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
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.
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)) |
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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.
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