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: Weekend Roundup

Results from the weekend...

Cross Country
Bupa Great Edinburgh International Cross Country (IAAF Permit)
Saturday, Edinburgh SCO
Winners: Eliud Kipchoge (4.2k), Linet Masai (5.7k), Mo Farah (8k individual), European all-stars (8k team)
Let's Run coverage and results: Men’s Int’l 4.2k / Women’s 5.7k / Men’s team 8k

2010/2011 Kenya Commercial Bank/Athletics Kenya National Cross Series finale
Saturday, Iten KEN
Winners: Geoffrey Mutai (12k), Lineth Chepkurui (8k)
IAAF story and results

Cross del Calzado
Sunday, Fuensalida ESP
Winners: Teklemariam Medhin (11.7k), Eunice Jepkorir (8k)
Leading results

Cross Internacional Zornotza
Sunday, Amorebieta ESP
Winners: Joseph Ebuya (10.7k), Pauline Korikwiang (6.7k)
IAAF story and results

Road Racing
PWN Egmond Half Marathon
Sunday, Egmond aan Zee NED
Winners: Ayele Abshero (1:02:23), Abebech Afework (1:12:53)
IAAF story and results

Valencia 10k
Sunday, Valencia ESP
Winners: Josphat Kiprono Menjo (27:58 course record), Sonia Plaza (35:45)
Leading results

Disney Half Marathon
Sunday, Orlando FL
Winners:
Orlando Sentinel story

Asahi Ekiden (99.9k)
Sunday, Fukuoka to Kita-Kyushu JPN
Winner: Team Kyudenko (led off by Paul Tanui, 42:30 for 14.6k)
Japan Running News summary and results

Indoor Track
Christmas Starts
Friday, Yekaterinburg RUS
Highlights: Aleksandr Shustov 2.32m, Mikhail Tsvetkov 2.30m, Sergey Mudrov 2.30m HJ
Results

Christmas Cup
Sunday, Moscow RUS
Highlights: Maksim Sidorov 20.25m SP, Yulia Golubchikova 4.40m PV
Results / EAA story

IAAF story on above

All the college meets

Track on TV
Bud Greenspan Presents: Beijing 2008 - America's Olympic Glory, 4:35 AM and 8:20 AM tomorrow on Showtime Extreme

News Links
Runner's World's Racing News has all the headlines: weekend results, Ritz to run London, Shelly-Ann Fraser gets married and adds another hyphen to her name.

Running Times recaps the weekend's racing action.

In advance of tomorrow's college football championship game, TrackFocus looks at the connection between Oregon's football and track programs.

Mo Farah to come to New Mexico for a training stint with Galen Rupp.

Colin Jackson picks five athletes to watch in 2011.

Track and Field News profiles shot-put age-group sensation Jacko Gill.

An editorial tells Kenya to develop more than just distance runners.

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.

Lessons of my team's 2010 season

I coach high school cross country.  Or rather, I did.  Facing a $39 million budget shortfall, last spring our school district cut four sports, cross country among them.  I offered to work for free, but in a large 60-school bureaucracy such things don't fly.

It never occurred to myself, the athletes or their parents that we wouldn't have a team.  We trained, formed a club, got new uniforms, and found racing opportunities where we could.  A few high school meet directors took risks by allowing us in their meets; we ran some open meets and some road races as well.  It is charitable to say that our team is made up of unremarkable runners, but the point was that we still got to run.

As we were not a school team, our end-of-the-season awards banquet was not part of the school-wide one for all fall sports.  We are doing it all on our own tonight.  I have never before made a speech, but I think I need to.  Below is the text of that speech, to be delivered in a few hours.

Sunday Evening Decathlete: Special Monday Edition

The weekly round of track-centric Monday morning quarterbacking comes a day late, as I was on vacation in Toronto for the weekend.

What did we learn this week?

USATF announced its CEO job description. This is actually an important part of the search for a new leader. You can read it in a USATF release. What you think of it tells a lot about what you think of USATF's board of directors.

It was written by the search firm hired by USATF, Bialla & Associates. Their services come at no small cost. If you are of the opinion that their well-into-six-figure price tag is merely "ripping off a hopelessly clueless 'amateur' sports organization", as one TFN message board observer put it, then you come down squarely on the side of pessimism. You believe that either this particular board of directors is a bunch of self-serving fools in over their head, or you believe the government-mandated structure of the organization itself makes it essentially incapable of doing much well, if anything.

There is another voice, though, one of cautious optimism. Track writer Larry Eder, for RunBlogRun:

The search firm, Bialla & Company, (www.bialla.com) is one of the heaviest hitters in the world of sports, technology and softwear search firms. They have recently done searches as diverse as Electronic Arts, True North (ad agency), Zoot.com (footwear company) and Avenue A Razorfish, one of Nike's ad agencies (digital). That USATF has hired a firm with such stature should also give you, kind reader, an understanding of the increased level of scrutiny that the search for the USATF CEO position has been under.

It is obvious that the current USATF board has increased their level of focus in this current search. That is to applauded. The current head hunter firm has already spoken to many in the industry, first to get an appreciation for the nature of the business, and secondly to get an appreciation for the concern that many in the industry have on who will lead USA Track & Field. They have heard several earfuls, I suspect. (Bialla & Company, as is their practice, would not comment on current searches or their culture.) Those are all good things, and give comfort to those who are concerned about who will lead our sport's federation.

However well meaning, in my humble opinion, the most recent search for the recently deposed CEO had undercurrents of pressure. It has to be said that the USOC had considerable interest in the most recent CEO of USATF. That does not mean that the USOC has explicit influence on the most recent candidate, but the USOC needs were known and considered in the process. General requirements were; someone entrepreneurial, but someone who was not of the track & field ilk, and someone who looked the part seem have been part of the zeitgeist.

Looking for someone who spoke his mind should not be translated as someone who is incapable of taking advice or estranging every group within the sport. Those are not qualities of a CEO who will last in this sport.

Eder has been around for a while and is no Pollyanna. If he feels that even some signs are positive, we should have reason for hope.

In general terms, the new CEO should really split the difference between the USOC preference of three years ago and the presumed Board of Directors preference of that moment: outsider (no ties to USATF) but insider (within the track & field world). Note that USATF, and its predecessor track division within the AAU, have had just three leaders in the last 40 years. Only one, Craig Masback, left things better at his departure than at his arrival--and he fits that description.

Meets searching for an audience are turning to team competition. Earlier in the week, Athletics Weekly editor Jason Henderson wrote that cross country is in crisis in the UK and most of northern Europe. At almost the same time, northern Europe's only truly relevant cross country meet, the Bupa Great Edinburgh Cross, announced a fantastic idea. They relegated the African runners, who most of the British public sees as nameless and interchangable, to a 4k race. The featured 8k race is now a team competition between the UK, the USA, and the European continent. The UK will have the services of its two best runners, Mo Farah and Chris Thompson. The USA will send two of its best in Dathan Ritzenhein and Galen Rupp. Europe will have nine-time Euro XC champ Sergey Lebid. It should be a bang-up race and will likely gain a great deal of attention in England and Scotland.

Just a few hours ago, the Millrose Games announced that it will have a USA versus Jamaica component in both the men's and women's 60 meter races. The only star yet announced is Veronica Campbell-Brown, but her presence alone will likely excite New York's large Jamaican-American community. If they come out in significant numbers, Millrose will have its biggest attendance in a generation.

The Laverne Jones-Ferrette situation became both more and less clear. The journeywoman sprinter raised some eyebrows during the 2010 indoor season. Never a Worlds or Olympics finalist, she lept to the top of the sprinting world. She recorded the fastest 60m time in eleven years, traded wins with Carmelita Jeter, and took silver at the World Indoor Championships behind Veronica Campbell-Brown. Such a huge and sudden improvement for a 28-year-old is unusual to say the least. Then, she inexplicably missed the entire outdoor season.

A month ago it was announced that she is pregnant, and that was why she missed the summer season. But this didn't seem to wash, unless she quit very early in her pregnancy. She was announced as an entry into multiple April relay meets, and then pulled out.

Now we got a bit more information. On February 16 she tested positive for clomiphene. What is that? It's present in some fertility drugs. It also blocks the effects of estrogen and can be used as a recovery drug towards the end of a steroid cycle. In any case, it is classified as a "specified substance" under WADA rules, and the IAAF's rules are flexible in terms of penalties for this kind of drug. Suspension can be anywhere from zero to two years. Jones-Ferrette got a six-month ban from April to October, but also was disqualified from all of her events after the positive test. So she loses her Worlds silver.

Did she pull one over on the IAAF? Maybe. Note that if you're using a drug for a legitimate reason, there are "theraputic use exemptions". At the very least, you should declare the medication when tested. Jones-Ferrette did not. You be the judge.

Track is getting into the big-money advertisments. Haile Gebrselassie just filmed a commercial for Johnnie Walker (picking up a nifty $100,000 for his trouble). You can see it here. Unfortunately, it probably won't be aired in the USA, as it is targeted towards Africa, Latin America and Europe. I've always thought we've lost out massively by not somehow tapping into beer as a sponsor.

High school meets are upping their game. The professional level of track and road running in the USA has had little in the way of new ideas lately. College track's regular season until recently was essentially unwatchable (with the exception of a handful of relay meets) but has done a lot to make itself more interesting. But the most innovative, competitive level of track meet promotion is at the high school level. For proof one need look no further than the cross country war being waged between Foot Locker Cross Country and Nike Cross Nationals.

Yesterday I was contacted by the director of a prominent high school post-season invitational in regards to ideas for taking it up a notch. I appreciate the gesture and hope I can offer up some good ideas. It really appears as though he takes track and field seriously as a spectator sport, which is the approach you absolutely must have to succeed in today's sports marketplace.

Just this week, Brooks announced a new national indoor invitational for the fastest high schoolers in the country. Called the PR Invitational, it will be held in late February at the University of Washington and will be live on Flotrack. And its promotional video is one of the most bizarre things I've seen in a while.


Track is everywhere. Just like Mojo Nixon says about Elvis.

My wife and I went to Toronto for the weekend to celebrate her 40th birthday. We did all the touristy things and had a great time. On Sunday we were searching for one last thing to see, and settled on Casa Loma. All the travel guides said it was a must-see, and it did not disappoint.

Casa Loma is a giant mansion built between 1911 and 1914 on a high hill overlooking downtown Toronto, and at the time it was the largest private residence in all of Canada. The man who had it built was one Sir Henry Pellatt, a prominent Toronto financier and soldier who, among other things, electrified the city. Owning it eventually left him penniless, and it is now a museum open to the public.

The house should really be called a castle, as that is what it was built to look like. From the inside, it is best described as the Boddy Mansion from the classic Clue board game come to life. It has a billiard room and a conservatory and all the other rooms in the game, a pipe organ, several suits of armor, secret passageways, and everything else you can imagine from prototypical country-house whodunits best ridiculed in Murder By Death. Touring it was thoroughly entertaining and informative, and I can only imagine the fun they have there at Halloween.

The third floor is rather plain in comparison to the rest, as it was the servants' quarters. These days it's set aside as space reservable for private functions, as well as a repository of historical artifacts relating to The Queen's Own Rifles, a still-existing military regiment in which Henry Pellatt played a major role.

Tucked away in display case in a quiet corner of one room are a few items belonging to Pellatt from his early military days. Most, like a saddle and a pommel, are related to horsemanship, so most observers would think this photo and two medals are related to racing of the four-legged kind.

(Forgive the quality; all I had available was my iPhone.)

Both the left and the right say Pellatt won championship mile races, and I immediately knew they could only be footraces. The clothing in which he is pictured was common running garb of the time, which is one clue. The other is the engraving on the 1879 medal: "N.A.A.A.A." That's the National Association of Amateur Athletes of America, the governing body for track and field in the USA from 1879 until being muscled out by the AAU in 1889. Pellatt, a Canadian, was able to win the US championship because virtually all 19th-century meets were open to any amateur. His time, 4:43.4, was fairly competitive for its time. You can see Pellatt listed at Track and Field News' archive of US champions (scroll waaay down). A recent biography of Pellatt says it was a world record, but don't be fooled -- the amateur record at the time stood at 4:24 1/2, the professional at 4:17 1/4.

Keep your eyes peeled. Track is everywhere and it is in everything.

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: 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

Sunday Evening Decathlete: Special Tuesday Edition

What did we learn at the NCAA Cross Country Championships?

No surprise winners. All four of my picks for team and individual champions, as posted at Spiked Up Psyched Up, came through for the wins. I thought I was making very safe picks and going with the favorites.

Anyone who thought Oklahoma State was anything but the favorite clearly doesn’t know how to add. Much was made all season about Stanford’s 1-2-3 punch at several big meets. On paper this made them look very tough. But if Stanford’s top three were better than OSU’s top three—and going into the meet that had to be considered a very big if—all six were going to be so close to the front of the race that the point difference was going to be very small. At those levels there just aren’t that many runners to come in between them. It was obvious all season that OSU probably had the better fifth runner, and definitely had a much better fourth runner. And at those speeds, there are so many more athletes from other teams that can add points to the inferior runner’s team.

What did happen? Stanford went 5-6, OSU went 7-8-9. Stanford’s Elliot Heath ran poorly, finishing 36th, but even if he’d stayed up with his teammates the point differential among the front three runners would have been only nine points. The difference between the two teams’ fourth runners was 60 points, and between their fifth runners was 79. Game over.

Cross country is like poker in that you need five good cards. And OSU was holding four of a kind while Stanford held three of a kind.

Dave Smith knows his stuff. The Oklahoma State coach usually holds his cards close to his vest, but in interviews leading up to the meet he let it be known that he thought Wisconsin was a title threat. The Badgers were second with 2k to go, but #4 runner Elliot Krause cratered in the last half-mile (possibly due to injury) and Wisconsin fell to third. Had he held on the Badgers would have easily been second, and possibly had enough to win if Oklahoma State had experienced an off day.

The Pac-10 shit the bed. Or was ridiculously over-rated. One or the other. Summary:
Men
Stanford poll #1, finished #4
Oregon poll #3, finished #6
Cal poll #18, finished #31 (last)
Women
Washington poll #4, finished #16
Oregon poll #6, finished #12
Stanford poll #7, finished #13
Arizona poll #9, finished #11

It’s not as if Pac-10 teams haven’t done well in recent years. Just not this year.

The wind wasn’t that big of a factor. Maybe I’m a bit biased; I live in a part of the country where 15-20 mph winds only qualifies as “breezy”. But remember, this is a big race with a lot of runners at more or less the same competitive level. Most athletes could hide in a pack.  Only the frontrunners had to worry about the wind.

Or did they? Sam Chelanga led pretty much the entire race, and won going away. But he was a prohibitive favorite, so maybe he’s not the best example. Luke Puskedra is. The Oregon Duck finished third, a big surprise. He was alone in third with no one to break the wind for him for more than half of the race, yet he could not be reeled in. And at 6’ 5”, you’d figure the wind would have made a big difference to such a big man.

My college team didn’t like the wind, but we most certainly didn’t fear it. We faced it every day from October through May. The only major impact the wind may have had on yesterday’s races is to cause fear. And fear makes people do rash, stupid things—such as making major changes to race strategy.

Pre-Nats doesn’t matter much. At least not to the top teams. Fivce of the top ten men’s teams yesterday didn’t even go to Pre-Nats. Runner-up Florida State’s men’s team was third in the Pre-Nats blue race, 111 points behind Stanford, who took fourth yesterday. Iona was also ahead of FSU at Pre-Nats and took eighth yesterday. BYU’s men were second in the White race at Pre-Nats and took 18th yesterday.

On the women’s side it wasn’t much different. Only four of the top ten women’s teams at the NCAA Championships went to Pre-Nats. The top teams who did go didn’t do as poorly—division champs Florida State and Georgetown were 2nd and 4th yesterday—but it’s still true that Pre-Nats is basically for teams trying to qualify to the NCAA Championships, not teams trying to win stuff when they get there.

The NCAA is in for a flaming. The webcast of yesterday’s meet was “craptastic”, to quote one online observer. Not only were those who watched it online cheated, the people there in person were as well. (There’s a big video board showing the camerawork, and at the finish unless you’re in the first row along the fence you can’t see what’s happening.)

Indiana State and Flotrack.org produced a great webcast of the Pre-Nationals invite. They made offers to the NCAA to do the championships webcast for free, which were declined. Instead some other company was brought in, one which had no experience producing cross-country meets.

For whatever reason, no camera on the lead truck was used. (At Let’s Run it was said that this was due to contractual obligations, but I can’t understand why.) The plan was to use cameras atop towers set around the course, but high winds nixed that. So we were left with one single camera at the press box, which often got basically no images of runners at all when they were on the far reaches of the course.

And then, at the men’s finish, a camera failed. The picture switched to another camera...which failed. And then when another was used, then they did the obligatory post-finish shot of the winner while the rest of the race was still being fought.

The wrath of the Let’s Run faithful will likely rain down on the appropriate people, if it hasn’t already. When ESPN screwed the USATF coverage last summer, its ombudsman reported an unprecedented response.

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

Conference Meets I Want To See

I can't be everywhere at once.  And as much as I try to minimize them, I do have other responsibilities besides going to meets.  So I can't even go to one conference cross country championship this weekend, let alone multiple meets.

If I could be at several places at once, though, where would I go?  Here's my rundown.

5. Mid-American (hosted by Western Michigan on Saturday)
There are no ranked teams in this meet, and only one--Toledo's women--have much chance of getting an NCAA Championships at-large bid.  But it's the conference in which I ran, and this meet always has meaning to me.

4. ACC (hosted by Boston College on Saturday)
#3 Florida State should win the women's title, as no other team is in the national top ten.  The men's side should be closer, as #8 Florida State faces #14 Duke, #16 NC State,  and #19 Virginia.  In terms of number of ranked teams, this is the deepest conference in the country, with 11 between the men and the women.  The Blue Devils are led by a former Toledo-area hero named Bo Waggoner, which is another reason why I want to see this one.

3.  Big XII (hosted by Oklahoma on Saturday)
#2 Oklahoma State is expected to win the men's title fairly easily.  We'll find out if #5 Oklahoma is for real, and if #9 Colorado is going to be a late-season factor or not.  On the women's side, #4 Texas Tech may get a challenge from #7 Colorado.

2.  Pac-10 (hosted by Washington on Saturday)
On the women's side, you have #2 Oregon against #6 Arizona.  It shouldn't be all that close.  On the men's side, however, you have two legitimate NCAA championship contenders in #1 Stanford and #3 Oregon.  It should be a war.  Flotrack will have live coverage beginning at 12:30 PM...which I'll miss because my team will be in transit to a meet.

#1. Big Ten (hosted by Wisconsin on Sunday)
There are a lot of reasons I want to see the Big Ten meet more than any other.  I live in the Rust Belt, so the Big Ten has always been the major local conference for me.  Also, both races should be very close: #16 Michigan State versus #19 Minnesota and #21 Michigan in the women's race, and #7 Indiana versus the home #6 Wisconsin for the men.

Besides that, the Big Ten has decided to make cross country a major sport in a way no other major conference has.  Last year the races were carried on the Big Ten Network (no word yet on this year), making them the only non-national-championship cross country meet available on a widely-avaible cable TV channel.  They hold the meet to Sunday, allowing local high school athletes and coaches who are busy on Saturday to travel and watch the "big boys" run.  And Wisconsin put some coin into a permanent cross-country course like the one at Indiana State--the only such course I know of outside the Missouri Valley Conference.

I'll miss it.  I wish I could go out and see the Badger fans run around in red-and-white overalls.  I doubt there will be a crowd like it at any other D-I championship meet.

What's On the Weekend

Professionals

The Berlin Marathon, a World Marathon Major, will be run in the German capitol on Sunday. 

Live webcast: 2:50 AM, German News Channel N-TV

Race website / World Marathon Majors site

Previews: IAAF / Universal Sports / Examiner.com: men, women / Mzungo.org / Associated Press / Athletics Weekly

The Vodafone Half Marathon of Portugal, an IAAF Gold Label Road Race, will be run in Lisbon on Sunday.

Race website
IAAF preview

The Scotiabank Toronto Waterfront Marathon, an IAAF Silver Label Road Race, will be run in the Ontario capitol on Sunday.

Live webcast: 7:30 AM at Flotrack.org

Race website / Flotrack coverage

Previews: Runner's Web / Guelph Mercury

The Continental Airlines Fifth Avenue Mile will be run in New York City on Sunday.  A great field includes Bernard Lagat, Leo Manzano, Nick Willis and Alan Webb, and Shannon Rowbury, Molly Huddle and Kalkidan Gezahegn.
Live webcast: 12:50 PM at NYRR.org

Race website / Flotrack coverage

Previews: Running USA Wire / Track and Field News / Runner's World: men, women / Universal Sports: men, women / Radio New Zealand / WomenTalkSports.com

Colleges

The 25th annual Roy Griak Invitational will be run at Minnesota’s Les Bolstad Golf Course on Saturday.

Live webcast: 10:00 AM at Flotrack.org
Meet website / Flotrack coverage / Spectator info & directions
Previews: Gophersports.com: men, women / Minnesota Daily

The Stanford Invitational will be held on Saturday on the Stanford Golf Course (aka "where we let Tiger Woods play golf on our cross country course").
Meet info / GoStanford.com preview

The 73rd Brooks Cowboy Jamboree will be held on Saturday at Oklahoma State.
Meet info / Flotrack coverage
OKState.com preview

All the rest

Track on TV
Diamond League Brussels rerun, 10 AM Friday and 3:30 PM Sunday on Universal Sports
2010 Boston Marathon rerun, 1:30 PM Friday on Universal Sports
Continental Cup Day 2 rerun, 5 PM Friday on Universal Sports
Endurance, 1:45 AM Saturday on Showtime Extreme
2009 Berlin Marathon rerun, Noon and 6:30 PM Saturday on Universal Sports
Diamond League Zurich rerun, 3:30 PM Saturday on Universal Sports
Big Ten Icons: #19 Suzy Favor Hamilton, 12:30 AM and 11:30 AM Sunday on Big Ten Network

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