Bix

This course is VERY tough. Not uncommon to do this race at "half marathon effort"

http://www.qctimes.com/app/special/bix/map/

My congrats to Hall on the win.

freak.of.the.run wrote:

Also, Hall is the first American-born to win the race in 19 years. I'm sure if conditions were terrible we would have seen a much faster time out of him.

The times were slow, even compared to last year when it was American's only, but your comment about Hall being the first American-born to win is mute. The Africans don't come when its a US championship and Meb is usually the winner when that has happened. Of course it was going to be an American-born this year. That's like sending 5 middle school kids from Iowa to Italy to race each other and then saying "An American-born won this race."

"moot"

The heat and humidity was oppressive and this course is one hilly SOB. Nice job to Hall and Koll.

1) only american citizens allowed for the elite race now. a lot better chance for a whitey to win.

2) yes, lots of hills and humid/rainy weather. not the fastest race around. however, the weather was still better than what iowa's been having in the last few weeks.

3) congrats to hall!!!11

American citizens are not all white, dr. US citizen only means that a US citizen will win a US national race.

Nothing wrong with that.

freak.of.the.run wrote:

Also, Hall is the first American-born to win the race in 19 years. I'm sure if conditions were terrible we would have seen a much faster time out of him.

hmm could hall be the first american to win this race ... because this was an american only race???

moron.

dr zoidenstein wrote:

1) only american citizens allowed for the elite race now. a lot better chance for a whitey to win.

that's the way it should be, why should we contribute to the African GNP

runner39 wrote:

dr zoidenstein wrote:

1) only american citizens allowed for the elite race now. a lot better chance for a whitey to win.

that's the way it should be, why should we contribute to the African GNP

It's a race, man.

Vega moves back to the top of the team circuit standings after taking a few races off to run Boston. Way to go Antonio!

Great road racing debut for Lisa Koll!

bluemt95 wrote:

You all are so quick to judgement on here, like a bunch of elementary school kids. Did you watch the race? Rain and downpour and crazy hills. Ryan cruised the last mile for the win and broke away from the pack with ease. He obviously wasn't interested in or even try for an AR in those conditions.

I'm not judging him for his mediocre time.

I'm judging him for taking an easy win while ducking a race of almost precisely equal distance against strong competition (Wanjiru, Tadese, Cheruiyot, Kwambai and more), which he had in fact committed to previously (http://www.letsrun.com/2010/castelbuono0721.php).

This is exactly why he'll never be truly competitive on the big days (e.g 2008 Olympics, e.g. 2010 Boston) when he actually does (try to) race these guys.

I don't blame him for ducking those guys right now considering his schedule. (If you want to argue his marathon buildup - out of shape - marathon buildup - out of shape - ... annual routine, we'd probably agree a lot more.)

He'd have his ass handed to him right now with Wanjiru, Tadese, etc. in the race, and he'd lose some confidence. The fact that he didn't go to the well today raises my hopes. Let's hope he has some more tricks up his sleeve in this buildup since we won't see any speed out of him until Chicago.

Ran this race (not well). It was a pretty hard downpour the whole race. Hall was in the middle of the second pack until mile 4.5. Then he worked his way up and won. Bix is definitely not a time trial, and from seeing Hall race (he was in 6th when I saw him), he was racing to win and get a fast workout in, not set a course record. He looked comfortable while the rest of the field was gritting their teeth.

He needs that extra gear. He should try do some 10k training for a year and come back to marathoning and see how he does.

runner39 wrote:

dr zoidenstein wrote:

1) only american citizens allowed for the elite race now. a lot better chance for a whitey to win.

that's the way it should be, why should we contribute to the African GNP

Yeah, nobody wants to see open competition. That's not the American way!

Right, and while we're at it, let's keep Americans out of the French Open and Wimbledon and out of golf's British Open.

Solid runs by the men this year! Hall's time was same as 2nd place last year, Moran's time (2nd this year) only 5 secs slower than 2nd place last year, Quigley (3rd this year) faster than 3rd place last year, Vega also beat his time from last year by over 20 secs.

Women were significantly slower = weaker field with exception of Koll. Koll's winning time would have been fourth last year (behind Molly Huddle, Serena and Magda) no one around to push her as Hastings was over 40 secs behind.

2010

Ryan Hall 32:55 32:55 1 M 27 M2529 79 of 999 3 Mammoth Lakes CA

Ed Moran 33:00 33:00 2 M 29 M2529 80 of 999 7 Williamsburg VA

Sean Quigley 33:05 33:05 3 M 25 M2529 81 of 999 17 Philadelphia PA

Antonio Vega 33:08 33:08 4 M 26 M2529 82 of 999 15 Saint Paul MN

James Carney 33:21 33:21 5 M 32 M3034 70 of 958 11 Boulder CO

Lisa Koll 37:52 37:52 37 F 22 F2024 117 of 994 4 Fort Dodge IA

Amy Hastings 38:33 38:33 54 F 26 F2529 130 of 1205 8 Mammoth Lakes CA

Andrea Walkonen 38:43 38:43 55 F 23 F2024 118 of 994 42 Boston MA

Blake Russell 39:23 39:23 74 F 35 F3539 88 of 856 6 Pacific Grove CA

2009

Mebrahtom Keflezighi 32:25 32:25 16:00 1 M 34 M3034 1 of 762 1 San Diego CA

Anthony Famiglietti 32:55 32:56 16:04 2 M 30 M3034 2 of 762 3 Knoxville TN

James Carney 33:16 33:17 16:18 3 M 31 M3034 3 of 762 9 Boulder CO

Brian Olinger 33:29 33:30 16:23 4 M 26 M2529 1 of 830 39 Columbus OH

Antonio Vega 33:35 33:35 16:28 5 M 25 M2529 2 of 830 31 Saint Paul MN

Molly Huddle 37:37 37:39 18:49 29 F 24 F2024 1 of 844 14 Providence RI

Serena Burla 37:43 37:44 18:50 31 F 26 F2529 1 of 955 4 Ellisville MO

Magdalena Lewy-Boulet 37:45 37:46 18:50 32 F 35 F3539 1 of 645 2 Oakland CA

Ilsa Paulson 37:53 37:54 18:50 36 F 20 F2024 2 of 844 44 New York City NY

Python wrote:

I don't blame him for ducking those guys right now considering his schedule. (If you want to argue his marathon buildup - out of shape - marathon buildup - out of shape - ... annual routine, we'd probably agree a lot more.)

He'd have his ass handed to him right now with Wanjiru, Tadese, etc. in the race, and he'd lose some confidence. The fact that he didn't go to the well today raises my hopes. Let's hope he has some more tricks up his sleeve in this buildup since we won't see any speed out of him until Chicago.

Fine, fine...

I think you're right about his cycling. How could he get so out of shape between marathons every time? All of these other guys manage two marathons a year and actually compete between those times. Meanwhile, Hall cruises to easy victories in a lower league all summer, and we wonder why he doesn't have the stones to go with surges in the big shows.

We're talking about a US national championship.

I think if you look about the US you'll find more running events for non-citizens in this country than in any other country in the world. Do ALL our races have to be that way? Are all events in France and Britain open to all athletes, or do they too have certain national events reserved for people of their nationality - as in their national championships?