What International Cross Country Gets Right 📏 "We all know that looking at a time an athlete posted on a dubiously measured, bone-dry 8km course that’s been steamrolled and contains minimal turns is not equivalent to what their competition ran across the country through a mountainous bog in a Nor’easter. And yet, we talk about cross country times in a vacuum, instead of merely as a way to gauge how quickly a particular course ran on a given day. The professional European model avoids this—incidentally—by throwing athletes onto 9.28km, 9.707km, 9.3km, and all other lengths of courses, and continuing to hold meets that have existed for 70+ years." 📫 Read more via @TheLapCount: thelapcount.substack.com/i/2…

NYRR announced the pro fields for the Dash to the Finish Line 5K on Oct. 31, the day before the New York City Marathon. More than 11,000 runners go from the United Nations to the Central Park finish line, including three Olympians, eight NCAA champions and four U.S. national champions in this year’s field. Notables in this year’s fields include: • Annie Rodenfels — chasing a fourth consecutive win at this race, most recently racing the half marathon at the World Road Running Championships in September. • Whittni Morgan — 2024 Olympian in the 5,000m, racing as a new mother • Josette Andrews — 2025 USATF 5K champion, sixth in the 5,000m at last year’s Worlds • Edwin Kurgat — Kenyan Olympian, fourth in the 10,000m at the 2026 Commonwealth Games, back at an NYRR race for the first time since the 2024 Fifth Avenue Mile. • Habtom Samuel — undefeated as a professional rookie with wins and course records at Falmouth and the Houston Half, making his NYRR debut after five NCAA titles. • Morgan McDonald — two-time Olympian for Australia, first race since May 📅 Saturday, Oct. 31 📺 Live on NYRR’s YouTube channel with @CarrieTollefson and @ChrisChavez on the mic 🎙️

Depth Never Goes Out Of Style 🖐️ "It is very hard—near impossible—to win anything meaningful on the strength of a single low stick, which means the action that matters most to the outcome of the meet is often occurring dozens of spots behind the winner. Runners like Jane Hedengren will have plenty of time to shine throughout the year, especially during the more individualistic track season, but last weekend the heroes were runners like Lexi Goff, who moved up from 37th at 2k to 18th at the finish as BYU’s third scorer." 📫 Read more via @TheLapCount: thelapcount.substack.com/i/2…

🗣️ “I plan to go after the 24-hour world record at the Desert Solstice Track Invitational on December 19 in Phoenix, Arizona. The race is held on a 400-meter track to see how far you can go in 24 hours… The goal would be to do over 200 miles—two back-to-back 100-milers—in 12 hours each.” Ultramarathoner Ryan Montgomery is planning to tackle the world record for the 24-hour race on December 19. The current world record is held by Lithuanian Aleksandr Sorokin, who ran 198.6 miles in 24 hours—continuous 7:15 mile pace—in 2022. Montgomery (who identifies as non-binary and uses he/they pronouns) ran 154.7 miles in his debut at the distance in 2020, and has since gone on to become one of the nation’s top trail runners, most recently finishing third overall at the Western States 100-mile in 13:53:55, 15 minutes under the previous course record. Montgomery sat down with The Lap Count to share more information about his world-record ambitions, preparation, and approach to the race. 📫 Find the full interview here: citiusmag.com/articles/ryan-…

The road to the LA28 Olympic marathon is taking shape. 👀 World Athletics has outlined a Nov. 1, 2026–April 30, 2028 qualification window, with 70 spots per gender (down from 80 at Paris 2024). Entry standards will be finalized following World Athletics Council approval in December. Here’s what to know: ➡️ 𝙃𝙊𝙒 𝙏𝙊 𝙌𝙐𝘼𝙇𝙄𝙁𝙔 World Athletics aims to fill roughly 40% of each field through the entry standard and the remaining 60% through World Rankings. A top-five finish at a Platinum Label marathon during the window also counts as meeting the standard. Meeting the standard doesn’t guarantee a spot. If more athletes achieve it than there are places available, the best performances take priority, potentially leaving no spots for rankings qualifiers. Each country can enter up to three athletes per gender. ➡️ 𝘼 𝙆𝙀𝙔 𝘿𝘼𝙏𝙀 On March 19, 2028, the top 55 athletes on the filtered “Road to LA” quota list will be considered qualified and cannot be displaced. The final 15 spots will be filled afterward using the same criteria. That cutoff falls SIX DAYS before the U.S. Olympic Marathon Trials on March 25 in St. Louis. ➡️ 𝙍𝙀𝘼𝙇𝙇𝙊𝘾𝘼𝙏𝙄𝙉𝙂 𝘼 𝙎𝙋𝙊𝙏 At final entries, a national Olympic committee can reallocate a quota place to an otherwise unqualified athlete who has run 2:11:00 or faster for men or 2:29:00 or faster for women during the window. ➡️ 𝙒𝙃𝙄𝘾𝙃 𝘾𝙊𝙐𝙍𝙎𝙀𝙎 𝘾𝙊𝙐𝙉𝙏? Courses must have a measurement certificate no more than five years old from a World Athletics/AIMS Grade A or B measurer. For the entry standard, the net downhill drop cannot exceed one meter per kilometer, which is about 42 meters over a marathon. Results on courses with a greater drop can still earn World Rankings points, with deductions based on the elevation loss. Fans will be able to track qualification through World Athletics’ “Road to LA” tool. 💻 For a full breakdown + early thoughts, read here: citiusmag.com/articles/la-20…

Welcome to the marathon 👋 Florence Caron 🇨🇦 finishes tenth in her debut at the 2026 Toronto Waterfront Marathon, hanging on in a tough second half to run 2:29:37 and finish second Canadian. The Québécois 25-year-old is just a year removed from running cross country at Penn State and now she’s officially a marathoner!

Getting pretty good at this marathoning thing 😅 Wesley Kiptoo 🇺🇸 finishes sixth at the 2026 Toronto Waterfront Marathon in 2:08:08, the fastest time of his career on a record-eligible course. Together with his 2:07:55 from Boston this spring, U.S. Half Marathon title, and appearances at both World XC and the World Road Running Championships, Kiptoo has absolutely crushed his first year competing as an American.

IT’S HER DAY 🤩 At 39 years old, Dayna Pidhoresky 🇨🇦 runs the best marathon of her career, taking three minutes off her seven-year-old PB to claim top Canadian honors at the 2026 Toronto Waterfront Marathon, finishing eighth overall in 2:26:02 to become the third fastest Canadian of all time at the distance.

ROCKIN’ DEBUT 🔥 25-year-old Andrew Davies 🇨🇦 crushes his marathon debut, finishing ninth overall at the 2026 Toronto Waterfront Marathon in 2:08:48, claiming top Canadian honors in his first go at the distance and landing at #4 on the Canadian all-time list, becoming just the seventh sub-2:10 Canadian ever.

EXECUTED TO PERFECTION 💯 Leah Jeruto 🇰🇪 wins the 2026 Toronto Waterfront Marathon in 2:21:19, cruising to the win and a new lifetime best thanks to a slight negative split of 70:55-70:24 and beating out runner-up Nigsti Haftu 🇪🇹 by 15 seconds.

RUN IT BACK 🔁 Leonard Langat 🇰🇪 defends his title at the 2026 Toronto Waterfront Marathon, taking a minute off his winning time from last year to claim the victory in 2:06:51, 40 seconds up on runner-up Asbel Rutto 🇰🇪.

🗣️ “Maybe 40 is like the superpower when you feel like you’re approaching the end of your best years running, so for me it’s a good time to be fully dialed in. You don’t know when your last race is gonna be.” Dayna Pidhoresky had superpowers today on the streets of Toronto, as she took three minutes off a PB that had stood since 2019 with her 2:26:02 eighth-place finish at the TCS Toronto Waterfront Marathon.

Leah Jeruto comes just short of the course record, but still takes a commanding win in Toronto in 2:21:29! TCS TORONTO MARATHON LIVE BROADCAST: youtube.com/live/c-KyiNTcNQw…

BACK-✌️-BACK IN TORONTO FOR LEONARD LANGAT! 2:06:51! TCS TORONTO MARATHON LIVE BROADCAST: youtube.com/live/c-KyiNTcNQw…

The hardest part of a marathon debut: the bottle stations, apparently 😂 Despite having two separate bottle mishaps, Andrew Davies is crushing the Canadian field in Toronto and is on pace for the fastest debut in Canadian history. The 25-year-old is on 2:08:36 pace through 35K. TCS TORONTO MARATHON LIVE BROADCAST: youtube.com/live/c-KyiNTcNQw…

There’s still a BIG pack in the race for the men’s crown at the Toronto Marathon, with the top six runners separated by just. a single second. That’s a half-dozen guys sub-2:07 pace through 35K! TCS TORONTO MARATHON BROADCAST: youtube.com/live/c-KyiNTcNQw…

Some CHAOS in the race for the Canadian men’s title at the 25K bottle station, as debutant Andrew Davies misses a bottle and has to double back a few times to grab it. Was that worth the time to make sure he could get his fuel? We’ll find out over the next 45 minutes. TCS TORONTO MARATHON LIVE BROADCAST: youtube.com/live/c-KyiNTcNQw…

Dayna Pidhoresky looks to be running away with the Canadian marathon title this morning in Toronto, as the vet is well under PB pace and through half in 1:13:24. Her current best of 2:29:03 was run at this race back in 2019. TCS TORONTO MARATHON LIVE BROADCAST: youtube.com/live/c-KyiNTcNQw…

🗣️ “I hope to finish! It’s the first one, so I feel like you need multiple goals and the first one is to just do it.” @_EricJenkins caught up with exciting Canadian marathon debutant Florence Caron ahead of today’s Toronto Marathon. Caron is through 10K in 34:52, cruising along on sub-2:26 pace. If this pace holds, she would already slot into the ranks of the three fastest Canadian women ever. TCS TORONTO MARATHON LIVE BROADCAST: youtube.com/live/c-KyiNTcNQw…