2011 BUPA Great Edinburgh "Team" Race Recap: Mo Farah Over Galen Rupp, Europe Over USA

By LetsRun.com
January 8, 2011
*Edinburgh Photos

A snow-covered course made for some true cross-country at the 2011 Great Edinburgh XC Race. The chill may have been tough on spectators, but no doubt it made for great visual images on the live national television broadcast on the BBC.

Recaps of the team race here. Recaps of the individual races here.

Men's Team Race: Mo Farah Over Galen Rupp


Farah And Rupp

The final race of the day was the 8.22km "Team" Challenge, which featured teams from the UK, the US, an under-23 UK team and a European team. The African stars of the sport (2 Olympic champs and a World Champ) were in a separate 4k race (recap here).

The class of the field in the men's team race was British star Mo Farah (sub-13:00 runner and European 5k and 10k champion), American Galen Rupp (#2 all time at 10k for US, NCAA XC Champ, US 10k champ), and XC specialist Sergey Lebid (9-time European XC champ).

In the end, Rupp and Farah put on an interesting battle, and the organizers no doubt got what they and all the British faithful wanted - a British champion - as on the second of three times up and down the steep uphill and downhill on the course, Mo Farah pulled away from the field and was able to lengthen his lead and hold off Galen Rupp until the finish. Rupp was a strong second, and the in-form Ayad Lamdassam (former Moroccan now running for Spain, 2nd in the San Silvestre New Year's Eve road race) was a strong third over Lebid, who was a strong fourth over a fast-closing Andy Vernon, who was 5th.

Europe led the team race for most of the day (6 of the 9 runners scored in the team competition) and was able to hold off the US team by just 3 points. After Rupp, the US was led by former NC State runner Bobby Mack (who broke through in 2009 to make World XC after years of injuries during his final years at NC State) in 6th, and former Chico State star Scott Bauhs in 7th, with Stephen Furst in 9th.

While the second half of the race was about the Farah and Rupp battle, they were not the leaders early on. Stephen Furst, recent winner of the Emerald Nuts Midnight Run in the US, took his turn at the front. The course featured 3 short loops (1,234m with hay bales) and then 3 longer loops with a treacherous uphill and downhill (see the photos) that was 400m from the finish on the final loop.


Farah Starts Pulling Away
2nd Time Up Hill

The first time up the big hill, Rupp went to the lead, but afterwards he said it was just to make sure he had good footing. The second time up the big hill, Farah struck and started to pull away from the field and Rupp. Farah opened up a gap and was able to maintain it during the final loop to prevail by a comfortable nine seconds over Rupp.

Farah is in good form as he lost a sprint finish to Diamond League 5,000m champion Imane Merga in the Bo Classic in Italy on New Year's eve. For Rupp, it was his first race since Thanksgiving. Both now turn their attention to rest of the winter season. Rupp's focus will be on the indoor season and trying to run fast eventually on the track in Europe indoors. Then he will take a break (one week off according to coach Alberto Salazar) and gear up for a peak in the outdoor season and the World Champs. Farah will either run World Cross-Country or European indoors but has not made the decision yet.

As mentioned above we spoke to Farah, Rupp, and Salazar afterwards. Interviews below.

We also spoke to US team members Matt Gabrielson (18th - he hopes to make another World XC team this winter, enjoyed the team aspect of the race and mentioned LetsRun.com calling it a "JV" race), and training partners Bobby Mack and Stephen Furst (both are in grad programs at NC State, although Furst will be in Germany for the next couple of months working on his Ph.D. in mechanical engineering, and both have had big breakthroughs of late).

Rupp Certification Comes to an End
Our talk with Scott Bauhs, however, will win the day for most LetsRun.com interviewers, as he ends the debate once and for all on "Rupp-certified" cross-country courses. Baush says, "All you LetsRun nuts out there, I think this course right here puts an end to the 'Rupp certified' phrase."

Interviews and results below. *Women's Race And Men's 4k Race Recaps: Kipchoge And Masai Triumph In The Snow Of Scotland

Galen Rupp Pleased With His Runner Up Finish

Alberto Salazar (8:45) On Rupp's Race, Rupp's 2011, Running More Miles, And Ritz
 

   

Mo Farah On The Win And The Winter (2:40)

Scott Bauhs On "Rupp Certification" (a longer interview on his race is below)

   

Matt Gabrielson On Edinburgh And Trying To Make Another World XC Team

Scott Bauhs On His 7th-Place Finish And Plans For 2011

   

Bobby Mack (R) And Stephen Furst (L) On Edinburgh And Training Together At NC State (Part 1 (2:46))

Bobby Mack (R) And Stephen Furst (L) On Edinburgh And Training Together At NC State (Part 2 (2:39))

 

 

2011 Team Race Results

Pos Name District Team Time
1 Mo Farah GBR 00:25:41
2 Galen Rupp USA 00:25:50
3 Ayad Lamdassam EUROPE 00:25:55
4 Sergey Lebid EUROPE 00:26:00
5 Andy Vernon GBR 00:26:14
6 Bobby Mack USA 00:26:15
7 Scott  Bauhs USA 00:26:16
8 Abdellatif Meftah EUROPE 00:26:18
9 Stephen Furst USA 00:26:24
10 Joe Sweeney EUROPE 00:26:29
11 Ryan  McLeod GBR 00:26:29
12 Youssef El Kalai EUROPE 00:26:30
13 Jeroen D'Hoedt EUROPE 00:26:33
14 David  Jankowski USA 00:26:35
15 Ed Moran USA 00:26:38
16 Tom Humphries GBR 00:26:40
17 Frank Tickner GBR 00:26:42
18 Matt  Gabrielson USA 00:26:43
19 John  Beattie GBR 00:26:43
20 Scott  Overall GBR 00:26:44
21 Marius  Ionescu EUROPE 00:26:49
22 Derek Hawkins Scot Univ GBR U23/U20 00:26:49
23 Nick Arciniaga USA 00:26:51
24 Ross  Murray GBR U23/U20 00:26:51
25 Lee Merrien GBR 00:27:04
26 Phil Nicholls GBR 00:27:05
27 Richard Goodman GBR U23/U20 00:27:05
28 Jesus Espana EUROPE 00:27:10
29 Ashley Harrell GBR U23/U20 00:27:25
30 Mitch Goose GBR U23/U20 00:27:34
31 Alastair  Hay East 00:27:36
32 Andy Combs GBR U23/U20 00:27:46
33 Murray  Strain East 00:28:07
34 Andrew  Douglas West 00:28:08
35 John  Mcdonnell GBR U23/U20 00:28:09
36 Callum  Hawkins West 00:28:12
37 John  Newsom East 00:28:18
38 Andrew  Crichton East 00:28:20
39 Ross  Matheson East 00:28:24
40 Ross  Houston East 00:28:26
41 Ben  Conner GBR U23/U20 00:28:28
42 Craig  Ruddy West 00:28:46
43 Paul Leck Scot Univ 00:28:52
44 Robbie  Farnham-Rose GBR U23/U20 00:28:53
45 Ben  Hukins East 00:29:01
46 Paul  Sorrie West 00:29:05
47 Mark  Pollard West 00:29:10
48 Jack Hamilton West 00:29:11
49 Mark  Haskett East 00:29:12
50 Michael Crawley Scot Univ 00:29:28

 

*Women's Race And Men's 4k Race Recaps Here
*Edinburgh Photos

Disclosure: Nova International, the organizers of the Great Edinburgh race, paid for LetsRun.com's Weldon Johnson's travel and accommodations to attend the 2011 Great Edinburgh XC Race from his vacation in Spain.

Quantcast



Tell a friend about this article
(Dont worry we won't email your friend(s) again. We send them a 1 time email)
Enter their email address(es), separated by a comma.
Enter your name:

Don't Worry: We
Back to Main Front Page
Questions, comments or suggestions?Please email the LetsRun.com staff at suggestions@LetsRun.com.



Runner's World &
Running Times


Combined Only $22

a Year
Save $87



Running & Track and Field Posters


Search the Web
or LetsRun.com
Google

Web

LRC


Running Shoe Savings: Nike Lunar Glide 20% Off
Super popular shoe from Nike featuring Flywire and Lunar Foam


Back To Top