Whilst it's not possible to watch Sunday's Hokkaido Marathon (JPN) live, I'm hopeful of there being on-demand video for it. If so, I'll add it to the listings later.
Saturday to Sunday
- Czech U23 Championships (Brno, CZE) - Having quickly scanned the start lists, this doesn't look bad
- Polish Superleague Club Championships Final (Karpacz, POL) - Amongst those due to compete here are Czykier, Ennaoui, Nowicki, Tsimanouskaya & Klaudia Siciarz
- Crim 10 Mile Road Race (Flint, MI, USA) - No idea of the start lists but this is usually a good quality international race
- Loughborough BMC Grand Prix Round 5 (Loughborough, GBR) - Decent fields here including a few international guests such as Josh Thompson & Natoya Goule (both 1500). Sam Tanner (NZL) is also down for the 1500 but he ran in Lausanne tonight
- Giro delle Mura Citta di Feltre (Feltre, ITA) - International Men's 9.5km road race (9 laps of 1050m) AND the "Running Seven Laps" race; This is one of my favourite road events every year, largely for the "Running Seven Laps" relay elimination race that concludes the evening; Firstly though, the Men's road race includes Yeman Crippa, Ala Zoghlami and Felix Kiptarus Korir (KEN), the World U20 silver medalist in Cali; The Running Seven Laps race is an elimination race with 9 or 10 relay teams of 2 pro mid-distance athletes. On each "lap" both members of the team run in relay up and down the hill (a 400m loop course) ... Then, after each lap, the race stops, they eliminate the last team and then the remaining teams, having got some breath back, start again about 45 seconds later. The seventh "lap" is the final lap where the race is won. Obviously, it's sensible to pace yourself and do just enough to get through to the next lap. However, last year the Kenyan duo didn't heed this, instead blasting the first 2 laps and then paying for it by being eliminated after lap 4! This year, the athletes competing include steepler Ahmed Abdelwahed, Ludovica Cavalli & Simone Barontini; Another little quirk of this meeting is that it includes the European Fire Brigade 10km Championship earlier in the evening!
- Comrades Marathon ("Down Run" this year - Pietermaritzburg to Durban, RSA) - 90km ultramarathon; No idea of who's running this classic race
- Antrim Coast Half Marathon (Larne, GBR) - WA Elite Label race; Good international fields here, including Jemal Yimer, Shadrack Kimining & Callum Hawkins. In the Women's race Yelamzerf Yehualaw, undeterred by last year's short course shambles, faces Tsehay Gemechu
- True Athletes Classics (Leverkusen, GER) - WA Continental Tour Bronze meeting; Probably only 10 mins of highlights for this so it's not worth going into the fields. They look pretty good though
Next major post on Monday evening for Tuesday's 2 Conti Tour Silver meetings in Luzern & Rovereto.
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