The week in world running, straight from the paddock (to Fri 23 Oct 2026)

Published as a weekly round-up for the week ending Fri 23 Oct 2026. Weekend previews below are kept as they stood that week.

1. DIRIBA BOLTS IN AMSTERDAM

Course record in the wet, and a podium of three sub-2:04 men

Remember that loaded Ethiopian quartet we flagged in Issue #2? The one with the slowest PB of the four only went and won it. Buze Diriba kicked away at 40k in the Vondelpark and crossed the line at the TCS Amsterdam Marathon on Sunday in 2:16:12, taking down Yalemzerf Yehualaw’s course record of 2:16:52 from 2024. Her PB going in was 2:19:34, so that’s a massive jump, on a wet day too. Defending champ Aynalem Desta was second in 2:17:06 and Meseret Belete made it an Ethiopian clean sweep.

The men’s race came down to a duel in the park. Lemi Berhanu, on his third go at Amsterdam, broke Nicholas Kipkorir late and won in 2:03:33, just three seconds off the course record. Kipkorir ran 2:03:39 and Patrick Mosin 2:03:58, the first time all three on the Amsterdam podium have gone under 2:04. Marc Scott was the top Brit in 2:10:14.

Sources: TCS Amsterdam Marathon · World Athletics results

2. IRWIN PIPS OCKENDEN BY A NOSE IN PORTSMOUTH

Three seconds in it at the Great South Run, Omar runs away with the men’s title

We tipped Verity Ockenden to defend her UK 10-mile title in Issue #2, and she ran three minutes quicker than when she won it in 2025. Trouble was, Hannah Irwin was on her shoulder. Irwin, who holds the Northern Ireland 10k and half marathon records, broke clear in the last 200m to win in 53:34, with Ockenden 53:37 and Daisy Glover third in 54:53.

The men’s race was Kadar Omar’s from 15k. He went through 10k with Andy Butchart, then pulled away to win in 47:26, with Butchart second in 47:50 and Alex Durant third in 48:00. Omar fled Ethiopia as a child and ran for the Refugee Team at the 2017 World Champs, so that’s some story. Around 26,000 ran over the weekend as Portsmouth celebrated 100 years as a city.

Sources: Athletics Weekly · Great Run

3. UNSPONSORED DEBUTANT TAKES THE CANADIAN CROWN

Davies goes 2:08:48 first time out in Toronto, after doubling back for a bottle

Andrew Davies turned up to the TCS Toronto Waterfront Marathon with no sponsor and no marathon to his name, and left as Canadian champion in 2:08:48. That’s the fastest marathon debut ever by a Canadian man, beating Cam Levins’s 2:09:25 from 2018. Better still, he missed a bottle station around 24k, went back for it, rejoined the group and then pushed on alone for the last 10k.

On the women’s side Dayna Pidhoresky, a month shy of her 40th birthday, won the Canadian title in 2:26:02, a huge PB that makes her the third-fastest Canadian woman ever. Overall wins went to Kenya’s Leonard Langat (2:06:51) and Leah Jeruto (2:21:18). One of ours was racing the half in Toronto too, so keep an eye on our Hoofprints coverage.

Sources: Canadian Running · Toronto Waterfront Marathon · World Athletics results

4. TWIN TRAINS IN DELHI

Matata nicks the event record by one second, a year after his brother won it

Charles Matata won the Vedanta Delhi Half Marathon on Sunday in 58:52, one second under the event record Amedework Walelegn set in 2020. It’s a family affair: his twin brother Alex won the same race last year in 59:50. Charles did it in around 90 per cent humidity, too, and Kenyans filled the whole men’s podium.

The women’s race went to 19-year-old Ethiopian Wudinesh Alemu in 1:06:35, in only the second half marathon of her life. Nearly 40,000 people turned out on the streets of the capital. We had a Stablemate in among them, so see our Hoofprints coverage.

Sources: Athletics Illustrated · The Tribune

5. BAYSTATE PAPERWORK LEAVES TWO AT THE STARTING GATE

They ran the Trials standard, but the race wasn’t sanctioned

Spencer Friske won the Baystate Marathon in Lowell on Sunday in 2:15:04, under the 2:16 he needed for the US Olympic Marathon Trials. Caitlin McGinley won the women’s race in 2:36:08, under the 2:37 standard, a year after missing it at the same race by 12 seconds. Neither time will count. The course was USATF-certified, but the race wasn’t USATF-sanctioned, and for the 2028 Trials you need both.

Runner’s World reckons a sanction for a race that size would have cost about $2,000. The race director has said the responsibility was his alone, and USATF says it’ll do more to get the message out. Worth knowing: Boston qualifying only needs a certified course, not a sanction, so the Stablemates who raced Baystate for a BQ are fine.

Sources: Runner’s World · LetsRun

6. SIX YEARS IN THE STALLS FOR RUTI AGA

Former Tokyo champion banned over a forged prescription

Ruti Aga, who won the 2019 Tokyo Marathon, has been banned for six years by the Athletics Integrity Unit. She tested positive for methylprednisolone, a prohibited steroid, after winning a half marathon in China in March. To explain it she handed in a prescription from a clinic that didn’t exist, signed by a “doctor” who turned out to be a family member with no medical registration.

That got her two years for the positive test and another four for tampering and misleading investigators. The ban runs from 10 September, when she was provisionally suspended. The AIU’s line was that attempts to cheat will be exposed. Good.

Sources: BBC Sport · Athletics Weekly

7. SUNDAY’S RUNNERS AND RIDERS: FRANKFURT AND VALENCIA

Frankfurt’s fastest-ever men’s field, and Bekele’s name on the Valencia list

Busy Sunday (25 Oct). The Mainova Frankfurt Marathon has the strongest men’s field in its history, with four men under 2:05 on the start list for the first time. European champ Amanal Petros leads with his German record of 2:04:03, and Samuel Fitwi (2:04:45) and Richard Ringer (2:04:47) make it three Germans in the top four. Zeineba Yimer (2:18:47) heads the women, with Betsy Saina and 2018 winner Meskerem Assefa, whose visa came through just in time. We’ve got a Stablemate on that start line too.

Down in Valencia, Rodrigue Kwizera, now running for Spain, leads the half marathon field on 58:16 and has the European record in his sights, though Andreas Almgren’s 58:06 at the World Half has made that a tougher ask. Kenenisa Bekele, 44, is on the entry list after missing Berlin, and Yalemzerf Yehualaw (1:03:51) is back for the women’s race.

Sources: Watch Athletics: Frankfurt fields · Watch Athletics: Valencia Half · Valencia entry list