Gay Games VIII in Project Q: Wesley Anderson’s second ‘tri’

We missed this series from Project Q Atlanta when it first appeared, but are pleased to share these stories of Atlantans in Cologne for Gay Games VIII:

Among the more than 9,000 LGBT athletes and artists competing in the Gay Games this week in Cologne are about two-dozen Atlantans, including runner Wesley Anderson.

The 32-year-old also plays softball with the Atlanta Venom in the Hotlanta Softball League and recently joined Front Runners Atlanta. We caught up with Anderson before he left for the Gay Games to discuss gay jocks and his plans to take part in the triathlon and half marathon.

Project Q Atlanta: What’s the most challenging part of your sport?
Anderson: The fact that the half marathon is the last day of the Gay Games. That means you have to eat well and not drink during the week of this amazing festival. That may be tough.

Keep reading HERE.

16 April 2012 / Joan Benoit Samuelson to run today's Boston Marathon with her daughter in honor of Title IX anniversary

From ESPN.com:

BOSTON -- In 1979, an unknown 21-year-old sprite from Maine showed up in Hopkinton and bobbed her way to a Boston Marathon win. Afterward, clad in a Bowdoin College singlet and with a fresh laurel wreath sitting atop her Red Sox cap, the new American women's record-holder smiled widely for the cameras as running fans the world over peered at their programs and wondered: "Who?"

Thirty-three years later, everyone knows Joan Benoit Samuelson.

She won the Boston Marathon again in 1983, finishing in a world-record 2:22:43, and then over the next two years Samuelson grabbed gold at the 1984 Summer Olympics in Los Angeles and won the 1985 Chicago Marathon with a personal best of 2:21:21. Today, "Joanie" -- as she's known to the legion of fans and friends who surround her every time she appears in Boston to run -- is a certified running legend, a celebrity, practically the mayor of the Boston Marathon.
AP Photo/Jim MacMillan

When she decides to enter the race, as she has this spring for the second consecutive year, that alone is a noteworthy event. And when she runs it with her daughter, Abby, a 24-year-old Bates College graduate ("I tell everybody it could have been worse -- she could've gone to Colby," Samuelson says of her alma mater's rival school) in honor of women's rights, as she will on Monday, it becomes an opportunity to etch another indelible image onto an already historic career.

"Our plan is to run together on Monday and celebrate the fact that we can do this," says Samuelson. "This year is the 40th anniversary of women being allowed to run in the Boston Marathon and the 40th anniversary of Title IX [the 1972 U.S. anti-discrimination legislation that led to equal female participation in high school and college sports], so for me Monday's race is about being able to share those anniversaries with my daughter, who never had to deal with not being able to have access to sports."

Keep reading HERE.

Flashback: Cheer NY at New York City Marathon

On November 6th, 2011, Cheer NY participated in the premier event of New York Road Runners (NYRR), the ING New York City Marathon! The NYC Marathon is one of the world's great road races, drawing more than 100,000 applicants. The race attracts many world-class professional athletes, not only for the more than $600,000 in prize money, but also for the chance to excel in the media capital of the world before two million cheering spectators and 315 million worldwide television viewers. As any one of the more than 700,000 past participants will attest, crossing the finish line in Central Park is one of the great thrills of a lifetime. Cheer New York was there at the Finish Line to perform in the Pre-Finish Show and then lead spectators in cheering on the world's best wheelchair racers and elite runners!

News from Chicago: Belated decision in Gay Games VII case, Tom Waddell Award winner at library event, 70-year-old marathon runner

A verdict on the appeal of a case concerning Gay Games VII in Chicago 2006 has finally been announced, in favor of the defendants, the city of Chicago et al. The plaintiffs were "Christians" who used various Gay Games events to harrass participants and spectators. Read it HERE.

---

Brent Nicholson Earle, winner of the 2010 Tom Waddell Award, was the keynote speaker at the 30th anniversary celebration of the Gerber-Hart Library. Read about it HERE.

---

Ross Forman reports on a Gay Games medal winner who will be competing in this weekend's Chicago Marathon in the 70-74-year-old category. Read it HERE.

IAAF says that racing with men gives women an unfair advantage... or something like that

From the New York Times, a report on a particularly hard-to-understand rule from IAAF that affects women distance runners. So should runners in masters divisions not be allowed to set records when they race with younger (and faster) runners?

BERLIN — Now added to the list of banned performance-enhancing substances for female distance runners: men. 

The world governing body for track and field decided in late August that records in women’s road racing will count only if they are set in women’s-only events, to nullify the benefits of pacesetting by faster male runners, a dynamic that can exist in some marathons, half-marathons and 10-kilometer races where men and women are in the same field.

Continue reading HERE.

Call to the IOC from the International League for Women's Rights

From the 2011 Paris Marathon to the 2012 London Olympics: promoting equality of women and men through sport events

The Paris Marathon is one of the most popular competitions in France, one where organizers are keen to treat men and women equally.

This is not yet the case in the Olympics, despite the Olympic Charter which excludes any form of discrimination.

For example the only gold medal given personally by the President of the International Olympic Committee is to the (male) winner of the Marathon. Why not to the female winner? Why not organize the Marathon for both men and women, in such a way that the winners of both sexes can share the applause? We -- as an invited NGO -- will be part of the 2011 Paris Marathon, at the Running Expo (stand n°53) and along the course (Rue Molitor, Boulevard Exelmans)

Signed:
LDIF (League for the International Rights of Women)
CLEF (French Coordination for the European Women’s Lobby)
Femix’Sports Initiative

SIGN THE PETITION HERE

Contact:
Annie Sugier
femmesetsports.clef@gmail.com
tel: (33) 06 38 39 42 92

En français / Appel de la Ligue du Droit International des Femmes pour le marathon des JO 2012

Du Marathon de Paris 2011 aux Jeux Olympiques de Londres 2012 : promouvoir la mixité et la parité hommes/ femmes grâce à des évènements sportifs.

Le 10 avril aura lieu le Marathon de Paris, l’une des grandes compétitions populaires où les organisateurs ont à cœur de traiter de façon égalitaire les hommes et les femmes. Ce n’est pas encore le cas aux JO malgré la Charte Olympique qui pourtant exclut toute forme de discrimination. Un exemple : la seule médaille d’or remise personnellement par le Président du Comité International Olympique l’est au vainqueur (masculin) du Marathon. Pourquoi pas à la Marathonienne ? A l’avenir, pourquoi ne pas faire courir le Marathon Olympique, hommes et femmes ensemble, avec une organisation faisant en sorte que les vainqueurs (femmes et hommes) soient fêtés en même temps ? Nous - associations invitées - serons présentes au Marathon de Paris lors del’expo (Running Expo stand 53) et sur le parcours (Rue Molitor, Boulevard Exelmans)

Signées :
LDIF (Ligue des droits internationaux des femmes)
CLEF (Coordination française du Lobby Européen des Femmes)
Femix’Sports Initiative

SIGNER LA PETITION ICI

Contact:
Annie Sugier
femmesetsports.clef@gmail.com
(33) 06 38 39 42 92

RealJock member story from Cologne: runner David

From RealJock:

Our second gold medalist is David (aka MarathonManiac), who has been a distance runner since 1980, when he joined Frontrunners. Now, he has won Gay Games gold in his age division. This is another key aspect of the Games —- that they provide a great competitive outlet for athletes of all ages, not merely the young. With 91 marathons or ultras under his belt since his first marathon in 1989, David has a lot of experience to bring to the Games.

[...]

As so often at the Games, David's victory is a story both of personal accomplishment and community support. Here's his account of the race: "Marathon day turned out to be cooler than it had been all week, and the course was mostly shaded through a large urban park. I burned through the first loop about 3 minutes faster than planned and paid for that with a markedly slower second loop. Most of my Frontrunner comrades had elected to do just the half-marathon, so as I neared the finish I was glad to hear them cheering me on from several spots in the final kilometer. Due to some disorganization, it wasn't until 10PM that night after the closing ceremony that I found out I had placed, but I had a good feeling at the finish line that I must've made it. So my elation was delayed; my friends made a bigger fuss about it than I did, which really gave me a boost."

[...]

"Every Gay Games has been a wonderful experience. The entire city turns gay, the locals are friendly. Besides sport, there are all sorts of cultural and sightseeing things to do. Plenty of parties, too, though I'm past the age where that appeals. Winning isn't the ultimate goal of the Games; the goals of the Games are participation, inclusion, personal best. Everybody can and should participate in their favorite sport. I guarantee they will have the time of their life."

As the sign behind David says—be part of it!

Live from Cologne: preparing for the 10K

Live from Cologne report by Jeffery Grimes, San Francisco

I finally slept more than eight hours through the night last night. Victory! It generally takes me three nights to adjust to this time zone. And last night was my third night here, so right on schedule. I took my first run since arriving yesterday. A short 5-miler past the cathedral and along the Rhine River (very cool!). This afternoon I have a 10K race; my first competition at the Games. It is cloudy, off-and-on drizzle, and a bit cool here today - perfect running weather. I hope it is like this on Saturday for the marathon (which doesn't start until 8:45). I bought train tickets for a day trip to Amsterdam. I will go tomorrow. Apparently, they are holding Pride there all week. It is a four-hour train ride (with the 'schnellzug' - fast train). Of all the cities in Europe, I've never been to Amsterdam (I've been to Helsinki and Krakow for Chris' sake, but never Amsterdam). Tomorrow I will fix this.

My 30-day alcohol fast for the marathon is holding, but now only with resolute vigilance. True confession: being here surrounded with arguably the world's best beer, has been tempting. Mercifully they have some decent alcohol-free beer, which I've been ordering to sate my craving. I can't tell you how much I'm looking forward to my first 'real' beer after the marathon! In connection with the Games, they've set up beer gardens in two squares (platz) of the city. Walking by and seeing everyone enjoying beer in the open summer air makes me feel like I'm being punished. Oh! Soon enough. Instead I've soothed myself with another German indulgence - Kaffee und Küchen (coffee & cake), which is taken everyday around 4 p.m.

Cologne is a 2,000 year old city. Originally founded by the Romans as a northern colony on the Rhine, it developed into an important point of trade and European migration. Its name was Colonia Claudia Ara Agrippinensum and was shortened to its present Köln (loosely, 'colony') after the Romans left. There is evidence of the Roman habitation everywhere; sections of the city wall, gates, towers, etc. I spent some time in the cathedral yesterday, a UNESCO World Heritage Site. A guide book said, "Cologne is the Cathedral," and I have to agree. It dominates the city. It was built from 1248 to 1880 (think if it - a nearly 650-year construction project) and was largely spared destruction during WWII. Indeed, I think the allies were given specific instructions not to bomb it. The rest of the city, however, did not share the same fate and was nearly completely flattened. So much so that after the war there was even plans to abandon it. The rebuilt city is not particularly beautiful. Instead its charm is in its inhabitants. They are friendly (much more so than the Berliners for example), worldly and warm.

The most valuable treasure in the cathedral are the bones of the Magi, (aka the Three Wise Men) encased in a magnificent gold shrine, considered a masterpiece of medieval goldsmith. They were taken as war booty from Milan by the medieval Holy Roman Emperor Frederick I Barbarossa and brought to Cologne. (There is a Barbarossa Platz in Cologne. Now I know why). During the Middle Ages relics like this (you just KNOW they are fake) were considered invaluable as the masses made pilgrimages of adulation (and undoubtably left behind their money).I bought tickets to the figure skating show (called 'Fabulous on Ice' - of course it is!) and the synchronized swimming show (called 'Pink Flamingos'). I also bought tickets to the bodybuilding show, which is tonight after my 10K race. How could I miss that!

Off to my race.