Don't lose track ⏱

Lap 24: Sponsored by Tracksmith

Thank you to our sponsor Tracksmith for partnering with The Lap Count!

Tracksmith is a Boston-based running apparel brand, born from a desire to celebrate both the history and the evolving culture of running. Whether you’re building a base, racing a Fall marathon or logging laps around the track, Tracksmith has you covered. And they are offering The Lap Count readers $15 off their first purchase of $75 or more when they use the code LAP at checkout.

7 miles in heaven ⚓️

The Falmouth Road Race ought to be on the non-marathon bucket list of every diehard running fan before their hips need to be replaced. It’s a truly one-of-a-kind event. What began in 1973 as a lure to bring Frank Shorter to the Massachusetts shore quickly caught momentum and now hosts 10,000-plus runners each summer (the past two being the exception). The point-to-point course is surely a logistical nightmare for the organizers, but the scenic route weaves in and out of beautiful oceanfront estates decorated with portraits of John F. Kennedy, and if you’re a fan of lighthouses… buddy, this is the race for you.

But enough about the scenery. This year’s men’s race was won by Canada’s Ben Flanagan, whose winning performance of 32:16 (4:37/mi) was 5 seconds faster than the last time he leapt through the tape, back in 2018. Although he was disappointed to miss out on qualifying for Tokyo, Flanagan’s excitement here serves as a reminder that there’s more to this sport than competing in empty stadiums — it’s what you make of it. On the women’s side it was a familiar name up front as Kenya’s Edna Kiplagat took the crown in 36:52 (5:16/mi). Now 41 years old, the former New York, London and Boston Marathon champion proved that she’s still got it and that the only number that matters is the one on the clock.

This event also doubled as a celebratory parade for Molly Seidel one week after earning her bronze medal, as she played the role of the official starter, then entered the race herself, in dead last. The Falmouth Road Race donated two dollars to Tommy’s Place for every runner Molly passed — a total of $9,522, which was matched by the founder of the charity, upping the donation to $19,044. Weaving in and out of four thousand runners — now THAT is beach traffic! When it comes to getting around Cape Cod in August, maybe it’s faster to cover 7 miles by foot than in a car.

The warm up race 🐋

(If you think I am writing about the Falmouth Mile just to remind you that I am a 2x champion, you’re wrong! But thank you for remembering.)

Every track meet should attempt to piggyback off the general population’s love of road racing. In 2018, over 18 million people registered for a bib number at a race of some sort, and anyone involved in the professional side of the sport is dropping the ball by not looking to tap into that semi-captive audience — those who participate but don’t necessarily follow the sport. That’s where the money is in running. With a race like Falmouth, due to the high demand to run it and philanthropic nature of the event, there is a $175 registration fee. Combine that with the sponsorship dollars (now headlined by Asics) and there is some serious potential to elevate the Falmouth Mile that takes place the day before the flagship seven-miler.

That’s why it’s baffling that the race is held at 3 o’clock in the afternoon — the hottest and windiest time of day. Combine that with the lack of a rabbit, and it’s no wonder the women’s race went out in 80 seconds, a pace significantly slower than the first quarter of the 7-mile road race. Fortunately the Brit, Amy-Eloise Markovc, was sharp after racing in Tokyo and closed hard to win in 4:41.

The men’s race was lucky to have found someone to bring them through 900m, but then Charles Philibert-Thiboutot took over and kept grinding down the field until he was all alone. His new personal best of 3:52.97 was earned, but so was the $7,500 payday that included a nice bonus for smashing the meet record. (A few weeks ago, Charles stayed at my place and we stayed up late one night discussing how well his training has been going in comparison to mine. The rumors were true.) It pays to be a fit miler in August.

Oh, and can we get the official Twitter account of races to tell us where races are streamed and to provide some results? Alternatively, there are about a dozen very active Internet users who would be happy to proliferate that information to the masses super quickly if shared with them. If it’s worth $25,000+ to have professional milers be a part of the weekend’s festivities, then it’s worth texting Chris Chavez some information so people can know about it.

That’s a sharp wrong turn ⚠️

If you don’t speak French, allow me to translate for you: We have decided to ruin the fastest 5k of the year.

The decision was made to run the Diamond League 5k final in Zurich on an oversized 560m track in the center of the city. This is the second biggest race of the season outside of the Olympics — and it would have likely been the fastest. Experimenting in novel ways to present the sport to a new audience is encouraged, but gimmicks shouldn’t be done at races of such high importance. Leave these sort of attractions for meets that need help capturing fans, not the one that is already selling out to a crowd of 25,000 and has a $60K prize purse. Imagine if Haile Gebrselassie’s two historic World Record runs there didn’t count?

It’s too bad we can’t measure the retention rate of city-goers who accidentally stumble upon a track meet and then become lifelong fans. (Either way, once that hypothetical conversion to fanhood happens, we’ll stop catering to their interests!)

Give Maria another medal 🇵🇱

Maria Andrejcyzk may have won a silver medal in the Olympic javelin, but she has a heart of gold. Back in Rio, she was just 2cm shy of finishing in the coveted 3rd position, though that disappointment was never about having some jewelry to wear around her neck. Soon after stepping off the podium in Tokyo, Maria announced she would be auctioning off her new hardware for a worthy and charitable cause.

After learning about a young Polish boy in America whose family could not afford his life-saving heart surgery, Maria made it her goal to raise all $125,000 needed to pay for his treatment. The failure of the American healthcare industry aside, Andrejcyzyk’s selflessness paid off as the Polish convenience store chain, Zabka Polska, won the auction and then returned the medal back to Maria. Obviously she can just keep winning medals and auctioning them off until the whole world is saved, right?

What Kenya not do? 🇰🇪

Track fans are accustomed to watching Kenya dominate the distance events, but it looks like there is a full track team starting to form there, too. (Where are all my Julius Yego stans at?) Ferdinand Omurwa just narrowly missed out on qualifying for the Olympic 100m final when he ran 10.00 in Tokyo, though he destroyed that barrier in Austria this past week going 9.86 to set what is not surprisingly a national record. The former rugby player has sent the nation into a frenzy over the feat, thanks to a newfound investment in sprinting events.

There was no predicting this sort of overnight success for Omurwa — his times dropped almost a half-second this season from his previous best of 10.32.

Or maybe there was… This is the unfortunate part where you learn he served a 14-month ban back in 2018 for betamethasone. If you still want to believe, then take solace in the fact that the glucocorticoid is only banned in competition and is an anti-inflammatory. The trial notes are pretty interesting to read and if you’re curious how these matters are handled, this is an opportunity to learn about them. In this instance, Omurwa fully admits he took the medication, which he received from a doctor before the Kenyan trials that year. He had severe back pain that was hampering his ability to walk properly, let alone run. In her witness testimony, the doctor corroborates the story that he informed her that as an athlete he could not take any ‘illegal substances,’ but the implications of what that specifically meant in regards to WADA’s guidelines was clearly misunderstood.

There’s a ton of red-tape to be navigated as an athlete, so it is not unreasonable that a college kid who had only been running for two years and a non-sport specific doctor made an error.

Case in point: In 2015, the week before heading to compete at USAs I contracted MRSA. While in the hospital, I made the doctors wait before accepting any medications as I sent texts to my coaches and agent so we could all research its compliance with WADA. Apparently, I’d rather have risked losing my leg than potentially fail a drug test. There’s a lot of personal responsibility that goes into a competing clean. That doesn’t make it OK to take banned substances — but maybe Omurwa legitimately dropped a half second. Figuring out where you stand in stories like this is unfortunately a major part of being a track & field fan!

Just a little faster though 🇺🇸

There is one significant outlier performance in Marvin Bracy’s 2021 season — 17.82 for 100m. Unfortunately the 2016 Olympian pulled up due to injury in the semi-finals at the Trials.

Luckily it was not so serious that he couldn’t come back with a vengeance at the Ed Murphey Classic this weekend, posting a new lifetime best of 9.85 into a slight headwind (-0.4). Normally you’d expect a football player and 3x 60m national champion to get out hard and hold on, but he closed furiously in the second half of the race to pull away from the field.

It’s fascinating when athletes who are good enough to do other, more high-profile or more lucrative things actively choose to do track. Instead of dealing with the political squabbling of trying to get a lane at the Prefontaine Classic this weekend, he could be making $204,000 a season as an NFL practice squad member. (Or at the very least he could be the first round boss for Tyreek Hill before trying to race Usain Bolt for his gold medals.)

Racin’ on the track, Grayson on the mountain 🏔

While managing 7:22 pace for under six miles isn’t normally a notable accomplishment for most professional track athletes, it generally isn’t accomplished going up the side of a mountain.

Despite finishing 6th at the Olympic Trials steeplechase with a PB of 9:25, Grayson Murphy doesn’t subscribe to the traditional confines of racing schedules. In a world where the majority of coaches try to micromanage every aspect of an athlete’s season, it’s refreshing to see someone continuing to have fun by hopping in the trail game and winning national titles while doing so. While most of today’s track stars would never consider doing a tempo without super shoes and a mondo track, they’re quietly cocky about their own ability to step outside the bubble to win a mountain running title too. The difference is Grayson keeps showing up and doing it!

Interested in supporting athletes? Subscribe to our premium newsletter, The Victory Lap to help financially support elite athletes by reading exclusive exclusive interviews with them! On Friday morning we will be publishing a conversation with 3x NCAA, 3x USATF and 2x Olympian, Devon Allen to talk about the 110 hurdles, Tokyo and what’s coming next in his career.

Wholesome post of the week

Hansle Parchment got distracted on the day of his semi-finals race and accidentally got on the wrong bus. But from the ranks of the Olympic volunteers emerged at least one super samaritan, Serbia’s Trijana Stojkovic. Stojkovic came to Parchment’s rescue by paying for his taxi and ensuring that he made it to the race with time to spare. After Parchment won the gold in the 110H, he tracked down his guardian angel to say thank you for the small part she played in his victory. Now Trijana has become a national hero for her good deed and she’s even been invited to Jamaica for a celebratory trip. Parchment should be counting his blessings that Serbia didn’t have any contenders in his race or he may still be wandering around Tokyo.

Track Watch: World Athletics U20 Champs 📺

Beginning on Wednesday, Nairobi, Kenya, will host teenagers from 100+ nations for the U20 Championships, and with that comes a non-race-altering plan to experiment with meet presentation that’s worth rallying behind.

US fans will have to struggle with the UX of Peacock in order to watch the meet, while most of the world will enjoy the much better experience of just watching via YouTube. But when it comes to connecting with the youth, something World Athletics has done an incredible job of on Instagram and TikTok recently, what better place than Twitch? The streaming platform popularized by video games has become an alternative broadcast medium for more interactive viewing experiences across a variety of events.

WA’s Twitch stream will provide commercial-free, alternative commentary to the events that won’t subscribe to the FCC guidelines on swearing. While the United States opted not to send a team due to the pandemic, there are plenty of fast youngins out there worth tuning in for. The men’s 1500 will feature Kenya’s Kamar Etiang, who was stripped of his opportunity to compete at the Olympics due to not having enough out-of-competition drug tests. The women’s 200 will feature the Namibian duo of Christine Mboma and Beatrice Masilingi, who are coming off their respective 2nd and 6th place finishes at the Olympics. Thanks to Twitch all the kids at home will be able tune-in to feel bad about themselves, and us old-timers can shake our fists at the screen and convince ourselves we could have somehow run faster!

Schedule and Results

Track Watch: Prefontaine Classic 📺

It’s time to gather your friends who said their favorite sport to watch during the Olympics is track to show them a whole new world — a new fantastic point of view!!!! Although this event is being billed strictly as Sha’Carri Richardson vs. Elaine Thompson-Herah (and hey, for good reason!), there are plenty of other exciting races on the itinerary. As much fun as it is to watch two track meets everyday for a week and a half straight, there is something about the efficiency of high quality meets that are only a few hours long. Why run prelims and semi-finals when meet directors can just bypass them entirely and hand pick their favorites for the “final?” Multiple world records could fall with the likes of Crouser, Hassan, Kipyegon, Ingebrigtsen, McLaughlin, and Cheruiyot competing, especially when you factor in that Hayward magic. Actually, you know what — we should hold this meet around a city block in downtown Eugene instead!

A Marathon Season Deferred

Thanks again to Tracksmith for sponsoring this week’s newsletter! I enjoyed their recent entry from Peter Bromka about training during the pandemic. With the cancellation of the New Jersey Marathon, I am holding my breath as the elite fields are being announced for the fall World Marathon Majors.

Please don’t make us go back inside!