Bobbysez Blast 4

USA’s got milers! Anna Willard won the 1500m & Shannon Rowbury was 2nd at the same meet in London.

Aviva London Grand Prix
(IAAF Super Grand Prix)
London, GBR, 24-25 July 2
Mile):
1. Bernard Lagat, USA 3:52.71 SB
2. Leonel Manzano, USA 3:53.01 PB
3. Lopez Lomong, USA 3:53.35 PB
4. Collis Birmingham, AUS 3:54.30 PB
5. Nate Brannen, CAN 3:54.57
6. James Brewer, GBR 3:54.80 PB
7. Johan Cronje, RSA 3:54.84 PB
The 5000m had Tirunesh back to her winning ways again:
1. Tirunesh Dibaba, ETH 14:33.65 SB, WL
2. Sentayehu Ejigu, ETH 14:40.00 SB
3. Kim Smith, NZL 14:52.49 SB
4. Belaynesh Fikadu, ETH 15:10.52
5. Jen Rhines, USA 15:25.10 SB
The Kenyans had a fun 1500m at their world champs trials this weekend!
Kenyan World Championships Trials
Nairobi, KEN, 24-25 July
1500:
1. Asbel Kiprop 3:32.82
2. Haron Keitany 3:33.59
3. Augustine Choge 3:33.86
4. Gideon Gathimba 3:34.83
5. William Biwott Tanui 3:38.84

Of course I have been watching the women’s steeple & have high hope for Jenny Barringer at worlds this year, but I did not see this one coming – in a smaller meet in Barcelona no less. Wow!
Reunion Internacional Ciudad de Barcelona
Barcelona, ESP, 25 July
WOMEN
3000 s/chase:
1. Marta DOMÍNGUEZ AZPELETA, 1975 9:09.39 National Record (see pic at top of post)
2. Eva ARIAS AIRA, 1980 9:32.48 PB
3. Livia TOTH, HUN, 1980 9:38.79

WANJIRU WILL RUN IN CHICAGO
Olympic marathon champion Samuel Wanjiru will run the Bank of America Chicago
Marathon on Sunday, 11 October, according to David Monti in Race Results Weekly. It will
be Wanjiru's first marathon in the United States, and the 22-year-old is hoping for a fast
time on Chicago's famously flat and fast course.
"My only focus between now and October is to prepare and train aggressively for my
best performance yet," said Wanjiru, who has won the Fukuoka, London and Olympic
Marathons and has a career best time of 2:05:10 set in London this year.
The fastest time ever in Chicago was 2:05:42 clocked in 1999 by Khalid Khannouchi, a
Moroccan who became an American citizen the following year. Performances at Chicago
were held back the last two years by unusually hot weather, especially in 2007 when the
temperature reached 27°C by the time the men's winner, Kenyan Patrick Ivuti, hit the
finish tape in 2:11:11. In good weather Wanjiru could challenge Haile Gebrselassie's world
record of 2:03:59 run in Berlin last year.
Three other former Chicago champions were also announced by Race Director Carey
Pinkowski, including Ivuti, Kenyan Evans Cheruiyot (the defending champion), and Russian
Lidiya Grigoryeva (the defending women's champion). American women's record holder,
Deena Kastor, will also compete, Pinkowski said. It will be Kastor's first marathon since
breaking a bone in her foot before the 5 km mark at last summer's Olympic Marathon; she
was unable to finish the race.
The Bank of America Chicago Marathon is the second-largest marathon in the United
States and helps raise about $10 million for charity. Last year's race had 33 033 starters
and 31 401 finishers. Only the ING New York City Marathon is larger with 38 832 starters
and 38 096 finishers last year.

KIBET WILL CHALLENGE GEBRSELASSIE IN BERLIN MARATHON
The two fastest marathoners of all-time, Ethiopia's Haile Gebrselassie and Kenya's Duncan
Kibet, will face each other at September's real,-- Berlin Marathon, reports Race Results
Weekly.
Gebrselassie, twice an Olympic gold medalist at 10000 m, has won the last three
editions of the marathon in Berlin, lowering his time with each effort and twice setting the
world record. In 2006 he was on schedule through 35 km to break Paul Tergat's then world
record of 2:04:55 set on the same Berlin course in 2003, but he faded in the final
kilometers in warm and windy conditions to run an Ethiopian record of 2:05:56. The
following year, helped by pacemakers Eshetu Wondimu and Rodgers Rop through 30 km,
Gebrselassie broke Tergat's mark with a 2:04:26 clocking. He came back again in 2008,
and lowered his own record to 2:03:59, which remains the world record.
Kibet became history's second-fastest marathoner at Rotterdam last April when he
prevailed in a thrilling sprint finish over compatriot James Kwambai. Both men were clocked
in 2:04:27, the fastest marathon times of 2009. Kibet only ran his first marathon in Vienna
in 2008, clocking a solid 2:08:33 to finish second. He won at Milan later that year in a
course record 2:07:53. Amazingly, the Rotterdam run was only Kibet's third career
marathon.

THIS MONTH IN HISTORY
This weekly column highlights a special race or event from the past that happened in the
current month.
40 years ago: 20 July 1969
Briton Ron Hill easily won the Maxol Marathon in Manchester in 2:13:42, beating Australian
Derek Clayton (2:15:40) by almost 2 minutes. Third was Jim Alder in 2:18:18. Earlier in
the year, on 30 May, Clayton had improved on his own world record when he ran
2:08:33.6 in Antwerp, but this course is generally regarded as having been short. In
September that year Hill won the European marathon title on the classical course from
Marathon to Athens in 2:16:47.8.

My thanks again to Riel Hauman of Distance Running Results