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The best news I received all week came in a media release from USA Track and Field.
The USA Indoor Championships is leaving Atlanta. That in itself is a cause
for rejoicing. In the eight years the meet has languished in the Georgia
Dome, the meet has been witness to some of the most disappointing audiences
in indoor history.
The Georgia Dome is just
too big for a track meet. What tiny crowds there were seemed further minimized by the
immensity of the cavern. Runners flew around the track in deathly silence.
Indoor track is about noise. Lots of noise, in a tiny enclosed space.
Atlanta, for all of its advantages, just couldn't pull off indoor track
convincingly.
Indoor track belongs in the North. Any city with snow will do, but New York
City is its birthplace. The Big Apple is where the USA Indoor meet was born,
and where it belongs. It was the host of the first indoor meet ever in North America
back in 1868. The athletes ran on a square, clay track and the races
started not with a gun but a bass drum.
The venue these days will be considerably more state of the art. This
winter's nationals will take place March 1-2 in the 168th Street Armory. The track there is considered to be one of the fastest indoor tracks in
the world and was the scene of Alan Webb's sub-four minute high school mile
record last winter.
Indoor track is coming home.
Around the world
Inger Miller, one of our best sprinters, has had her bronze medal from the
1999 World Championships stripped for exceeding the IAAF's limits
on caffeine. Scandalous? Yes, but not quite as scandalous as the fact that it
took the organization 23 months to conduct the test on her "B" sample. Maybe
IAAF officials are the ones who need to increase their caffeine intake.
The IAAF is moving the World Indoor Championships to the even-numbered years
so that the event will no longer fall into the same years as the outdoor
editions. The last "odd" meet will be in 2003 in Birmingham, England, with
the even meets starting in 2004.
The 2005 outdoor Worlds is not something you want to book reservations
for yet. London has until Nov. 26 to come up with a solution to its
"we-have-no-track" problem. Assuming nothing new pops up, the event will be
opened to new bidders, with the German cities of Berlin and Stuttgart the
most motivated.
Sri Lankan sprint star Susanthika Jayasinghe has obtained a court order to
stop the production of a movie based on her life. Her main objection seems to
be with the actress hired to play her: "She may be a lot sexier than I am, but
she doesn't have my muscles. She can't match my quick tongue, nor can she run
like me."
The Amsterdam Marathon featured a notable first-time effort for France's
Driss El Himer, who blasted 2:07:02 to best Kenyan Josephat Kiprono by four
seconds. Now he's got to make up with his coach, who didn't want him to run
the race.
Kiprono is part of the fastest marathoning brother act in history. He has a best of
2:06:50. His younger brother Issaac Kiprono ran 2:09:59 last spring, and his
other brother, Luke Kibet, ran 2:10:18 for third at Amsterdam.
In the States
The Detroit Marathon saw a thrilling finish, as local runner Chris Wehrman led
in the late stages but was outsprinted by Kenya's Jacob Kirwa in the
homestretch, 2:17:49 to 2:17:50.
The U.S. team won seven medals, including four golds, at the recent Junior Pan-American Championships in Santa Fe, Argentina. Florida State freshman
Lacy Janson won the vault with a 12-7½, Kentucky's Jeff Chakouian won the
shot at 65-4¼, and Jillian Camarena, a Stanford freshman, won the women's shot
at 52-2. Michigan's Melissa Bickett won the discus with a toss of 161-11.
If you haven't heard of the meet, don't worry about it. Neither did most of
the U.S. athletes. It's hard to get a team together for a Junior (19 and under
event) during the school year. Witness the men's 100-meter dash, an event the
United States has historically dominated. In Santa Fe, the Americans didn't even enter
anyone.
We are approaching the later stages of the collegiate cross country season.
The pre-nationals were held a week ago in Furman, S.C. Eastern
Michigan's Kenyan import, Boaz Cheboiywo, ran away from Colorado's Jorge
Torres and Dathan Ritzenhein to score a big win in 23:31 over the 8-kilometer course.
Colorado, however, easily won the team title.
The women's pre-nationals went to Stanford in a narrow two-point victory against
Brigham Young University. Sabrina Monro of Washington won over Boston College's Catherine Guiney.
The University of Michigan announced its highest-ever paid cross country
attendance, as 1,243 fans came out in the rain to watch the Michigan
Interregional. Not to take away from the event's significance, but it was
also the only paid attendance ever at Michigan. Now that superstar Alan Webb
is part of the program, admission fees will be charged at heretofore free
events.
Jeff Hollobaugh, former managing editor of Track and Field News, is a regular contributor to ESPN.com. He can be reached by e-mail at michtrack@aol.com.
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