Bid to con Wanjiru girlfriend foiled

Police in Nakuru on Wednesday arrested three people who tried to fleece a girlfriend of marathon champion Samuel Wanjiru three days after his burial.

The three are being held at the Central Police Station after their plan to lure Judy Wambui to sign up for a suspicious deal at a Nakuru hotel failed.

“We are holding three suspects and we are interrogating them to establish their motive for calling Ms Wambui to partner with them only a few days after Wanjiru was buried,” said Nakuru police boss Johnston Ipara.

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Yuki Kawauchi Building Up for World Championships With 50 km Ultra This Sunday

by Brett Larner for JRN

Yuki Kawauchi (Saitama Pref.) became an international name when he finished 3rd at February's Tokyo Marathon, qualifying for the Daegu World Championships marathon with a time of 2:08:37 which made him the top man on the Japanese team despite an existence completely outside the corporate running leagues. At the recent Nittai Time Trials meet Kawauchi ran his last track race of the season before getting into the brunt of his marathon training, running 14:10.32 for 7th in the 5000 m in the midst of a typhoon. Before the race Kawauchi sat down with JRN to talk about his planned World Championships preparations. First up on his schedule is the Okinoshima 50 km ultramarathon this Sunday, June 19.

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Blog Roll - Ian Sharman

Well, not quite to plan this time around. Comrades is always such an overwhelming experience and that was the case again, but this time in the sense that the race humbled me and left me heartbroken after spending so long focusing on it.

My race went bad after around 35km before even hitting the marathon mark and I could only jog from that point, losing motivation given that a sub 6h time was clearly not on the cards, never mind a gold medal for top 10. Luckily I perked up a bit nearer the end after seeing Kami Semick charging along as if it was the first few miles and with a shot of chasing down the Russian twins for a win. 6:25 was my final time, which was well off the 5:51 needed to get a gold medal this year.

But the real story, which I'm really glad I got to see first hand, was the set of amazing performances by the top Brits and Americans. Before I mention the names and times, I'll just lay out the stats of the course so people can appreciate how good their performances were.

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As Grandma’s Marathon turns 35, race legends look back

Garry Bjorklund’s blistered feet screamed for help after reaching London Road in the inaugural Grandma’s Marathon. The rookie road racer, and running shoe store owner, made a rookie mistake by using new shoes.

At 19 miles, near the Lester River Bridge, on a hot morning on June 25, 1977, he stopped, pulled off his racing shoes and hailed a friend on a bicycle, carrying his well-worn Nike Waffle Trainer shoes.

The swap was made, his feet were happy and the 26-year-old Bjorklund carried on for a victory in his first race of 26.2 miles, winning by nearly five minutes. It came less than a year after he made the 10,000-meter track final in the 1976 Summer Olympics in Montreal, and gave Grandma’s Marathon immediate credibility.

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Drug testers crack down on school doping

South Africa's drug busters are to crack down on rampant doping in school sports - which has more than doubled in the past year - starting with this year’s Craven Week rugby tournament.

And government is considering legislation to take action against those supplying the dope.

The SA Institute for Drug Free Sport, boosted by a cash injection from the department of Sports and Recreation, on Tuesday launched an "I Play Fair - Say No to Doping" initiative to counter the increase in school-going dopers.

“Our SA doping control stats clearly show the use of performance enhancing drugs is on the increase among adolescent athletes and among the adult population,” institute chairman Shuaib Manjra said.

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Inside the anti-doping system

Andy Murray calls it "draconian". Rafael Nadal says it makes him "feel like a criminal". To anti-doping agencies around the world it's the most important weapon they have.

This is the "whereabouts" system, and I'm about to join it.

On Wednesday afternoon I was officially added to something called the National Registered Testing Pool, the first non-sportsman ever to be given such access. From now on I have to specify where I'll be for an hour a day, seven days a week, for up to three months in advance.

Why? So I am available for random out-of-competition tests. Why me? Because this is exactly what the 400 or so elite Olympians in Britain have to do, because it is the controversial heart of the fight against doping and because I want to see exactly how easy or onerous it is to stay on the right side of the system.

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“I was ready for Doha when the Diamond League started before this cruel injury. But now there is no pain even when I sprint...”

After three months out with an ankle injury, World 800m record holder David Rudisha is looking to return to the track and run a world-leading time in Lausanne on June 30 when he debuts at the Samsung Diamond League race.

In a telephone interview from his base in Tuebingen, Germany, Rudisha said he will have a test run in the French city of Nancy on June 24 where he will be experimenting on the extent he can go in sprinting.

It is after that confirmation that Rudisha will head to Lausanne a week later, seeking to run under a minute and 43 seconds.

World Indoor champion Abubakar Kaki of Sudan holds the world lead of 1:43.68, which he set in winning the two-lap race in Eugene, Oregon, on June 4.

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