Great races won by running from the front from the start

what in the holy hellll are you trying to say?

Lexmark wrote:

what in the holy hellll are you trying to say?

I think he was copying that Walter Dix (the white hurdler not the black sprinter) post from the other day.

Didn't Daniel Komen win that big DL 5k over Haile Gebrselassie by leading pretty much the whole way? Either way, him finally dropping Geb with like a lap to go after Geb had been sitting on him was incredible. Not far off the WR either.

Joan Samuelson, 1984 Olympics. Ran at the or near the front until 3 miles and then broke from the pack to go and win.

Timmy Jenkins wrote:

Ngugi 1984 Olympics 5000

It was the 1988 Olympic 5000 and is fantastic front running.

How about Dathan Ritzenhein in the International Belfast XC race?

My recollection is that he took off from the very start and led the entire way. He was a relative unknown at that event.

james hogue wrote:

worst post ever?

Maybe his English class read a lot of Faulkner last semester, and his use of 'Lol' was intended as anachronism.

Jipcho lead the 1st 800m or so of Keino's '68 race, sacrificing himself.

I watched the California North Coast Section 3200 this season. I expected Ben Eversole, who had run 8:59 at Arcadia this season, to win as nobody in the race had a time within ten seconds of that. Some fellow named Luis Luna took the lead immediately and I expected him to die out, or at least fade back to the rest of the pack, but he kept up a 50 meter lead to win in 9:13 by 6.1 seconds. Eversole got 2nd, beating 3rd by .01 seconds and 4th by .05.

At states Luna got an 8:55 for 6th.

i think we need to leave out marathon,s and half marathons as well seeing as that is just a completely different matter. its long enough where running from the front works very effectively.

i think world records should be left out as well, but only if they are rabbited, unrabbited races can be put into this seeing as you are in fact, leading. with a world record you can have a rabbit and thats not the same thing.

I'll add my two cents though and say when tom byers beat ovett, walker, cram, scott and a bunch of other great milers in a 1500m world record attempt (I know i just said leave records out of this, but this is a bit different and deserves to get mentioned). the whole pretending to be a rabbit makes it even better.

9.25/10

Hear. Hear. Paula is a joy to watch. Not only can she take the lead, but she can finish the race, too.

Can she ?

Hayley Yelling winning the euro xc after a year out of the sport.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/athletics/8410713.stm

The fact that GF is mentioned is laughable, he won a race when 4 of the top 1500m runners were out of it. He won simply on the fact that nobody else of any caliber was left.

That's like claiming Nick Symmonds is a great racer when he doesn't have to run against Kaki,Rudisha, Tangui, Yuri, and Ishmel.

Nick Symmonds is a great racer and GF's race at nationals was also excellent front running.

Paula Ivan, 1988 Seoul 1500

Ryan Shay led wire to wire to win the 2001 NCAA Championship 10,000 at Hayward.

Eight months after Shay's death, in the 2008 US Olympic Trials 10,000, on the same track where Shay won his title, Abdi Abdirahman led almost every step on his way to his win. Intentionally or not, it was a poignant tribute to his friend.

This might not fit the "great" races in the sense of olympic or WC's, but Ryan Hall of course has done some great front running.

His 1/2 marathon AR (which was also a US 1/2 marathon championship win?) was a sight to behold. Leading the whole way, up nearly 20 seconds at 5k, and then running alone the whole way. It was a complete solo effort, amazing. And he smashes American and North american records for several distances. Wow.

Did he win a us x-c title this way? I know Ritz was a little sick or something, and Hall destroyed him and everyone else. Don't know if he led the whole way.

Lynn Jennings' wire to wire victory at world cross country in '90.