sarahbarker1 Page 9 - Sports News, Headlines & Highlights

Cheerlessly, Asian Games Begin
The Olympic-style Asian Games open today in Incheon, South Korea, providing a flag-spangled stage on which to celebrate the universal sport of politics. North Korea has reestablished its dominance in this arena by first deploying, then withdrawing, their newest weapon—feminine charm....

Why The Heck Some Good Runners Started Running In The First Place
It's back-to-school time and junior high players everywhere are contemplating how best to make their mark on the athletic world. Here's the thing—running until your sternum glows and your legs bend in unusual places lacks appeal to the youngster. Football has cheerleaders. Basketball has a crowd. G...

Dance Team's Pop Gun Hazing Incident Goes Horribly Wrong
A very successful dance coach with the Cannon Falls, Minnesota school district lost her job on August 25 due to a team-building/hazing activity she organized....

Is Booze A Performance-Enhancing Substance For Ultrarunners?
While a frosty beer or refreshing ethyl alcohol can certainly serve as motivation to hurry back, runners have been laboring under the limited view of liquor as solely a recovery drink. ...

Why Ultrarunning Is The Funniest Sport In The World
You know all that crap about learning more from losses than victories? From times when the train went off the rails rather than smartly pulling into the station? Whether that has a shred of validity or not, disasters make for great reading, so instead of talking with the medal-chested smiling win...

How To Get Paid To Drop Out Of Races: A Professional Pacer Tells All
David Rudisha covered two laps of Icahn Stadium under his own flowing power. And Mo Farah, he sliced through the eight laps of the indoor mile with his own knife-sharp legs. Galen Rupp crushed the 1500, Silas Kiplagat, Nick Willis, they all propelled themselves very quickly around an oval. But they ...

Look At What The Poor Scots Are Wearing To The Commonwealth Games
Aye, it's happened again, the collision of athletics and fashion with predictable casualties. This time, it's the Scots, who should never be trusted with sheep or color, but in a moment of weakness, both were abused. As a result, lads and lassies representing Scotland at the upcoming Commonwealth Ga...

This Is Why It's Called The Beautiful Game: The Other World Cup
Over many eras, well past beautiful, to the far side of the Other World lies Mugu district in Nepal. The days are very very tough for most people there, but particularly for women. Life expectancy in Mugu is 49 years for men, 39 for women. Literacy rate in general is 27%, but for women, 9%. Sixt...

Lentil Ricochets Six Feet, Easy, Off Of An Abdomen
I know there will be six kinds of naysayers, and while there is no notary public involved, I have photo documentation of a French green lentil falling from mouth-height, ...

Running 100 Miles Is Easier Now: A Talk With The Father of Ultra Trailrunning
Gordy Ainsleigh, with bib number 0, will be shuffling around with 376 other runners at 5 a.m. Saturday. As the sun lights up the rugged peaks that tower over Squaw Valley, they'll be checking their watches, shaking out their legs, trying not to think about the 100.2 miles of soul-grinding Sierra Nev...

Two High Jumpers Jump Very High And Get Some Attention
"We are Super Men," effused the very pumped Qatari high jumper Mutaz Essa Barshim after an epic duel with Ukrainian world champion Bohdan Bondarenko at the June 14th IAAF Diamond League track meet in New York City. ...

This Guy Will Be Representing England In The Marathon
If you've ever been fat, lazy, addicted to cigs and junk food or old, or if you have a job, you might find Steve Way's story inspiring. ...

Still Some Doubts On The Rio Roosevelt
One hundred years ago, our most badass, National Park-making president, Teddy Roosevelt, staggered out of the steaming Brazilian jungle, barely alive, after descending the uncharted, rapids-choked River of Doubt. There was no longer doubt as to the river's dangers, so it was renamed Rio Roosevelt....

The "Voodoo Science" Behind A Nike Running Program: An Insider Talks
Vern Gambetta is afraid he comes off as a grouchy old man. He's not that old. And those statements about lifetime bans for drug cheats and Nike Oregon Project's "innovations"? That's straight shooting from a guy who might be the most influential person in sports conditioning today. ...

Donn Cabral Is Becoming An Expert On Lyme Disease
Donn Cabral is an expert at the 3,000-meter steeplechase. He capped off an undefeated 2012 collegiate season with Princeton by winning the NCAA Outdoor Championships in that event, setting an American collegiate record of 8:19.14 and placing eighth at the 2012 Olympic Games. He's not an expert on L...

"I Never Wore A Watch": Running Lessons From A Record-Breaking Everyman
Mo Farah, the British Olympian who won double gold in the 2012 summer games, predicted that the very least he would accomplish in his first go at 26.2 miles, the London Marathon in April, would be to break Steve Jones's 29-year-old U.K. record of 2:07.13. Farah trains with Alberto Salazar and the N...

Non-African Wins Race
Good news and bad news, white people. Good news is, for the first time ever, a non-African (ok, he is a New Zealander) won a 5K race over a field of Kenyan runners on Kenyan soil. No literally, it was a dirt track....

10-Year-Old Girl Sets A World Record*
Ten-year-old fifth grader, Grace Ping, of Winona, Minnesota, feels quite good about winning a collegiate 5K in 18:02, especially since it is reportedly a world record for her age. ...

Doha Puts Their Money Where Their Men Are
The IAAF Doha Diamond League track meet was held today at the Qatar Sports Club, and like most things Qatar buys does, it's the biggest and the best. Air-conditioned training tracks, AlterG treadmills, pools, physical therapy centers, coaches — Qatar has spared no expense in facilitating and promoti...

Why Races Are Better Without Pacers
Did you not holler at the screen when wraith-like Meb struck out on his own only eight miles into the Boston Marathon? No! Don't do it man! And when loping Wilson Chebet (Finally! Idiot! Why did you wait so long?) closed to within six seconds—almost touchable—could you not, like Meb, feel the Keny...