David Krummenacker and Bernard Lagat Brawl at Pre-Race Press Conference in Tucson, Arizona
LetsRun.com

At a pre-race press publicity tour stop in Tucson, Arizona, David Krummenacker and Bernard "Kip" Lagat, the chief combatants in this weekend's 1500 meter Battle in Beantown showdown at the adidas Boston Games, came to blows on a playground with Lagat beating Krummenacker to a pulp with a Gatorade bottle.

The runners were near the end of their press conference and were about to teach some stretching exercises to a group of underprivileged children when the melee broke out.

Things had gotten testy at the press conference with Lagat starting the verbal abuse. "I don't respect David Krummenacker at all.  He may be the fastest American middle distance runner in the world, but he's only the third fastest guy in Tucson.  These are facts."

And indeed they are facts as Lagat is faster than Krummenacker at 1500m and Krummenacker's roommate, Patrick Nduwimana has run faster than Krummenacker at 800.

Krummenacker was prepared for Lagat's verbal tirade and fired back a the press conference, "I do not fear Bernard Lagat. He is very good at getting second place in races. He never won an NCAA 1500 meter title while in college, and he always seems to finish second in the Golden League Races. I win Golden League Races. These are facts (editor's note: indeed they are).I expect the same result on Sunday."

Talk then turned to the third main rival in the Battle in Beantown, the diminutive Laban Rotich. Both runners dismissed Rotich's chances. "Rotich is 5 foot 5 on a good day and not even 100 pounds. He should be in the boys' high school mile," said Lagat.

The 6 foot 2 Krummenacker added, "The only thing I'm worried about Rotich is trying not to break his bones when I bump him on Sunday. He is a tiny little guy.  Even Kip could kick his ass in a fight".

With that, Lagat grabbed the Gatorade bottle on the lectern flipped the lectern over, and then lunged at Krummenacker, tackling him onto the grass. With that the beating was on.  LetsRun.com, the self proclaimed Tabloid of the Sport, got the exclusive photos below that show the beating in detail before there camera man was whisked away by meet security.

Fortunately, the fight was stopped when Abdi Abdirahman, the Mayor of Tucson distance running himself, pulled up in his 2002 Yukon Denali with 22 inch wheels, incredible sound system, and DVD player inside.  Lagat and Krummenacker quickly hugged each other and apologized and jumped into the back of Abdi's truck.

"Everyone knows this is Abdi's town. He's went to high school and college here and lives here now. David and I are nothing in this town. I didn't want to upset Abdi, and wanted to cruise the town with him, so I quit beating up on David," said Lagat.  

Added Krummenacker, "Abdi is the local hero. Everybody loves Abdi. It's kind of funny, We'll go out sometimes (without Abdi) and there will be a bunch of runners and someone will figure one of those guys must be Abdi and they'll just say "Hi Abdi".

Editor's note:  If track and field was a bit more mainstream, maybe you'd see more articles like this one.  But we made most of it up. (In real life, Lagat and Krummenacker often run together as on the day of this photo). However, the photos are legitimate, and the last quote by Krummenacker (the paragraph above this one) is a real quote. Seriously. We promise.

For the real preview of the Battle in Beantown between Krummenacker and Lagat click here.