Yara

The sorry state of middle-distance running in this country was brought into disturbing focus recently when it was disclosed our best two 10,000-meter runners, Mark Nenow and Bruce Bickford, have continuing hamstring and Achilles problems and are probably done as world-class performers. Thing is, both are 33 years old and should have been replaced by now.* The BRRC begins its championship series Sunday with a 10-miler beginning at 9 a.m. at Loch Raven. The club has realized an impressive gain in the average number of entries in series races.

Ralph Morales took a circuitous route to the Baltimore Road Runners Club's eight-miler at the Loch Raven watershed Sunday, but in keeping with the spirit of the Father Time Frolic, he wasn't that far off track.Morales, who lives in Mount Washington, drove to Robert Yara's house in Cockeysville. The two of them ran to the start of the Father Time Frolic at Peerce's Plantation and then ran the eight-miler to the old dam and back. They finished the race tied for first place in 44 minutes, 1 second.

Joe Chamberlin had done a 4-mile training run at Herring Run Park earlier Saturday morning, but there he was an hour later, circling Lake Montebello at a somewhat slower pace.And it wasn't as a warm-up to the Baltimore Road Runners Club's Santa's Sack 6-Miler that would take off at 9:30. It was to accompany 2 1/2 -year-old son John Kirk Chamberlin on his debut on the road-running circuit. A host of other children, assorted elves, fun runners and walkers, and Santa Claus himself, also were on hand for the BRRC's annual Santa's Sack Run, a fun run around the lake.

Speed merchants, take note! The 5-K has officially replaced the 10-K as running America's choice of race. Latest statistics compiled by The Athletics Congress show the shorter event moved past the old standby after being nowhere in sight two years ago.* Dave Berardi (1:26:25) and the next two finishers, Jack Peach and Rod Young, dipped under 1:30 at the Metric Marathon in Columbia. Rose Malloy (1:40:26) was the top woman by minutes in the field of 675 starters.* Jan Klecker picked up an extra $5,000 (raising her winnings to $13,000)

The Chicago Marathon was run a couple of weeks ago. The Marine Corps and New York City runs went last Sunday. This weekend, it's on to nationals in Columbus, Ohio, and the lead guy can gain a spot on next year's World Championships team. It's quite obvious all these marathons being jammed in together isn't helping anyone, and the state of American distance running is already a mess.For instance, Ed Eyestone ran fifth in Chicago (2:10:59), which, if he could have done the same thing in the Big Apple, would have put him well ahead of the field.

IAAF makes marathon qualifying odds as long as the race 0) itselfNice kick in the teeth U.S. marathoners have received with regard to the World Championships in Tokyo next summer. The winner of the Columbus (Ohio) Marathon goes as our national champion, but a second or third entrant must meet a qualifying standard of 2:12. The IAAF dropping the standard by two minutes has everyone baffled.* U.S. runners John Tuttle and Gordon Bloch (a woman) could do no better than thirds at the Twin Cities Marathon last weekend.

Robert Yara isn't indestructible after all.It's not that he had a bad showing in Sunday's 12th-annual Zoo Zoom Five-Miler; it's difficult to contest a 28-second, first-place finish in a better-than-average field.It's just that Yara, the man who ran fourth in last year's Stamford (Conn.) Marathon and came back the following week to win the Maryland Marathon, sat out a race last week.But Yara had good reason for the decision. Yara is in training for the Stamford Marathon, and two weeks ago, he ran in -- and won -- the American Legion Parkton 10K a day after he had completed a 20-mile training run."

Everyone knew the Australians were a force to be reckoned with when it comes to triathloning. But few imagined they'd go 1-2-3 led by Greg Welch's 1:51:37 at the World Championship test at Walt Disney World in Florida last weekend.The United States had just one in the top 10 on the men's side, but Terry Myers evened the score somewhat by pacing the women in 2:03:33. Canadian Carol Montgomery was second in 2:03:47, three seconds ahead of two-time Baltimore Triathlon winner Joy Hansen. More than 1,000 from 48 countries competed.

Robert Yara is a threat to win any road race he enters hereabouts, but by his choice, he made the task tougher than it had to be in Sunday's American Legion 10K Country Run in Parkton.Yara, 35, made off with a 31-second victory over John Floyd, but it was anything but easy. That's because Yara is training for the Stamford (Conn.) Marathon on Oct. 14, and he had done 20 miles in preparation for it Saturday."I got confirmed for Stamford on Saturday," Yara said, "and I knew if I was going to race [Sunday]