Ultramarathon Daily News, Thurs, Aug 18

Short and Sweet Ultramarathon Daily News

Meb, Bernard, and the secret to running forever.

NUC: Former forest ranger and nature lover had a dying to wish to go outside and enjoy the outdoors, and a team of nurses and firefighters made it happen.

Yes, I’m inconsistent. I thought it was kind of lame when Schlarb and Kilian finished hand in hand at Hardrock, but I’ve got no problem with the Olympian twins doing the same thing.

The Steeplechase is my favorite track event and I watch Jager with a sense of awe. However, I don’t know the intricacies of the rules. Yeah, there are a bunch of people freaking out about Kimboi’s DQ, but I’m not sure if it’s unfounded outrage or not. Tim? Max? Care to opine?

Releasing a new podcast soon. I chat with a top ten finisher from the Eastern States 100.

10 Responses to "Ultramarathon Daily News, Thurs, Aug 18"

Alex says:

August 18, 2016 at 8:25 am

Regarding the handholding: It’s the difference between winning a race, and finishing mid-pack. Also, I think it’s fair to suggest siblings have more of a bond than any two people who happened to share a race experience. Though to be honest, I don’t really care in either case.

Regarding Kimboi: I think he basically had to be DQ’d once the protest was lodged. That’s a pretty hard and fast rule. The controversy, such as it is, is basically concerned with whether the French federation should have lodged the complaint to begin with. On one hand, you want the medal. On the other, it’s not very sporting, given the total lack of advantage. In any case, Kimboi has unretired now, given these events, and declared he’s basically going to crush the entire country of France at next year’s World Championships. Races are always more fun when there’s genuine heat.

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Brett says:

August 18, 2016 at 9:16 am

It’s kind of funny because the French dude who got 4th went up to the Kenyans on their victory lap and posed for a picture with them, at least that’s what I saw when I watched the replay of the event. Then he apparently complained about kemboi going out of bounds.

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Chris Clark says:

August 18, 2016 at 9:17 am

Seems like the Hardrock and Olympic cases are pretty different. At Hardrock, Jornet and Schlarb — despite apparent chances to blow past each other for a victory — chose bromance. In Rio, we saw the best of sportsmanship when one athlete stopped to help another in distress. Both cases represent a very cool ideal, and something to live up to. But I also see them as apples-oranges.

Chris

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Jon Olson says:

August 18, 2016 at 9:18 am

My boys watched the “big” hurtles (steeplechase) for the first time and really loved it. glad they are being exposed to some of the more adventurous Olympic sports.Reference

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Mel says:

August 18, 2016 at 10:22 am

I was starting to run marathons about the time that Meb and deena were running in Athens. Meb has remained my favorite ultra runner of all time. Love his stance on doping and he also comes across as such a real person in interviews – more like an ultra runner than a track guy. Would love to see him do a trail race and while I’m not much for fame, I would jump at the chance to see him in IRL and get a pic signed by him. Which is crazy because I’m NOT THAT PERSON.

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Francois says:

August 18, 2016 at 11:14 am

The DQ came after a bit of whining (it’s a thing this year) from the french runner that kemboi had stepped inside the line. It also clearly shows at least for one step on the video. I think on sprint races you need 2 steps but it has been seen that 1 step was enough for an appeal. The french runner has explained over and over that he had seen it at the time and then ran for 4th knowing he’d be 3rd when kemboi would have been DQ’d (strange thing to assume that if you ask me, but that’s another story). Although he really believed this, proof being that he showed 3 fingers when he crossed the finish line. Mekhissi has been burnt in the past – the last european championship he finished first about 80m ahead of 2nd runner, and he took his shirt off before crossing the finish line. 4th place spanish team appealed and mekhissi got DQ’d. I guess he now believes he should play the appeal game too 🙂 (that is also another story)Reference

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Carsten says:

August 18, 2016 at 10:53 pm

Part of the discussion about the Hahner twins finish stems from the fact that for a long time going into the olympics Germany required a very fast qualification time for the marathon on both the men and the women side. It looked like only one man was going to Rio. The German track association said they only wanted to send runners who have a chance of being competitive in Rio. After a lot of public pressure the track association raised the necessary times and send a full contingent of three males and three females to Rio. With their finishing move the Hahner twins gave the track association a good point on why they should not have changed the qualification requirements. In all honesty, it really looked more like a fun run than anything else. The problem is also that everyone is speaking about them while the third German runner (can’t remember her name), had a much better race but is basically ignored in the media.

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kevino says:

August 19, 2016 at 3:13 am

Nothing objective in this following post, but this is the same French Runner who, as noted above, takes off his shirt before finishing a race, and also: punches a mascot, pushes over a teenage girl and gets in fight with national teammates. He never raced with the leaders nor put himself in position to get a medal.

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1. Francois says:
  
  August 19, 2016 at 7:16 am
  
  If I’m not mistaken the mascot and the teenage girl were one and only incident (a teenage girl inside a mascot). Not to defend him, but it’s one less incident in a list of 2. The fight was with a single teammate after a specific race. Booth can be seen on YouTube and is sad and stupid.
  Yeah sure the guy is an idiot but that really has nothing to do with the story indeed. Kemboi was accused of stabbing a woman and paid her to settle that off court. Nothing to do with the story either.
  
  Reply
Sabine Heiland says:

August 19, 2016 at 2:17 pm

I am also inconsitent, but the other way around. While I can accept the hand in hand finish of Schlarb and Jornet – neither of them could secure a clear lead over the other, and at hardrock, a win by some seconds or minutes is much like coming in at the same time – I cannot accept the attitude of the Hahner twins. Although they are not the fastest female marathon runners in Germany, they managed to build up a huge marketing campaign around them with the brand essence: “Marathon is fun, we are so happy”. Crossing the finish line hand in hand falls exactly into their brand essence, therefore it seems like a marketing gag. They were heavily criticized for doing that at an Olympic final. And by this, they gained more attention than the best german runner Anja Scherl (who finished 44th, while the Hahners finished 81st and 82nd), although there was a very remarkable story around Anja Scherl, who is not a professional runner, but a full-time computer scientist.Reference

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