Weekly News Update

National News...

51 Marathons in 50 States in 50 Days....

(From the web...)

Sam Thompson, who posts daily summaries on his blog, ran 26.2 miles in Bay St. Louis on Saturday, which followed a 26.2-mile run Friday in New Orleans, which followed a 26.2-mile run Thursday in Dallas and so on.

Between July 1 and Saturday, Thompson ran a marathon in every state, and added one a couple weeks ago in Washington, D.C., just for fun. He ran two marathons that day.

"He's a totally normal guy," said Kirsten Sellereit, Thompson's girlfriend and a registered dietitian who has been with him during his trip.

Boston Changes Start Time...for 2007 Onward...

(From their press release of this day)

"An earlier starting time will benefit the 22,500 runners who compete in the marathon due to the cooler temperatures, while allowing all of the communities, and the City of Boston in particular, to re-open roads to traffic earlier in the day," said Guy Morse, Executive Director of the Boston Athletic Association in a press release. "Also, due to the efficiency of the wave start program which we implemented for the first time in 2006, the majority of runners will not be transported from Boston to Hopkinton much earlier than in past years."

Tentative, working timeline for the start of the 2007 Boston Marathon:

Wheelchair Division (approximately 50 athletes): TBD
Elite Women (approximately 80 athletes): TBD
Wave One (approximately 10,000 athletes): 10:00 a.m.
Wave Two (approximately 12,500 athletes): 10:30 a.m.

America's Finest City Half-Marathon Rewards Susan B. Anthony Winner

Second overall female with her time and prize $...

2. Magdalena Lewy Boulet, 33, Oakland, CA 1:16:26 1000

Positive "A" Sample Report For...

Marion Jones, in the midst of a promising comeback on the international track circuit, withdrew from a meet in Europe this past weekend for "personal reasons," but press reports that her "A" sample from a previous meet had turned up positive. Keep aware for more news on this unfortunate aspect of our sport.
Local News...

Race For the Arts, Friday, August 18

Almost 600 culturally sophisticated individuals turned out this past Friday to add their bodies and their $$ to a support 5k for Crocker Art Gallery. Top Chip age group notices got attention for Linda Hall, Ernie Takahashi, and even the ancient bison himself, Abe Underwood.

The MOST COMPETITIVE age group for both men and women was the 40-44 subset where for men, only 49 seconds covered first to 5th with John Blue (2nd), John Nichols (3rd) and Mark Murray (5th) duking it out for top honors.

For women, the spread from first to 5th was 1:17 with our Carol Parise turning a solid 20:xx and coming in 5th there.

In the men's 50-59, Dennis Scott and Gary Lotspeich scored in the top 5 and for the 70-79, Gordon Hall and Mike Meyer made the top finishers list. Congratulations to all finishers and thanks for supporting the "arts."