TheFinalSprint.com - Track & Field, Marathons, Racing News, Training Advice, Elite Athlete Blogs, Interviews, Podcasts, Videos and More! - TheFinalSprint.com is the Premier Destination for Track & Field, Marathon, Cross Country, Olympic and Road Racing Enthusiasts.

Lead Stories: Tuesday, December 2, 2008

TFS News Briefs: 10/20/07

Posted October 20th, 2007 at 11:00 AM by Jimmie R. Markham

Section: News & Results, Marathons, Cross Country, Track & Field, TFS News Briefs

Ode the the Half-Marathon
In advance of the October 28th running of the Koala Health and Wellness Centers and Luke’s Locker Half Marathon, the Houston Chronicle has published an article this week about the surging popularity of half-marathons. According to the article, “there were 10 percent more half-marathons (550) and 10 percent more half-marathon finishers (nearly 600,000) in 2006 than in the previous year.” Read more at: [Houston Chronicle]

When Mother Nature Scoffs Marathon Preparations
Rain, hail, sleet, snow or even extreme heat and gale-force winds. None of these weather conditions may prevent a mailman from making his daily appointed rounds, but they must cause Marathon Race Directors to have nightmares. The LA Times has published an interesting article discussing this very thing. Read more at: [LA Times]

Carrie Tollefson Hopes to Race Again in January
Read Carrie Tollefson’s latest blog entry as she describes how she is training again “pain-free” and hopes to race again in January. Read more at: [NYRR]
Read the rest of this entry »

Comment on this post | Permalink

TFS News Briefs: 10/18/07

Posted October 18th, 2007 at 3:00 PM by Jimmie R. Markham

Section: News & Results, Marathons, Cross Country, Track & Field, TFS News Briefs

NYC Marathon Now Has Official Song
The New York Road Runners club has endorsed a song by Kunduru Music titled “New York City.” The song will be prominently featured during NBC’s live TV coverage of the event. 42,000 copies of the single CD will be given to each competitor in a gift bag. Preview / Download the Song at: [iTunes]

Tim Borland Continues His Quest for 63 x 26.2 in 63 days to Fight A-T
Tim Borland continues his quest to run 63 marathons in 63 straight days by running marathon #46 in Huntsville, AL today for the A-T Children’s Project, a non-profit organization that raises funds to support and coordinate first-rate biomedical research projects, scientific conferences and a clinical center aimed at finding a cure or life-improving therapies for ataxia-telangiectasia, a lethal genetic disease that attacks children, causing progressive loss of muscle control,
immune system problems, and a strikingly high rate of cancer, especially leukemia and lymphoma. Read more at: [Google News] [A-T Children’s Project]
Read the rest of this entry »

One comment, add yours | Permalink

TFS News Briefs: 10/17/07

Posted October 17th, 2007 at 2:30 PM by Jimmie R. Markham

Section: News & Results, Marathons, Cross Country, Track & Field, TFS News Briefs

Katie Holmes to Run NYC Marathon
Actress Katie Holmes will run the New York City Marathon and is “determined to complete the race and make [husband Tom Cruise] proud.” Read more at: [CBS 42]

63 Marathons in 63 Days
Follow Tim Borland as he attempts to run 63 marathons in 63 straight days in order to raise awareness of A-T (ataxia-telangiectasia), a lethal genetic disease that attacks children, causing progressive loss of muscle control, immune system problems, and a strikingly high rate of cancer, especially leukemia and lymphoma. Read more at: [Google News]

Bekele Vs. Tadese in Edinburgh X-C Showdown
Six-time World Cross-Country champ Kenenisa Bekele (in photo at right) will take on 2007 world champion (in both cross-country and road running) Zersenay Tadese at the Great Edinburgh International Cross Country meet on January 12th, 2008. The meet will be on the same course as the 2008 world championships. Read more at: [IAAF]

Read the rest of this entry »

2 comments, add yours | Permalink

TFS News Briefs: 10/16/07

Posted October 16th, 2007 at 4:49 PM by Jimmie R. Markham

Section: News & Results, Marathons, Cross Country, Track & Field, Olympics

Frank Shorter Picks Culpepper for Trials Win
The legendary Olympic marathon gold medalist Frank Shorter has picked Alan Culpepper as the favorite to win the U.S. Olympic Marathon Trials this November in New York if he is “fit and healthy.” Shorter also said that “we are going to send a very strong team.” Read more at: [Boulder Daily Camera]

Cross Country More Than Just About Winning
An article in the Star Tribune illuminates other reasons for running cross-country than just winning. For those plodders out there who will never take home the ribbons or trophies, this article may offer some inspiration. Read more at: [Minneapolis-St. Paul Star Tribune]

2009 European X-C Championships Belong to Dublin
Dublin, Ireland will host the 2009 European Cross Country Championships, according to the European Athletics Council. The event will take place on the Santry Demesne course in north Dublin on December 13th, 2009. Read more at: [The Irish Times]
Read the rest of this entry »

Comment on this post | Permalink

TFS News Briefs: 10/14/07

Posted October 14th, 2007 at 4:36 PM by Jimmie R. Markham

Section: News & Results, Marathons, Cross Country

Oregon Men and Women Sweep Hodges X-C Invitational
Both of the Univ. of Oregon cross-country teams, #1 ranked men’s team and the #3 ranked women’s team, swept the Hodges Invitational Saturday. The men’s team scored a near-perfect 16 points while the women scored an impressive 28 points. Read more at: [GoDucks.com]

Univ. of Colorado Coach Mark Wetmore Expects Buffs’ Ranking to Drop
Competing at the Pre-Nationals Cross-Country meet this weekend, the Colorado Buffaloes men’s team, ranked #3 nationally, finished second while the women, ranked #2, finished in sixth place in the white race. After the meet coach Mark Wetmore stated that, “We basically got what we were looking for and where we hoped to be. When the rankings come out, our women will drop a lot but I am pretty sure we can put a big dent into that in the next few weeks. And our men will drop a little bit, which is about what I expected. I thought we were a little over-ranked.” Read more at: [Colorado Buffaloes]

#1 Ranked Stanford Women’s X-C Wins Pre-NCAA InvitationalThe Stanford women’s cross-country team took first place at the Pre-NCAA Invitational in Terra Haute, IN Saturday, scoring 102 points. Senior Teresa McWalters, a four-time All-American, led the Cardinals with a 2nd place finish in a time of 20:01. Susan Kuijken of Florida State won the race with a time of 19:55.5. Read more at: [Stanford Cross-Country]
Read the rest of this entry »

One comment, add yours | Permalink

TFS News Briefs: 10/08/07

Posted October 8th, 2007 at 2:20 PM by Jimmie R. Markham

Section: News & Results, Marathons, Track & Field, Drugs In Sports, Trail / Ultra

Novelist Credits Track & Field for Changing His Life
Nicholas Sparks, whose 12th novel “The Choice” has just been published, credits track and field for changing his life. Sparks said that that track, “taught me more about discipline and perseverance and character than any class I’ve ever taken, because to be good, you need to show up every day, rain or shine. And for me, I was talented, but I was not supremely talented. To get where I was, I had to outwork people, and it taught me to do that.” Read more at: [San Jose Mercury News]

Sunday: 26.2 Miles. Monday: 26.2 miles. Tuesday…
Another day, another marathon for Tim Borland, the California runner who is running 63 of them in 63 straight days in order to to raise awareness of ataxia-telangiectasia, a degenerative disease that leads to a lack of muscle control. Today Borland runs in Detroit on his way to the 63rd marathon on November 4th in New York City. Read more at: [Detroit Free Press][A-T Children’s Project]

Chicago Marathon Official Has “Never Seen a Finish Like That”
Pat Savage, DePaul’s track and field and cross-country coach who was head referee at yesterday’s Chicago Marathon, said that, “it was really close. Yet at the same time, you could see that one man was ahead of the other man.” Savage believes that the marathon will eventually have to go to some kind of photo-finish electronic system. Read more at: [Chicago Tribune]
Read the rest of this entry »

One comment, add yours | Permalink

TFS News Briefs: 10/06/07

Posted October 6th, 2007 at 12:39 PM by Jimmie R. Markham

Section: News & Results, Marathons, Track & Field

Chicago Marathon: Preview of Elite Athletes
LaSalle Bank Chicago Marathon executive director Carey Pinkowski discusses the World Marathon Majors and his event’s place in it, saying, “I’ll have some good athletes. You’ve got to have a fast group (not just one fast runner). Hopefully, you’d like to see a group of guys pushing each other. Collectively, if we can get the right group of guys running fast, you have more bets on the table and hopefully, the chemistry surfaces.”
Read More at: [Chicago Marathon]

The Impending Demise of Track & Field
Here you go: a media feeding frenzy. Be sure to watch them pick the meat off Jones’ bones before it’s all gone. Apparently the demise of Track & Field is imminent. Read thousands of articles of negative media coverage about our favorite sport at: [Google News]
Read the rest of this entry »

Comment on this post | Permalink