Superfan Daily: What's On The Weekend

The Flotrack guys kick it off.  All the meets, links, webcasts and more after the jump.


 Indoor Track

Superfan Daily: What's On The Weekend

Cross Country
The Cross Internacional de Itálica, an IAAF Cross Country Permit meet, will be held in Seville on Sunday. It is so named because it takes place in the former Roman city of Itálica, looping through ancient streets and ruins.
The men's race is deep, with undisputed world #1 Joseph Ebuya; Teklemariam Medhin, the only man to have beaten him this season; Leonard Komon, world record holder for the road 10k and 15k; and Tariku Bekele, last summer's #2 track distance man.
The women's race is also deep, with Linet Masai, the dominant runner of late; Emily Chebet, the defending World XC champion; Vivian Cheruiyot, the defending World 5k champion; and Pauline Korikwiang, who won in Amorebieta last weekend.
Meet website / Wikipedia page
IAAF preview

The Cross della Vallagarina, an EAA Cross Country Permit meet, will be held in the Italian city of Rovereto on Sunday.
Meet website
FIDAL preview (in Italian)

The Kenya Police Service Cross Country Championships will be held at Nairobi's Ngong Race Course on Saturday. While undoubtedly deep, the exact makeup of the fields are up in the air; some previously announced runners, such as Linet Masai and Vivian Cheruiyot, are running the day before in Seville, and cannot possibly do both.
The Standard Preview

The first-ever Bay Area Cross Challenge will be held on Sunday in San Francisco's Golden Gate Park. The meet is part of an attempt to create a domestic winter-season cross country circuit; there will be $9,000 of prize money on the line.
Leading men's confirmed entrants: Abdi Abdirahman, David Torrance, Belota Asmerom, Boaz Cheboiywo
Leading women's confirmed entrants: Molly Huddle (5k American Record holder) Magdalena Lewy-Boulet, Alissa McKaig, Megan (Metcalfe) Wright, Renee Metivier Baillie
Meet website

Road Racing
The Standard Chartered Mumbai Marathon will be run through the Indian city on Sunday. One runner will be no stranger to India: John Kelai, who won the Commonwealth Games marathon last fall in New Delhi.
Race website / live webcast
IAAF preview / Hindustan Times / OneIndia News
The Rock n' Roll Arizona Marathon will be run in Pheonix on Sunday. Kara Goucher will make her return to racing after maternity.
Race website
AP preview / Arizona Republic preview

Indoor Track
Texas goes to Arkansas on Friday for a men-only dual meet.
Preview / Meet schedule / Start lists / Live blog / Live Results

Missouri goes to Kansas on Friday for a dual meet.
Preview / Meet schedule

The Washington Indoor Preview will have a couple of notable post-collegians running in the women's 3000 meters: Shalane Flanagan and Lisa Koll.
Meet schedule / Heat sheets
Paul Merca's preview / Flotrack coverage page

Texas A&M hosts a "four-conference challenge" on Saturday between teams from the Big 12, Southland, Sun Belt and SWAC. I wonder which conference will win...
Live webcast at Aggies All-Access begins at 1:00 PM EST
Preview / Heat sheets / Live results

Michigan goes to Ohio State for a men-only dual meet on Saturday. I will be there and will tweet updates during the meet.
Flotrack coverage page
Video preview / Meet schedule / Live results

In a brilliant home-and-home move, Ohio State simultaneously goes to Michigan for a women-only dual meet.
Meet schedule / Video preview

Indiana travels to Purdue on Saturday for a dual meet.
Video preview / Meet schedule / Live results

All other college meets

Vault Manchester, a stop on the pole-vault only Perche Elite Tour, will take place on Sunday.

Also on Sunday is the Capital Perche, another stop on the Perche Elite Tour, in the French city of Clermont-Ferrand.

Other minor European meets: the Demyanuk Memorial in Lviv UKR, the Reykjavik International Games, and the AAI Games in Nenagh IRL.

Track on TV (and the web)
Live web chat with Ryan Hall and Magdalena Lewy-Boulet, 2:00 PM Friday at USATF.org
Texas A&M Challenge, live webcast begins at 1 PM Saturday at Aggies All-Access
Bud Greenspan's Athens 2004: Stories of Olympic Glory, Saturday at 9:55 AM and 8:00 PM on Showtime Family Zone

Superfan Daily: What's On the Weekend

Highlight meet of the weekend
The Bupa Great Edinburgh International Cross Country, an IAAF Cross Country Permit meet, will be held in the Scottish capital’s Holyrood Park on Saturday.  The course, a version of the 2008 World Championships course, uses the famous Arthur's Seat. There may be ways to see the BBC coverage online; watch this space for updates when I get them.

1:07 PM local time (8:07 AM Eastern): Men’s International 4.2k
This is the race Let’s Run is calling the “Varsity” race, as it’s significantly deeper than the featured team race. Entries include Eliud Kipchoge (World #5 at 5k), Asbel Kiprop (World #1 at 1500m), Arturo Casado (European 1500m champ) and Brimin Kipruto (World steeplechase #4) as well as home favorite miler Tom Lancashire (2006 NCAA runner-up at FSU).

1:25 PM local time (8:25 AM Eastern): Women’s International 5.7k
This race is the deepest of the day, loaded with Linet Masai (World 10k champ), Vivian Cheruiyot (World 5k champ), Tirunesh Dibaba (5k World Record holder), Jessica Augusto (European XC champ) and Milcah Chemos (World steeplechase champ), plus home favorites Steph Twell, Charlotte Purdue, Emma Pallant, Hattie Dean and Liz Yelling.

1:55 PM local time (8:55 AM Eastern): Men’s International Team Challenge 8k
This is a three-way team competition between teams from the UK, USA and Europe. Let’s Run is calling it the “JV” race, but I think the team competition is making it the more interesting of the two men’s races.  Teams have nine runners and the first six for each score.

Leading the way for the home team is Mo Farah. Chris “Tommo” Thompson was supposed to run but pulled out with injury. The best of Farah’s supporting cast is Frank Tickner and Andy Vernon.

The European team’s leader is nine-time Euro XC champ Sergey Lebid of Ukraine. He’s helped by Ayad Lamdassen (Spain), this year’s Euro XC silver medalist, as well as Youssef El Kalai (Portugal), the bronze medalist. In fact, six of the top ten at the Euro XC are competing.

The USA appears to have the deepest team, with Galen Rupp as the star. Dathan Ritzenhein was supposed to compete but pulled out citing an ankle injury. Behind him are Ed Moran, Stephen Furst (fresh off a course record at the Emerald Nuts Midnight Run), Scott Bauhs (5th at the BOClassic 10k) and Nick Arciniaga.

Race website
Previews: The Scotsman / IAAF / Team USA / Athletics Weekly / Eurosport / BBC


Other Meets
There will be two pro-level cross country meets in Spain on Sunday, the Cross Internacional del Calzado in Toledo and the Cross Internacional Zornotza in Amorebieta.
RFEA website

The seventh meet in the KCB/Athletics Kenya cross country series will be run on Saturday in Iten.
Athletics Kenya website
Daily Nation preview

There will be two early-season indoor meets in Russia this weekend, the Christmas Starts in Yekaterinburg on Friday and the Christmas Cup in Moscow on Sunday.  The first of the two meets will see Andrey Silnov versus Aleksandr Shustov in the high jump.
Russian Athletics website

Colleges
On Friday, Oklahoma and Ole Miss are at Arkansas for a tri-meet.
LIVE blog / LIVE results / Men's promo / Women's promo

Iowa is at Illinois for a men’s-only dual meet.
Heat sheets / Promo

All the rest

Track on TV
Endurance, Friday at 11:35 AM on FLiX
Bud Greenspan Presents: Beijing 2008 - America's Olympic Glory, Saturday at 10:30 AM on SHO EXTREME
Athens 2004: Stories of Olympic Glory, Saturday at 9:00 PM on Universal Sports (reruns at midnight)

Yesterday's Results
Cross Country Internazionale Campaccio (San Giorgio su Legnano ITA) EAA Permit
Tiberias International Marathon (Tiberias ISR)

News Links
Runner's World's Racing News has all the headlines.

Lineups for a few Millrose Games events have been announced, and they are good. The men's 60 had just about the best athletes available, and the women's 60 is decent too. Recall that both are being scored as a USA-Jamaica dual meet. There's also a new "Millrose Multi Challenge" pitting five top American decathletes against each other in a hurdle/high jump/shot put competition--Bryan Clay, Trey Hardee, Ashton Eaton, Jake Arnold and Curtis Beach.

Britain's Athletics Weekly magazine rolled out a completely redesigned website. It's sweet.

Preseason computer rankings from the coaches' association have Florida (men) and Oregon (women) as the #1 teams. Texas A&M's hopes for a men's title are severely curtailed by the surprise announcement yesterday that Curtis Mitchell, the Aggie's defending NCAA champ at 200 meters, has decided to forego his senior season and join the professional ranks. TAMU head coach Pat Henry sounds pissed off about it.

Flotrack has announced its indoor coverage schedule, with 20 meets and four FloLive webcasts. It kicks off next weekend with The Dual (Michigan at Ohio State), which I'll be seeing the old-fashioned InPersonLive way.

No link, but Alan Webb has been announced as opening his season with a mile race in New York on January 22.  That could only be the New Balance meet at the Armory.  2011 marks the tenth anniversary of him breaking 4:00 at the same site as a high schooler.

Superfan Daily: Exhibit on '36 Olympics and Jesse Owens

It recently came to my attention that the Maltz Museum of Jewish Heritage now has a special program titled “The Nazi Olympics: Berlin 1936”, a traveling exhibit of the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum. It seeks to explain how the Olympic Games were used to softpedal the uglier sides of pre-war Germany.

Of interest to track fans in particular is an emphasis on Jesse Owens. Among the items displayed are his journal from those Olympics, one of his gold medals, and other items from the Ohio State University archives.

Normally I would go first and then plug the exhibit, but I did not find out about it until last week, well into its run. It opened on October 19 and will close on January 23. I will be there this Sunday.

The museum is located in the Cleveland suburb of Beachwood. Guided tours are available for groups of ten or more on weekdays, and for individuals and/or smaller groups at 2 PM on Sundays. Admission is $12.

What’s On
The 54th Cross Country Internazionale Campaccio, an EAA Permit cross country meet, will take place tomorrow in the Italian township of San Giorgio su Legnano. The men’s race should be a good one, matching the world’s top XC runner, Joseph Ebuya, against the world record holder for road 10k and 15k, Leonard Komon.
Meet website
Schedule: Women (6k) at 12:30 PM (6:30 AM Eastern); men (10k) at 1:10 PM (7:10 AM Eastern)
Fidal preview (in Italian) / EAA preview

Track on TV
Sydney 2000: Stories of Olympic Glory, part of Universal Sports’ tribute to the late Bud Greenspan, will be on that channel at 9 PM on Thursday. It reruns at midnight.

News links
Runner’s World’s Racing News has all the headlines: athlete profiles and blogs, and an update on the Sammy Wanjiru situation.

San Diego will host the 2011 USATF cross country championships.  Dathan Ritzenhein is expected to compete.

Ryan Bailey will double in the 60 and 200 for the US team in the five-nations meet in Glasgow at the end of January.  The world's 6th-ranked 200 meter man, Bailey is the only athlete on any team who will double.

Nigerian-turned-Portugese sprinter Francis Obuikwelu, the 2004 Olympic silver medalist, has been linked to the Spanish "Operation Galgo".  He, of course, denies it.

Long jumper Brianna Glenn blogs about being relaxed and mean.

Unbroken, the best-selling book about miler/WWII POW Louis Zamperini, has been optioned for a film.

Arkansas' indoor track, among the world's fastest, has been refurbished and is ready to go.  But the track used for the recent Commonwealth Games at the Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium in New Delhi is now too damaged to use, due to a faulty foundation.

What's On: The Weekend

While Thanksgiving Day races are the thing in the USA, New Year’s Eve races are traditional in much of the rest of the world. Most are named after St. Sylvester, whose feast day is December 31.

The top domestic race is the Emerald Nuts Midnight Run, a four-miler in New York's Central Park. The top entries are Bobby Curtis and Desiree Davila. Davila should be considered a "throwback" runner, as she races often and at a wide range of distances but still cranks out great marathon performances.
Race website

In Madrid, the distance is 10 km and it is an IAAF Silver Label Road Race.  World half marathon record holder Zersenay Tadese is entered and will face local stars such as Ayad Lamdassem (World XC silver medalist) and Sergio Sánchez (World Indoor 3k silver medalist). The women's race looks to be a very good one, as Euro XC champ Jessica Augusto takes on Liliya Shobukhova, the world's top marathoner.
Race website
IAAF preview

In Bolzano, Italy, the distances are 10 km for men and 5 km for women. It's an elite-only race, but spectators are estimated around 10,000. This is probably the best race of the weekend, as European 5k/10k champ Mo Farah goes up against Diamond League champ Imane Merga, Olympic bronze medalist Edwin Soi, and nine-time European XC champ Sergey Lebid. The women's race is not quite as deep, but still boasts World 5k champion Vivian Cheruyiot and World XC bronze medalist Priscah Jepleting Cherono.
Race website
Live webcast begins at 8:50 AM (EST) at RAI Sport
IAAF preview

In Luanda, Angola, the distance is 10 km. This race has the biggest name in Haile Gebrselassie. He is going to have his hands full with Josephat Menjo, the fastest 10k runner of 2010, as well as 15k world record holder Deriba Merga. The women's race features Grace Momanyi.
All-Africa preview

In São Paulo, the distance is 15 km. Top entries are Brazil's Marilson Gomes, two-time defending champion James Kwambai of Kenya, and Abderrahim Bouramdane of Morocco. Defending women's champion Alice Timbilili of Kenya is also entered.
Race website

In Soest, Holland, it's a cross country race; the women run 6 km and the men run 10.4 km. European 800m silver-medalist Yvonne Hak is entered, and will face off against the top Dutch cross-country specialist Adrienne Herzog.
Race website

In Trier, Germany, the distance is 8 km for men and 5 km for women.  Micah Kogo is entered.
Race website

In Peuerbach, Austria, the distance is 6.8 km and will feature world steeplechase champion Ezekiel Kemboi against Austria’s Gunther Weidlinger and defending champion Abere Chane of Ethiopia. In the women’s race the top entries are Austria’s Andrea Mayr and defending champion Asmera Work Bekele of Ethiopia.

In Japan, it's Ekiden season. The New Year Ekiden will be run on (you guessed it) New Year's Day.

That, however, is only the warmup to the biggest of them all, the Hakone Ekiden on Sunday and Monday. To learn what the heck it is and how much attention the Japanese pay to it, check out Japan Running News.

You can watch both of these online. The New Year's Ekiden coverage will begin 6:15 PM Friday (EST) and run for more than six hours. The Hakone Ekiden will be on from 5 PM to midnight (EST) on Saturday and Sunday. (Japan Time is fourteen hours ahead of Eastern Time, so it's more or less it's always already tomorrow there.)

Track on TV
There's not much, but what there is is pretty good.

On 8:30 PM Thursday and 7 PM Friday, TV Land will show "The Olympics", an episode of Sanford and Son in which Fred tries to impress his lady friend by doing the decathlon in the Senior Olympics. Besides having the single greatest theme music in all of TV history, the thing I like about S&S is that it's a double-anachronism. Not only is it a 35-year-old show in reruns, it was made to be out of step with its time back when it was new.

To memorialize Bud Greenspan, Universal Sports will show one of his films each night for nine days in a row. It begins on New Year's Day at 9 PM with 16 Days of Glory, his first official Olympic film which covered the 1984 Los Angeles games. The next two nights cover winter games, then back to the summer with Atlanta's Olympic Glory on Tuesday, Sydney 2000: Stories of Olympic Glory on Thursday, and Athens 2004: Stories of Olympic Glory next Saturday.

What's On: The Weekend

Cross Country
The Foot Locker High School Cross Country Championships will be held on Saturday in San Diego’s Balboa Park.
Meet website / Flotrack coverage
Live webcast begins at 11 AM at flotrack.org
Race times: girls at 12:15, boys at 1:00
Let's Run prediction contest

The European Cross Country Championships will be held on Sunday in the Portugese city of Albufeira.
Meet website / Men's entries / Women's entries
EAA Men's preview / EAA Women's preview

Road Racing
The Honolulu Marathon will be run on Sunday.

The St. Sylvester Race will be run on Sunday in Zurich.

The Corrida de Noel will be run on Sunday in the Paris suburb of Issy-les-Moulineaux.

Indoor Track
The Perche Elite Tour of pole vault meetings comes to the English town of Loughborough on Saturday.

There are a few low-key college meets this weekend.

Outdoor Track
South Africa's Yellow Pages Summer Series will have meets in Coetzenberg on Friday and Oudtshoorn on Monday.

Track on TV
Prefontaine, 11:30 AM Friday on Shotwime Family Zone
Running the Sahara, 2:00 PM Friday on SHO Next
Running, 4:15 AM and 3:15 PM Saturday on Flix
Foot Locker Cross Country live webcast, 11:00 AM Saturday at flotrack.org

What's On: This Week

The Zatopek:10 sees its 50th annual running on Thursday at Melbourne's Olympic Park.  It's actually an entire track meet, but the highlight is a track 10k, set for 9:30 PM local time (5:30 AM EST).  The big name signed up is the year's fastest 10k runner, Kiprono Menjo.  He is capable of breaking the race record of 27:22.54, and doesn't need a pacemaker; he famously broke 27:00 and 13:00 in solo runs this summer.  Most of the top Australians are also entered, as is the USA's Bobby Curtis.  There's a women's race, too, but it isn't quite as competitive this year.
Event website
IAAF preview / Runner's Tribe preview
Race history

 

A few low-key college track meets begin during the week. Colorado has an intrasquad on Wednesday, as does Nebraska on Friday.
All the rest

 

 

Track on TV

• New York City Marathon rerun, 3:00 PM Monday on Universal Sports
• Endurance, 3:00 PM Monday on SHO Extreme
• Bud Greenspan Remembers: The 1984 L.A. Olympics, 8:00 PM Monday and 12:45 AM and 2:35 PM Thursday on Showtime Family Zone
• Bud Greenspan's Athens 2004: Stories of Olympic Glory, 12: 45 PM Tuesday on Showtime Family Zone
• Running the Sahara, 5:30 AM, 7:30 AM and 4:05 PM Thursday on SHO Extreme and 2:00 PM Friday on SHO Next
• Prefontaine, 11:30 AM Friday on Showtime Family Zone

What's On: The Weekend

Road Racing
The 64th Fukuoka International Open Marathon, an IAAF Silver Label Road Race, will be run in the Japanese city on Sunday (Saturday night in the USA). Once the unofficial World Championships, this men-only race is still one of the best in the tier just below the World Marathon Majors.
Race website
Live webcast: 10:00 PM EST on Saturday night at Keyhole TV
Japan Running News viewing guide / IAAF preview

The Standard Chartered Singapore Marathon, an IAAF Silver Label Road Race, will be run in the southeast Asian island nation on Sunday.
Race website
IAAF preview

The Wincanton Montferland Run 15k will be run on Sunday in the Dutch city of Heerenberg. Super-marathoners Samuel Wanjiru and Patrick Makau are slated to run.
Race website

The Safaricom Great Lake National Marathon will be run on Sunday in the Kenyan town of Kisumu.

The Cal International Marathon will be run on Sunday in Sacramento.
Race website
Race preview

The MetroPCS Dallas White Rock Marathon will be run in the Texas city on Sunday. An interesting twist added on is a special high school relay trying to beat the pros.
Race website
Live local TV coverage: 8:00 AM (local time) Sunday on WFAA (Channel 8)
Race preview

The Rock N’ Roll Las Vegas Marathon and Half Marathon will be run in Sin City on Sunday.

Cross Country
The fifth meet in the KCB/Athletics Kenya cross country series takes place on Saturday in Kisii.

The Ethiopian Clubs Cross Country Championships will be held on Saturday in Addis Ababa.

The Cross International de la Constitucion takes place on Sunday in the Spanish town of Alcobendas.

Colleges
The NCAA Division II Cross Country Championships will be held on Saturday at Tom Sawyer State Park in Louisville KY.
Live webcast: 11:00 AM EST at NCAA.com
Meet website / Flotrack coverage
Previews: NCAA / Courier-Journal
Let's Run prediction contest

College track starts up.
Athletic.net list of meets

High Schools
Nike Cross Country Nationals, aka NXN, will be held on Saturday at Portland Meadows Racetrack in Oregon.
Meet website / Flotrack coverage
Live webcast: 1:05 PM (EST) Saturday at runnerspace.com
Previews: Flotrack / USA Today Milesplit boys / Milesplit girls

The Foot Locker West regionals will be held on Saturday at Mt. San Antonio College in Walnut CA.
Meet website

Track on TV
Running the Sahara, 1:00 PM Friday on SHO Extreme and 7:30 AM Sunday on SHO Next
NCAA Division II XC Championships live webcast, 11:00 Saturday at NCAA.com
Nike Cross Nationals live webcast, 1:05 PM Saturday at runnerspace.com
Fukuoka Marthon live webcast, 10:00 PM Saturday at Keyhole TV
Dallas White Rock Marathon live local TV,  8:00 AM (local time) Sunday on WFAA (Dallas Channel 8)
Prefontaine, 8:00 PM Sunday on Showtime Family Zone
Endurance, 5:45 AM Monday on SHO Extreme

What's On: The Weekend

Cross Country
The Budapest Challenge, an EAA Permit cross country meet, takes place on Saturday in the Hungarian capital’s Népliget Park.
Meet website
EAA preview

The fourth meet in the KCB/Athletics Kenya Cross Country series takes place on Saturday in Kangaru-Embu.

The UK will hold its European Cross Country Trials on Saturday in Liverpool's Sefton Park.
Meet website
Athleticos coverage

The Cross Internacional Valle de Llodio, another EAA Permit cross country meet, will take place on Sunday in the Spanish city of Llodio. Leading entries are Teklemariam Medhin, who is riding a two-race winning streak, along with Samuel Tsegay, Kidane Tadese and Josephat Kiprono Menjo.
ABC.es preview (in Spanish)

The strongest lineup of the weekend is at the Cross de l'Acier, another EAA Permit cross country meet, in the French coastal town of Leffrinckoucke. Imane Merga, the summer's dominant track runner, will take on defending World Cross Country champion Joesph Ebuya. The women's competition is also strong, featuring Linet Masai, the defending World 10k champ, along with Meselech Melkamu and Wude Ayalew.
Meet website
Nord Eclair preview (in French)

The International loket.nl Warandeloop, an EAA Permit cross country meet, takes place on Sunday in the Dutch city of Tilburg.
Meet website
EAA preview

Road Racing
The Florence Marathon takes place on Sunday in the Italian city.
Race website
FIDAL preview (in Italian)

The Eldoret KASS Marathon takes place on Sunday in the Kenyan town of Eldoret.
Race website
The Standard preview

High Schools
Three Foot Locker Regional cross country championships take place on Saturday: the Northeast on Long Island, the Midwest in Kenosha WI, and the South in Charlotte NC.
Foot Locker website
Flotrack coverage: Northeast / Midwest / West
ESPN Rise coverage: Northeast / Midwest / South

The California High School Championships will take place on Saturday in Fresno.
Meet website

Track on TV
Bud Greenspan Presents: Beijing 2008 - America's Olympic Glory, 10:40 AM Saturday on Showtime Family Zone
Running the Sahara, 9:15 AM Sunday on Showtime Family Zone

What's On: The Weekend

NCAA Championships

The NCAA Division I Cross Country Championships are Monday in Terre Haute, Indiana.
Women at 12:08 PM EST, Men at 12:48

Meet website / Flotrack coverage / Cross Country Town USA page

LIVE webcast begins at Noon on Monday at NCAA.com
LIVE Pre-Shows at Flotrack.org:
Saturday at 2 PM
Sunday at 12:30 PM
Monday at 11:30 AM

I'll be there this weekend, twittering and covering it for House of Run.

To truly enjoy a race, you've got to know who the favorites are and who the underdogs with a legitimate chance are.

On the men's side, I'm calling it for Oklahoma State over Stanford.  The outside shot goes to Wisconsin.  A under-appreciated contender for one of the four trophies is Colorado. Sam Chelanga of Liberty is the overwhelming favorite to win, with Northern Arizona's David McNeill a nearly equally overwhelming favorite for second.

In the women's race, Villanova is a strong favorite.  If they falter, Florida State is most likely to take the title.  The individual race is considered wide open; my super-secret gambling-based predictor calls it for Sheila Reid.
Previews: Spiked Up Psyched Up (women) /  SUPU (men)

International
The third meet in the KCB/Athletics Kenya Cross Country series takes place on Saturday in Kapsokwony.

The Nyeri Half Marathon will be run on Saturday in the Kenyan town of Nyeri.

The Safaricom Siaya 10 kilometer Road Race will be held on Saturday in the Kenyan town of Siaya.

The Airtel Delhi Half Marathon, an IAAF Gold Label Road Race, will be held on Sunday in the Indian city.
Race website
Ten sub-1:00:00 men are running, headlined by Deriba Merga and Geoffrey Mutai.  Twelve sub-1:10:00 women are running, headlined by Aselefech Mergia.
Previews: Times of India / Hindustan Times / Wall Street Journal / IAAF

The ABN AMRO Zevenheuvelenloop 15k, an IAAF Silver Label Road Race, will be held on Sunday in the Dutch city of Nijmegen.
Race website
Two road world record holders are entered: Leonard Komon (10k) and Felix Limo (15k).  This looks like a great battle.
Previews: Mzungo / IAAF

The Lotto CrossCup van West-Vlaanderen, an EAA Cross Country Permit meet, will be run on Sunday in the Belgian city of Roeselare.

The Corta Mato Cidade De Amora, an EAA Cross Country Permit meet, will be run on Sunday in the Portugese city of Amora.

The Cross Internacional de Soria, an EAA Cross Country Permit meet, will be run on Sunday in the Spanish city of Soria.
Preview of all three EAA meets

The Great Ethiopian Run will be held on Sunday in Addis Ababa.  With 35,000 entrants, it is Africa's largest 10k.

The Tuskys Mattresses Wareng Cross Country meet will be held on Sunday in the Kenyan town of Eldoret.  World champion Joseph Ebuya is entered.

The Kobe Women's Half Marathon will be held on Sunday in the Japanese city.

Track on TV
Running the Sahara, 11:10 AM and 9:40 PM Saturday on Showtime Family Zone
NCAA Cross Country Championships Pre-Show, 2 PM Saturday at Flotrack.org
Big Ten Cross Country Championships (tape-delay), noon Sunday on the Big Ten Network
NCAA Cross Country Championships Pre-Show, 12:30 PM Sunday at Flotrack.org
New York City Marathon rerun, 1 AM Monday on Universal Sports
NCAA Cross Country Championships Pre-Show, 11:30 AM Monday at Flotrack.org
NCAA Cross Country Championships Live Webcast, Noon Monday at NCAA.com

What's On: The Weekend

New York City Marathon
The (arguably) most famous race in the world, an IAAF Gold Label Road Race and the final World Marathon Major of 2011, will be run through the five boroughs on Sunday. 

Pro women at 9:10 AM, pro men and mass start at 9:40.

• Race website
• TV Coverage: 2 PM Sunday on NBC (tape-delay)
• LIVE TV Coverage: 9 AM Sunday on Universal Sports
• Live Webcast: 9 AM Sunday at UniversalSports.com ($)

The media has blanket coverage of the race.  Your best sites for race previews and coverage are Runner's World, Flotrack, the NYRR Marathon Channel, and Universal Sports.  You could immerse yourself from now until the gun on Sunday morning with those sites alone.

Also check out Flotrack's The Weekend Ahead video, with the always-hip background music...


Believe it or not, there are other major races going on.

The Joongang Seoul Marathon, an IAAF Bronze Label Road Race, will be run in the South Korean capitol on Sunday.
Race website

The Cross Internacional de Atapuerca, the opening race of the 2010-11 IAAF Cross Country Permit series, will be run on Sunday through the Spanish town on Atapuerca and its archealogical site.  Headliners are both defending World XC champions, Joseph Ebuya and Emily Chebet.
Race website
IAAF Preview

Most NCAA Division II and NAIA conference cross country championships are this weekend, highlighted by the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference meet in Las Vegas on Saturday.
USATFCCCA Championship Central page
NAIA Conference pages: men / women


Track on TV
World Half Marathon Championships rerun, 4:30 PM Friday on Universal Sports
2008 New York Marathon rerun, 8:00 PM Friday on Universal Sports
2009 New York Marathon rerun, Midnight and 8:00 PM Saturday on Universal Sports
Endurance, 8:00 PM Saturday on Showtime Family Zone
New York City Marathon live coverage, 9 AM Sunday on Universal Sports and UniversalSports.com
New York City Marathon tape-delay package, 2 PM Sunday on NBC
Prefontaine, 5:35 AM and 9:40 AM Sunday on SHO Next
New York City Marathon rerun, 8 PM Sunday on Universal Sports

What's On: The Weekend

Part 2
International

The Athens Classic Marathon, an IAAF Gold Label Road Race, will trace the legendary ancient route on Sunday from the plains of Marathon to Athens’ Pathanaikos Stadium, site of the 1896 Olympics. This year marks the 2500th anniversary of the Greek victory over the invading Persians at Marathon. There will be a huge celebration, with approximately double the usual number of entries (12,500) and a really cool finisher's medal.

Kenyans, of course, are expected to dominate the men's race, specifically Jonathan Kipkorir and Jacob Yator. The women's stars are Russians Irina Permitina and Olga Glok and Japan's Eri Hayakawa.
Race website
IAAF preview / Eurosport preview / Competitor.com preview

The Commerzbank Frankfurt Marathon, an IAAF Gold Label Road Race, will be run in the German city on Sunday. Alfons Juck reports that men’s entries include eighteen sub-2:10 runners, eight of them at sub-2:07:15. Leading women’s entries include World Half-Marathon silver medalist Dire Tune and Ethiopian half-marathon record holder Mare Dibaba.
Race website
IAAF preview


The Marseille Cassis Classique Internationale, an IAAF Silver Label Road Race, will be run between the two French cities on Sunday. At 20.3 km, it’s just short of a true half-marathon.

Leading entries are Lelisa Desisa, who has run three quality half-marathons this year with a best time of 59:59, and Deriba Merga, who is a big question mark after dropping out of marathons Chicago and Seoul. Meseret Mengistu, 6th at the recent World Half-Marathon Championships, is favored to defend her title.
Race website
IAAF Preview

Track on TV
Pac-10 Championships Preview Show, 6:30 PM Friday at Flotrack.org
Pac-10 Championships Live Coverage, 11:30 AM Saturday at Flotrack.org
Endurance, 7:30 AM Saturday on The Movie Channel Extra
Prefontaine, 9:00 AM Saturday on The Movie Channel Extra
Running the Sahara, 8:45 AM and 4:35 PM Saturday on Showtime Extreme

What's On: The Weekend

International
The BUPA Great South Run, an IAAF Gold Label Road Race, will be run on Sunday through the streets of the English city of Portsmouth. 

• Race website
• There will be live TV coverage on BBC Channel 5 beginning at 10:30 AM local time.
• The men's field is supposed to be pretty darned good: World Cross Country champ Joseph Ebuya and half-marathon ace Zersenay Tadese are the headliners.  The women's race suffered from the withdrawal of Jo Pavey due to injury.
• Athletics Weekly: men's preview / women's preview

There are a couple of lower-level races, both IAAF Silver Label Road Race status.  Both the Venice Marathon and the Chosunilbo Chuncheon International Marathon will take place on Sunday.

Domestic
Not much. 

The Rock N' Roll Los Angeles Half Marathon is on Sunday, but apparently has no pro-level entries.

College cross country is decidedly low-key this weekend, as conference championships come next weekend.

Track on TV
World Half Marathon Championships, 1:00 PM Friday on Universal Sports
Prefontaine, 10:10 AM Friday on The Movie Channel Xtra
Without Limits, 10:30 AM Sunday and 4:00 AM Monday on WGN

What's On The Weekend

The Decastar decathlon and heptathlon, an IAAF Combined Events Challenge competition, takes place on Saturday and Sunday in the Bordeaux suburb of Talence. Leading names are European decathlon champion Romain Barras (France) and a faceoff between World Indoor medalists Tatyana Chernova (Russia) and Natalia Dobrynska (Ukraine).
Meet website
Previews: IAAF / L'Equipe

The IAAF Race Walking Challenge Final will take place on Saturday in Beijing. Who ya got in your racewalking fantasy league?
Race website / IAAF preview

The Great North City Games takes place on Saturday in the streets of Gateshead, England. It’s one of those city-center competitions, set up as a dual meet between the UK and Australia. Most of each nation’s A-squad will be there, including Steve Hooker.
Meet website
Athletics Weekly / ESPN UK / BBC Sport / The Mirror / Bettor.com

The next day (Sunday) is the Great North Run half marathon in the same city. Martin Lel has dropped out, leaving the marquis matchup between Haile Gebrselassie and Dathan Ritzenhein. Yeah, I think I know how this one is going to come out.  This is the "more celebrity, less competition" run in Britain--Coronation Street's stars are among the 54,000 entrants.
Race website
Athletics Weekly / BBC Sport / AA of Ireland

The final track invitational of the season, the Super Meet, takes place on Sunday in Kawasaki's Todoroki Stadium.  The headliner is French sprint phenom Christophe Lemaitre.
Meet website / Daily Yomiuri

The Rock N’ Roll Philadelphia Half Marathon will be run on Sunday. Some good matchups here: Ryan Hall v. Gebre Gebremariam v. Abderrahim Goumri for the men, Shalane Flanagan v. Meseret Defar in the Ethiopian’s first-ever half-marathon
Race website
Live webcast: competitor.com beginning at 7:55 AM.

The CVS Downtown 5k, the USATF road championship at that distance, will be run on Sunday in Providence RI. The top entry is Molly Huddle, who broke the American Record at this distance last month.
Race website / USA Running Circuit page
Live webcast: Runnerspace.com beginning at 11:05 AM
Another weekend of college XC is on tap.
USTFCCCA collegiate meet listing

Track on TV
Continental Cup Day 2 rerun, 1 PM Friday on Universal Sports
Diamond League Zurich rerun, 6 PM Saturday on Universal Sports
Diamond League Brussels rerun, 5 PM Sunday on Universal Sports
Endurance, 6:45 PM Sunday on Showtime Extreme

The Weekend Ahead

The IAAF Continental Cup will take place on Saturday and Sunday in Split, Croatia. See my preview and viewer’s guide.
Meet website / timetable and results
Live webcasts will begin at 11 AM on both days at UniversalSports.com
TV coverage will be at 6 PM on Saturday and 7 PM on Sunday on Universal Sports
Live audio will be streamed from IAAF.org on both days beginning at 10:30 AM

The Meeting Citta Di Padova, an EAA Classic meet, will take place today (Friday) in Padua's Euganeo Stadium.
Meet website

The Terra Sarda, an EAA Permit meet, will take place on Saturday at the Italian island of Sardinia.
Meet website

The fall road racing season begins on Sunday with the Tilburg Ten Miles in Holland.
Race website

An even better road race will be the adidas Women's 5k Challenge in London.
Race website
Previews: Athletics Weekly / IAAF

And better yet, the New Haven Road Race, the USATF 20km Championship and part of the USA Running Circuit, will be run on Monday.
Race website / USARC page
Previews: USATF / New Haven Register
Live webcast begins at 8:40 AM at Runnerspace.com

The collegiate cross country season kicks off with mostly very low-key affairs. I will be in Bowling Green to see the Falcons’ traditional season-opener against the Toledo Rockets. I’ll bring my team as well, as their assistant track coach runs for UT.
Weekend collegiate cross country schedule

Track on TV
Diamond League Zurich rerun, 12:30 PM Friday on Universal Sports
Diamond League Brussels rerun, 10 PM Friday on Universal Sports
Prefontaine, 3:15 AM and 8:30 AM Monday on Showtime Extreme
Endurance, 7 AM Monday on Showtime Extreme

The Weekend Ahead

The European Championships run through Sunday in Barcelona.
Meet website
Live updates
Live video
Live chat

The African Championships run through Sunday in Nairobi.
Live results

The Central American and Caribbean Games finish up today in Mayaguez, Puerto Rico. 
Live results
Live video via ESPN3.com

The Canadian Championships run through Sunday at Toronto's Varsity Centre.  Live TV coverage will be tomorrow (Saturday) at 4 PM on CBC.
Meet website
Start lists and results
Spotlight on the women's hurdles

The Gill Factory Vault competition will take place at the Gill factory in Champaign, Illinois on Friday and Saturday.  The men's elite competition will include top athletes such as Derek Miles, Jeremy Scott and Mark Hollis.

The Bogota International Half Marathon, an IAAF Gold Label Road Race, will take place in the Colombian capital on Sunday.
Race website (in Spanish)
IAAF preview

Other track on TV
Diamond League Eugene rerun, 5 PM Friday on Universal Sports
Diamond League Monaco rerun, 9:30 PM Friday and 10 AM Sunday on Universal Sports
Diamond League Paris rerun, 10 AM Saturday on Universal Sports
Great City Games rerun, 1:30 PM Sunday on Universal Sports
Diamond League Gateshead rerun, 12:30 AM Monday on Universal Sports
Bud Greenspan Presents: Beijing 2008 - America's Olympic Glory, 7 PM Friday on Showtime Extreme
Sydney 2000 Olympics: Bud Greenspan's Gold From Down Under, 6 PM Sunday on Showtime Family Zone

For more reading
Runner's World Racing News has all the headlines, such as Alan Webb's much-anticipated return to racing and the women's 5k at the African Championships

Javlein American Recod holder Breaux Greer is reportedly throwing well in practice, on the rehab from shoulder surgery.  His last competitive outing was the q-round at the 2008 Olympics.

British sportswriters, if not the British public, are beginning to warm to the BALCO-tainted Dwain Chambers.

Britain's Daily Mail gives UK national coach Charles Van Commenee high marks for team performance.

WADA says Russia must step up its doping fight.  Ha ha!  That's funny.  It's like telling talk radio to step up its fight against obnoxious loudmouths.

What's On: The Weekend

The IAAF's Multi-Events (decathlon/heptathlon) Challenge kicks off for the year on Saturday and Sunday with the Multistars competition in Desanzano del Garda, Italy. Leading entries are #23 Jake Arnold of the USA and #9 Hanna Melnychenko of Ukraine.

The IAAF's World Challenge series comes to Japan on Saturday for the Osaka Grand Prix. Entered athletes in the top 20 in their events are as follows:
Men's 200m: #11 Mike Rodgers
Men's 400H: #5 Bershawn Jackson
Men's Shot: #1 Christian Cantwell and #9 Dan Taylor
Men's Hammer: #2Aleksey Zagorni and #4 Nicola Vizzoni
Men's Javelin: #6 Stuart Farquhar, #8 Ilya Korotkov, #14 Yukifumi Murakami and #15 Chris Hill
Women's 100m: #2 Veronica Campbell-Brown
Women's 100H: #4 Ginnie Powell, #5 Perdita Felicien
Women's Discus: #2 Dani Samuel, #4 Stephanie Brown-Trafton

The Ponce Grand Prix, arguably a better meet, will be held in Puerto Rico on Saturday. Top-20 athletes on the start lists:
Men's 100m: #13 Churandy Martina
Men's 200m: #16 Xavier Carter
Men's 400m: #3 Jeremy Wariner
Men's 110H: #3 David Oliver, #7 Dexter Faulk, #8 Dwight Thomas, #9 David Payne
Men's 400H: #2 Javier Culson, #7 Danny McFarlane, #8 Felix Sanchez, #10 Jehue Gordon
Women's 100m: #13 Gloria Asumnu, #18 Ruddy Zang Milama, #20 Lisa Barber
Women's 400m: #18 Natasha Hastings
Women's 800m: #9 Maggie Vessey
Women's 100H: #7 Damu Cherry, #16 Vonette Dixon, #18 Danielle Carruthers
Women's 400H: #8 Sheena Tosta, #15 Muizat Ajoke Odumosu, #19 Dominique Darden
Women's long jump: #5 Funmi Jimoh

The BIG 25 Berlin road race will be run on Sunday. As a 25k, I classify it as a "long distance" race. Mary Keitany is my #1-ranked runner in that category and she will be running.

The Fifth Third River Bank 25k, a stop on the USA Running Circuit, will be run on Saturday in Grand Rapids, Michigan.

College meets on tap for the weekend include the Oregon Twilight at Hayward Field in Eugene, the Sun Belt Conference championships at Fouts Field in Denton (TX), and the Heps (aka Ivy League) championships at Weaver Stadium in Princeton.

What's On: The Weekend

The biggest event on the pro circuit this weekend is the Jamaica International Invitational in Kingston on Saturday. Expect 35,000 or so Jamaican fans to be anything but laid back, as Usain Bolt will run his first non-relay event of the year. The sprints and hurdles are the headline events, which I’ve already previewed here and here.

There are other pro-level invitationals, led by the 7th Annual Meeting de la Region du Guadeloupe in Baie Mahault on Saturday, which will have most of the US/Canadian and Caribbean sprint/hurdle stars not at Jamaica. Others include the Mikio Oda Memorial in Hiroshima on Thursday, and South American Grand Prix meets in Venezuela on Friday and in Argentina on Sunday.

In college track, this is “rivalry weekend” and a lot of dual meets are on tap. Washington goes to Washington State, Arizona State and Northern Arizona go to Arizona, and Nebraska goes to Texas Tech. By far the best rivalry and the best meet will be USC at UCLA in their 77th meeting. Flotrack will be covering it live beginning at 3:45 EDT. They will be utilizing a brilliant two-camera setup (you can set your audio to either one), with camera 1 covering the track events and camera 2 covering field events and interviews. The meet schedule is here; running events go from 4:00 to 8:00 EDT, with the meat of the meet beginning at 5:07 PM.

Some conference championships are this weekend as well.
Big East Championships (preview) Friday thru Sunday at Cincinnati, live video at BigEast.tv (subscription fee required)
Colonial Championships (preview) Friday & Saturday at George Mason
Ohio Valley Championships (preview) Friday & Saturday at Tennessee Tech
Atlantic Ten Championships (preview) Saturday & Sunday at UMass, live video at UMass All-Access (subscription fee required)
America East Championships (preview) Saturday & Sunday at New Hampshire

The big domestic invitationals are the Oregon Relays in Eugene and the Cardinal Invitational at Stanford. Both are centered around distance races and both will have a heavy professional presence. Some record attempts are rumored; Oregon’s Andrew Wheating will go after the collegiate 1500 record at Hayward Field on Friday. The OTC’s Galen Rupp will go after the 10,000 meters American record in the same meet on Friday night, unless the weather turns sour in which case he’ll go to Stanford instead. The Oregon Relays will be streamed live at GoDucks.tv (subscription fee required). Featured events and their elite entries (times EDT):
Friday
10:05 PM - Women's 1500 - Sarah Bowman, Jemma Simpson, Jordan Hasay
10:15 PM - Men's 1500 - Andrew Wheating, Matt Centrowitz, Lee Emmanuel, Russel Brown, Stephen Pifer, AJ Acosta, Ben True, Ian Dobson, Christian Smith
11:40 PM - Men's 10k - Galen Rupp record attempt
Saturday
4:05 PM - Men's 800 - Andrew Wheating, Matt Scherer, Elijah Greer, Christian Smith
4:15 PM - Women's 800 - Sarah Bowman, Jessica Pixler, Zoe Buckman

The Cardinal Invitational features some pretty deep fields in the men’s and women’s 5k and 10k races even if Rupp doesn’t come, and the meet will be streamed live at gostanford.com (some sources say it’s going to be free and others say not). The schedule of the top races at Stanford and their outstanding entries (Saturday night, times EDT):
11:34 PM - Women's elite 5k - Amy Begley, Angela Bizzari, Shalane Flanagan, Lauren Fleshman, Bridget Franek, Sara Hall, Lisa Koll, Shannon Rowbury
11:52 PM - Men's elite 5k - Abdi Abdirahman, Bolota Asmerom, Michael Coe, Kyle King, Haron Lagat
12:08 AM - Women's elite 10k - Desiree Davila, Katie McGregor, Jen Rhines, Benita Willis
12:45 AM - Men's elite 10k - Mike Aish, Simon Bairu, Scott Bauhs, Shadrack Biwott, Adrian Blincoe, Boaz Cheboiywo, Sam Chelanga, Alistair Cragg, Bobby Curtis, Anthony "Fam" Famiglietti, Brett Gotcher, Tim Nelson, Patrick Smyth, Chris Solinsky, and maybe Galen Rupp

Arkansas’ Twilight Invitational will be on Friday and will be streamed live at RazorVision (subscription fee necessary). The 25th edition of the Jesse Owens Classic will be held at Ohio State on Friday and Saturday, and will be on the Big Ten Network on a tape-delay show at 5:30 PM on Saturday, May 8. Mississippi State's Tavaris Tate could possibly take down the 23-year-old 400m meet record of 44.10 set by Butch Reynolds.

The main road racing action is in Spokane on Sunday where 50,000 participants are expected for the Lilac Bloomsday 12k run. Another stop on the IAAF Race Walking Grand Prix tour takes place on Saturday in Sesto San Giovanni, Italy.

And We're Off

Penn has started. Follow it on Flotrack, live on three different cameras, until 11:40 PM tonight. Or follow it on their live blog. As always, Walt Murphy has the best cheat sheet.

Drake has started. Flotrack is covering it, but the live webcast will begin tomorrow via Drake's own system.

Between Boston, Penn, Drake, the NYRRC distance festival at Cal and the London Marathon, this would have been the perfect week for me to get a vasectomy.

What's On: the weekend

Updated on Friday at 11:30 AM

The headliner
The 114th running of the Boston Marathon will begin at 10 AM Monday. Headline athletes include Ryan Hall, Meb Keflezighi, Deriba Merga and Abderrahim Goumri.
LIVE TV COVERAGE on Universal Sports from 9:30 AM to 12:30 on Monday (replays at 9 PM and midnight)
LIVE WEBCAST at http://www.universalsports.com/ starting at 9:30 AM on Monday
Race website / Flocast coverage
Universal Sports / Let's Run previews: men, women / Marathon News / Boston Globe / Running Times / Japan Running News

Track & field
Collegiate conference meets
The ACC Championships take place from Thursday to Saturday at Clemson’s Rock Norman Track & Field complex. Indoor champions this year were Florida State’s men by a scant 3½ points over North Carolina, and Clemson’s women by more than 50 points.
LIVE WEBCAST at http://www.theacc.com/ begin at 3 PM on Friday and 3 PM on Saturday
Meet website / live results

The Big South Championships take place Thursday through Saturday at Charleston Southern’s Whitfield Stadium. Liberty is looking to complete a triple-double by winning both men’s and women’s titles in cross, indoor and outdoor.
LIVE WEBCAST ($4.95) at http://www.bigsouthsports.com/
Meet website / live results

Collegiate Duals
#7 UCLA travels to #2 Oregon on Saturday for a men-only matchup. The competition is expected to be very close.
LIVE TV COVERAGE on the Oregon Sports Network on Saturday from Noon – 2 PM local time
LIVE WEBCAST (pay) at http://www.goducks.com/
Meet website / live results
Runnerspace scoring prediction / The Oregonian / GoDucks.com / Eugene Register-Guard

#4 Arkansas travels to #13 Texas on Saturday for a men’s only matchup. The Hogs beat the Longhorns at home in January.
TexasSports.com

More collegiate meets

Invitationals
The Mt. San Antonio College Relays take place from Thursday through Saturday at Hilmer Lodge Stadium in Walnut CA. Tyson Gay and AllysonFelix are scheduled to compete.
Meet website / Live results / Flotrack coverage
Let's Run fan guides: Friday, Saturday
San Gabriel Valley Tribune / Whittier Daily News

The 83rd Kansas Relays take place from Wednesday through Saturday at Memorial Stadium in Lawrence KS. Veronica Campbell-Brown and Churandy Martina are scheduled to compete.
Meet website / Live results
University Daily Kansan / WIBW / KTKA / Lawrence Journal-World / Wichita Eagle

International
The fourth Athletics Kenya/New KCC meeting will take place on Thursday in Mumais, Kenya.
The Standard / Daily Nation

The Nagano Marathon will be run on Sunday.
Race website