big sur marathon
April 25, 2010 by Trend PK
Filed under World News
FELTON — How would you feel if you were outraced by a 73-year-old lady while jogging at your best? This is an oddity Big Sur marathoners may want to prepare themselves for, as Khartoon Brown enters the coastal race for the 25th year in a row today.
“To me, age doesn’t matter,” Brown said. “I just don’t buy that.”
Brown has not missed a single iteration of the 26-mile-race since its creation in 1986, making her the only woman to have run every Big Sur marathon, she said. This year, a group of about 20 people will support and run with her to celebrate the record. Friends and family will be wearing purple T-shirts made for the occasion, proudly wearing Brown’s typical greeting on their chest: “Good morning sunshine.”
A 5-foot tall running phenomenon, Brown doesn’t know the loneliness sometimes related to aging. She is constantly surrounded by younger runner friends. On Saturdays, Brown meets her “children,” ranging from the mid-20s to the mid-50s, for a run at the Forest of Nisene Marks State Park in Aptos.
“We probably wouldn’t have been friends if it wasn’t for the running,” said Felton resident Filomena Milburn, stressing how sportsmanship brought women with such different personalities and lives together.
After running with Brown for 15 years, 56-year-old Milburn still admires her strength.
“Mentally, she can do anything,” Milburn said. “There are things that she does that I know I could never do.”
Beyond performance or energy, the little running family shines with unity.
“I usually call Khartoon Mom,’ except when she passes me,” said Robin Stevens.
A former beauty salon owner, Brown began running at age 45 for health reasons.
“I needed to exercise,” Brown said. “A lot of women take medications. I took running.”
The Mount Hermon resident really committed to running after taking part into her first marathon in Hawaii during the early 1980s. After her first New York Marathon, she was attracted to the Big Sur course in 1986 by its beauty, she said. Brown completed the California race each year within the six-hour time limit.
Brown doesn’t follow any particular diet or training. She said she just take short runs throughout the year and trains on longer distances during the two months before the big race.
Last November, Brown completed the New York Marathon one more time.
“I know what I need to do to get there,” Brown said.
froch
April 25, 2010 by Trend PK
Filed under World News
Carl Froch says that he will walk away from the money-spinning Super Six tournament unless he has home advantage for his next bout against Arthur Abraham.
Froch, 32, lost his WBC super-middleweight title via a unanimous points decision to Mikkel Kessler in Herning, Denmark, on Saturday night and insisted afterwards that the verdict would have been different if the bout had been in Britain.
Froch’s next bout in the Super Six will be against Abraham, the former IBF middleweight champion from Germany, who also needs a victory to be sure of progressing to the semi-finals.
Mick Hennessy, Froch’s promoter, said that he had a verbal agreement for the bout to be in Nottingham, his client’s home town, on August 21. However, Wilfried Sauerland, the promoter of Abraham and Kessler, said that the bout should be where it would make the most money, which would potentially be Berlin.“I won’t be there if it’s in Germany, it’s as simple as that,” Froch said. “I’ll pull out of the tournament if they try and move it to Germany. I want to get that absolutely straight, there’s no way I’m going there.
“It has all been agreed. I was told I’d fight at home then away then at home again. If Arthur Abraham doesn’t come to England, then as far as I’m concerned the fight is off.”
While Froch complained about the judges’ decision on Saturday, he did not have a great case. Kessler boxed as if his career depended on it, continually forcing the action in a thrilling bout, even when he seemed hurt.
And while Froch had good reason to be angry at the 117-111 scoring of Roger Tilleman, the Belgian judge, the scores of 115-113 by Guido Cavalleri, of Italy, and 116-112 by Daniel Van de Wiele, also of Belgium, seemed reasonable.
Many rounds were close, but Kessler, 31, roared on by a 10,000 crowd at the MCH Messecenter, was nearly always the aggressor. Froch might do better to wonder why he did not capitalise on an excellent fifth round, when he had Kessler hurt.
Instead, the Dane snatched the initiative, rocking Froch when the Briton walked into a straight right in the eighth, which also cut him on the bridge of his nose.
At times, Froch’s defence was non- existent, while he never stopped Kessler from using his jab effectively and was slowed by the Dane’s body shots. It also emerged that Froch had suffered from a partially perforated eardrum, which affected his balance
Britney Spears “upset” over Australian tour complaints
November 9, 2009 by Trend PK
Filed under Entertainment
Britney Spears has done it again, hitting the headlines during her first Australian tour over a row about lip-synching and a lacklustre performance that her tour promoter said had left her “extremely upset”.
Australian media reported that fans walked out of the first of Spears’ 14 Australian performances that was staged in Perth on Friday after just a few songs, describing it as “boring”, “stiff”, mimed and lacking interaction with the audience.
But the promoter of Spears’ Australian “Circus” tour, her manager and some fans rushed to her defence, saying this savaging has left the U.S. pop singer traumatised.
“Britney is aware of all this and she’s extremely upset by it,” Paul Dainty, Spears’ tour promoter, told The Australian newspaper on Monday.
“She’s a human being. I’m embarrassed, with such a big international entourage here with Britney, to be part of the Australian media when I see that kind of totally inaccurate reporting.”
Dainty said it was a total fabrication to suggest that fans had stormed out of the show as early as the third song after paying between $200 to $1,500 to see the 27-year-old singer who has rebuilt her career after a high-profile meltdown.
Before her world tour started in March to promote her sixth studio album, Spears had only done a handful of live concerts in recent years as her personal life ran out of control.
This included stints in psychiatric care, an ugly divorce, losing custody of her two sons, shaving her head and partying without panties.
Spears has been at the centre of debate over lip-synching since she arrived in Australia last week, even though it’s no secret that she mimes as she dances in her circus-themed show.
The Fair Trade Minister for the state of New South Wales, Virginia Judge, ignited the debate by saying Australians would not tolerate a “Mickey Mouse” performance by Spears, who rose to fame as a member of Disney’s “Mickey Mouse Club” TV series.
Judge suggested concert tickets should carry disclaimers about whether parts of concerts were pre-recorded and mimed.
Dainty said it was well known that part of Spears concert was lip-synched and blasted any inference that this was hidden.
“It’s been all over the Internet for nine months,” Dainty said. “This show is about an incredible spectacle, which it is.”
Spears’ manager Adam Leber took to Spears’ Twitter account to defend the singer to her 3.7 million followers.
“Its unfortunate that one journalist in Perth didn’t enjoy the show last night. Fortunately the other 18,272 fans in attendance did. – Adam” he wrote.
The management from the Burswood Dome in Perth, where Spears’ show was staged, told local reporters that they had not received any complaints from the 17,000 people who were at the show. A similar number attended Spears’ show the next night as well.
Britney Spears “upset” over Australian tour complaints was first posted on November 9, 2009 at 5:07 pm.
