Columnist Dean Juipe: Boulder 10K embarrasses all of America

MAYBE IT'S the Coors commercials or the old John Denver song. The pristine imagery. The sense of cleanliness.

It's the Rocky Mountains and everything is pure.

The barley, hops and malt are fresh and the scenery is spectacular. There's more than the usual 21 percent of oxygen in the air and the people come across as rugged in an Old West sort of way.

It's all very pleasing -- as long as you are perceived to be one of them. For in Colorado, there occasionally seems to be a surprising lack of tolerance for outsiders.

And Kenya, a hemisphere and a dozen time zones away, is as foreign as a herd of zebra to the sheltered folks of Boulder. Hence, when the Boulder 10K is run this summer, there will be no more than three Kenyans, or three Ethiopians, or three representatives of any country outside the U.S. despite the fact the field is open to unlimited thousands of Americans.

In a mindless decision that reeks of racism, the Boulder 10K has imposed a limit on the number of foreigners that can enter. No more than three from any foreign country can compete, which, the manipulative organizers believe, may help an American cross the finish line first.

"We hope to level the playing field," race director Bill Reef told the New York Times. "It's our country, our event, our money. American sponsors want American winners."

That's bull and Reef is doing everyone a great disservice.

"It's absurd," agreed Las Vegas International Marathon director Al Boka. "What they're doing in Boulder has a lot to do with racism. They're also trying to protect the U.S. runners who haven't been doing their homework."

U.S. marathoners are in a three-decade slump and Kenyans, in particular, have stepped in to dominate the international stage. Consider: there have been only three sub-4:00 mile times by American high schoolers in history and none since 1968; Jim Ryan's 3:55.3 U.S. record in the mile has stood since 1965; Kenyans have won the last eight Boston Marathons; 12 of the top 14 marathoners in the world are Kenyan; and, in Boulder last year, Kenyans took six of the top eight places.

So Boulder is going to legislate them out. Likewise, marathons later this year in Pittsburgh and Jacksonville and Columbus, Ohio, will not pay prize money to non-Americans.

"I don't know what they're thinking," Boka said. "It's not like the Kenyans are born with some special gene. They're good people who train hard at high altitude, while the typical American runner is lazy or isn't hungry enough to do the same type work."

When it comes to the Las Vegas Marathon, Boka says "I want anybody who wants to run." And that's the ultimate level playing field.

Besides, remember the thrill it was as a kid to play sports against slightly older guys? It was risky in that if you struck out three times the only consolation was having a big brother or friend tell you that competing against better and more experienced players was "the only way to improve."

That's a truism that extends not only throughout sports but to all walks of life, yet it's one they're ignoring in Boulder.

Every American should be ashamed.

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