Tickets for this year's Prefontaine Classic go on sale on March 2nd. They haven't put up the start lists yet, but given that this is an Olympics year, it should be interesting to see who shows up and who doesn't. The last Olympics in 2008 didn't prevent the the likes of Bekele, Defar, Lagat, Webb, and Mottram from showing up in Eugene, Oregon. However, Asafa Powell and Usain Bolt most likely won't be there given that they are clashing it out in Rome, Italy just two days before the Pre Classic.
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Showing posts with label prefontaine classic. Show all posts
Showing posts with label prefontaine classic. Show all posts
Sunday, February 26, 2012
Sunday, June 05, 2011
2011 Prefontaine Classic - photos and write-up
Click on any photo for a larger version
Yesterday was the first day of the Prefontaine Classic 2011 in Eugene, Oregon. Today, June 4, was the main day with about a couple of dozen events. Things kicked off with a powerful rendition of the national anthem. First up was the women's pole vault followed by the women's triple jump. Below is the lineup for the triple jump event which was eventually won by Olha Saladukha of Ukraine as a gift to herself for her birthday which was today.
If two events are boring, you can always wait a bit and soon enough you'll see a third or fourth event. All at the same time. A good exercise in multitasking your eyes and brain. Below is the lineup for the men's discus event. Robert Harting of Germany won with a 68.40m throw.
The women's shot put (lineup in photo below) was won by Nadezhda Ostapchuk with a 20.59 effort.
While the field events were in progress, the international men's mile kicked off. Ryan Gregson of Australia won with a strong finishing kick and finished in 3:53.86. Eight of the total nine runners in the race finished in sub-4 times.
As soon as the mile finished, hurdles were put up by the officials. Not the bad kind, but the good kind and for a good purpose - the men's 3000m steeplechase. Below is a photo of some of the runners on their way. Ezekiel Komboi of Kenya won in a time of 8:08.34 beating Paul Koech, the current meet record holder, by well over a second.
This was followed by the women's 400m hurdles. Lashinda Demus (seen below) won with a 53.31s effort. Next was the men's 800m. Abubaker Kaki of Sudan (not shown) won in blistering time of 1:43.68 thereby setting a new meet record.
The men's high jump took to orbit while the track events continued. The eventual winner was Raul Spank of Germany with 2.32m. Below is the lineup.
While the high jumpers continued, the women's 1500m event started. There were some good headwinds at points during the race and the meet record (or any other record) was pretty safe. There was some incident that happened around 150m away from the finish where there seemed to be some tripping but I wasn't able to catch a good glimpse as it was half way across the field. Here's a shot of Gelete Burka battling with Maryam Jamal on the final straightaway. Burka won in 4:04.63. Morgan Uceny finished third.
Here's Burka after her victory.
The women's javelin was won by Christina Obergfull with a 65.48m effort. Here's a shot of the lineup.
The men's long jump was won by Greg Rutherford of England with a 8.32m jump. Irving Saladino of Panama failed to complete a single legal jump. You could see the frustration on his face even from afar. It just wasn't his day. Here's the lineup before they started.
The men's 100m hurdles was looked forward to by the Chinese segment of the crowd as seen in the photo below. The placard translates to "Liu Zhang, go for it". This was the second time for Zhang at the PreClassic, if I remember correctly. The last time which was a couple of years ago, he got disqualified for a false start and that was a great anti-climax.
No such anti-climax this time. However, David Oliver decided he wanted first place, with a time of 12.94s beating Zhang by 6/100 of a second.
Next up was "Blade Runner" seen below, aka Oscar Pistorius of South Africa. Here he is lining up for the 400m race. Pretty darn impressive when you see him run like that in real life from 100 feet away. Watching it on TV is one thing but it's only when you see it in real life, you think a little bit beyond "Wow!"
Pistorius put up a good show but Angelo Taylor took the race in 45.16s followed closely by Jeremy Wariner. Pistorius finished last in a time of 46.33s.
After the 400m came the men's 2 mile race with a lineup of, among others, Bernard Lagat, Eliud Kipchoge, Tariku Bekele, Matt Tegenkamp. Here's a short of part of the lineup.
Here's another shot during the race. Meanwhile, Reese Hoffa won the men's shot put with a 21.65m effort and Hayward Field extended its record as the home of the most 70+ feet shot put throws.
Here's the 2 mile race again, this time in the final 100 meters with Lagat battling Koech. Lagat won comfortably in 8:13.62 and got a very loud round of applause. However that was nothing compared to the applause the last place finisher got. High school kid Lukas Verzbickas who finished about 16 seconds behind Lagat. If you didn't know, you'd have thought the applause was for Usain Bolt breaking 9.50s. The Eugene crowd is absolutely wonderful. No wonder Verzbickas is joining the University of Oregon in Eugene. He got interviewed by the presented Katherine Clark and came across as a shy but nice young kid. Hopefully Eugene and the PreClassic will see more of him.
Carmelita Jeter won the women's 100m with a 10.70s effort which was better than the meet record. However the wind had been pretty strong and I don't know if that has been ratified as a new record yet. Jeter also won the Maria Mutola award and here she is being interviewed by Katherine Clark, who did a great job throughout.
Below is the end of the men's 100m race. Steve Mullings of Jamaica won in 9.80s. Justin Gatlin finished 6th and he did get a good round of applause at the beginning of the race. No high is better than the runner's high.
Here's Mullings again. Happy as a bunny. A real fast bunny. This was followed by the women's 800m (not shown). Kenia Sinclair won in 1:58.29. Caster Semenya, making her first appearance in a while, ran a good race and finished second, about 0.59s behind. She was probably around fifth or sixth with about 200m to go before she kicked it up a level.
Here's a shot of the men's 200m in progress. Walter Dix won in 20.19s.
Another shot of Dix after he finished. Next was the women's 400m (not shown). Amantle Montsho won in 50.59s. Allyson Felix finished third and Sanya Richards Ross was fourth. There was a false start at the beginning and it seemed to be Felix. The guys sitting behind me were totally convinced it was Felix. I did see her leg move or twitch a bit but in the end, the officials decided to not charge it on any one. An official walked around to each athlete with a green card held up in her hand, apparently indicating that the athlete was good to go. A bit like the yellow and red card you see in soccer.
The final race of the day - the Bowerman mile. Below is a shot of the starting lineup. Haron Keitany of Kenya won in 3:49.09. Asbel Kiprop finished third after picking it up from fifth or sixth place with about a 100m to go.
Thus ended another great edition of the Pre Classic. Nice, warm, and sunny day in Eugene. About 75F. Of the five times I've been to the PreClassic, it's rained only once and that too at the very end. Who says it's always raining in Oregon?
If you're interested, you can read my write-ups from earlier years - 2010, 2009, 2008, 2007.
Home
Yesterday was the first day of the Prefontaine Classic 2011 in Eugene, Oregon. Today, June 4, was the main day with about a couple of dozen events. Things kicked off with a powerful rendition of the national anthem. First up was the women's pole vault followed by the women's triple jump. Below is the lineup for the triple jump event which was eventually won by Olha Saladukha of Ukraine as a gift to herself for her birthday which was today.
If two events are boring, you can always wait a bit and soon enough you'll see a third or fourth event. All at the same time. A good exercise in multitasking your eyes and brain. Below is the lineup for the men's discus event. Robert Harting of Germany won with a 68.40m throw.
The women's shot put (lineup in photo below) was won by Nadezhda Ostapchuk with a 20.59 effort.
While the field events were in progress, the international men's mile kicked off. Ryan Gregson of Australia won with a strong finishing kick and finished in 3:53.86. Eight of the total nine runners in the race finished in sub-4 times.
As soon as the mile finished, hurdles were put up by the officials. Not the bad kind, but the good kind and for a good purpose - the men's 3000m steeplechase. Below is a photo of some of the runners on their way. Ezekiel Komboi of Kenya won in a time of 8:08.34 beating Paul Koech, the current meet record holder, by well over a second.
This was followed by the women's 400m hurdles. Lashinda Demus (seen below) won with a 53.31s effort. Next was the men's 800m. Abubaker Kaki of Sudan (not shown) won in blistering time of 1:43.68 thereby setting a new meet record.
The men's high jump took to orbit while the track events continued. The eventual winner was Raul Spank of Germany with 2.32m. Below is the lineup.
While the high jumpers continued, the women's 1500m event started. There were some good headwinds at points during the race and the meet record (or any other record) was pretty safe. There was some incident that happened around 150m away from the finish where there seemed to be some tripping but I wasn't able to catch a good glimpse as it was half way across the field. Here's a shot of Gelete Burka battling with Maryam Jamal on the final straightaway. Burka won in 4:04.63. Morgan Uceny finished third.
Here's Burka after her victory.
The women's javelin was won by Christina Obergfull with a 65.48m effort. Here's a shot of the lineup.
The men's long jump was won by Greg Rutherford of England with a 8.32m jump. Irving Saladino of Panama failed to complete a single legal jump. You could see the frustration on his face even from afar. It just wasn't his day. Here's the lineup before they started.
The men's 100m hurdles was looked forward to by the Chinese segment of the crowd as seen in the photo below. The placard translates to "Liu Zhang, go for it". This was the second time for Zhang at the PreClassic, if I remember correctly. The last time which was a couple of years ago, he got disqualified for a false start and that was a great anti-climax.
No such anti-climax this time. However, David Oliver decided he wanted first place, with a time of 12.94s beating Zhang by 6/100 of a second.
Next up was "Blade Runner" seen below, aka Oscar Pistorius of South Africa. Here he is lining up for the 400m race. Pretty darn impressive when you see him run like that in real life from 100 feet away. Watching it on TV is one thing but it's only when you see it in real life, you think a little bit beyond "Wow!"
Pistorius put up a good show but Angelo Taylor took the race in 45.16s followed closely by Jeremy Wariner. Pistorius finished last in a time of 46.33s.
After the 400m came the men's 2 mile race with a lineup of, among others, Bernard Lagat, Eliud Kipchoge, Tariku Bekele, Matt Tegenkamp. Here's a short of part of the lineup.
Here's another shot during the race. Meanwhile, Reese Hoffa won the men's shot put with a 21.65m effort and Hayward Field extended its record as the home of the most 70+ feet shot put throws.
Here's the 2 mile race again, this time in the final 100 meters with Lagat battling Koech. Lagat won comfortably in 8:13.62 and got a very loud round of applause. However that was nothing compared to the applause the last place finisher got. High school kid Lukas Verzbickas who finished about 16 seconds behind Lagat. If you didn't know, you'd have thought the applause was for Usain Bolt breaking 9.50s. The Eugene crowd is absolutely wonderful. No wonder Verzbickas is joining the University of Oregon in Eugene. He got interviewed by the presented Katherine Clark and came across as a shy but nice young kid. Hopefully Eugene and the PreClassic will see more of him.
Carmelita Jeter won the women's 100m with a 10.70s effort which was better than the meet record. However the wind had been pretty strong and I don't know if that has been ratified as a new record yet. Jeter also won the Maria Mutola award and here she is being interviewed by Katherine Clark, who did a great job throughout.
Below is the end of the men's 100m race. Steve Mullings of Jamaica won in 9.80s. Justin Gatlin finished 6th and he did get a good round of applause at the beginning of the race. No high is better than the runner's high.
Here's Mullings again. Happy as a bunny. A real fast bunny. This was followed by the women's 800m (not shown). Kenia Sinclair won in 1:58.29. Caster Semenya, making her first appearance in a while, ran a good race and finished second, about 0.59s behind. She was probably around fifth or sixth with about 200m to go before she kicked it up a level.
Here's a shot of the men's 200m in progress. Walter Dix won in 20.19s.
Another shot of Dix after he finished. Next was the women's 400m (not shown). Amantle Montsho won in 50.59s. Allyson Felix finished third and Sanya Richards Ross was fourth. There was a false start at the beginning and it seemed to be Felix. The guys sitting behind me were totally convinced it was Felix. I did see her leg move or twitch a bit but in the end, the officials decided to not charge it on any one. An official walked around to each athlete with a green card held up in her hand, apparently indicating that the athlete was good to go. A bit like the yellow and red card you see in soccer.
The final race of the day - the Bowerman mile. Below is a shot of the starting lineup. Haron Keitany of Kenya won in 3:49.09. Asbel Kiprop finished third after picking it up from fifth or sixth place with about a 100m to go.
Thus ended another great edition of the Pre Classic. Nice, warm, and sunny day in Eugene. About 75F. Of the five times I've been to the PreClassic, it's rained only once and that too at the very end. Who says it's always raining in Oregon?
If you're interested, you can read my write-ups from earlier years - 2010, 2009, 2008, 2007.
Home
Saturday, June 04, 2011
Prefontaine Classic 2011 special event - photos and writeup
Click on any photo for the larger version.
As seems to have become the annual norm, we found ourselves in Eugene, Oregon this weekend for the 2011 Prefontaine Classic. This year was a bit different - they had a special set of events on Friday, a day before the actual event on Saturday. Three events, each with an amazing lineup of runners - mens 25k/30k, womens 5,000m, and mens 10,000m. The cool thing was Friday's events were free.
We got there a couple of hours before the event started only to find out we needn't have. As can be seen in the photo below, we found a grand total of one other person there. The weather was great however and killing two hours was easier than guessing which event Galen Rupp would be running.
We could have picked any but one seat in the stadium. I picked the one right next to the finish line, literally about 15 feet away - much less than what Irving Saladino will likely long jump tomorrow. While waiting around for the start to arrive, I took a bunch of pictures of the various equipment. Here are some finish line cameras, probably meant for photo-finish decisions. Too bad there were any today.
First up, at 6:40 p.m., was the mens 25K/30K combo. The lineup included, among others, the recent 2:03 Boston marathoner, Moses Mosup. He was going to go for a world record in both. The 25K and 30K world records were both set by Toshihiko Seko of Japan back in 1981. Here's a photo of the start.
Mosop was definitely on a mission. Eugene also decided to cooperate - both in terms of the weather and the spectators. Each of the 76 laps that the runners finished was accompanied by a good round of clapping and cheers without fail. Each and every single round. Soon, the lead pack dropped to four as seen below.
Mosop keep hammering away and about the half way mark, the lead pack was down to two - Mosop and Joel Kimurer - seen in the photo below.
World record attempts require a different kind of personality. Mosop embodied it today. Lap after lap, you could see the power emanating from his legs and the intensity in his face. At some point, Kimurer decided to get water only to see Mosop break away a bit further.
A bit further became a bit more and then a bit more and soon enough, the crowd was on its feet cheering Mosop, first onto a 25K world record (1:12:25) and then a 30K world record (1:25:47). There was no stopping Mosop today and somebody probably knew that this would be the case and went ahead and got a T-shirt made well in advance. (Also notice in the photo below that there's still someone running in the race much after Mosop finished his victory lap.)
He was beaming brighter than a 100W bulb. Seems like a really nice guy - something you wouldn't be able to tell looking at the intensity on his face throughout the race. Here's a close-up of him.
Summer days are long at this latitude, but at some point, the stadium lights had to come on. As far as I can remember, this was a first for the Prefontaine Classic, which is usually held in the mornings.
The men's race was followed by the women's 5K with a huge lineup of about 20 runners including Cheruiyot, Dibaba, Cherono, Flanagan, Goucher, Masai, Kipyego, and several others. Vivian Cheruiyot won in a handy time of 14:33.98. Here's Cheruiyot and Masai lapping Amy Yoder-Begley on their way to a 1-2 finish, followed closely by Mercy Cherono.
Cheruiyot again, breaking the finish tape.
She seems like a really nice person. While on her post-victory lap, someone handed her their baby to take a photograph with. Then, after she finished, someone did the baby thing again. Here's a photo below. Trying to inspire the baby or trying to get some of the DNA from the sweat to rub off onto the baby? Anyway, she was a real sport and posed with the baby for the longest time.
Another thing I found interesting was this camera at ground level right at the finish line. Here's a shot below. Does anyone know what it is for? Photo-finish decisions? Motion activated or remote-controlled photography?
The final race of the day was the men's 10K. Pretty big lineup again. Funny thing is that the handout showed Galen Rupp, the big stadium scoreboard showed Galen Rupp, but reality decided not to show Galen Rupp. I don't recall any announcement either. Here's a shot at the start of the race.
At one point, the pacesetters were apparently going too slow and Tedesse of Eritrea decided to kick it up a notch by himself. After 25 laps of some exciting action, during the course of which, some people dropped out or dropped back, Mo Farah of England hit the final straightway and put in a pretty good kick at the end to win the race.
He reminded me (a bit) of Bernard Lagat with his big smile on his way to breaking the tape. I took a very similar picture of Lagat about 2-3 years ago when Lagat won the 2 mile race at the PreClassic. Farah was joined by his daughter afterwards. The announcer seen below talked to him for quite a bit. Sorry I don't remember her name but apparently she was an Olympic medalist for England in 2004 (I think). If you know her name, please let me know.
In the absence of Galen Rupp, Chris Solinsky was definitely a crowd favorite. However, he dropped out due to some reason. Here he is, in the photo below, presumably explaining the reasons for his doing so.
At almost close to 3 hours, this was about the same as the main PreClassic event usually is. A great day and some great weather. Some great performances. Hopefully this was just an appetizer to tomorrow's weekend brunch.
I wrote this in a hurry. So, please excuse any typos and do let me know so that I can rectify them.
Home
As seems to have become the annual norm, we found ourselves in Eugene, Oregon this weekend for the 2011 Prefontaine Classic. This year was a bit different - they had a special set of events on Friday, a day before the actual event on Saturday. Three events, each with an amazing lineup of runners - mens 25k/30k, womens 5,000m, and mens 10,000m. The cool thing was Friday's events were free.
We got there a couple of hours before the event started only to find out we needn't have. As can be seen in the photo below, we found a grand total of one other person there. The weather was great however and killing two hours was easier than guessing which event Galen Rupp would be running.
We could have picked any but one seat in the stadium. I picked the one right next to the finish line, literally about 15 feet away - much less than what Irving Saladino will likely long jump tomorrow. While waiting around for the start to arrive, I took a bunch of pictures of the various equipment. Here are some finish line cameras, probably meant for photo-finish decisions. Too bad there were any today.
First up, at 6:40 p.m., was the mens 25K/30K combo. The lineup included, among others, the recent 2:03 Boston marathoner, Moses Mosup. He was going to go for a world record in both. The 25K and 30K world records were both set by Toshihiko Seko of Japan back in 1981. Here's a photo of the start.
Mosop was definitely on a mission. Eugene also decided to cooperate - both in terms of the weather and the spectators. Each of the 76 laps that the runners finished was accompanied by a good round of clapping and cheers without fail. Each and every single round. Soon, the lead pack dropped to four as seen below.
Mosop keep hammering away and about the half way mark, the lead pack was down to two - Mosop and Joel Kimurer - seen in the photo below.
World record attempts require a different kind of personality. Mosop embodied it today. Lap after lap, you could see the power emanating from his legs and the intensity in his face. At some point, Kimurer decided to get water only to see Mosop break away a bit further.
A bit further became a bit more and then a bit more and soon enough, the crowd was on its feet cheering Mosop, first onto a 25K world record (1:12:25) and then a 30K world record (1:25:47). There was no stopping Mosop today and somebody probably knew that this would be the case and went ahead and got a T-shirt made well in advance. (Also notice in the photo below that there's still someone running in the race much after Mosop finished his victory lap.)
He was beaming brighter than a 100W bulb. Seems like a really nice guy - something you wouldn't be able to tell looking at the intensity on his face throughout the race. Here's a close-up of him.
Summer days are long at this latitude, but at some point, the stadium lights had to come on. As far as I can remember, this was a first for the Prefontaine Classic, which is usually held in the mornings.
The men's race was followed by the women's 5K with a huge lineup of about 20 runners including Cheruiyot, Dibaba, Cherono, Flanagan, Goucher, Masai, Kipyego, and several others. Vivian Cheruiyot won in a handy time of 14:33.98. Here's Cheruiyot and Masai lapping Amy Yoder-Begley on their way to a 1-2 finish, followed closely by Mercy Cherono.
Cheruiyot again, breaking the finish tape.
She seems like a really nice person. While on her post-victory lap, someone handed her their baby to take a photograph with. Then, after she finished, someone did the baby thing again. Here's a photo below. Trying to inspire the baby or trying to get some of the DNA from the sweat to rub off onto the baby? Anyway, she was a real sport and posed with the baby for the longest time.
Another thing I found interesting was this camera at ground level right at the finish line. Here's a shot below. Does anyone know what it is for? Photo-finish decisions? Motion activated or remote-controlled photography?
The final race of the day was the men's 10K. Pretty big lineup again. Funny thing is that the handout showed Galen Rupp, the big stadium scoreboard showed Galen Rupp, but reality decided not to show Galen Rupp. I don't recall any announcement either. Here's a shot at the start of the race.
At one point, the pacesetters were apparently going too slow and Tedesse of Eritrea decided to kick it up a notch by himself. After 25 laps of some exciting action, during the course of which, some people dropped out or dropped back, Mo Farah of England hit the final straightway and put in a pretty good kick at the end to win the race.
He reminded me (a bit) of Bernard Lagat with his big smile on his way to breaking the tape. I took a very similar picture of Lagat about 2-3 years ago when Lagat won the 2 mile race at the PreClassic. Farah was joined by his daughter afterwards. The announcer seen below talked to him for quite a bit. Sorry I don't remember her name but apparently she was an Olympic medalist for England in 2004 (I think). If you know her name, please let me know.
In the absence of Galen Rupp, Chris Solinsky was definitely a crowd favorite. However, he dropped out due to some reason. Here he is, in the photo below, presumably explaining the reasons for his doing so.
At almost close to 3 hours, this was about the same as the main PreClassic event usually is. A great day and some great weather. Some great performances. Hopefully this was just an appetizer to tomorrow's weekend brunch.
I wrote this in a hurry. So, please excuse any typos and do let me know so that I can rectify them.
Home
Sunday, March 07, 2010
Prefontaine Classic 2010 - tickets and lineup
Tickets went on sale yesterday for this year's meet. In about half an hour the best seats were gone. Sounds like a concert, doesn't it? Actually, it's better. Much better.
Interestingly, Section U was marked "unavailable". This is the one that is right in front of where the finish line for most track events is. You get a front facing view of the athletes breaking the tape as they finish. I have a feeling that this section is probably reserved for season ticket holders or someone; the website didn't make it clear.
As per a news release on their site, released much after the tickets went on sale, this year's athletes include Kenenisa Bekele, Yelena Isinbayeva, Tyson Gay, and Sanya Richards. Should be exciting.
Interestingly, Section U was marked "unavailable". This is the one that is right in front of where the finish line for most track events is. You get a front facing view of the athletes breaking the tape as they finish. I have a feeling that this section is probably reserved for season ticket holders or someone; the website didn't make it clear.
As per a news release on their site, released much after the tickets went on sale, this year's athletes include Kenenisa Bekele, Yelena Isinbayeva, Tyson Gay, and Sanya Richards. Should be exciting.
Sunday, February 28, 2010
PreClassic 2010 tickets on sale this week
Tickets for the Prefontaine Classic 2010 will go on sale on March 5. From personal experience, the best seats sell out on day 1. So, haste is the name of the game. Here's a map of Hayward Field. You want to try and get something close to the finish line.
The only little complaint I usually have is that they don't have a list of athletes announced by the time the tickets are on sale. It's like Priceline, in a way. But you can think of it as booking a 5-star hotel on Priceline. You know it will be good - the athletes are guaranteed to be of top most tier. I've been going to the Pre Classic for the last three years without knowing (at the time of booking tickets) who I'll get to see. So, who have I seen so far? Alan Webb, Kenenisa Bekele, Craig Mottram, Maria Mutola, Bernard Lagat, Sanya Richards, Jenny Barringer, Nick Symmonds, Kara Goucher, Matt Tegenkamp, Dathan Ritzenhein, Asafa Powell, Jeremy Wariner, Asbel Kiprop, Gelete Burka, Jen Rhines, Pamela Jelimo, Saif Shaheen, Shalane Flanagan, Shannon Rowbury, Meserat Defar, Nick Willis. Needless to say, you will not be disappointed.
Moreover, this year marks the first year of the IAAF Diamond League, and of the 14 worldwide meets that are part of this, Eugene and New York are the only ones from the United States. So, there is no better way to spend your July 4th weekend this year than this. Mark the date.
The only little complaint I usually have is that they don't have a list of athletes announced by the time the tickets are on sale. It's like Priceline, in a way. But you can think of it as booking a 5-star hotel on Priceline. You know it will be good - the athletes are guaranteed to be of top most tier. I've been going to the Pre Classic for the last three years without knowing (at the time of booking tickets) who I'll get to see. So, who have I seen so far? Alan Webb, Kenenisa Bekele, Craig Mottram, Maria Mutola, Bernard Lagat, Sanya Richards, Jenny Barringer, Nick Symmonds, Kara Goucher, Matt Tegenkamp, Dathan Ritzenhein, Asafa Powell, Jeremy Wariner, Asbel Kiprop, Gelete Burka, Jen Rhines, Pamela Jelimo, Saif Shaheen, Shalane Flanagan, Shannon Rowbury, Meserat Defar, Nick Willis. Needless to say, you will not be disappointed.
Moreover, this year marks the first year of the IAAF Diamond League, and of the 14 worldwide meets that are part of this, Eugene and New York are the only ones from the United States. So, there is no better way to spend your July 4th weekend this year than this. Mark the date.
Sunday, February 14, 2010
Prefontaine Classic - now in July
Just checked out the website for the Prefontaine Classic in Eugene, Oregon. Looks like they moved it to July starting this year. July 3th, Saturday. They used to have it in early June. This is great news. Moving it to the July 4th weekend is definitely a great move. Oregon usually has a bunch of other activities in the summer and more so in July than in June. This way it becomes easier to clump them together with a visit to Hayward Field to check out some of the greatest athletes in the world.
Saturday, June 20, 2009
Prefontaine Classic 2009
We went to the Prefontaine Classic a couple of weeks ago, on June 7th, 2009 in Eugene, Oregon. This is our third consecutive year enjoying this event. The day was beautiful albeit a bit warm to permit any world records from falling. Below is a shot of Hayward Field, from Section A which is right in front of the finish line for the races. You get a side shot of the winners as they break the tape. Last year, we were in Section U, which provides you with a front-side shot as they finish. (Click on any of the pictures below for a larger version.)
The national anthem was the first item on the menu. This was followed by antipasti of a medley of field events - men's pole vault, men's long jump, women's discus, and women's hammer throw. Then started the main course, aka the track events, the first of which was the men's 400m hurdles. At this point, the announcer told us that we were now live on NBC TV, which was greeted by loud cheers all around. Bershawn Jackson comfortably won the hurdles in 48.38. This gave way to the highly anticipated women's 1500m with a field that read Gelete Burka, Nancy Lagat, Anna Willard, Jenny Barringer, Shannon Rowbury, Shalane Flanagan, Erin Donohue, among others.
The race didn't disappoint. Burka barely beat out Barringer by 1/100 of a second - 3:59.89 to 3:59.90. That's them finishing. Barringer had a great run down the homestretch where she almost caught up with Burka. You should've seen the expression of overjoyed surprise on her face - she was elated.
Then came the men's steeplechase with last year's winner Paul Koech being the favorite. That's him (below) winning in a comfortable time of 8:13.44, almost 8 seconds ahead of the second place.
It must have been an exhausting race, judging by these runners below. This is right after the race ended.
In the background, the field events contined to progress. The shot below is that of Dwight Phillips finishing his 8.74m jump that ultimately got him the first place. This broke the Hayward Field record of 8.49m set by Irving Saladino in 2007, who finished second this time with 8.63m.
Then followed the men's 3000m race with a field of Eliud Kipchoge, Bernard Lagat, Saif Shaheen, Alistair Craig, Matt Tegenkamp, Chris Solinsky, seen in order from right to left below. (There were others but they are not in this shot below.)
Lagat and Shaheen fought it out in the last couple of hundred meters. Shaheen pulled into the lead around the 200m but soon Lagat switched gears and with around 100m to go, he took the lead. He won in 7:35.92, almost a second ahead of Shaheen.
All this while, the field events continued. At some points, you could see three or four athletes in action simultaneously - someone running, someone jumping, someone throwing. It was pretty exciting, almost like a fast-paced video game. The above picture shows the lineup for the men's shot put, with a guy getting ready for the high jump in the immediate background, and another guy getting ready for the pole vault in the far background.
I don't mean to downplay the field events vis-a-vis the track events. Indeed, they have their own unique, inimitable moments. Below, Irving Saldino shows how to chat with the photographer while still jumping an 8.63. Perhaps that was the reason he lost to Phillips.
Or better yet, take the woman jumper below. She seems to be from the kung-fu school of long jump, unveiling here, for the first time ever, the soon-to-be-famous Flying Dragon style. This esoteric style is a few centuries older than the Fosbury flop technique in high jump. Unfortunately, I don't remember who the athlete is. If you do, please drop me a note.
Reese Hoffa won the men's shot put with a 71ft 10in throw. Here he is on his way out of the stadium, with a smile that seems to fit a persona of a gentle giant. The announcer reminded us that Hayward Field is the home of the 70-foot throw, there have been more such throws than anywhere else in the world. Adam Nelson, who won last year, fouled on all six of his attempts.
Sanya Richards (below) won the women's 400m easily in 49.86 seconds. Later she was in the Nutrilite tent signing autographs.
The men's 800m was won by Nick Symmonds in 1:45.86 beating last year's winner Alfred Yego. That's Symmonds in the pic below with Elijah Greer, a Oregon high-schooler following closely. Though he finished last here, he's supposed to be one of the up-and-coming stars with a lot of potential. A few days after the race, I was talking to someone in the little town of Tillamook, Oregon and he knew about Greer.
This was followed by the women's 800. Maggie Vessey, pictured below, won comfortably, beating out the favorite(?) Pamela Jelimo who finished dead last. The expression on her face after she won was worth a Mastercard commercial, though Visa being the main sponsors of this meet might not take too kindly to that. Check out this video; you can hear her say "Oh, my God!" She's the one behind everyone else at the completion of the first lap.
Then followed the women's 2000m with a field consisting of Vivian Cheruiyot, Maryam Jamal, Linet Masai, Kara Goucher, Jen Rhines, Sara Hall, among others. Cheruiyot won in 5:31.52 beating Mary Slaney's Hayward Field record and better yet, setting the fastest time ever on US soil.
As the winner started on her the victory lap, out came the athletes for what is arguably the grand finale - the men's Bowerman mile. The field - Asbel Kiprop, Alan Webb, Lopez Lomong, Leonel Manzano, Belal Mansoor, Shedrack Korir, etc. Kiprop won in 3:48.50 barely missing out on the Hayward Field record of 3:48.28 by Daniel Komen. If had hadn't done a Bolt by waving kisses to the crowd more than 50 meters from the finish, he might have had the record. Below is a picture at some point in the race, with all but the guy on the left with their feet in the air. Incidentally, that guy on the left went on to win.
Here's Kiprop doing a Bolt, albeit a bit restrained in comparison to Bolt.
The results showed up one by one on the scoreboard. They were hoping for a sub-4:00 finish by all. It looked good as the screen below shows. Alas, as the results scrolled by on to the second screen with more 3:XX.XX's, the last one burst the bubble - 4:01.09. Nevertheless, it was pretty exciting - 13 sub-4 finishers.
That was it for the races. The final event was the presentation of the Maria Mutola award. Last year was the inaugural one - won by pole vaulter Brad Walker. This year it went to long jumper Dwight Phillips. Here he is below, after being presented with the award by Mary Slaney.
A great end to a great meet. Best of all, it didn't rain! I think the announcer said something like 12,000+ was the stadium attendance, which if I recall correctly is slightly lower than last year's record of 14,000+. Everything was well-organized. The bib numbers that the athletes had, matched those in the booklet that we bought, which made it much easier to follow the races and also to compile this post. Though, I still don't understand why they have a hip number in addition. Nutrilite, one of the sponsors, had a tent set up and a little kiosk with cool stuff. We even got free T-shirts, energy bars, energy pills, and a carry-sack. There were a bunch of athletes signing autographs in the Nutrilite tent - Sanya Richards, LaShawn Merritt, Bryan Clay, etc.
We then headed out the gates and took a hop, skip, and a jump across the street to some absolutely fantastic ice-cream at Prince Pucklers.
(If you're interested, here's a link to my post from the 2008 meet and the 2007 meet.)
The national anthem was the first item on the menu. This was followed by antipasti of a medley of field events - men's pole vault, men's long jump, women's discus, and women's hammer throw. Then started the main course, aka the track events, the first of which was the men's 400m hurdles. At this point, the announcer told us that we were now live on NBC TV, which was greeted by loud cheers all around. Bershawn Jackson comfortably won the hurdles in 48.38. This gave way to the highly anticipated women's 1500m with a field that read Gelete Burka, Nancy Lagat, Anna Willard, Jenny Barringer, Shannon Rowbury, Shalane Flanagan, Erin Donohue, among others.
The race didn't disappoint. Burka barely beat out Barringer by 1/100 of a second - 3:59.89 to 3:59.90. That's them finishing. Barringer had a great run down the homestretch where she almost caught up with Burka. You should've seen the expression of overjoyed surprise on her face - she was elated.
Then came the men's steeplechase with last year's winner Paul Koech being the favorite. That's him (below) winning in a comfortable time of 8:13.44, almost 8 seconds ahead of the second place.
It must have been an exhausting race, judging by these runners below. This is right after the race ended.
In the background, the field events contined to progress. The shot below is that of Dwight Phillips finishing his 8.74m jump that ultimately got him the first place. This broke the Hayward Field record of 8.49m set by Irving Saladino in 2007, who finished second this time with 8.63m.
Then followed the men's 3000m race with a field of Eliud Kipchoge, Bernard Lagat, Saif Shaheen, Alistair Craig, Matt Tegenkamp, Chris Solinsky, seen in order from right to left below. (There were others but they are not in this shot below.)
Lagat and Shaheen fought it out in the last couple of hundred meters. Shaheen pulled into the lead around the 200m but soon Lagat switched gears and with around 100m to go, he took the lead. He won in 7:35.92, almost a second ahead of Shaheen.
All this while, the field events continued. At some points, you could see three or four athletes in action simultaneously - someone running, someone jumping, someone throwing. It was pretty exciting, almost like a fast-paced video game. The above picture shows the lineup for the men's shot put, with a guy getting ready for the high jump in the immediate background, and another guy getting ready for the pole vault in the far background.
I don't mean to downplay the field events vis-a-vis the track events. Indeed, they have their own unique, inimitable moments. Below, Irving Saldino shows how to chat with the photographer while still jumping an 8.63. Perhaps that was the reason he lost to Phillips.
Or better yet, take the woman jumper below. She seems to be from the kung-fu school of long jump, unveiling here, for the first time ever, the soon-to-be-famous Flying Dragon style. This esoteric style is a few centuries older than the Fosbury flop technique in high jump. Unfortunately, I don't remember who the athlete is. If you do, please drop me a note.
Reese Hoffa won the men's shot put with a 71ft 10in throw. Here he is on his way out of the stadium, with a smile that seems to fit a persona of a gentle giant. The announcer reminded us that Hayward Field is the home of the 70-foot throw, there have been more such throws than anywhere else in the world. Adam Nelson, who won last year, fouled on all six of his attempts.
Sanya Richards (below) won the women's 400m easily in 49.86 seconds. Later she was in the Nutrilite tent signing autographs.
The men's 800m was won by Nick Symmonds in 1:45.86 beating last year's winner Alfred Yego. That's Symmonds in the pic below with Elijah Greer, a Oregon high-schooler following closely. Though he finished last here, he's supposed to be one of the up-and-coming stars with a lot of potential. A few days after the race, I was talking to someone in the little town of Tillamook, Oregon and he knew about Greer.
This was followed by the women's 800. Maggie Vessey, pictured below, won comfortably, beating out the favorite(?) Pamela Jelimo who finished dead last. The expression on her face after she won was worth a Mastercard commercial, though Visa being the main sponsors of this meet might not take too kindly to that. Check out this video; you can hear her say "Oh, my God!" She's the one behind everyone else at the completion of the first lap.
Then followed the women's 2000m with a field consisting of Vivian Cheruiyot, Maryam Jamal, Linet Masai, Kara Goucher, Jen Rhines, Sara Hall, among others. Cheruiyot won in 5:31.52 beating Mary Slaney's Hayward Field record and better yet, setting the fastest time ever on US soil.
As the winner started on her the victory lap, out came the athletes for what is arguably the grand finale - the men's Bowerman mile. The field - Asbel Kiprop, Alan Webb, Lopez Lomong, Leonel Manzano, Belal Mansoor, Shedrack Korir, etc. Kiprop won in 3:48.50 barely missing out on the Hayward Field record of 3:48.28 by Daniel Komen. If had hadn't done a Bolt by waving kisses to the crowd more than 50 meters from the finish, he might have had the record. Below is a picture at some point in the race, with all but the guy on the left with their feet in the air. Incidentally, that guy on the left went on to win.
Here's Kiprop doing a Bolt, albeit a bit restrained in comparison to Bolt.
The results showed up one by one on the scoreboard. They were hoping for a sub-4:00 finish by all. It looked good as the screen below shows. Alas, as the results scrolled by on to the second screen with more 3:XX.XX's, the last one burst the bubble - 4:01.09. Nevertheless, it was pretty exciting - 13 sub-4 finishers.
That was it for the races. The final event was the presentation of the Maria Mutola award. Last year was the inaugural one - won by pole vaulter Brad Walker. This year it went to long jumper Dwight Phillips. Here he is below, after being presented with the award by Mary Slaney.
A great end to a great meet. Best of all, it didn't rain! I think the announcer said something like 12,000+ was the stadium attendance, which if I recall correctly is slightly lower than last year's record of 14,000+. Everything was well-organized. The bib numbers that the athletes had, matched those in the booklet that we bought, which made it much easier to follow the races and also to compile this post. Though, I still don't understand why they have a hip number in addition. Nutrilite, one of the sponsors, had a tent set up and a little kiosk with cool stuff. We even got free T-shirts, energy bars, energy pills, and a carry-sack. There were a bunch of athletes signing autographs in the Nutrilite tent - Sanya Richards, LaShawn Merritt, Bryan Clay, etc.
We then headed out the gates and took a hop, skip, and a jump across the street to some absolutely fantastic ice-cream at Prince Pucklers.
(If you're interested, here's a link to my post from the 2008 meet and the 2007 meet.)
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