Lanni Marchant narrowly missed out on the Olympic marathon qualification time at the weekend in Rotterdam they would have realised their London Olympics dreams were over.

However it now appears that the Canadian Olympic Committee (COC) may make an exception and indeed allow them on the plane along with the Coolseat, Gillis and Wykes (the three male Canadians who all made the qualification time). Reason being because they are well within the IAAF standards (by 5 minutes).

The question is whether this is good thing for the COC to do. Obviously for the two women involved it would be great news but might this be a dangerous precedence to set?

What about some of the other athletics disciplines? Are there other athletes who have just narrowly missed the qualification times – do they get to go as well? What about in future years – ‘well they done it in 2012 so they will have to do it in 2016′. What about Dylan Wykes going all out to make the qualification time in Rotterdam after he had just missed it in the Scotiabank Toronto Waterfront Marathon – if he finds out that he would have got picked anyway he might feel hard done by. What if the COC had set less strict qualification times – might this have encouraged our athletes (both men and women) not to have pushed themselves as hard?

Krista DuChene

The other side of the story is that it would mean a Canadian presence in the Olympic woman’s marathon and this could be seen as a good thing to encourage young and up and coming Canadian girls to strive to reach the same level. However, it would appear that when the COC set the qualification times their goal was to only allow athletics who can realistically compete as opposed to just making up the numbers.

This is very complicated topic and there can be good arguments made on both side but I personally think that it is a case of ‘rules are rules’ and the COC cannot be seen to be adjusting them at this late stage. They should however look at the very strict qualification times for the 2016 and maybe lean towards more Canadians athletes being present in Brazil as opposed to them all being competitive.

Read more here courtesy of Brantford expositor.