Ah, we're finally into race season 2009, with plenty of racing to come. But this week and next we are finally seeing the first running and cycling races of note (triathlon World Cup and Ironman don't really get rolling until March), so there are actual races to report on. Here goes...
Haile Gebrselassie competed today in the Dubai Marathon, with a potential million dollar payday for breaking the world record (which would be his 26th overall world record, and his third in the marathon). His last 3 attempts at the marathon distance were the 3 fastest in history, and he mentioned this week that "it is possible we might get something good" on Friday. He wanted to run 61:45 for the first half (slower than last year's 61:27, which was too fast for him), and Friday he ran the perfect half, hitting halfway in exactly 61:45! He sped up a bit and was 25 seconds under world record pace at 28k, but a freak rain storm appeared to slow him. Now slowing to 15:11 for the 5k between 30k and 35k might not sound like much, but he lost over 30 seconds in that interval made the world record impossible. The wet pavement appeared to bother Geb, but he maintained his speed to finish in 2:05:29, the 8th fastest marathon of all time. So no world record on this day, but it appears that Geb is in good enough shape to make another run at it in 2009!
And to be gender equal, the women's race was a battle between 3 Ethiopians with Bezunesh Bekele holding on to win in 2:24:09. She's only 25 and will be a contender for years to come. And overall, it was an amazing day for Ethiopia, as they took 8 in the Top 10 in both men's and women's races! Ridiculous.
Okay, more track news. Usain Bolt might be coming to Canada! Unlike Ben Johnson and other Jamaican sprinters who moved to Canada and became Canadian citizens, Bolt is only coming for one race. Athletics Canada is trying to lure Bolt for a meet in Toronto on June 10. According to reports, Bolt would be paid a cool quarter-million just to show up. Bolt made headlines in December when he claimed he thinks he could run as fast as 9.58 in 2009. He says he is a below-average starter and believes he can still make great strides there. It's not looking good for the rest of the sprinters...
The other big news in track & field this month is news that the Golden League, which is the big money series of meets held every summer in Europe, might be expanding from 6 to 12 events and expanding worldwide. While the chance of the Golden League ever coming to Canada is pretty remote (Edmonton 2001 was the our last chance), there is a good chance that New York, Los Angeles, or Eugene might get a spot on the 2010 Golden League calendar. Anything that potentially increases the profile of Track in North America is great news.
Youtube find of the week is a classic blooper. Check out Gunther Wiedlinger running the steeplechase. Despite the little mishap, Wiedlinger is still running and this weekend is gunning for the Austrian record in the marathon. He would then own every Austrian running record from the 1500m to the marathon. That is a ridiculous range of running speed.
Moving over to things more bike-y, Lance Armstrong is all over the news. I guess we should expect that he will become the major celebrity of this blog when he races the Tour, the Giro, in Australia, the Tour of Flanders, Liege-Bastogne-Liege, etc. The circus starts next week when Lance starts his comeback at the Tour Down Under, a six-day stage race in Australia. With 18 ProTour teams in the field, it will be a good challenge. I doubt we'll see a classic Lance breakaway, but hopefully he can show he can keep up and occasionally make the rest of the field sweat his presence. A full update next week!
Lance is really in great shape this year. For those who want to see some great riding pictures of Lance, check out this link. And for those of you who want to see a shirtless Lance life weights, check out this video. The reason I'm commenting on his fitness is that the February 2009 issue of Outside magazine includes Lance answering the question we all want answered...Will you ever do an Ironman?
Yeah. Whenever I'm done with this [comeback]. I can unequivocally say yes to that. That's a fact. And I get asked that question every day. I don't know when it was, less than a year ago, that I got some of these Ironman DVDs. I said, Let's see what that's all about. So we've been watching them for the past year. I'm definitely motivated to do an Ironman. We'll go back and I'll be close to 40, but I've swam more in the last three years than before that. And I don't want to just do an Ironman. I don't want to approach it like I approached the marathons. I want to do it as fast as I can.
Stay tuned. If Lance ever did an Ironman it would be the biggest thing to happen to Ironman since Julie Moss crawled across the finish line in 1982 on Wide World of Sports.
I'll keep you posted. Enjoy the weekend!
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