Steady readers of my blog probably noticed the LACK of a post about the Zurich DL.
Weltklasse means "World Class".
But the latest version of Zurich's long-time standby was anything BUT!
Oh, it had MANY "Weltklasse" athletes!
But poor weather (some rain, cold temps), added to jet lag and other post-World Championships problems, made this year's edition one of the WORST!
Thus, no post--for lack of records & marks worthy to report!
In the days since Zurich, I've gotten results from 3 Road Races which made me realize one thing--the transition from the 2015 T&F season to the Autumn season of Championship (and other) Road Racing has already begun!
In earnest!!
(Not to mention the first dribs & drabs from the Cross Country (XC) season, which are pouring in via the great work of TFRSS!!)
Well, let's take a look at the FEW marks that ARE worth reporting---from Zurich and other venues, from the tracks & fields to the roads!
Maybe indicative of what was to come (or NOT!!) from Zurich was Shawn Barber's performance.
Oh, there was nothing wrong with his great Pole Vaulting!
In fact, his winning jump of 5.92 (19-5) is a PR for him, and a Canada National Record, and an Age 21 Record!!
It also moves him from 16th A-T World, tied with 2 others, to 13th.
INdoors!!
Yes, all the above-listed Records are for my INdoor portion of my T&F Record Book!
You see, this event was held the day BEFORE the main part of the meet, and it was held INside Zurich's train station!!
But in the OUTdoor portion, a few marks stood out.
That "showdown" race between Almaz Ayana and Genzebe Dibaba--over 3000 meters--wasn't.
Not really.
Dibaba, maybe worn out from doubling at the WC's, couldn't connect to Ayana's pace when she moved, and it was Game Over!
The result was the Meet Record of 8:22.34--2.43 seconds slower than she ran for the final 3000 of her WC's 5000 race!!
Finishing in LAST was Emma Coburn!
However, her 8:59.76 was a BIG PR!!
And, added to her 3000SC time of 9:11.42, her Combined Event time of 18:11.18 makes her 15th A-T on that list!
(She has LOTS of room for improvement!!)
Ivana Spanovic remains hot as 2015 winds down.
Her 23-0.50 LJ breaks her own Serbia National Record.
Finally---yes, FINALLY!!--we have the 4X100 Relay for Women, which ended the meet.
A Jamaican foursome which had Elaine Thompson, and SAFP anchoring, beat the US with a Meet Record time of 41.60.
Berlin's venerable ISTAF meet had a couple of fast 800's.
Nijel Amos beat Mohammed Aman, among others, in 1:43.28.
But it was the Women's race that surprised some.
Lynsey Sharp prevailed over a deep field, her time of 1:57.71 being the new National Record of Scotland!!
Fabienne Kohlmann was 2nd in 1:58.34.
Finishing 5th, but in a PR time of 2:00.03, was Shannon Rowbury!
Sooooooo close to going sub-2:00!!
Bernard Lagat closed out his track season with a fast 13:17.58 5000 in 3rd (behind Paul K Koech & Hassan Mead!).
Wasn't an Age 40 Record, as his 13:14+ from earlier this year is faster!
A meet in Padua, Italy had some interesting results.
Sheila Reid--coming off of an injury--seems to be back!!
She WON the 1500 in 4:06.9!
And relegated one Mercy Cherono to 2nd place!!
Not bad for what SEEMS to be Reid's 1st race back!!
Another "comebacker" appears to be Francine Niyonsaba!
She won the 800 in 1:59.82.
SAFP easily won the 100---in 10.98 AGAINST a wind of 2.7!!--2nd being 11.42!
But it's the ROADS where some very good "early season" marks have occurred.
It began with a report from the Netherlands that Shalane Flanagan would be going after the American 10K Record set by Lynn Jennings in 1990--31:06.
She succeeded--barely--running the US Record time of 31:03.
She didn't win--Genet Yalew of Ethiopia won in 30:58--, but she beat Betsy Saina in 3rd by over a minute!!
(She said afterwards that she wanted the Record first, not the win, so she went out conservatively. But she was catching Yalew at the end!)
In Virginia Beach, the Rock and Roll Half Marathon was won by Laura Thweatt in 1:12:59.
She's preparing to run New York!
She won by over 7 minutes!!
Finally, the USATF Championship 20000 Meters race was easily taken by "still upset about Beijing" Molly Huddle, her time of 1:06:26 prevailing by a full minute over Janet Bawcom.
Jared Ward--a relatively "new" name in US distance running--took a hard-fought battle in the Men's race in 59:22.
Close---VERY close!--behind came new US citizen Sam Chelanga, followed by Dathan Ritzenhein, and Luke Puskedra, all finishing within a handful of seconds behind Ward!
Nothing worth noting from the early XC results--yet!
Since this post is comparatively "short", I thought I'd add a little Book Review to finish it off!
As I may have mentioned, I recently purchased The Big Gold Book from T&FN.
But that's NOT the book I'll be reviewing!
No, I bought ANOTHER book recently.
It's the 2012 edition of Wilfried Kramer's National Athletics Records for All Countries in the World!
(I already owned the 2003 edition!)
I have good news---and not so good news.
(I'm not certain I worded that right--as you'll soon find out!)
This latest version is MUCH improved over the older edition.
For one thing, it's BIGGER!
There's 248 pages, as opposed to 208 in the 2003 book.
And Kramer includes NR's for 235 countries (??), not the "measly" 226 from 2003's edition!
I do have a few complaints, but they may only be based on personal choice or bias, not the good intentions and guidelines Kramer used for inclusion in his book.
Missing are Records for the 1 and 2 Mile, the 300, 600, 1000, and 2000 meters!
I mean, the One MILE??!!
Also, the only Relays included are the basic 4X100 and the 4X400.
(Of course, this edition came out before the World Relays began, so maybe his NEXT edition will include more Relay NR's!)
I found some anomalies in the book, especially when compared to the 2003 edition.
The best example---IMHO--and one I started a thread about on the T&FN Message Board!--concerns the NR's for Great Britain!
In the 2003 edition, Kramer included separate NR's for Great Britain (& Northern Ireland), and for Scotland, Wales, and Ireland.
But in the newer book, he ALSO has separate NR's for England!!
AND for Northern Ireland--DESPITE the GB Records being labeled "GB (& NI)"!!
And some of those are DIFFERENT than some of the NR's for GB (& NI)!!
(Read the comments on the T&FN thread--in the Historical Forum--for some GREAT lessons in English (British??) history and geography!!)
Also noted are some of the HUGE changes in some National Records since the 2012 edition came out!
(I won't even speak of all the changes in NR's that took place between the 2003 and 2012 editions!!)
One GREAT example is the 100 and 200 NR's of the Netherlands for Women!
The book actually covers the Records only through the end of 2011--so basically 4 years have passed since then!
In 2011, Dafne Schippers already held the Netherlands NR in the 200--but her time was just 22.69 then!
She had yet to break the NR for the Heptathlon!
So now, just 4 years later, she's improved the NR in the 100 from 11.08 to 10.81, in the 200 from her own 22.69 to 21.63, and from the 6423 of Karin Ruckstahl to her 6545!
And while I've only BEGUN to seriously scan this book, I've seen numerous other MAJOR changes in NR's.
And I'm only speaking of "BIG" countries, Athletically speaking!
What of those OTHER 150+ (??) "countries" whose NR's might serve as temptations for athletes---who make up the "lower tiers" of elitedom--or even for those who serve as "mid-packers" in Major Marathons---those who constitute the "average" time of 3:00:00 for Men or 3:45:00 for Women??
I can tell you--from just a quick glance--that there are MANY such places where one could move---a la those elites who move to Qatar and Bahrain and such!--and be able to break SEVERAL National Records, as soon as their new citizenship becomes legal!
St. Helena is NOT the "best" (worst??) example, but here's some of their NR's.
Men:
11.93, 24.26, 55.02, 2:09.2, 4:24.01, 10:40.71, 3:11:21, 19.7 (110H).
Yes, those are the MEN's NR's for the 100, 200, 400, 800, 1500, 3000, Marathon, and the 110H!
The Women's?
How about 13.48, 27.37, 67.4, 2:58.2, 6:18.7 (for the 1500!!), 6:30:52 (That's correct! I said 6 hours, 30 minutes, and 52 seconds!!!) for the Marathon.
I also note St Helena's Women's Field Event NR's.
In metric, they are 1.40 (HJ), 4.92 (For the LJ, not the PV!)), 9.75 (SP), 19.10 (DT), and 26.05 (JT)!!
Okay, all you SIXTH GRADE Boys and Girls, want to break a National Record??
Then there are all the "countries"---I put Countries in quotes because several of these are NOT legalized nations, but territories or other "properties" of larger nations, but which are included in Kramer's book, which has "Countries" in its title!!--that I have no (or only a vague) idea where they are, or that they even existed!
But that's where Kramer's book becomes the fascinating gem it is!
In the anomalies.
In the amazing changes.
In those little known facts.
It's THERE that this book becomes worthy of its $30 price tag!
Because it's not an Annual, it can't really serve as your greatest research source for National Records.
But it CAN serve as maybe Track and Field's (Athletics, to you foreigners!! LOL) version of the Guinness Book of World Records.
A really interesting and FUN book!!
Next post in a few days---after the final DL of the year---in Brussels!
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