Runnerville

 Running has long found it difficult to secure a solid foothold on the American sporting landscape.  One reason is lack of professionalism when compared to other mainstream sports.  Another is the growth of X Games events and their modern day heroes like Shaun White.  But another reason is as simple as formatting. 

The most popular American sports are episodic in nature, featuring a pitch, a play, a shot every 30 seconds. They are also segmented into quarters, periods, or halves, making for easy television coverage.  So even with tens of millions of self-designated runners bounding about the continent for the last thirty years, Americans have yet to fully embrace a sport which is linear, doesn’t involve a ball or violence, and only pays off on an investment of interest shown over a long, gradual build up.

Beyond the formatting aspect, however, the very ethos of running plays against its success in 21^st century America.  Not only is the sport a holdover from the 19^th century when vast numbers of people moved from small towns to large cities and leisure time was, for the first time, afforded them in relative abundance, but in today’s culture the whole concept of short-term sacrifices in the cause of long-term rewards has become as untethered to the American brain stem as family farming and virgin weddings.  Congressional tribalism in the face of health care and entitlement reform seems only the leading indicator.  There are other sign posts, as well. Read more…

USATF announced today that the city of Houston, Texas will host both the men’s and women’s Olympic Marathon Trials races for 2012.  It’s the culmination of years of hard work and diligence on the part of the Houston Marathon organizers, who have year after year staged world-class competitions and hosted USATF national half-marathon championships. 

2012 will mark the second time Houston has hosted a Trials marathon.  In 1992 they picked up the Women’s trials after Sacramento, which won the selection, failed to gather the requisite sponsorship support.  The following is from the USATF press release.

The 2012 U.S. Olympic Team Trials will be held in Houston January 14, 2012, a day prior to the 40^th anniversary of the Chevron Houston Marathon. The races will determine the three men and three women who will represent the United States in the marathon at the 2012 Olympic Games in London.

USA Track & Field’s site selection committee, comprised of USATF committee chairs, elite athletes and staff, tapped Houston to host both races. Boston and New Yorkhad each bid to host one Olympic Trials race. The USATF Board of Directors approved the decision at its weekend meeting in Albuquerque, N.M. and the USOC has green-lighted the award. Read more…

               Lel & Adere Win Inaugural Rock ‘n’ Roll Mardi Gras Half Marathon

                      Ethiopian veteran runs fastest women’s time ever on US soil.

New Orleans, LA - Febuary 28, 2010 - Former World Half-Marathon Champion Berhane Adere of Ethiopia won the inaugural Rock ‘n’ Roll Mardi Gras Half Marathon in New Orleans Sunday, clocking the fastest time ever run by a woman on American soil.  Her 1:07:52 time bested the mark set by America’s Deena Kastor at the 2005 Philadelphia Distance Run by a single second.  Adere, 36, needed to be at her best to hold off New Zealand’s Kim Smith, who finished a close second in 1:07:55, the third fastest half-marathon ever run in the U.S.  On the men’s side, three-time London Marathon champion Martin Lel of Kenya outpaced his countryman and half-marathon world record holder Sammy Wanjiru by 26-seconds, winning in 1:01:07.

The new Rock ‘n’ Roll Mardi Gras Marathon and Half Marathon courses were designed not only to provide a comprehensive tour of post-Katrina New Orleans, but also to be fast. The elite performances validated the hype, with five out of the top six women running personal bests. Adere’s winning time was a huge 25-second personal best for the former two-time Chicago Marathon champion. Smith’s second-place time was a New Zealand national record. Both of their efforts were helped by near-perfect weather conditions, as the day dawned sunny, dry, and windless, with a starting-line temperature in the low 50s. Read more…

Sunday’s Rock ‘n’ Roll Mardi Gras Marathon & 1/2 Marathon will showcase perhaps the most dynamic half-marathon duel ever staged on American soil. 2008 Olympic Marathon gold medalist and half-marathon world record holder Sammy Wanjiru will battle head-to-head against fellow Kenyan and three-time London Marathon champion Martin Lel as both men set their sites on the April 25th Virgin London Marathon where Wanjiru broke Lel’s course record by five seconds in 2009 after Lel bested Wanjiru in the 2008 race (picture above). Morocco’s  Abderrahim Goumri, third in `08 London, was to have joined Lel and Wanjiru in New Orleans as a tune up for the April 19th Boston Marathon, but has pulled out with an unspecified injury.

“To draw the likes of Sammy and Martin to New Orleans demonstrates our commitment to attract the biggest names in the world of running,” said Matt Turnbull, Elite Athlete Coordinator for the Competitor Group. “We’re excited to have two of the greatest road racers in history at the start line this weekend.”

The first Kenyan to ever win the Olympic Marathon Gold Medal, Wanjiru set the standing half-marathon world record of 58:33 in 2007 at the City-Pier-City Loop in The Hague, The Netherlands. That record marked the third time he had broken the world record at the distance, the first set at age 18.

“The timing of the Mardi Gras Half-Marathon is perfect for athletes like me who are preparing for a spring marathon,” said Wanjiru. “For me it’s a great opportunity to see where I am before London. Really, I am just looking to come and run a solid race and this gives me a great chance to see where I’m at and what condition I am in.”

Read more…

I ran into Meb Keflezighi’s agent/brother Hawi at the Running USA conference earlier this month in San Diego.  Question was which race Meb might use to tune up for  the Boston Marathon on Patriot’s Day April 19th.  Now we know.  He’s heading back to the scene of his greatest triumph, New York, New York to take on the Great One, Haile Gebrselassie, in the New York 1/2 Marathon on March 21st.

 Interesting  choice, and according to Hawi, not a foregone one.  The other viable options included the Gate River 15K in Jacksonville, Florida on March 13th, which doubles as the annual USATF National Road 15K Championship, and the new Rock `n` Roll Dallas 1/2 Marathon the following day in Texas.

Forgetting for a moment the monetary inducements any of the three might generate for Meb, these spring (like the fall) marathon tune up races are more about getting one’s head and body right for the big race down the line, rather than maxing out on that particular day.  So, what may have lured Meb to New York wasn’t just his comfort levels and reception in New York by the N.Y. Road Runners, but the lack of pressure to win the race, what with Haile in the field and all. 

If Meb had gone back to Jacksonville, where he won six times in seven years from 2001 to 2007, the pressure to win would have been great.  Then what if he didn’t? And with the level of competition churning around America these days, though a victory would seem more likely than not, certainly there would be decent money betting the other way. 

As for Rock `n` Roll in Dallas, well, the Competitor Group’s recent modus operandi has been to invite one big name for their event marquee, then let him/her carry the PR weight alone.  Good money in that, but perhaps not the type of atmosphere or competition to best tune up for a marathon major.  

So it is off to New York where Meb can run free and easy, not be expected to win, yet perhaps take a solid shot at a new PR, and who knows, all things fall perfectly…

Most of the time races need racers.  Other times racers need races.  This is one of those times when New York is the perfect stepping stone to Boston for Meb.  Now, where is Ryan Hall prepping for Patriot’s Day?

Reading through a variety of articles this morning, I came across two fascinating pieces that tell a lot about our sport. The first is a piece on Kenenisa Bekele, the world’s greatest distance runner, breaking down how much he made this year from competition. Bekele, who races fairly often during the track season, earned just over $1.1 million this year. The second article is a good insiders view to life as a good, but not superstar, American distance runner in Brett Gotcher, who won $8,000 for winning the U.S. 20k Road Championships this past weekend.

Bekele’s article didn’t surprise me, except for the fact that over half of his $1.1 million came from appearance fees, which to me is simply ridiculous. It will forever boggle my mind that athletes get paid simply to show up at a meet that they should be competing in anyways. The fact that Bekele gets somewhere around four to five times more just for showing up rather than his winning performance makes me sick, and shows EXACTLY why our sport will never, ever be as big as it could be. Read more…

Realizing this is now a weekend old (and that Runnerville has been down for months), but did anyone else watch the live cut-in of Usain Bolt’s 100m from Toronto on ESPN Sportcenter last Thursday night? 

If USATF ex. dir. Doug Logan wanted to witness the floor in the recession of this sport, all he had to do was pay attention to that presentation.  With the NBA Finals game four coming up next, the two Sportcenter anchors couldn’t have found a more entertaining or comical interlude if they’d switched on The Comedy Channel.

“Note to self,” mocked one after the first of two false starts.  “Never schedule a live cut-in with a false start.”

His partner was already in hysterics.

“It was the smilling guy in lane eight,” he said referring to the inimitable Bernard Williams, the Nathan Lane of sprinting.  Of course the smug ESPN boys had no idea who any of the sprinters in the race were except Bolt.  Not that that didn’t keep them from ridiculing the entire offering.  Read more…

Part I of this two part series discussed the initial planning of such a circuit.  Team formation, race creation, etc. were all talked about.  In Part II we’ll take a look at the financial side of the spectrum, as well as marketing and how to sustain a long term enterprise.

Money Makes the World Go ‘Round

Whether you want to admit it or not, no business venture is ever successful unless it makes money.  It seems like every decade 2-3 sports ventures fold due to lack of sufficient funding and revenue.  USATF, or governing body, has even had its fair share of problems since its inception with staying financially sound.  From the start, a road racing league or circuit needs to have a stable financial model to follow.  Here is what I propose: Read more…

Runnerville has laid low since the summer. I know many of our readers have been disappointed and I receive emails from friends and fans of the site at least once a week about when the site is coming back. Well, I am not sure when the site will kick back up to the same level it was running at earlier this year, but I figured it is time to start posting up ideas and creating dialogue once again.

My first post back will be in response to Toni Reavis’ speech he gave at the Road Race Management Race Directors Meeting last month. Toni’s speech was simply fantastic, as I’ve read it at least a dozen times since he posted it up on Runnerville. The thoughts and ideas running throughout the piece continue to motivate and inspire deeper thinking towards improving the sport, and I applaud Toni for laying out his thoughts in such a dynamic way. Read more…

INDIANAPOLIS - The USA Track & Field Board of Directors on Thursday approved top sports executive Doug Logan, the former Commissioner, President and CEO of Major League Soccer, as its next CEO. A bilingual sports and entertainment leader with a proven track record of generating long-term sponsor partnerships, television outreach and high fan attendance, Logan and MLS in 1996 were named Sports Industrialist of the Year by Sports Business Daily. Read more…