American Bobby Mack Wins The Men's 8km Race At The 2013 Bupa Great Edinburgh Cross Country

Tom Humphries' "Pretty Honorable" Move To Steal The Race Comes Up Just Short

By LetsRun.com
January 5, 2013

A year after getting nipped at the end last year, American Bobby Mack time things perfectly and turned the tables on Spain's Ayad Lamdassem to win a thrilling the men's 8km race at the 2013 Bupa Great Edingbugh Cross Country. Mack didn't lead the race for more than a few seconds but he led when it mattered most - the finish.

Mack's unofficial time was 24:27 with last year's winner Lamdassem, a 13:17 (2006)/27:45 (2008) performer in the past who was 2nd at European cross country in 2010 and 2011 (6th this year), just behind in 24:28. Britain's 13:23/27:53 man Andy Vernon (13th European cross this year) was third in 24:29.

But the top three results don't tell the story of the race. Until the very end, the race belonged to 28-year old Brit Tom Humphries, who ended up fourth, for most of it. The 13:47 man had boldly taken a solo lead and the question was, 'Could he hold the chase pack off?'  

'Surely not, right?' But the longer he stayed up front, the more it seemed like it might happen as there he was with 1km to go and still a three plus second advantage. But in the end, the chase pack devoured him up perfectly when just a little bit more than 200 meters remained, much like early breakaways are taken down just at the last possible moment in the Tour de France.

Lamdassem passed Humphries some 23:49 into the race but Mack was stalking last year's winner and got the win in the kick for home.

The following grainy shots of the BBC One coverage tell the race story in pictures.


22:31 End  Humphries Still Leads


Less Than 400 Remaining But One Big Hill


Lamdassem Gets Humphries 23:49 In But Mack Is Stalking


Bobby Mack FTW!!!


Unofficial Top 10 Results

Unofficial Team Results for the 8km Race Only

Afterwards, triple jump world record holder Jonathan Edwards caught up with a happy Mack.

"Last year was all about timing and this year as well. Last year I got caught off guard. This year, I wanted to be up there in the mix up there a bit more with two or 3k to go," said Mack.

When questioned about Humphries bid to try to steal the race, Mack said, "That's a tough spot to be in. He was cutting all that wind himself. It takes a lot of guts to do that. Sometimes in the mud, it pays off with victory. (It sure was a) pretty honorable move."

Mack now will get ready for the US championships in three weeks as he's hoping to compete at World Cross Country in Poland.

Bobby Mack
A Happy Bobby Mack

"I really like a challenging course with the mud. I was in Poland in 2010 so I'd like to go back this year."

Humphries gutsy move may not have resulted in victory but it did at least win him a BBC interview.

The 13:47 man said despite finishing a disappointing 17th at European cross country, he knew he was in good shape.

"Training has been going well. Before the summer season. I was running 46:50 10 mile tempos," said Humphries who then saw his Olympic dreams dashed by a hip injury. "Training has been going well again. I'm not going to go for world cross this year. I'm going to try to get more rehabilitation of my hip."

"This is encouraging. I really want to break 13:15 (this year) . That's my main aim really."

2012 US Club cross country championship Jake Riley was the second American in the race in 9th with Craig Forys in 10th as the US men won the team title.

Full official results can be found here (we can't find them on the race website). *All race recap here.

More: MB Discussion: Edinburgh Cross on TV?


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