The parents of six-year-old Rainier Crawford might have thought twice about bringing him along to run a marathon and posting it on social media if they had foreseen the spate of denunciations that followed, such as these posts on letsrun.com. Rainier was the youngest in a family of eight who ran the Flying Pig Marathon in Cincinnati on May 1st. In the New York Post, father Ben Crawford was quoted as saying in his defense, “We have never forced any of our children to run a marathon and we cannot even imagine that as feasible practically or emotionally. We have given all of our kids the option for every race."

Replying to observations that Rainier was crying during the race, Crawford noted, "Yes there were tears, and yes he had a fall but every single member of our family has cried during a marathon."

American long-distance star Kara Goucher tweeted, "I don't know who needs to hear this but a six year old cannot fathom what a marathon will do to them physically." Olympian Lee Troop, owner of Troop Events Athlete Management, also weighed in on Twitter, saying "Everything about this is wrong!"

Six-year-old Rainier's reward was sleeves of Pringles after the finish.

In I Run Far, founder and editor-in-chief Bryon Powell notes, "for the majority of ultrarunning’s history in North America, race cancellations were the rare exception to the norm of races going on as scheduled."

Ultramarathons that often range into backcountry are especially vulnerable to wildfires, which recent experience shows are becoming more unpredictable. Gale force winds in the wildfires in New Mexico have accelerated the spread of fires and grounded firefighting planes and helicopters.

Powell goes on to discuss factors to consider in planning for cancellations and how race organizations may best communicate policies and risks.

RunSignup's report "Race Participation Trends" dated May 3 has some sobering numbers when comparing participation in races that took place in both 2019 and 2022.

January registrations in those races went down 11% from 2019 to 2022. Although February was not so negative--down 8%--March and April were worse at -18% and -20%.

These numbers beg for the question of what happened to the 2022 rebound that was expected from the hypothetical "pent up demand" in the aftermath of the worst of COVID-19. Part of the answer is that there has been a rebound in 2022 from most of 2020 and the first half of 2021. Another part is that we are still in the pandemic. (In respect to COVID risk, the plus side for road races is the edge outdoor events have over indoor ones.)

Another part of the answer, proposed in the RunSignup report as a way of explaining a weaker than hoped-for rebound, is a lack of "energy" on the part of race organizers--particularly reflected by the attrition of race committees during the pandemic.

You may take some consolation in knowing that if your numbers are down from 2019, you have plenty of company. You also have the opportunity, if you "actively engage with [your] community," as the RunSignup report says, "take advantage of the pullback by others and fill gaps."

Sara Hall (#34) in the 2021 Credit Union Cherry Blossom Ten Mile (fall version). Two months later, Hall finished 3rd (2nd American behind Emma Bates) in the Chicago Marathon. Now age 39, Hall has run her four fastest marathons in the last three years: 2:20:32 (Dec. 2020); 2:22:01 (Oct. 2020); 2:22:16 (Sep. 2019); and 2:22:56 (Mar. 2022). Photo: Clay Shaw

In a feature in World Athletics news, Johanna Gretschel shines a light on the three American women who have qualified to compete in the World Championships marathon in Eugene this year: Sara Hall, Molly Seidel, and Emma Bates. Gretschel makes the case that any one of the three is capable of mounting the podium at the Championships, where the women's marathon will take place on July 18th. But the difference in age between Hall and the other two suggests a "generational shift" in American women's marathoning.

Now 72, Michelle Tiff-Hill set a personal best of 2:50:19 in the 1983 Sri Chinmoy Marathon. A piano prodigy in childhood, Tiff-Hill did not start running until age 29 in 1980.

Gary Corbitt, son of the legendary Ted Corbitt, was recently prompted by an insensitive question to declare why our sport needs the National Black Marathoners Association (NBMA). He noted that Black runners at the top of the distance running sport are often overlooked by local, regional, and national hall of fame institutions.

The premier of the documentary “Breaking Three Hours: Trailblazing African-American Women Marathoners" accompanied the induction of eight black women marathoners into the NBMA's Hall of Fame on April 30.

At left, Samia Akbar in the 2008 Olympic Trials Marathon. Interviewed in Fast Women Newsletter in 2020, Akbar expressed dissatisfaction that her own 2:34:14 in the 2006 New York City Marathon was still the record for American Black women. She said, "I feel like the time should be faster and we should have progressed by now. I do feel like it’s only a matter of time [before that record comes down], but it bothers me."

Kenny Moore competing in Miami in 1969. Photo: Jeff Johnson

Kenny Moore, who died peacefully at home on May 4th at age 78, strove for excellence as a runner and a writer. A two-time Olympian, he won the Bay to Breakers road race in San Francisco six consecutive times. In 1972, he finished one place shy of a medal in the 1972 Olympic marathon. He won the U.S. cross-country championship in1967 and the U.S. marathon championship in 1971.

Moore wrote for Sports Illustrated for 25 years, published two books, co-wrote a screenplay for the 1982 movie "Personal Best," and wrote the screenplay for the 1998 movie "Without Limits" about Steve Prefontaine.

Aaron Brown, a Canadian sprinter and possessor of multiple bronze medals in the Olympics and World Championships, posted an essay addressing the disparity in CBC.ca. Brown noted “It is far too common for world-class track and field athletes to go unsponsored. Many athletes depend on ‘Go Fund Me’ campaigns to chase their dreams."

There's a parallel in road racing: the winners of high-profile races like big-city marathons, half marathons, and road miles get sponsorships and heaps of prize money, but once you dip below the tippy-top, prize money drops off rapidly and sponsorships are hard to get.

Solutions to these disparities may require new imaginative approaches. Without solutions, many of the second-tier athletes will abandon the pursuit of excellence to the diminishment of the sport.

On May 7, World Athletics kicked off a redesigned Kids' Athletics program, building on a program initially created in 2002. The program encourages children from age four to 14 to get involved in athletics activities in a way that is fun and inspiring. Resources are provided to coaches, teachers, volunteers, and parents. It has been implemented by more than 100 Member Federations and has reached an estimated cumulative audience of more than 13 million children and young people.

Emily Sisson tore through the USATF Half Marathon Championships in Indianapolis in 1:07:11 on May 7th, edging out by four seconds the American women's record 1:07:15 set by Sara Hall in Houston in January. (Sisson's record is pending verification by the USATF.)

Lithuanian Aleksandr Sorokin busted the 100K World Record by more than three minutes running on a track in Bedford, UK on April 23rd. The pace was equivalent to running back-to-back marathons in 2:32:33. His 6:05:41 erased Japan's Nao Kazami's existing record of 6:09:14 set in 2018. En route, Sorokin also took 49 seconds off of his own Lithuanian 50K national record, 3:01:50 to 3:02:39.

In the elderly divisions, both Dutchman Jo Schroonbroodt and American George Yannakakis set age-group records. Schoonbroodt, age 71, sliced 29 seconds off the M70+ world marathon record by 29 seconds: 2:54:19 to 2:54:48. Schoonbroodt's feat was accomplished at the Maasmarathon of Vise in Belboom, Belgium, on May 8th. In Washington, DC on April 3rd, the 90-year-old Yannakakis completed the Credit Union Cherry Blossom Ten Mile Run with an American 90-95 age group best of 2:33:04. It was the 29th time Yannakakis had run the race since 1984.

In the not-quite-a-record category, Kenyan Nicholas Kosimbei tied the 10-year-old course and event record 45:15 in the Cherry Blossom Ten Mile.

In February, Kosimbei decisively crushed the Georgia state record in the Publix Atlanta Half Marathon by three minutes, running 1:00:36.

In conjunction with the celebration of 40 years of publishing Road Race Management Newsletter, the company is launching a newly-reconfigured version of its Longest Serving Race Director Rankings. The listing, which debuted in 2019, will now allow any race director who has directed the same race for five years or more to be included by completing this easy-to-use form. The listings are searchable by a number of different criteria including race distance, country, state, and gender. Biographical data and photos of the directors will be listed if supplied.

Many of the updates have now been submitted through the end of 2021. Click here to see the current rankings.

take a one question survey you'll find here.