RUNNING NEWS - JULY 20, 1999

People reading this probably realise that the Pan Am Games are being held in Winnipeg from July 23 to August 8. Unfortunately, that seems to be a minority. One month ago, most Canadians were not aware that the Games were in their back yard. This probably has improved now with the controversy over Donovan Bailey not running the 100m event. It seems that for Track and Field, the Games are more about who will not be there, than who will be as the 3 fastest men this year (Maurice Green, Ato Boldon and Bruny Surin) will not be running.

Canadians are lucky in that the Pan Am Games will be nationally televised. CBC must be applauded for covering the Games and thus showcasing Canadian athletes. Even though Track and Field events will be covered, CBC has no plans for covering the Marathon. This is unfortunate as the marathon is the only road race that is featured in major athletic events. This choice of coverage though may not be too surprising considering that marathon runners are not familiar to Canadians, even amongst the running population. It is always surprising to find out that many runners, even the competitive ones, do not know some of Canada's top road racers and marathons like Danuta Bartoszek, May Allison, Bruce Deacon or Peter Fonseca.

Furthermore, this lack of coverage of running and other events is exacerbated by the fact that the composition of the Canadian Team selected for the Pan Am Games is not well publicized. For example, only in the last week has it been possible to find the Track and Field Team from the Athletics Canada Web site, and it still takes some searching. Now that the information is available, it is sad to report that Canada will not be sending a men or women's marathon team to the Pan Am Games. The qualifying standards set by Athletics Canada are 2:15/2:17 (A/B standards) for the men and 2:34:45/2:37 for the women. No Canadian athlete has qualified based on the A standards. It is rather unfortunate that Athletics Canada has set such difficult standards and thus basically eliminated opportunities for Canadian marathoners to race at a high level in a major event on their own soil.

Sean Kaley has been making headlines lately. He was the feature of a Runners World Online interview on April 20, 1999. Sean, who originates from Ottawa, ON, presently runs for Arkansas university. In the interview, it is mentioned that Sean helped Arkansas win the 1999 NCAA Indoor Track and Field Championship by placing 2^nd in the 5000m and 3^rd in the 3000m. In March, Sean Kaley represented Canada at the World Cross-Country Championship held in Belfast Ireland. This is known as the most competitive race in the world. Sean was the first Canadian in the 4 km event as he finished 29^th overall. Sean has shown his flexibility by not only succeeding on the track and in cross-country, but also on the roads. On July 4, Sean raced in Little Rock, Arkansas in the Firecracker 5 K. Sean won the event in an impressive 13:51.

For those who caught the Canadian Track and Field Championship on CBC on July 3^rd, they would have seen a second or two of Sean Kaley as he won the 10,000m in 29:18. Sean will be representing Canada in the Pan Am Games in both the 5000m and the 10,000m. Sean also represented Canada at the FISU World University Games in Spain last week in the 5000m and the 10,000mSean hopes to run a qualifying time for the 5000m World Championship held in Seville, Spain in August. He plans on staying in Arkansas until the Olympics. With times of 13:37 for the 5000m, 7:50 for the 3000m and 29:03 for the 10000m, and based on his progression in the last couple of years, great things are expected of Sean Kaley.

 The Avon Company got back into sponsoring women's running last year. They have a series of races across the US and the world. Last year they had one race in Canada and it was held in Toronto. This year, the race was also held in Toronto and it was on July 11. The winners of the races for the open and the Master's category get to participate in the Avon World Championship. The Championship for last year's winners was held in New York in May. Canada had two athletes in the race. Elizabeth Carmichael placed 35^th with a time of 38:02, while Joyce Switzer placed 38^th overall and 4^th Masters in a time of 38:24.

This year, the Avon race in Toronto was the most competitive outside of a Canadian Championship. A big portion of the top female runners were present, from past Olympians (Danuta Bartoszek) to Canadian Champions (Nancy Tinary) and even some Ironman Hawaii winners (Puntous twins). Over 900 female athletes participated in the event.

F1 - Sarah Dupre 4:57

M1 - Ian Croswell 4:13

This race is part of the National Capital Running Series. Larry McCloskey won the Series in 1998 and continues his dominance of the Series with another win in the 10K.

5K - F1 - Sue Croswell (40+) 18:04

M1 - Richard Stern 15:56

10K - F1 - Michelle Cormier 38:06

M1 - Larry McCloskey (40+) 32:54

This was the 35^th running of the marathon, making it the largest consecutive marathon in Canada. This year the 10K saw the running of even a past Olympian, Bruce Deacon.

July 4 - Michelle King was 2^nd at the 14^th Annual Alliant Energy Fifth Season 8K in Cedar Rapids, Iowa. She finished in 27:12, just 16 seconds behind 3 time winner Kris Ihle.

July 4 - Canadians cleaned up at the Firecracker 5K in Little Rock, Arkansas. Donna Levy won the women's race in a time of 16:49, while Sean Kaley won the men's race in a speedy 13:51.

July 11 - Utica Boilermaker 15 K, Utica, NY. This is the largest 15K in the USA and considered to be the most competitive in the world. Canadians did well in the Masters Category. Diane Legaré won the Masters division in a time of 55:48, while Jennifer MacDonell placed 3^rd in 1:00:16.