I posted this in a separate thread but - did anyone else notice that Everlyn Kemboi NCAA 10k champ, 5k Runnerup is running but that she is listed as USA? Her WA profile says USA now too.
After she won last spring she said she was going back to Kenya to train for their Oly team so I wonder what happened. In any case, this is really interesting development for the US women's 10k team, and possibly 5k, as she is a major talent. Does anyone know who she is training with?
I've wondered about Kemboi too. She was fantastic in Austin last year and might've beaten Valby had she only run the 5. I thought her returning to Kenya had more to do with family/visa issues than a realistic chance of representing Kenya in Paris. A bit weird that her WA profile doesn't list a birthdate. Maybe JG or someone will get the latest from her in the mixzone.
I noticed she did not have a birthday also. She may be atleast 24, 25 (?) or so based on when she started competing in the NJCAA in the US (fall 2018) and being a redshirt sr last year but it is just a guess.
She had a blazing fast close, very curious if she has gotten faster and who her coach is now.
High School parent to their child, "Good luck at the meet today. You won't see or hear me cheering for you, because I'll be at home eating some good food and seeing if I can catch a glimpse of you on the stream. We think saving a few bucks is more important than being supportive parents. Hope you understand."
Honestly, how many meets does a high school kid go to that a parent would have trouble getting to? And how many of those meets will actually be on FloTrack?
Maybe, if its a really, big important meet. But if it is that important, isn't that even more reason to make the extra effort to be there?
YOU might think that. But most parents think differently.
Did you see the stands at the Armory this weekend for the Nike Indoor National meet? There were thousands of kids that competed there, and there were only a few hundred people in the stands. Subtract all of the coaches, and that means that there were very few parents there.
As far as college meets go, many college meets are far away from the college. The parents that live near the college can at least get to a few local college meets. The rest of the meets they watch on Flotrack.
And I know lots of college runners who have zero meets within 1,000 miles of where their parents live. You think their parents are going to fly to every meet? Nope. That's where Flotrack comes in.
Once again, you aren't a parent of a runner so you aren't Flotrack's target market.
If the parents weren't there, what makes you think they want to pay money for a stream that they won't even see their kid unless they happen to be in the lead?
And you still haven't made a case for a year-long subscription. The number of meets where the parent can't go AND is on FloTrack is minimal. And it mostly is in a one or two month period. If a parent finds themselves in that rare case of (a) I really want to go but can't (b) Wow, it just so happens to be on Flotrack, then just pay for one month to watch that one meet or two.
I am not hating on FloTrack, I am just saying if their business model is based on year-round subscriptions for high school kid's parents, that's a bad business model. If it is based on year-long subscriptions for college kid's parents, then that is small market, and you have some of the same problems, so that isn't a good business model either.
Their business model includes 3 types of people. (1) Year-round enthusiast who will watch a large variety of things (2) One time "I want to watch this event, my kid or favorite team is in it (3) Similar to 2, but the customer feels it may happen a few times in the space of one or two months.
The parents will fall into 2&3, not #1, they are a different target audience. I hope FloTrack isn't confusing the two. If they are, well, it's their money so they make their own choices. Just because I may think differently on their business model doesn't mean I want them to fail, on the contrary, I would to see them, or other companies like them succeed because I'm a fan too.
You bring up a good point. I wonder if Flotrack’s subscription somehow goes to the athletes? I highly doubt it, though. It is more likely revenue for themselves.
This is just pure speculation in a perfect situation, but I assume the breakdown of money is that Sound Running pays appearance fees to get good athletes / pacers / pay their event team. r.
No, don't believe so.
In his LRC interview a couple months back, Grant stated he's racing The TEN "for free."
However, this is a WA Continental Tour silver label meet, so there are cash prizes for the top few placers in the Paris 10k races -- not as much $$ as a gold label meet or DL meet, but more $$ than a bronze label meet.
This is just pure speculation in a perfect situation, but I assume the breakdown of money is that Sound Running pays appearance fees to get good athletes / pacers / pay their event team. r.
No, don't believe so.
In his LRC interview a couple months back, Grant stated he's racing The TEN "for free."
However, this is a WA Continental Tour silver label meet, so there are cash prizes for the top few placers in the Paris 10k races -- not as much $ as a gold label meet or DL meet, but more $ than a bronze label meet.
Sound Running does pay appearance fees for pacers. They don't pay for runners. They don't need to. This is THE 10k to be in if you need a fast time to qualify for the USA Championships/Olympic Trials, or if you need a qualifying time for the World Championships/Olympics.
They have pacers, good weather, pacing lights, and lots of other fast runners in the race to push you. Sound Running is doing everything they can to produce fast times.
That's why they have five 10k heats totally packed.
Sound Running does pay appearance fees for pacers. They don't pay for runners. They don't need to. This is THE 10k to be in if you need a fast time to qualify for the USA Championships/Olympic Trials, or if you need a qualifying time for the World Championships/Olympics.
They have pacers, good weather, pacing lights, and lots of other fast runners in the race to push you. Sound Running is doing everything they can to produce fast times.
That's why they have five 10k heats totally packed.
Thx for clarification above.
Happy to see there have been no dropouts since initial declarations were released three weeks ago.
Last year, Cranny & McGorty were the featured runners from the get-go -- only to be quietly removed from the entry lists without explanation a week or two later. Sean's stress fracture and Elise's RED-S/overtraining issues were revealed months later.
So, pacer announcements along with Nico's Big Reveal coming in a day or two.
Perfect weather conditions on Saturday evening for these races - 60 degrees (give or take), no precipitation, relatively calm winds.
26:40s for men
Calling a sub-30 for women's winner
...and fairly low humidity. That's why it's in San Juan Capistrano. There are few other places that can practically ensure ideal 10K race conditions on March 16.
Sound Running does pay appearance fees for pacers. They don't pay for runners. They don't need to. This is THE 10k to be in if you need a fast time to qualify for the USA Championships/Olympic Trials, or if you need a qualifying time for the World Championships/Olympics.
They have pacers, good weather, pacing lights, and lots of other fast runners in the race to push you. Sound Running is doing everything they can to produce fast times.
That's why they have five 10k heats totally packed.
Thx for clarification above.
Happy to see there have been no dropouts since initial declarations were released three weeks ago.
Last year, Cranny & McGorty were the featured runners from the get-go -- only to be quietly removed from the entry lists without explanation a week or two later. Sean's stress fracture and Elise's RED-S/overtraining issues were revealed months later.
So, pacer announcements along with Nico's Big Reveal coming in a day or two.
Nico is back to being listed on the website...
I think the most exciting development outside of that (if it's for real) is Gebreselama in the women's field. That's a legit competitor for Monson.
I think the most exciting development outside of that (if it's for real) is Gebreselama in the women's field. That's a legit competitor for Monson.
Gebreselama has been listed for weeks I’m pretty sure. Seems like it should be a 2-woman race.
Was Karissa Schweizer added recently? I don’t remember seeing her name before. Of course there’s a chance she’s pacing as a glorified workout.
Possible you are right and it's more I'm taking notice of if after she ran so well at RAK. I might be wrong, but I also feel she's done some workouts with Obiri/Monson via the ON connection? Again all promising for this being a really fast race, and perhaps she won't do what Eilish did and just sit behind her the entire race.
I think the most exciting development outside of that (if it's for real) is Gebreselama in the women's field. That's a legit competitor for Monson.
Gebreselama has been listed for weeks I’m pretty sure. Seems like it should be a 2-woman race.
Was Karissa Schweizer added recently? I don’t remember seeing her name before. Of course there’s a chance she’s pacing as a glorified workout.
Yes, Gebreselama was on the initial entry list released three weeks back.
Also, yes, Karissa Schweizer was just added today (3/12 Tue). Very surprising given she's just returned to regular training -- in Eugene rather than Flagstaff. You need two 10k races to obtain a Road to Paris WA ranking (unless you have the 30:40 Q), so maybe this signals she will be racing the 10k at the Trials.
In addition to Nico, I believe 12:58/5k Ethiopian Addisu Yihune was just added.
For those with qualms re: Flotrack $30/month subscription, suggest the following:
Sign up for one month on 3/14. You will then be able to watch The TEN, Stanford Invite on 3/29-30 and Bryan Clay on 4/11-13. Essentially, three PPVs @ $10 each.
In Sound Running's IG posts today (3/12 Tue), Sound Running responded to complaints about "selling out" to Flotrack.
Jesse William/SR simply stated that PPV was "not an option" this year. So they had to bring in a streaming service that could provide funding for the cash prizes that need to be offered to main the meet's silver label status.
In the past, Jeff Merrill's Tracklandia company provided the PPV stream with a portion of the funds going to the athletes.
Thus, one can assume that 1) Tracklandia was not willing/able to stream the meet this year; or 2) Tracklandia was asking for too much $$ to do so this year; or 3) Tracklandia was still willing to stream the meet, but the PPV model would not generate enough $$ this year to cover prize $$ expenses; or 4) Tracklandia & SR had a falling out and there was no other streaming service willing to step in at the right price that could still provide the cash prize funding.
The pacers aren’t listed on the start lists. The men have been set for several weeks now but the women one could imagine were a bit harder to find.
So everyone that is on any start list intends to race. There is a special link to those for coaches, agents and athletes that have had the pacers and paces set listed out for the past month.
The focus is breaking 27 for the Olympic standard - that’s it.
No one will risk trying to run 26:40 pace to potentially blow up - way too risky.
Fisher said as much during one of his interviews at an indoor race this season.
Yes, Grant did say he will not be taking any risks so is simply targeting a sub-27, not his 26:33 AR.
However . . .
A 27-flat 10k is approx 64.8 secs/lap which get you to 8k in 21:36.
Presuming there is still a pack of runners reaching 8k in around 21:36, expect a few of them -- who feel confident their sub-27 Q is in the bag -- to start racing for the win. Maybe Grant is with them, maybe not.
Thus, expecting one or more runners to crank the pace down from 65/lap over the final couple of kilos with the winner running a sub-60 last lap -- and a winning time under 26:50.
If Grant concedes the win or is having a bad race, my FTW dark horse is Adrian Wildschutt/RSA & NAZ Elite. 14th in the 10k in Budapest last year. He's been crushing it since.