Ain't no rest for the wicked ⏱

Lap 33: Sponsored by Diadora

Go to any road race in New York and you’re basically guaranteed to see members of the West Side Runners in the lead pack. Most of these local elites immigrated to the city from Ethiopia to quietly put in the work in pursuit of their dreams for a better life. And as was the case for all of us, the pandemic shifted the landscape of their training and competitions — but for these athletes, no races means less income.The Lap Count has always aimed to make fanhood more personal, and what’s more personal than getting to know a bit more about the runners who win all your hometown road races?

Thank you to Diadora for continuing to share and support more stories like these. 

RIP Agnes Tirop 🇰🇪

Fans woke up to tragic news out of Kenya last Wednesday morning: Agnes Tirop had been found stabbed to death in her home. Her husband was accused of the murder, and after initially fleeing, was captured by police. Just a few weeks ago Tirop made headlines for running the 10k women’s-only World Record of 30:01 on the roads of Germany during an Adidas exhibition event. She won the 2015 World XC Championships and earned two World Championship bronze medals in the 10,000m. Our deepest condolences to her friends, family and community — the heartbreaking words shared publicly by her loved ones have spoken to the truth that she was a wonderful person in addition to being a star athlete.

‘Agnes was not a single case, she was just the highest profile you know of.’

Compatriot, friend, and teammate,Mary Wacera Ngugi has been a vocal advocate for reform and systemic change within the culture of how men treat the women in their lives. Reactions from some men in her comments confirm her words.

Who measured Pre-Nats? 📏

It’s too bad the person responsible for making the Florida State course an 8k isn’t also my doctor — maybe I’d finally be six-feet tall. This is a good reminder that out there on the course, times don’t matter and it’s all about beating people — something Conner Mantz is very good at. Next month he’ll gun for the record for most individual NCAA XC titles won in a year. (He is currently tied with every other champion at one.)

In the team battle, as expected, Northern Arizona is exceptionally good and defended their spot at the top of the teams rankings. Notre Dame hasn’t shown all their cards yet but at least on paper might be best-positioned to give NAU a scare. They were most notably missing Yared Nuguse, who has not raced since qualifying for the Olympics. Sitting on the couch it was pretty easy to heroically claim that you would have lined up to hobble through the 1500 this summer in Tokyo. But with each passing weekend that he still doesn’t race, maybe… just maybe he was actually really hurt?

On the women’s side, it was all about Colorado. The Buffs entered the weekend ranked #5 and solidified that by beating everyone they were supposed to. But the standout performance came from Abby Nichols, who won the 6k race in 19:46. Head-to-head victories over the likes of Arkansas’s Lauren Gregory (who boasts a 15:36 5k PB) and NAU’s Taryn O’Neill (who placed 4th at “last” year’s NCAA XC) prove that the graduate transfer from Ohio State is for real — and a huge addition to the Buffs’ team title hopes.

Nuttycombe AKA Wisconsin 🥜

When I finished 98th place at the 2012 NCAA XC Championships, I’m pretty sure I could have rattled off the HS PRs of all 97 runners who finished ahead of me. Obviously in the college ranks — but especially with XC where there’s so much depth — athlete turnover makes being a casual fan difficult!

That said, with how frequently Iowa State puts out stud individuals (whose names I do recognize), it’s great to see that in recent years they’ve found the depth to line up stud teams, as well. Imagine having Wesley Kiptoo as a teammate, watching him open up XC races with a 2:30 1k, and not wanting to run through a brick wall! The Cyclones entered the race ranked #6 in the country, but led by Kiptoo’s dominating performance, beat #2 Stanford. Nine seconds back from Kiptoo was Oregon’s Cooper Teare, who has seemingly filled the empty hole that Cole Hocker left in his heart with 13:31/28:10 Cincinnati transfer, Aaron Bienenfeld, who wound up fourth.

West Virginia’s Ceili McCabe clearly had a good summer of training! She was 42nd at the NCAA XC meet earlier this year and finished as an All-American in the steeplechase, but has upped her game in her sophomore season with wins in Louisville and Wisconsin. Just behind her was NC State’s Kelsey Chmiel (NCAA XC 9th), Oklahoma State’s Taylor Roe (NCAA XC 2nd), Michigan State’s Jenna Magness (15:32 5k) and arguably the greatest HS XC prep runner ever, Katelyn Tuohy. New Mexico (#3) won 93-102 over NC State (#1), but there were a few Wolves missing from the Pack.

Shots Fired: Flagstaff Woman Cites Boston As Favorite City

At the 2014 World Junior Championships in Eugene, Weini Kelati made a much bigger decision than most American teenagers ever have to. Kelati was in Oregon representing her native Eritrea in the 3000m, but after her race, rather than return to her family, she sought and was granted asylum in the United States. 

In college she won two NCAA titles competing for the University of New Mexico and is now competing for Under Armour Dark Sky. Just days before the 2020 Olympic Trials, Kelati secured her American citizenship and with a personal best of 31:10 was a legitimate threat to make the team — although she wound up not finishing the race.

On Saturday in Boston, she ran away from a very solid field by 39 seconds to run 31:18 for 10k and pick up a very solid $9,000 payday. Doesn’t knowing the story behind an athlete’s success just make their victory feel so much sweeter?

The HAMsterdam Marathon 🐹

Geography lesson of the week: Amsterdam is in Holland, which is (technically) two provinces in the Netherlands, but it is often used to mean the whole country. It’s an all squares are rectangles type of situation. And it’s not the capital… that’s Haarlem. You know, like Harlem…in the former Dutch colony of New York. And they’re called Dutch because the English called everyone who spoke a Germanic language that (re: Deutschland), but they call themselves Nederlanders.

Wait… what is this newsletter about? 

The 2016 Olympic bronze medalist at 10,000m, Ethiopia’s Tamirat Tola, won the men’s race in a personal best of 2:03:39. After coming through halfway in 62:11, things ramped up for a sizable negative split. Given there were 21 athletes who broke 2:10 there must be a few Americans regretting their decision to stay home and swelter in the North American heat and humidity for their fall marathon.

The women’s winner, Angela Tanui, closed the second half of the race in 67:50 to win in 2:17:57. Tanui was originally slated to compete in Boston, but after visa issues extended her taper by a week she found some fresh legs and gapped the field by over two minutes. This was Tanui’s third marathon victory of the year.

Oui Oui 🇫🇷

This isn’t just a cyclist’s town! The Paris Marathon’s previous course record was 2:05:03, set by none other than Kenenisa Bekele, but on Sunday, Kenya’s Elisha Rotich made it his own in a new personal best of 2:04:23. The women’s race was won by Ethiopia’s Tigist Memuye in 2:26:12.

The 2024 Olympics will be here sooner than you think and the possibility of fast racing there has me excited already. Even if the weather doesn’t cooperate, we should see a faster winning time than the last time the Games were held there in 1900 — 2:59:45 by Luxembourg’s Michel Théato. Only six of the thirteen starters finished the race due to extreme heat, and even Théato did not receive his gold medal for twelve years because he was accused of taking shortcuts. Also, the marathon distance was closer to 25 miles back then, you know, because of the distance from Marathon to Athens. It was only to accommodate the British royal family’s viewing pleasure in 1908 that the race was lengthened to 26.2 miles and later standardized to that in 1921.

In case you want to neither trick, nor treat, but instead to partake in a strange marketing activation for Halloween this year, you can head to Paris and race Eliud Kipchoge in a 5k to earn a bib in 2024. (Most of the event details are in French, so I’m not sure how that works. It seems like no bibs would be earned since who’s gonna beat him?) Apparently there are plans to host a mass participation race the same day as the Olympic Marathon — which as an elitist, is an idea I personally hate. Can’t we just have one day where all the attention is on the best in the world?

Is this a marathon?

Do you remember Shalane Flanagan? She did another marathon — this time in 2:35! With Tokyo being virtual this year, she completed the distance for the fifth time in a matter of weeks in Oregon, as part of #ProjectEclipse. With only New York City left and with some time to recover, the question is how fast can she go?

Obviously that guy is joking about her 26.20 mile run not counting because it was .02 short of the official distance, but this touches on an existential crisis I was having this weekend. 

I did New York virtually (on a makeshift 4 borough course) last year with some friends in 3:18. On Sunday I joined a couple athletes I coach for their long run, but decided to keep going for another hour to run 26.32 miles in 2:58 just because I wanted to remember what it was like to feel something. 

My question is: What do I say when people ask if I have run a marathon now? I think my answer is ‘I have run the distance but never raced one,’ but can’t think of something that matters less than that distinction. That’s because marathons aren’t about the time or the distance, it’s about the challenge and the friends you make along the way!

BRB, going to Paris to race Kipchoge…

Interested in supporting athletes? On Friday morning we will be publishing a conversation with Empire Elite’s Dani Aragon in our premium newsletter. After her 8th place finish at the Olympic Trials 1500, she is perhaps the best non-sponsored middle distance runner in the country. Sign up to read as this initiative has now raised over $12,900 with all proceeds going towards the elite athletes.

FEDERATIONS 👎

British Athletics and Athletics Canada came out with their respective funding lists this week, and needless to say the reactions are mixed. In the UK the lottery funding shrank from 124 to 67 athletes and there are some egregious omissions. The top two categories were aptly named, ‘Olympic Podium’ and ‘Olympic Podium Potential’ and in total there were 43 athletes named, though only 6 medals were won in Tokyo.

In the old country, Jess Judd just competed at the Olympics in the 5000m and 10000m — she is only 26 years old, but didn’t make the cut. Andrew Butchart was in the Tokyo 5000m final, and finds himself on the outside looking in. British Athletics insists this specific slight has nothing to do with the alleged fabricated Covid test incident from earlier this year. Eilish McColgan ran 50:43 this past weekend to break the European 10 mile record, but wasn’t in the top category — which is weird, because she’s like, the best?

Up north, Charles Philibert-Thiboutot, who posted a 3:34 this summer to likely qualify for the World Championships, did not receive money from the Canadian federation. Lucas Bruchet had the most successful year of his career which included racing the 5000m in Tokyo, but got nil. At 34 years old, Kate Van Buskirk came away empty handed, too, although she just had a renaissance season highlighted by a sub-15 minute 5000m and her first Games. And then Ben Preisner did not make the cut after he ran 2:10 to qualify for the Olympics.

The issue is that the criteria is purposely subjective, which is rare in T&F. The federations give themselves full power by selecting those who they believe have the potential to become world beaters — and how can you dispute that designation, except by doing it? But that doesn’t seem to have worked out well for any of the aforementioned names. 

Naturally, there is a balance where you’d hope the young promising stars of tomorrow are given the necessary support to get there. However, older athletes have a much harder time locking down shoe contracts, so in theory it seems like a great opportunity for the federation to step up and help provide the incentive to keep competing. In the United States, we would bring this sort of age discrimination to the courts!

It would seem the best system is one that would give the most athletes an opportunity to keep competing for as long as possible -- there is value in depth. From a country’s perspective, there is no reason to give additional funding to athletes that already make plenty off of shoe contracts. As a federation you don’t gain anything from the rich getting richer — so if the goal is to win medals then it’s best to save that money for those who need it most to make ends meet — like a progressive tax. Hopefully this socialist agenda doesn’t anger too many subscribers!

Meanwhile, American athletes reading this are like…

Big Dog’s Backyard Ultra

Brought to you by the same Lazarus Lake behind the equally nonsensical Barkley Marathons, this is another absolutely insane race that no one should ever consider doing. The competitors have one hour to complete a 4.167 mile loop, on repeat, and it keeps going until only one person is standing. Add that up and it’s 100 miles each day. It was an epic WR battle with Harvey Lewis ultimately covering 354 miles in 85 hours. When it comes to ultramarathoning, it’s the sort of thing that I am glad exists and that people are doing, but ignorance is bliss when it comes to enjoying them. Even just thinking about what this race would do to a person is giving tendonitis.

Rapid Fire Headlines 🔥

-The Perth Marathon was won by 2x Australian Olympian, Jessica Trengove in a PB of 2:25:13. Nic Harman won the men’s in 2:14:55.

-Congratulations to World Champ bronze medalist, Emily Infeld who tied the knot with her #MaxCrush in Mexico this weekend!

-In Laredo, Spain there were two breakout performances by the Kenyan duo of Weldon Langat and Naomi Chepngeno who ran 27:24 and 30:34 for 10k. Names to watch!

-The Stockholm Marathon was won by Ethiopia’s Fikadu Teferi in 2:12:24 and the women’s title went to local Swedish Olympian, Carolina Wikström, in 2:29:56.

-Inspired by his Victory Lap interview, Altra Running has announced the signing of Frank Lara.

-Leslie Sextion (32:04) and Ben Flanagan (28:41) won the Canadian 10k Road Titles in Toronto.

-The fastest woman in the world, Elaine Thompson-Herah, has split ways with her coach, Stephen Francis. These rumors surfaced a few weeks ago and it looks like they were true.

-Athletic Brewing hosted a Non-Alcoholic Beer Mile and apparently that’s much harder. Corey Bellemore, who has run 4:33 at an ABV of 5%+ ran 5:06 to defeat Chris Robertson.

Big thank you to Diadora for sponsoring this week’s newsletter! Follow them on Instagram at @diadoraofficial for more inspiring stories.