World Relays--It had Everything!

You want beautiful beaches, exotic foods, unreal music, and HAPPY people?
Then you came to the right place--if you went to Nassau, The Bahamas for the 2nd edition (but not annual!) of the IAAF World Relays.
Or is your taste merely for the elegance and thrills our sport provides?
Again, you came where you'll find just that--and more.

Like, for instance, the amazing incredible unbelievable INSANELY maddening INCOMPETENCE of United States sprint relay teams, whether they be Men's or Women's.
Two prime examples came in the 4X200 Relays.
(Or, as the British announcers labeled them, the "two lap" relays!)
Let's take the Men first.

You had what might have been a (or THE) classic showdown of the entire meet.
It was going to be Jamaica (with Usain Bolt anchoring) against the US, with Justin Gatlin anchoring.
But it was announced that Bolt wouldn't be running.
Rumor was that he was tired (or hurt?) from running 2 legs--heat and final--of the 4X100 the previous day!

Anyway, the race began.
When it came to the 3rd hand-off, Gatlin took off, but without the baton.
The attempt(s) to get it into his hand all failed, with it finally dropping to the track--in Jamaica's lane!
So Gatlin moves over to get it, and finally does, then returns to his lane (I THINK!!), and takes off.
Granted, he sped down the final straight like a bat out of Hell, but he couldn't catch Jamaica.
Then, of course, he got the news the US was DQ'ed!

The Women's foul-up (I'd LOVE to use that "other" F word, but I'm trying to keep my blog relatively clean!) was worse!
I mean it!
It was worse.
Oh heck, I'm going to say it.
The pass (attempt) from Jeneba Tarmoh to Allyson Felix was a total FUCK-UP!!!
(Whew!!)

Tarmoh comes sprinting toward Felix, well ahead of everybody else, the US a sure winner.
But either Felix waited too long to take off, or took off too early.
I couldn't figure it out.
Whatever the case, the stick either (A) wasn't released into Felix's hand properly, or (B) Felix hadn't grabbed it tightly enough.
Whose fault it was doesn't really matter.
What happened immediately after this failed pass attempt made the Three Stooges slapstick routines look (Heh!) like child's play!!
Or, if you want to be "nice", you could say it looked like a botched ballet routine with a couple of VERY stoned people!!
Watch the replay---which I'm sure have already gone viral on YouTube!--and tell me what YOU think!
(I couldn't help but be reminded of that OTHER Tarmoh-Felix controversy, when they allegedly tied for 3rd place in the 2012 Olympic Trials 200!)

Well, enough of the F-ups!
Let's get to the professional track portion of the meet.

The distance events provided us with 2 World Records, and 3 American Records!
The 4X800's, run last year, were faster, but were somewhat less competitive.

The Women's race came on Saturday, and it didn't disappoint.
From the gun, the US led, with Chanelle Price running 2:01.30.
It looked like she played it safe the first 400 or more, before taking control.
Then Maggie Vessey, Track's Fashionista (but wearing the more conservative USA uniform!) took off, running a strong looking 2:00.92.
I think she ran even paced laps, doing two 60's.
She handed off to Molly Ludlow , who tore through a 1:59.50, before handing off to new Mom Alysia Montano!
She's BAAAACCCKKKK!!!
Mama ran like the Alysia of old!
Not sure, but I think her first lap was close to 56, which in the "olden days" (pre-pregnancy), was normal for Track's Flower Girl.
Her split was a fine 1:58.90, and the US's winning WR and AR and MR time was 8:00.62.

With better competition---heck, with ANY competition!!--they almost certainly would've dipped under 8 minutes!
But 2nd place, Poland, finished 11 seconds back!!
But they did set a National Record of 8:11.36.
As did Cuba, with their time of 8:15.84.
And so did Jamaica, running 8:16.04.

Where was Kenya?
They ran 8:33 and change!
Why, I'll never know!

The American Men won their race almost as easily, by 4 or 5 seconds, in 7:04.84, which is a Meet Record.
The time was just 2 seconds off the AR, but averaging 1:46.21 in early May, while running basically alone, is pretty good.

It's sort of unfair to add the Meet Records to the list of records broken in the DMR's, since they didn't run them last year, so these became automatic MR's.
That said, you CAN be proud to say that WORLD and American Records were broken--by both genders!
Let's start with the Men.

Their record breaking was unexpected, unlike the Women.
Look at my preview, where I said the US Men would win, but would NOT get the WR.
Thankfully, I was wrong on the latter point.

It started slower than was needed for a WR, as Kyle Merber ran just 2:53.6 for his 1200.
Brycen Spratling did his 400 in a pedestrian (for a relay leg!) 46.0.
But Brandon Johnson ripped his 800 in a great 1:44.8.
Then the fun began!

Remember the Penn Relays Men's 4X1Mile Relay, when Ed Cheserek and Jordan Williamz came to a STOP, daring the other to take the lead, thus killing any chance of an American and Collegiate Record?
Well, right after the hand-off, Kenya's Tim Cheruiyot was caught by US anchor Ben Blankenship.

Then Blankenship stared over at Cheruiyot---and practically STOPPED--nodding his head at Tim to take the lead.
Finally, Cheruiyot blinked, and took off.
I mean, he TOOK OFF!!
His first lap (of the 1600 leg) was reportedly timed in 51.9.
That's right, I said 51.9!!!
Whatever the real numbers, he opened up a 50 meter gap.

But Blankenship remained calm, before catching Cheruiyot on the 3rd lap.
His leg was timed in a FAST 3:51.2, reportedly the fastest 1600 relay leg EVER!!

The US ran 9:15.50, nipping Kenya's old WR by just 0.06 seconds!

Kenya didn't run slow, as their time was 9:17.20.
(And this was without the "big guns" of either team--such as Asbel Kiprop or Matt Centrowitz!)
Australia finished 3rd in 9:21.52, also a decent time, getting good legs from Ryan Gregson and the Penn Relays hero, Jordan Williamz.

In last place, a full 1:26 behind Germany, came Papua New Guinea, who ran 10:50.63, a time that the Villanova Women's team beat with their former WR and CR time of 10:48.38 back in 1988!!

The Women's DMR ran 10:36.50.
I'm thinking about writing a post on possible relay times--maybe soon, maybe not--so I won't go into why I think their time, while GREAT, COULD be a whole lot faster!!
Whatever the case, their time beat Villanova's (see above) OUTdoor WR by almost 12 full seconds.
And it beat the NB-US team's INdoor WR, set a few months ago, by about 6 seconds.

Treniere Moser led off with a 1200 of 3:18.38.
SRR, running like the SRR of old, ran the 400 in 50.12.
Ajee Wilson reliably ran her 800 in 2:00.08, before giving the baton to Moser's NOP teammate, Shannon Rowbury, who jogged her 1600 in 4:27.92.

They got the Meet Record, of course, as well as the other 2 records!
(Not to mention a $50,000 bonus check!!)

Behind them came 3 teams who also got National Records.
Kenya's NR was 10:43.35.
Poland's was 10:45.32.
And Australia's (minus Zoe Buckman!) was 10:46.94.

I said SRR was back.
Yes, she is!!

In the Women's 4X400 final, she ran the 3rd leg in a blazing 48.79!!
She handed off to Fran McCorory, who went almost as fast with her 49.27.
Phyllis Francis started things off with a 51.3, and Natasha Hastings also got under 50 with her 49.93.
Final time--a Meet Record--was 3:19.39!!
(A bit different team ran 3:24.05 in the heats!)

The "B" race of the Women's 4X100 was interesting.
Especially the final leg.
It pitted 39 year old Bahaman veteran Debbie Ferguson-McKenzie against 19 year old 2014 World Junior Championships star for Ecuador, Angela Tenorio.

It LOOKED like an easy win for the home team, as F-M had a 4 or 5 meter gap on Tenorio at the hand-off.
But Tenorio sped down the track, just nipping the superstar by a hair--or less!!
The teams were both given times of 44.14, but the slo-mo replay of the finish showed Tenorio HAD beat her!

In the "A" race, Jamaica beat the US fairly easily, although in a slow time (42.14), relatively speaking.
Last year's MR was 41.88!

This also came down to a solid match-up on the last leg.
Or what was HOPED to be solid!
Jamaica ran without Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce (all weekend!!), while the US had a solid foursome.
(Although this race came AFTER that 4X200 fiasco, so US fans were sweating buckets!!)

Anyway, that leg pitted two all-star vets against each other, Veronica Campbell Brown and Carmelita Jeter.
And VCB won.
By a few tenths of a second!!
(And already, people are talking about Jeter being washed up!!  We'll see, I guess!)

The Men had a featured duel too.
Usain Bolt against Justin Gatlin.

Or I should say, that piece of paper you just threw in the trash had a "featured duel" on it!
In actuality, the US was too far ahead for even Mr Bolt to put a dent in their lead.
The US beat Jamaica with a Meet Record time of 37.38.

BTW, that Women's 4X200 talked about earlier?
Nigeria beat Jamaica, even though the latter had the services of VCB!

In the heats for the Men's 4X100, Barbados broke their National Record, running 38.85.
They then broke that record in the final, time of 38.70.
However, that latter time does NOT make my Top 24 list!!

The Dominican Republic also got a National Record, time of 38.94., also in a heat.

The final race of the 2 day affair (And I have little doubt there were some "affairs" going down in this beautiful island nation this weekend!!) was the Men's 4X400.
And it was a doozie!

The US won with the time of 2:58.43.
Second was the Bahamas, who ran 2:58.91.
Belgium--with the 3 Borlee brothers!--broke their National Record with their time of 2:59.33.

What gave US fans more pleasure than the win was seeing the strong leg run by none other than the much besieged (by critics!) vet of the 400 wars, Jeremy Wariner.
He ran a reported 44.80.
Not as fast as Tony McQuay's 2nd leg of 44.00, but still indicative of a possibly good strong year by this always-shades wearing dude!
David Verburg led off with 44.91, then came McQuay and Wariner, who handed off to LaShawn Merritt, who ran a slow (for him!) 44.72 on the anchor!

All in all, this meet is one I hope to see become an ANNUAL affair (sorry!).
They're not holding it next year, but will return (to the Bahamas again!!) in 2017.

Not only do I hope it becomes a meet held every year, I'd like to see it become like the World Marathon Majors (sort of), meaning that they would have FOUR (or 3 is okay) meets a year, with teams competing in all 3, with points allotted and everything.
I don't really have the details of my idea, but I definitely think this fabulous meet MUST become a mainstay of the Track World's schedule!

I LOVE IT!!!