USATF vs. USATF ⏱

Lap 39: Sponsored by Diadora

Diadora is an Italian brand, rich with history, having sponsored Italian legends like Gelindo Bordin, Gabriella Dorioand and Salvatore Antibo. To honor that lineage, Diadora wanted to create a shoe — concept, design, evolution, and final product — entirely under one roof in Italy. It's very rare for all the steps in product development to happen in one facility, and this project showed it can be done. The Equipe Atomo was designed to be a shoe that can take on heavy mileage, be light and responsive, and showcase great Italian craftsmanship all in one. This is just the beginning of more innovative stories and products for the great historic brand.

Take a minute to witness the process of creating this new high performance shoe. It’ll give you a new sense of value and appreciation for having a handcrafted shoe on your feet.

The tradition continues 🦃

Last week saw the 85th running of the Manchester Road Race, which believe it or not, is not the oldest Thanksgiving Day race in the United States. That title actually goes to the Buffalo Turkey Trot — first run in 1896. That means it predates the Boston Marathon by a year and is therefore the oldest continually run road race in the country. It’s a great event and one that should be on your bucket list, but the crown jewel from a professional running standpoint takes place in the middle of Connecticut.

But what’s an old race without a little bit of misogyny in its history? Women were not allowed to compete in the race until 1974, although they tried. In 1960, Julia Chase-Brand tried entering the race, though she wasn’t accepted. The following year she showed up on the start line without permission, finishing an unofficial 128th of 157. Christine McKenzie, an English Olympian, was inspired by the protest and joined as well, and actually would have finished ahead had she not veered off the course at the last moment, right before the finish line. And Dianne Lechausse, an 18-year-old, also raced, coming in “138th”. That’s when the governing body did what governing bodies have always done — the AAU threatened to sanction any woman who tried running. After enough uproar, organizers gave in and fourteen years after Chase-Brand tried to compete for the first time, women were finally allowed to enter. It took a few more years until they were given any prizes.

Fast forward to this year and the women’s race wasn’t something the organizers were dumbly fighting against, it was the marquee event! Enter Weini Kelati! Continuing her hot streak this fall, Kelati set out from the gun on a mission, going out in 4:37 for the first mile on the heels of the professional men. She would end up demolishing the 4.748-mile course record (formerly held by Buze Diriba) by 62 seconds, clocking a remarkable time of 22:55 (4:50/mile). If another layer of perspective is needed to comprehend how good that is, she finished 18th overall. Here is where the top women finished the past five years: 2019 (37th), 2018 (36th), 2017 (29th), 2016 (36th) and 2015 (30th). So take THAT old meet organizers who wouldn’t let women into the field! Bet you feel pretty stupid… especially knowing that Kelati took home a cool 10 Gs.

Canadian Thanksgiving may have been in October, but that doesn’t mean Ben Flanagan didn’t want to celebrate ours. Flanagan waited patiently behind the surging Sam Chelanga, who’d sprung forward to capture the ‘King of the Hill’ crown/bonus. Once the pace settled, Flanagan made a decisive move into the precipitous downhill. As someone whose back hurt for a week after running this race (Drew Hunter suffered back spasms, as well), I can attest to just how steep it is. But Flanagan made it look effortless, dropping a 4:18 and fully separating from the field.

This victory pairs nicely with his two Falmouth victories. Only Khalid Khannouchi has won both races, as well. Here is my suggestion for the “Infinity Gauntlet of American road races that are longer than 5k, but shorter than a half-marathon”: Falmouth, Manchester, Beach to Beacon, Cherry Blossom, Peachtree, and Gate River.

Tweet me your better suggestions! (I think the Mini 10k belongs in the conversation for women.)

Giving Tuesday?

Shelby Houlihan has started a website and gofundme to help raise money to fund the legal fees surrounding her fight against the four year doping ban after testing positive for nandrolone.

Admittedly, I keep accidentally typing “CleanShelby.com” into my web browser to check on the list of names to see who has given. Would love to know more about the top contributor who gave $2,000, but signed it anonymously. Even more so, I am trying to understand the cognitive dissonance that led to someone donating $500, while simultaneously mocking the situation with a comment about ‘Shelby’s authentic burritos.’ Expensive joke, and a hack one at that!

It’s not my business to tell other people how to spend their money and it’s a dangerous game to suggest other virtuous causes may be better to support. As a guy who donates to Columbia’s $14 billion endowment every year, I’m not going to cast any stones. But that doesn’t mean it’s not interesting! If you believe she is innocent, then this is a gross tragedy so it’s understandable. If you haven’t been swayed by Houlihan’s cries of injustice, then this move might seem almost farcical.

Regardless, the biggest shock in this whole campaign is that the financial burden of her defense is apparently being placed solely on Shelby’s shoulders. As a 9x US Champion, Olympian and 2x American Record holder, presumably between prize money, contract and bonuses, she was in a decent starting financial point. So where does Nike stand on all of this if they’re not helping?

Better yet, where is the Bowerman Track Club? They have been her most ardent supporters through this ordeal. Again, not my place to tell other people how to spend their money… but it’s notable that a few days after the team returned their $20,000 prize purse from the Michigan Ekiden that their star runner would be soliciting financial assistance.

From a psychological standpoint, does Shelby’s willingness to not only exhaust her own finances, but publicly seek donations help or hurt her perceived innocence?

Speaking of raising money…Interested in supporting athletes? On Friday morning in our premium newsletter we will be publishing a conversation with CJ Albertson. He is a 2:11 marathoner and you may remember him for leading the majority of the Boston Marathon. This initiative has now raised $14,400 with all proceeds going towards the elite athletes.

Abu Dhabi ‘thon 🇦🇪

If I was the fifth fastest marathoner of all time, I’d assume everyone would know my name. But I am sure the large majority of Lap Count readers (who are the smartest, most attractive fans in the sport), wouldn’t be able to tell me much about Titus Ekiru. This weekend he won the Abu Dhabi Marathon in 2:06:13, over a minute and a half faster than his closest competitor, an accomplishment worth $50,000 of oil-backed money (this is not a meek political joke, the Abu Dhabi National Oil Company is the title sponsor for the race).

Earlier this year, Titus ran 2:02:57 to win the Milan Marathon, a race he’s won twice. Also on his resume are two Honolulu Marathon titles, plus wins in Mexico City and Seville, however, he has never finished a marathon major — hence, his lack of name recognition among even the sport’s more diehard fans.

But winning some of these “smaller” races has given Titus the confidence to claim he’s capable of being the first man to break two hours in a sanctioned race. This is why I always suggest athletes should start their seasons with a few low key races to get an ego. Nothing hypes up a 3:55 miler like knocking around sub 4-flat guys — that’s how you start floating around dangerous ideas like, ‘hey maybe I’m ready to blast a sub 3:50!’. You love to see it!

On the women’s side, Kenya’s Judith Jeptum Korir won the race in a four minute personal best of 2:22:30. In the hot and humid conditions, times were a bit slower than expected. If Titus being a few minutes off from his best (let alone his fabled sub-two) is any indication, then Korir has the potential to knock off significantly more time soon.

Online abuse in athletics

World Athletics has been at it this off-season with a series of studies and initiatives to improve the morality of Track & Field. That’s a tough task that they’re taking head on! Unfortunately it’s not a huge surprise that athletes suffer from a tremendous amount of abuse both online and in-person. If you haven’t had the pleasure of seeing your name anonymously bashed on the internet then let me tell you, it’s an experience.

It’s not a surprise that much of the hostility is directed at women (87%) and laced with racial undertones. The individuals tasked with categorizing whether a specific hateful tweet should fall under ‘racist,’ ‘transphobic’ or ‘sexist’ deserve the same level of recognition as the father of modern taxonomy himself, Carl Linnaeus.

World Athletics also supported research on child abuse in sport and the announcement of a new safeguarding policy to protect athletes at all levels. Even if the points system used to derive athlete rankings is fundamentally flawed, they’re doing good work here.

Fast 10k’s in Japan 🇯🇵🇰🇪

Every fall, we are treated to a smattering of incredible performances on the track across the Pacific. But this year’s feat in Hachioji might be the most impressive yet. 21 men broke 28-minutes in a single heat, surpassing the previous record of 20... from the Beijing Olympics. 35 athletes in the meet broke the barrier (twenty-two were Japanese) and a total of 119 men broke 29-minutes.

But it’s not all good news coming out of Japan. The Fukuoka Marathon is on Sunday — to get excited, check out this trailer for a new documentary celebrating its 75th year. This will be the final running of the elite-men’s only race, which will exclusively feature 124 very fast dudes

The race has reached its conclusion due to a lack of funding and relevance. It would seem opening up the fields to mass participants AND WOMEN would be one way to reclaim some lost sponsorship dollars. We haven’t seen this type of stubborn commitment to a bad business model since the Shakers refused to procreate!

The Vote: Explained 🗳

The USATF Annual Meeting takes place this week. If you had forgotten why the stakes are so high this year, then let this well-timed article from Runner’s World serve as notice. There’s more to talk about besides the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Columbia asking for details of the financial relationship between USATF and Nike, but let’s quickly address that, because that sounds like a pretty big deal.

Believe it or not, a 23-year, $475 million dollar sponsorship deal may come with some skeletons in the closet. It’s notable, for starters, in that two former Nike employees negotiated the deal, and then hired a marketing firm called Matchbook Creative, which referred to itself as a Max Siegel (USATF CEO) company. The precedent here is that the Board of Directors will now place those under investigation on temporary administrative leave — that is what happened to President Vin Lananna a few years ago before he was cleared of any wrongdoing. Let’s see if that happens! Regardless, expect issues like these to be top of mind during the vote set to take place in Orlando this week.

The majority of USATF members and fans are likely ignorant to what is at stake in this vote, but it’s important. There is very little information or discussion about it and if it weren’t for this single interview with Ed Koch for Track and Field News, then it would have never come across my desk at all. It’s a fairly informative Q&A, but for better or worse, Ed speaks like a lawyer and it took me a few reads to form a basic understanding of what is being decided. For additional perspective on the reasons to vote ‘no’ see, Becca Peter’s article here.

Because it seems unfair for only one side of the argument to have been presented to the public, I reached out to Kendall Spencer, who sits on the 21-person USATF Board of Directors as a USOPOC Athlete to explain for us common folk what’s going on. But please read both sides if you’re invested.

Kyle: There are some big votes on the table this week at the Annual Meeting. Could you give me a SparkNotes version of what it’s all about?

Kendall: It can be made super simple. After everything happened with USA Gymnastics and Larry Nassar, the federal government told the USOPC they needed to get their act together. So they did a deep dive into the way governance happens across all of the governing bodies. As a result, they basically created a new way of doing things in regards to how they want each governing body’s decision making process to work. This ranges from how many votes athletes get to what type of decisions the board of directors needs to be able to make and have the final authority to do.

Kyle: “Certification” is something I keep hearing about. What does that mean, to be certified?

Kendall: Before the past year, each NGB (National Governing Body) had to be certified by the USOPC to have Team USA authority. The way it used to work was if you did something wrong or you weren’t following protocol then you could be decertified as punishment. Then Larry Nassar happened and USOPC responded by saying, ‘This is what you need to do now to REMAIN certified.’ The vote will decide if USATF is going to abide by these new standards.

Kyle: Ok, so more specifically what is USATF supposed to change?

Kendall: The big issue is how the Chair of the Board is selected. Previously the President, which is voted on by membership, would automatically be the Chair of the Board. Now the USOPC is telling us that the Board of Directors should vote for the Chair of the Board.

The counter-argument is, ‘if the board can select its own chair then we are disenfranchising the voice of the membership.’ The problem is that it assumes that the individual on the board of directors is not also chosen by the membership, but they are. We are all chosen by our constituents. It is in my opinion a microcosm of how the US government works.

Right now all citizens directly vote for the Speaker of the House by virtue of voting for the President. The USOPC says, ‘well the citizens voted for Congress and Congress is voting for the Speaker,’ therefore the membership is voting.

Kyle: Why does the USOPC want this to happen?

They want to see every Board of Directors as the final decision makers because they have a fiduciary responsibility to protect the organization. General membership does not have that responsibility or insight. This also would make USATF more nimble and able to respond to crises.

These amendments are crafted so there is a group of people representing the organization who can make decisions for the shifting landscape of sports — people who can respond to the changes. If we had a Larry Nassar situation in USATF, the Board of Directors wouldn't be able to respond without ⅔ of the members coming together to vote.

Kyle: So what happens if we don’t follow the USOPC’s updated guidance?

We don't get certified. We don't get auditors. Insurance won't want to cover us. It impacts the money and sponsors we get. This now impacts how we are viewed from a business standpoint.

Because USATF is a certified NGB, the USOPC says, ‘you let us know who is on the Olympic team.’ If we aren't certified then the USOPC is in charge of that decision. The self-selecting process could potentially go away.

The opposition argues, ‘The decertification isn’t a concern because the USOPC would never do that.’ — And I’m not willing to gamble on that.

It’s the athletes who are collateral damage. We shouldn’t be playing with people's futures and livelihood. The individuals who are suggesting otherwise aren’t athletes.

I am not an expert, but as a recently retired athlete who has sat in on AAC (Athlete Advisory Committee) meetings in the past, I trust the representation who has encouraged a ‘yes’ vote. Both sides have good intentions and make similar arguments about having the best interest of athletes at heart, although they have differing philosophies as to how that is best done. I don’t expect to write the laws of the United States, and as a member of USATF with no position of power, I don’t think it’s my place to do it there. But that’s just like, my opinion, man.

Rapid Fire Highlights 🔥

• Emmit King, former Olympian, World Championship medalist and NCAA Champion, died in a shootout this week.

• Newbury Park High School scored a remarkable 16 points at the California State Championships.

• NCAA XC Champion, Conner Mantz, is competing at the US Half Marathon Championships and is targeting the American Record.

• Gavin Sherry broke the Van Cortlandt Park HS 5k Record this weekend in 15:05 to win the Eastbay Northeast Regionals.

• David Ribich has been asking pro runners how fast they ran in high school and it’s worth checking out! (Instagram highlights)

• Jim Walmsley broke a difficult record at the Ultra Trail Cape Town despite getting lost partway through the race. Courtney Dauwalter made it an American sweep!

• Steeplechasers, Geneviève Lalonde and John Gay, won the Canadian XC Championships.

• Jess Judd and Jack Rowe won the British XC Championships.

• At the Florence Marathon, Tsehay Alemu Maru of Ethiopia won the women’s race in 2:27:17 and Cybrian Kotut of Kenya won the men’s in 2:08:59.

• At the Run for the Diamonds 9-miler, the 6th oldest road race in the United States (1908), Paige Stoner set a new course record of 49:06 (5:27/mi).

• Kyle Merber did a podcast with Sweat Elite talking about the motivation behind writing THIS newsletter and marketing athletes. (Listen)

Thank you again to Diadora for sponsoring and supporting this newsletter! If your brand is interested in advertising, email us at [email protected]