Spring into Summer Catch Up!
Stage 7: June 7th, 2022
Apologies for a lapse in the newsletter these past two weeks! A busy final stretch of coaching got the best of me. Though, I’m now looking forward to a BIG summer of track & field and cycling over the coming months. Including some live coverage at the World TF Championships in Eugene and daily snippets for the 2022 Tour de France! Hope you’re excited too and thanks for following along! - Luke
Setbacks Spur Jai Hindley to Victory at the 2022 Giro d’Italia
The 2022 Giro was being billed as the race to lose for Richard Carapaz and the Ineos Grenadiers. On paper that was certainly the case with Carapaz being the 2019 victor and coming off his 3rd place finish at the 2021 Tour, as well as Gold at the Tokyo Olympics. In addition to his super domestiques of Pavel Sivokov and Richie Porte, who are Top 10 Grand Tour finishers themselves and were more than capable of fending off the biggest threats. Types of threats that would come from the likes of Simon Yates, Mikel Landa, João Almeida, and Romain Bardet among others. Yet then how did Richard Carapaz end up finishing a distant second and Jai Hindley of Bora-Hansgrohe end up being the one with the Maglia Rosa on the final day in Verona?
It was the convergence of three different factors that created such an exciting finale to a relatively mundane race and gave Australia their first ever Giro winner in Jai Hindley. The first being the attrition rate amongst the GC favorites and contenders, as we saw Romain Bardet (Stage 13), Tom Doumlin (Stage 14), Simon Yates (Stage 17), João Almeida (Stage 18), and Richie Porte (Stage 19) all abandon the race in the final ten days. This reshuffling in the top tier of GC hopefuls played well into Bora Hansgrohe’s strategy of not making it obvious in the first half of the race who they were supporting as team leader. As they had brought Wilco Kelderman (5th in TdF ‘21 and 3rd in Giro ‘20), Emmanuel Buchmann (4th in TdF' 19), and Jai Hindley. This would allow the German squad to go quietly about their business, not waste precious resources and efforts, and ultimately put themselves in prime position for outright victory.
As mentioned, the Giro was Carapaz’s and INEOS' to lose and that’s how they raced. Despite having the best line up and top returner, they never challenged and never employed any aggressive tactics to separate themselves from their rivals. At a pinnacle Stage 14, Carapaz would chose to launch one single attack with under 30km to go and rip the peleton apart and eventually take over as race leader. Meanwhile, Hindley and BORA were working just as hard, but mindful of their efforts and selective about picking up bonus time points. By the end of Stage 14, Carapaz was in the Maglia Rosa and Hindley was only 7 seconds back in 2nd. Two days later on Stage 16, Hindley would once again prove to be the master tactician and pick up very valuable time points to close the gap down to 3 seconds. Oddly on Stages 17 and 19 we would see Carapaz frivolously sprint to the line when there were no bonus points up for grabs and only precious energy being expended.
Ultimately it would all be down to Stage 20 with it’s three major climbs and only three seconds separating Carapaz and Hindley. INEOS would control the race and ride a hard tempo, but never seemed poised to set Carapaz up for a “nail in the coffin” type of move to win the Giro. Meanwhile in the final 3km, Hindley would launch a strong attack to make it a dual between himself and Carapaz. Perhaps unbeknownst to Carapaz, he was playing right into BORA’s plan to win the Giro. As just up the road Hindley and Carapaz would link up with fellow BORA rider Leonard Kemna, who put in more big pull for Hindley and sealed the day for the Australian’s victory.
Finally, Hindley also had grit and determination in his corner this year at the Giro. As despite finishing second in the Giro 2020, the 2021 season was an absolute disaster from start to finish. As he would start the year barely limping through Paris-Nice with illness and pull of out the Volta a Catalunya a week later due to the same illness. The bad luck would stick with him into the Tour of the Alps, where he abandoned after Stage 4. Trying to right the ship and live up to his 2nd place finish in 2020, Hindley never found his momentum in the 2021 Giro and abandoned by pulling out at Stage 14. Obviously 2022 has been the complete opposite and his victory in Italy has now launched him into the same circles as Cadel Evans, as well as a credible threat to the likes of Roglič and Pogačar in the years to come.
Tuliamuk is back and is on 🔥🔥🔥!
Storming into the month of May, Aliphine Tuliamuk has made a lights out return to the roads after her difficult DNF at the Tokyo Olympics. Suffering a hip issue in her build up to the Olympic Games, Tuliamuk would toe the line but ultimately drop out of the Olympic Marathon race. Since that day over nine months ago, she has clearly been hard at work in her quest to return to top form.
Despite taking a long time off from racing, Aliphine clearly wanted a challenge by having her return be at the hilly Pittsburgh Half Marathon back in early May. It would ultimately be a small and spread out elite field, but Tuliamuk would take a very respectable 2nd place running 69:54. Finishing only behind Kenya’s Caroline Rotich, who broke Aliphine’s own course record with her winning time of 69:30.
After successfully shaking off the cobwebs in Pittsburgh, Aliphine would be back on the starting line two weeks later and this time at the USA 25k Champs in Grand Rapids Michigan. From the early stages of the race, it would appear to be a a tight dual between Tuliamuk and US Marathon record holder, Kiera D’Amato. The two would be inseparable up until shortly after nine miles and a bottle station, where Tuliamuk missed her fluids and quickly turned around to grab a bottle. Despite the blunder and a surging D’Amato, Tuliamuk never gave up and swiftly caught up with the American record holder. While others might have conserved their energy a bit more and bid their time after a chaotic bottle mishap. Aliphine would unleash a decisive move at Mile 11 and go on to win the U.S. 25k National Championships in 1:23:19. Losing 45 seconds to Tuliamuk over the final four miles, Keira D’Amato hung for second in 1:24:04. Dakotah Lindwurm rounded out the Top 3 with her performance of 1:26:37.
Keeping her foot on the gas, Tuliamuk kept her schedule full with two more big races over the past two weeks. On Monday of Memorial Day Weekend, Aliphine took on the legendary Boulder Boulder and was determined to win after finishing 2nd in 2018 and 3rd in 2019. Similar to the U.S. 25k champs race, she would put down a race busting move around 8k to give herself the victory in 32:58. Meanwhile, Biruktayit Degefa of Ethiopia was second in 33:35 and Anahi Alvarez of Mexico placed third in 33:47. The victory by Tuliamuk was also the first time an American women had won Boulder Boulder since Sara Slattery back in 2006.
Only five days post Boulder Boulder, this past Saturday Aliphine dropped down in race distance once again and lined up at the U.S. Women’s 6k National Championship in Canton, Ohio. Despite being a bit out of her typical comfort zone (10k - Marathon races) and three big efforts already in her legs over the past four weeks, Tuliamuk battled well on the very fast course to finish 3rd in a blazing 18:08.
Getting out hard from the gun with eventual race winner, Keira D’Amato, they would come through 3k in 8:54 and 2 Miles in 9:30. Though between the 2nd and 3rd mile, D’Amato would open up a gap and Tuliamuk would fade back to a hard charging, Annie Rodenfels. At the Mile 3, D’Amato came through in 14:22 with a solid six second lead on the duo of Tuliamuk and Rodenfels. Though in the end, D’Amato would do just enough to win the 6k title in 17:52 and hold off an exciting kick by Rodenfels, who finished second in 17:54.
Perhaps making up for lost time, Aliphine will continue on her return to racing journey with her toughest challenge coming this weekend on the streets of NYC. As she will line up at the NYRR Mini 10K (June 11th) which will feature international starts such as Peres Chepchirchir, Edna Kiplagat, Senbere Teferi, Sharon Lokedi, and Caroline Rotich. In addition to US women’s field that includes Molly Seidel, Emily Sisson, Keira D’Amato, and Sara Hall.
Hallmark Weekend for High Schoolers
It all started with Jim Ryun back on June 5th, 1967 when he ran 3:59.0 in L.A. to become the first sub 4:00 high school runner. A little over a year later, he would still be the only HS’er sub 4:00 when he lowered the record to 3:55.3. Sparking a small wave, we would then see Tim Danielson run 3:59.4 in 1966 and then Marty Liquori run 3:59.8 in 1967. Then it would be crickets for 44 years until Alan Webb in 2001 sent shockwaves through the running community running 3:59.8 at the Armory. A few months later he would break the H.S. record with his 3:53.4 at the Prefontaine Classic. After Webb, we would see Lukas Verbicas, Matthew Maton, Grant Fischer, Drew Hunter, Michael Slagowski, Reed Brown, Leo Daschbach and Hobbs Kessler all go sub 4:00 between 2011 and 2021.
Between February of this year and this past weekend, we’ve now seen four high school boys dip under the illusive 4:00 barrier. Colin Sahlman of the famed Newbury Park squad cracked it open with a 3:58.8 at the Armory in February. Gary Martin stunned everyone by running 3:57.9 at his H.S. league meet in Philly. Then joining them this weekend were Connor Burns running 3:58.83 (right behind Martin running 3:57.8) at the Hoka Festival of Miles in St Louis, while Rheinhardt Harrison knocked one out a day later running 3:59.3 in Florida. With the high school outdoor season rapidly winding down, we will see Sahlman (NAU), Martin (UVA) and Harrison (Oregon) all move onto the college ranks. Meanwhile, Connor Burns of Missouri will be the only sub 4:00 returner and presumed leader for all of next year’s action.
Similar to the quartet of H.S. boys who’ve broken sub 4:00 this year, we’ve seen an equally exciting group of H.S. girls throw down in the 800m. It’s a trio that includes Juliette Whitaker of Maryland, Sophia Gorriaran of Rhode Island, and Roisin Willis of Wisconsin. Over this past spring, all three have cemented their names in the Top 5 All-Time list for H.S. Girls 800m.
For Whitaker and Gorriaran it was the result of their great performances at the NYC Trials of Miles Track Night in the pro women’s 800m. No strangers to big time races, as Gorriaran competed at the Olympic Trials last summer and Whitaker has swept the Millrose Games HS Mile, NB Nationals Indoor Mile, and the Penn Relays mile this year. Both were comfortable as the race came through in a competitive 57 for the opening quarter. As the race swung off the curve with 100m to go, Whitaker moved out to lane two and confidently powered her way to an outright win of 1:59.80 (#2 All-Time). Placing sixth and in a new personal best herself, Sophia Gorriaran clocked in at 2:00.65 (#4 All-Time).
Fast forward three weeks and it was now time for Roisin Willis to take a crack at a fast 800m at the Wisconsin State Meet this past weekend. No pacemakers or an equally matched foe, Willis was completely on her own and even at the first 200m she would have a 20m+ lead on the field. Hitting the opening 400m in 58, Willis never appeared to falter and the crowd would rise as she made her way down the homestretch one last time. As Willis crossed the line completely alone, the clock made that slow motion change between 1:59 to 2:00 and the official time would spit out to be 2:00.03. A performance that would put Willis at #5 All-Time and the fastest ever 800m in a H.S. only race.
Now with a quarter of the H.S. Boys sub 4:00 miles occurring this year and the incredibly fast Girls 800/1500 performances during these indoor and outdoor seasons. I think most people would agree that shoe technology (“superspikes”) has greatly enhanced the ability for athletes to run faster. We’ve seen it at the high school level, college level, and for pros on the track and roads. Though, I think that’s only one piece of the puzzle when it comes to this massive surge in spectacular performances from high school athletes. Another contributing factor is the greater wealth of knowledge and information in regards to training then there has ever before in the history the sport. Coaches and athletes alike now can easily know what type of training their cross town rivals are doing via Strava, gleam information on a “Workout Wednesday” from the other side of the country, or attend a weekly zoom meeting with cross country and track coaches from all levels. Additionally, I do believe in the aspect of one person at a similar ability level seeing something being done (i.e. sub 4:00 or sub 2:00) by a teammate or foe and then having the belief and empowerment to get it done themselves too.
Trivia ?
The Critérium du Dauphiné is underway and its an annual race that serves as a great precursor to the Tour de France in July. In the last twenty years, only one American has won the race. Name that American and tell me their H.S. cross country 5k PR!
Email me (lwmaher91@gmail.com) your answer and if correct, I will send you a prize!
Kit of the Week ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐
Compared to the World Tour Teams, we sometimes overlook the Pro Series teams (2nd Tier/Just under WT teams) who will only pop up at big races due to at large bids. Though for the most part they just float about the circuit of second tier races in the hunt for UCI points. UNO-X is one of the squads and they’re also the only pro team for Norway. With their bright yellow and red kit, I think they do a great job of resembling the chain of gas stations that is their sponsor.
The Grupetto
At the New Balance Twilight Meet on Saturday, high school sophomore Ellie Shea of Belmont, MA would post an impressive 4:14.35 win in the 1500m. Providing the early pace work as a rabbit for the 1500, Heather MacLean of New Balance also made her outdoor debut running 2:00.90 for an easy win.
The Unbound Gravel race is a spectacular 200 mile gravel bike race through Emporia, Kansas on the first weekend after Memorial Day. As the lore of gravel racing has grown, the level of competition and field sizes have skyrocketed (1st year 2006 - 34 riders / 2021 - 2,626) over the years. After a little over nine hours of racing, Ivar Silk of the Netherlands won in 9:22:04. Sofia Gomez Villafane of Argentina won the women’s race in 10:27:41. Check out this “dirty” post race interview with Laurens Tan Dem HERE
At the Rabat DL meet on Sunday, Soufiane El Bakkali of Morocco put on an excellent show for his home crowd in the Men’s 3k Steeple. Despite the slow middle kilometer of the race, El Bakkali hammered the final kilometer to dip under the 8:00 barrier with his winning time of 7:58.28. Lamecha Girma of Ethiopia took second in 7:59.24. Taking forth and making a slow, but steady return to the track was Conseslus Kipruto of Kenya running 8:12.47. On his heels and in a new NR for India was Avinash Mukund Sable with a time of 8:12.48.
After taking time away from professional running to deal with an eating disorder and leaving the Brooks Beasts group, Allie Ostrander was back to racing this past weekend. Competing at the famous Freihofers Run for Women in Albany, NY, Ostrander won the 5k in 15:48 and almost 30secs ahead of runner-up, Allie Kiefer.
Perhaps this was the weekend of mishaps, as at the American Track League meet we would see Sydney McLaughlin run 51.61 in the 400H. Though it would later be discovered that the fifth hurdle was placed in the wrong spot and her time won’t count for record purposes. At the Stockholm Marathon, the race leaders were sent the wrong direction and would run over kilometer the opposite way. Nonetheless, Felix Kirwa of Kenya still won the race in 2:11:07 and was less than a minute off the course record.
In a terribly bizarre and sad story, authorities are still looking for Kaitlin Armstrong who is believe to have murdered former pro rider, Maura Wilson last month in Austin Texas prior to a large gravel cycling event.
Eric Sowinski ran under 1:47 in the 800m for the 100th time this past weekend in Nashville at the Music City Track Festival.
Taking part in the Ethiopian World Championship 10,000m qualifier, Eilish Mccolgan won the race in 30:19.02 and moves second in the UK all-time list for 10,000m. Earning spots on the Ethiopian square are Letesenbet Gidey, who was second in 30:44.2, Ejgayehu Taye who finished third with a 30:44.6, and Bosena Mulate with her 30:47.5 fifth place performance.