Sacramento Running News

World Masters Athletics Championships, 2011 (SRN photo)

Wouldn’t it be fun to put on a pair of track spikes? Why not try something a little different this summer?

If you are not running for a school, it can sometimes be hard to find a track meet in the area. Fortunately for us, there are at least a couple of options in the Sacramento region.

If you are at least 35 years old, you should check out the Western States International Invitational. It’s held in Davis and runs from June 29th through July 1st.

If you are looking for something a little more low-key, the Sacramento Running Association is hosting a series of All-Comers meets starting on June 14th.

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I’m not one for running straight ads here, but this video by the Canadian Paralympic Committee is pretty great.

One advantage of the apparent death of the “arena deal” is that the Bee has some extra ink lying around that they can use to write about some other, better sports.

For example, this morning’s sports page has an excellent story on American River College sprinter Diondre Batson.

Batson, 19, has already earned himself an Olympic “A” standard time in the 200 with his 20.53 at the Mt. SAC Relays. (Video below.)

Batson is still about .05 seconds shy of the “A” standard in the 100, but seems to have room for improvement. Does he have enough time before the trials to get there? We can only hope.

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The CSUS Hornets men’s and women’s track and field teams each defeated UC Davis Aggies Friday night in the annual Causeway Track & Field Meet.

The Hornets’ men’s team won 99-92 while the women earned a 102-86 victory.

Complete results are here.

Nice work!

If you are sitting around the house, this would be a great time to be watching some live video from the Payton Jordan Cardinal Invitational track meet at Stanford.

The fastest heats of the 5000 are starting right now, and the 10,000 meters are scheduled to start now.

Highlight: Deena Kastor is going to be running the 10,000 meters in search of a Olympic Trials qualifying time.

It looks like living in Redding is agreeing with the Halls, well, Sara at least. She won gold in the 3000 meter steeple at the Pan American Games this past Sunday.

If you want to see one of North America’s top runners putting the hurt on the competition, you can watch the video.

There has been a lot of news coming out of the World Championships in Daegu, South Korea, but here is my favorite story so-far: Jenny Simpson (formerly Jenny Barringer) coming off injuries and a so-so year, is not even mentioned by the announcers as the runners assemble at the starting line.

Then she runs a beautifully tactical race, avoids some mid-race carnage, and goes on to win the championship.

The last time an American woman was world champion in the 1500 was in 1983 when Mary Decker bested three Soviet runners in the final.

Here is Jenny’s race (after the jump):

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Coach George

By George Parrott, Special to SRN

In the Western U.S., we have only the Prefontaine Meet in Eugene in May that hosts any of the world’s top track and field athletes. The May date is too early for much in the way of top performances, but it is a chance to see what track and field might, and used to, be in this country.

In NYC, the Adidas Grand Prix is also part of the Diamond League schedule, and this year saw a sub 4-minute mile in the high school invitational race.

But in Europe, track and field, or “athletics” as it is termed there, is still a major sport. Appearance fees, performance incentives and end-of-season bonuses bring out the absolutely best the world has to offer in athletics for the Diamond League in the major European events on the 14 event overall schedule.

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Alberto Zanelli of Italy running the 3rd leg of the 4x100 relay.

After a 10-day run, the curtain has come down on the 2011 World Masters Athletics Championships.

Was it worth the hype? Was Sacramento a worthy host? Was it fun?

Yes, yes, and yes!

What About the Weather?

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