Mo Farah is ducking the competition again - 2015 Great Edinburgh XC

[/quote]Its not hard to label him that at at all. The marathon wasn't a head first dive for him. He did it for the money. Showing up to the 10k doesn't mean anything when you are a 3:28 runner. It means that you are dodging competition in the 1500. There is no competition in the 10k anymore.

No one said he and Alberto don't know what they are doing. We are saying the exact opposite. They are purposefully ducking the competition. They know it. That means they know what they are doing.

That half against Gen and Bekele was the most legitimate race he has been in. And that was probably only because he thought Bekele would still be out of shape.[/quote]

Okay, so I said relatively rare. So, how many races would you say Mo has ran where he has "ducked" the competition? 10? I think 10 is over doing it, but let's go with 10. Now, compare that to the total number of races he has ran where he wasn't ducking competition. Probably 100 or more races in his career? So, 10% of the time he "ducks" the competition. That's not very often.

wejo wrote:

True story. I was at the Edinbrugh XC race a few years ago. Ryan Hall was kicking ass at the time. I spoke to a Brit (not someone associated with the race) and they said something along the lines, "What are you all doing? If Ryan Hall was a Brit I guarantee we'd make sure he won the London Marathon (by watering down the field)."

Well the good news is they didn't water down the London Marathon so Farah would win last year.

This one however is being set up so Farah wins. That's how our sport works a lot now. Farah runs, gets paid a lot, the race gets better TV numbers because he's running. I'm sure the organizers would say would you rather have Farah or no Farah even if he is in the "B" race.

Aren't all those other guys in the B race? It's senior XC ffs, what is it with 4k??

---MAYBE, everyone else is ducking MO?

--- He enters a 5K in Birmingham, why couldn't the "studs" enter there as well?

--- Most of these guys set their schedule well in advance

xenonscreams wrote:

It's almost like Mo Farah is better at and trains for distances closer to 8K than 4K

and which event did Rupp run last time. oh yes the 8km when the class was (supposedly) in the 4km at least Mo is running where is Rupp, probably getting ready to leave his best running behind on the indoor circuit

I would rather he race the 4km but as double Olympic and World Champion he has nothing to prove. He got beat in London and was hardly rewarded by the press for that. He was beat in the GNR by Bekele as well. He runs from 1500m to the marathon, that is hardly somone hwo ducks. Compare that to someone like El G who would not even show his face 'in an 800m his whole career for fear of being beat or Americans not racing in the world cross

Farah wanted to run Commonwealths but his doctors said no... he was in the hospital a couple weeks before. That's not ducking, unless you believe he's a straight-up liar and his doctors didn't really say that... which I'm sure many of you do. But then wouldn't it be a bigger story that Mo was lying about his health condition?

I also recall the Brojos also defended Mo on the homepage in 2013 when he announced he wouldn't do Commonwealth Games, due to the London Marathon. They must have changed their mind since then.

Though, some LetsRunners believe Mo intentionally spat on that camera man so there's no real limit to the imaginations here.

Also interesting that Lagat is in there... when was the last time he did an XC race?

I think another issue that people have with Farah is that he doesn't race outside Europe/Oregon very often. Guess the last time he ran a Diamond League event that wasn't in Oregon/Great Britain?

July 18, 2011 in Monaco. He set the British record in the 5k in 12:53.11.

Perhaps Farah/Salazar just don't see much benefit to traveling halfway across the world to run a few 5ks before Worlds. But what really irks some fans is that he's running at the same meet as a ton of really good guys but not running the same event. I get the logic of not going out of your way to run Diamond League races, etc. But I think the British fans would much rather see him race the top guys in the world (and possibly lose) than win easily in a race that's been set up for him. I know I would.

rojo wrote:

Look dude. I'm not calling out the NOP. I'm calling out Mo Farah.

Haile G used to largely run time trials at marathons. That drove me nuts as well. His marathon career did little for me as a fan despite his WR. Maybe he had HORRIBLE ALLERGIES but his decision to not even race the Olmpic marathon in 2008 was a bad one. That was the year he ran 2:03:59 in Berlin. Imagine if he'd been in Beijing against Wanjiru.

Okay, so Mo Farah is a ducker because he runs watered-down, non-championship races in the UK.

And Gebrselassie is a ducker for the Olympic marathon.

And Bekele is a ducker for running Paris and Dubai.

And Rupp is ducking every time he doesn't run a DL 5000.

What a bunch of losers.

Jonathan Gault wrote:

I think another issue that people have with Farah is that he doesn't race outside Europe/Oregon very often. Guess the last time he ran a Diamond League event that wasn't in Oregon/Great Britain?

July 18, 2011 in Monaco. He set the British record in the 5k in 12:53.11.

That's a bit of a technicality because he ran Monaco in 2013 (not a DL race but a top-caliber one), but fair point otherwise

Has everyone here forgotten about peaking?

If you're serious, and not so desperate for cash that you need to over-race, you don't over-race. You pick a time to be at your best and plan everything around that. For Mo, that's late summer on the track. The rest of the time, you need low key races every few weeks to liven things up, and the decision is more about when to slot a race in than who might show up.

If he turned out and raced all-out every time someone suggested it, he'd be a contender for "blue collar runner of the month" instead of Olympic Gold.

You still don't get it. In assessing Mo's career in years to come it will state European, World and Olympic Champion. You don't get a much better cv than that regardless of any other races he may or may not have ran. The time to have laid it on the line was those races, not some Grand Prix wherever it may be , or a 4k cross country race in Edinburgh. His preparation is based on Championships and not on what you would like to see him doing. Have a go at him if he runs poorly in these races. It's incredible how trolls on here criticise top runners as if they are machines. Mo gets flack with NOP because he doesn't go for world records yet Rupp still gets it even when he is the fastest 10k runner in the World this year. As I've said before , if the trolls on here are so knowledgable start coaching some decent runners and see how difficult it can be to peak for the major races.

Lol someone ^ doesn't know what a troll is

Maybe he needs to be MIA in case testers come knocking?"I'm on Richard Branson's island....no one can get to me here, sorry."

Breathe in breathe out wrote:

Jonathan Gault wrote:

I think another issue that people have with Farah is that he doesn't race outside Europe/Oregon very often. Guess the last time he ran a Diamond League event that wasn't in Oregon/Great Britain?

July 18, 2011 in Monaco. He set the British record in the 5k in 12:53.11.

That's a bit of a technicality because he ran Monaco in 2013 (not a DL race but a top-caliber one), but fair point otherwise

Oh yeah I forgot that one. I was only looking at 3k/2mile/5k. Hard to say he dodged anyone in that race!

HE WON'T BE ABLE TO DODGE CHRIS DERRICK IN THE 8K!!!!!!!

Its not a B race when Kenya and Ethiopia can't even enter a runner in the "A race"

dude, just because it might actually be his best time in any event, doesn't mean it's one of his events. i'd wager money farah doesn't devote a huge chunk of training to any 1500m races for the rest of his career, unless it's for a master record or something.

he already has the british record and won't go for the world record. just because an athlete is amazing at a certain sport or event, doesn't mean it's their sport or event