News of Note: 14 December - 21 December

Ethiopian Running News:

Burka lines up indoor races to tune up for world title defense (15 December 2009) - Gelete Burka has indoor races lined up in Stockholm, Karlsruhe, Birmingham, and Stuttgart before she races in the 2010 IAAF World Indoor Championships in Doha (7-9 March 2010) in defense of her title.

Tirunesh Dibaba Will Return to Reebok Boston Indoor Games (16 December 2009) - 5000 and 10,000-meter gold medalist at the 2008 Beijing Olympics will be at the Reebok Boston Indoor Games on 6 February 2010. In her 2007 appearance at the Games, she set an indoor 5000-meter world record (14:27.42).

Barros, Gobena, and Akaba Will Race at Osaka Women's Marathon (17 December 2009) - Amane Gobena, who set a sub-2:27 best in 2009 at 2:26:03, will race in the 31 January 2010 Japanese marathon, along with two other women whose sub-2:27 bests were set in 2009 - Yukiko Akaba of Japan (2:25:40) and Marisa Barros of Portugal (2:26:03).

Bekele and Dibaba announce busy starts to 2010 (21 December 2009) - Ethiopia’s Olympic 5000m and 10000m double winners Kenenisa Bekele and Tirunesh Dibaba have a number of races lined up in the early part of 2010.

Other interesting news:

'African runners are excelling because they are natural athletes' (15 December 2009) - Gebreegziabher Gebremariam talks about why be believes African runners are natural athletes.

2009 IAAF Golden League Review (16 December 2009)

Usain Bolt sets world alight again (17 December 2009) - Overview of major running news in 2009.