The Stanford magic
Posted by: vgras on: May 4, 2009
- In: Track Meet
- 3 Comments
Stanford is truly the place to go for any distance runner. They proved it once again this weekend by hosting an amazing meet. Perfect weather with temperature in the high 50s, no wind and fresh air was created conditions for some fantastic competitions.
As a competitor, I was amazing at the organization, and how well the meet was run. They were right on time for all the races, and extremely relaxed and low key. Here are the advantages of racing at Stanford
• Great weather: temperature in high 50s, no wind, fresh air, races run at night
• Great warm up area: the campus has plenty of good places for the athletes to warm-up. There is a 1 mile dirt loop right across from the track and tons of grass fields for all the athletes to do their warm up. They lay down a 80meter track surface adjacent to the track for drills and strides in spikes
• The officials are relaxed and friendly, checking in is smooth and simple, only have to do it once and then line up on the track.
o Officials let the athletes go on the track 5mins before the race in order to get some good strides and relax before the start
• Timing system: they have a running clock at the start and the 200 meter mark, making it easy for any athlete to check their splits
o The have the big score board with final times and video of the race leaders
• Great commentator: they guy knew his stats and made the races exciting. He is knowledgeable and kept the crowd informed on the athletes and the development of each race. He also called some of the splits, which the athletes can hear.
• Great track: the surface is fast and 9 lanes makes it conducive to holding large distance races
• Rabbits/pace setters: most of the distance races had volunteered rabbits to make sure the pace was right for the athletes
o Officials informed the athletes of the rabbits duties
• Last but not least: a incredible amount of great athletes eager to run fast and compete. The meet would not be what it is with the athletes. It goes hand in hand, great conditions and great athletes is the recipe for a great meet
Now let me go over some of the meet details for you:
I went to Stanford with the goal to meet the regional qualifier standard of 14:12 in the 5k. The Stanford magic in my favor, I was able to bust out a 14:08 performance which I am pleased with. Although I got rolled in my heat and lost contact with the lead pack with 2k to go, I accomplished the goal of the weekend which was to get the regional time out of the way. I am pumped to have earned another race to my college running career.
Stanford Bound. Prediction time!
Posted by: vgras on: April 30, 2009
- In: Runner| Track Meet
- 1 Comment
We flew to Stanford today for the Cardinal invite, which will take place this Saturday. It should be a great meet for middle and distance runners as the professional runners are getting started with their seasons while college harriers are looking to improve on their season’s best before the start of the conference meets, while some will be looking to hit the regional qualifying standards (such as myself in the 5k). Weather forecasts for some light rain and temperature in the hig 50s. Should be some great races. Here is what to look for on the men side:
• Rupp steeping down in distance, as he ran the 10k last weekend and will be racing the 800 at Stanford. He magically got into the fastest heat and with an even pace I wouldn’t be surprised if he ran 1:48. I am calling Duane Solomon for the win in 1:46 (who had been training with K. Robinson who tore it up last weekend at Penn with a 1:44 relay leg)
• 1500 fast heat will feature Lee Emanuel, who teared it up at Mt. Sac two weeks ago with a 3:37.99, the fastest time by a college runner this season. He will be facing some fierce competition from Olympian Juan Luis Barrios, winner of the Mt. Sac 5k. I got Barrios in 3:38, as it will come down to a kick. I just don’t see Stanford 1500 going 3:35, but would love to be wrong. There will be a bunch of sub 3:40 guys.
• 3k Steeple. Solid field but I don’t see a clear-cut winner. I will say it will probably get run in 8:30 with tons of guys in the low 8:30s. If I had to pick a winner it would probably be McAdams.
• 5k: Stacked field, no college kids made it to the fast heat except for Sam Chalenga. Fresh off his 10K college record of last week, he might be tired and I don’t know how smart it is to go back-to-back weekends of tough racing on the west coast when he’s in school in Virginia. I got Teg for the win, and watch out for Brent Vaughn and Cragg to be pushing to pace. Should go under 13:20. o Heat 2: Should get rolling with top college guys in the race. Ryan Vail, Micheal Coe and Hassan Mead are some of the top guys to look out for. Don’t forget frosh sensations German Fernandez and Chris Derrick trying to take down Rupp’s junior record. Should be an awesome race. Sub 13:30. Should be interesting to see what Fernandez can do in a 5k. Lots of questions should be answered!
• Kim McDonald 10,000m: stacked field! Looks like Solinsky will be taking care of the pacing duty and pacing. I got Quigley in 27:50. Look for a bunch of guys to break 28.
Heats and info at:
http://www.gostanford.com/sports/c-track/stan-c-track-body.html
Busted!
Posted by: vgras on: April 29, 2009
Finally! Rachid Ramzy, the winner of the 1500m at the Beijing Olympics tested positive for a new drug called CERA (new form of blood booster, similar to EPO). It’s been a while that people have been considering him on drugs, as he changed nationality from Morocco to Bahrain in 2001 and would raced very few times a while. He dominated the 2005 World Championships, where he completed the 800m and 1500m double, a feat which hadn’t been done in decades. What surprised so many people is how easy he won and the fact that he suddenly became an elite runner without a steady progression.
I really hope this bust goes through, that he gets banned for life and stripped of his Olympic medal. On top of it all, I hope he has to pay back for his winnings.
Article http://www.reuters.com/article/sportsNews/idUSTRE53S5FJ20090429
First podcast
Posted by: vgras on: April 27, 2009
here is my first podcast. The subject is a little preview of the Penn Relays. I know it’s a little late but enjoy! Feel free to tell me what you think.
http://www.mediafire.com/?sharekey=3d1bd142b49d18a6e7c82ed4b8f0c380e04e75f6e8ebb871
Wild weekend ahead!
Posted by: vgras on: April 22, 2009
- In: Track Meet
- 5 Comments
Huge weekend for track coming up. Here are the biggest events:
1) The 113th Penn Relays: The biggest track meet in North America. Over 15,000 participants are expected to compete in the 3 day event. The Championships of America are the highlights of the meet where high school, college and professional runners compete! The Distance Medley is always one of the most exciting race of the weekend. http://www.thepennrelays.com/
2) Drake Relays: This year will be the 100th edition of the meet. Another huge meet in its own right, it draws many schools from the Midwest. Alan Webb is coming back to Drake after winning the 2007 mile in record time of 3:51.71. It was a great start to his 2007 campaign, where he held the fastest time in the world in both the 800 meters (1:43.84) and 1500 meters (3:30.54), and set an American record in the mile (3:46.91). Although Webb posted some amazing times, he failed to medal at the World Championships in Osaka and finished 8th place.
Webb had a rough 2008 year, and he blames it on over training. I hope to see Webb back in full force. I doubt that Webb will break his 2007 record, but i wouldn’t be surprised if he ran in the 3:55 range. Webb just won the mile at the Kansas Relays last weekend with a time of 3:58.90. Webb had an amazing 2007 campaign. http://www.godrakebulldogs.com/SportSelect.dbml?DB_OEM_ID=15700&KEY=&SPID=8142&SPSID=71588
3) Brutus Hamilton Meet: NYRR (New York Road Runner) decided to set up a great meet for post collegiate distance runners. They are working with Cal-Berkeley and will have a distance carnival that should boast some great times! The 5k and 10k will be the premier events. I’m calling Scott Bauhs to drop a sick time in the 5k. Hopefully this meet will be successful and will continue to inspire Americans to compete at the highest level. http://www.calbears.com/sports/c-otrack/cal-c-otrack-body.html
4) Oregon Relays: Oregon is all about doing things their way, and this weekend they will stay at home instead of traveling across the country to Penn or Drake. They want to bring people to Eugene (also called “Track town USA”) and have great meet there. The relays entries look solid with teams from Washington, Oklahoma, Portland and some professionals coming to post some good marks. Olympians ducks Andrew Wheating and Galen Rupp are expected to run. Watch for the Duck distance squad to tear it up. http://www.goducks.com/SportSelect.dbml?DB_OEM_ID=500&SPID=243&SPSID=4367
5) London Marathon: a week after the Boston marathon, it’s now time for the world fastest course to get under way. Top American runners Dathan Ritzenhein and Meb Keflezighi will try to take on an amazing field which includes defending champion Kenyan Martin Lel and all three medalists from the 2008 Beijing Marathon (1st, Sammy Wanjiru) . The fast course should help the Americans get personal best. Should be a great race. I have to go with 22 year old Sammy as he always seems to amaze in his performances. http://www.london-marathon.co.uk/
On the high school scene, Penn Relays will be the highlight. Some states are starting to gear up for their state meet, so I am not sure of any other big invitational going on.
Last but not least. 6) Puma Street Meet: I originally forgot about the event when I originally wrote the entry, but while at practice i realized that I had missed a huge meet coming up this weekend. As i discussed in a previous post, Puma is organizing a huge event to take place in the streets of Boston! Matt Taylor of Puma running has done a fantastic job at promoting the meet in order to get as many fans out to Puma city, a 11,000 square foot portable building that will travel the world. The 1k street race should be a great one as Robby Andrews of New Jersey will take on a bunch of Jamaicans and local Boston middle distance runners. I call Andrews for the win with a devastating kick. (note: Andrews will be running the Penn relays on Friday night) Don’t forget that Usain Bolt will be hosting the event and it should be a great promotion not only for Puma but for the sport of running and track and field. Weather forecast is 79degrees and sunny on Sunday in Boston! If in the area, it is definitely worth checking out. http://www.pumarunning.com/
Track Meet organization
Posted by: vgras on: April 21, 2009
- In: Track Meet
- 5 Comments
Track and Field deserves more popularity and attention. It can be a great sport to watch, full of excitement and great performances. However, organization has to be well done in order for the fan to truly enjoy the meet.
Track and field is not only competing with other sports but the entire entertainment industry for the consumer’s attention. With that in mind, track meet promoters should do their best to make a track meet experience truly ENTERTAINING.
I got to watch the NCAA indoor championships last month and it was a complete disaster. Yes, the meet was great in terms of performances, but the meet organizers did such a poor job at running the meet that it totally took away from the overall experience. Instead of keeping the viewers excited and thrilled after a great race, the down time killed the excitement. They wanted to keep the meet precisely on time, which left so much dead time between events. During this down times, the athletes were on lined up at the starting line just waiting to go off. That took a lot of excitement away. The commentators could have at least played some music, updated the fans of the team scores, done some features stories on the athletes, but they chose to do none of that, and it was completely silent and boring. If I wasn’t interested in track, I would have thought that the meet just a drag.
Now Texas hosted the Texas Twilight this past Saturday. The meet was another example of what NOT to do when running a meet. It was scheduled to go from 4:30 until 9:00pm, which would be considered a short meet by track and field standards. Now keep in mind that it’s Texas weather in April, and it’s starting to get hot. The organizers chose to have the 3k as the first event, right at the hottest time of the day! That doesn’t make any sense. Next, they ran 2 heats for both the men and women, when the track has 9 wide lanes and can easily hold 30 athletes for a 3k, with a waterfall. Why in the world would you have two heats of an event that is not even run at the national championship? Since they did not account for 2 heats in the schedule, the meet was already running 30minutes late after the first event. Things didn’t get much better and by the last event the meet was over 1 hour late. Do you really expect fans to stay until 10pm when they thought they would be out of there by 9pm?
Now how do you expect fans to come watch track when meets are so disorganized? What is track and field really trying to achieve? Do some people actually care about the popularity or simply want to keep things done they way they have always been. It’s about progress and change, and I truly believe that track gaining popularity is a positive thing for the sport. But in order to do that a lot of things have to be changed and accomplished.
I know those two examples were college track meets, and the purpose of the NCAA is not to make money but to enhance the experience of student-athletes. But the NCAA has definitely taken advantage of the football and basketball attention in order to make huge profits.
I don’t know where exactly to start in order to change track, but one thing is for sure: Meet should be quick and exciting for a fan to come watch!
Boston Marathon
Posted by: vgras on: April 17, 2009
- In: Track Meet
- 2 Comments
The 113th Edition of the Boston Marathon is taking place this monday. Great fields on both the men and women side, and lots of media attention as two top American runners will enter the race.
Men’s race:
Course record holder and 4-time winner Robert Cheruiyot is coming back to defend his title. He will have to get past some stiff competition, from American star Ryan Hall and a mix of other stellar sub 2:10 runners. It should be a great race!
Women’s race:
Last year’s winner, Ethopian Dire Tune is returning. She will face Gara Goucher, a bronze medalist at the 2007 World Championships 10,000m in Osaka.
Adding to the excitement of monday morning are a 5k road race and two elite road miles which will take place on Sunday at the finish line of the marathon.
Should be a great weekend!
Weekend Review
Posted by: vgras on: April 12, 2009
As expected, this weekend boasted some solid performances especially on the college and high school scene. Arcadia once again lived up to it’s reputation of one of the best invitational in the country.
Some results that were pretty impressive came from the Karina James of Grenada at the CARIFTA games. James, only 16, won the 400 meters in a time of 45.45 breaking Usain Bolt’s 46.35 meet record dating from 2003. Impressive!
Will we see James in the college system? I highly doubt it.
Weekend Action
Posted by: vgras on: April 11, 2009
- In: Track Meet
- 1 Comment
This weekend will feature one of the best high school track meet in the U.S: The Arcadia Invitational. It invitational sections will be taking place tonight and expect some great performances!
On the college scene, it’s a pretty quiet weekend. Michigan is heading out to the dual meet vs. Ohio State. Some quality results should come out of the Sun Angel Invite out at Arizona State University.
I’ll make sure to mention any great performance that I might be missing on.
Nick Willis
Posted by: vgras on: April 9, 2009
I can’t believe I have had this blog for a week now and not mentioned anything about Nick Willis. Bronze medalist in the Beijing Olympics in the 1500 meters, Willis has been one of my role model ever since my high school days. Originally from New Zealand, Nick came to the University of Michigan in the fall of 2002 to run under Ron Warhurst. He had great career there, NCAA champion and gained multiple All-American accolades. Nick went on to sign a professional contract with Reebok in the spring of 2005.
I have been fortunate enough to train and spend time with Nick while at Michigan. He’s down to earth and an extremely fun loving person. I know Nick has been injured in the past few weeks and is trying to get back into shape for a gold medal at the Track & Field World Championships taking place this summer in Berlin, Germany! Nick I wish you the best!
I recommend checking out Nick’s website, which is very well done.
http://www.willisrunning.com/#
