derper wrote:
derper wrote:Word is that he is going for the 20K American record
Sorry, forgot to add:
The only reason they are targeting this record is because it currently belongs to Ritz and both Al Sal & Rupp are pissed at him for talking about them to USADA.
I would be very surprised to see Rupp set the AR on Monday. First, the weather is an issue. Starting temp will be 65 degrees with 70% humidity. Likely finishing close to 70 degrees. These are not ideal conditions to run fast.
Second will be the historical times in this race and lack of any pacers. The US Record is 56:48 which is a 4:34 pace set by Ritz in Birmingham in 2011.
The US Championships record is 58:30, set by Teg in 2015 at New Haven - per
https://www.usatf.org/statistics/champions/USA20km/men.aspNew Haven Course Record is 58:29 by Gilbert Rutto (1995). Based on the race website, which posts results to 1999, a 58 minute winning time has been achieved on only 4 occasions. You'll be asking Galen to run just under 2 minutes faster than has ever been run on this course.
For Galen to have a prayer, he is going to need some serious pacing help. New Haven does not deploy pacers. Perhaps Nike brings them in just for Galen, but I feel like you'd have heard about this already - because there aren't a ton of guys who can go out and drop a perfectly paced 28:25 10K on the roads.
The next best runner in the listed field, based on time/placement/recent results/etc... is Leonard Korir who ran the Peachtree 10K at a 4:33.5 pace. Last year he ran New Haven in 59:15. He just ran Falmouth in 32:14 in difficult conditions (4:36 pace) and he is coming off the world championships (27:20 10,000m, 4:24.5 pace). Korir is likely the only one who could pace Rupp toward a record, but in doing so, he'd likely be sacrificing his own race.
Other notables - Sam Chelenga who ran the Bix 7 miler in 4:41 pace, Abdi who just ran Falmouth in 4:43 pace. Ritchie and Landry are great runners, but I doubt they're looking to take this race out sub 4:40. Certainly not to benefit another footwear sponsor.