Name the Top 5 US Finishers at Sunday's NY Half Marathon

Misty Green wrote:

psychology 101 wrote:

I apolgize. It looks like Pritz will show up. I strongly expected some mysterious injury. I guess I was wrong.

I have no direct knowledge that Pritz has or has not scratched my post was not an attempt to verify entrants just to answer the OPs Q with a guess of finishing order.

Then I go back to predicting that she is a NO SHOW.

I hope Molly kicks some butt just to shut up haters like you.

Raptured wrote:

THaving 5 Americans at or under 61:30 and putting Meb at 60:35 when he's nearly 38 is crazy. I would've put Meb at low-62 if he was healthy and running.

Indeed and they had a tailwind last year, making the course look a little faster than it really is. And there won't be pacers so anything could happen with the pace.

Meb and Abdi won't/wouldn't run much better than 61-high, and they don't need to - they can run better marathons than anyone else in the US off of that buildup half-marathon time. Hartman is a tiny bit younger but not quite in their league marathon-wise so I put him behind them.

Ritz is closer to track shape and Lagat is running this as a winter season finale so they should do better. Anything could happen with Lagat but it's more likely Ritz will beat him.

1. Ritz

2. Lagat

3. Abdi

4. Hartman

5. Guor Marial, who's now American, and the only other in the elite field

Wilson Kipsang (Kenya) - 58:59

Dathan Ritzenhein (U.S.A.) - 1:00:00

Abdi Abdirahman (U.S.A.) - 1:00:29

Julius Arile (Kenya) - 1:00:31

Tesfaye Girma (Ethiopia) - 1:00:36

Deressa Chimsa (Ethiopia) - 1:00:51

Meb Keflezighi (U.S.A.) - 1:01:00

Sam Chelanga (Kenya) - 1:01:19

Kenta Murayama (Japan/Komazawa Univ.) - 1:01:19

Kevin Chelimo (Kenya) - 1:01:21

Juan Luis Barrios (Mexico) - 1:01:48

Hafid Chani (Morocco) - 1:02:23

Daniele Meucci (Italy) - 1:02:30

Kento Otsu (Japan/Toyo Univ.) - 1:02:43

Ketema Nigusse (Ethiopia) - 1:02:59

Bado Worku (Ethiopia) - 1:02:59

Stephen Sambu (Kenya) - 1:03:02

Tesfaye Assefa (Ethiopia) - 1:03:13

Rob Watson (Canada) - 1:03:29

Jason Hartmann (U.S.A.) - 1:03:32

Odilon Cuahutle (Mexico) - 1:03:59

Guor Marial (U.S.A.) - 1:04:21

Bouabdellah Tahri (France) - 1:06:12

Leonard Korir (Kenya) - debut

Bernard Lagat (U.S.A.) - debut

source: Japan Running News

Clearly Kipsang seems to be the class of the field. I would bet AGAINST Ritz and Abdi coming close to their PRs

My calls:

Wilson 59:40 (Breaks the race wide open once they leave Central Park)

Chisma 59:55 (Will be fighting whatever moves Kipsang throws at him)

Bernie 1:00:20 (He will experience what road racing is really like as soon as the hammer is thrown down. Don't expect anything similar to Mo Farah's heroics with the former miler)

Chelenga 1:01:00 (from chase pack)

Korir 1:01:05

(If chase pack goes slower than 1:01:30, I could see Arile coming in 4th with an additional 15 seconds behind Lagat)

And among those on the American scene:

Lagat

Chelenga

Korir

Sambu

Ritzenhein (if he can't beat Chris Derrick, what makes you think he will beat Chelenga and Korir?)

Big Disappointments to come:

Tahri (this guy can't even back up his endurance on the track. what makes you think he will run a good half?)

Abdi (When has this guy raced most recently? It won't be pretty)

Girma (What has this guy done since 2006? rather than listing runners by their PRs, how about best times within the last 2 years?)

Lagat

Ritz

Chelanga

Big gap

Hartmann - marathon dress rehearsal

Abdi - marathon dress rehearsal

Bawcom

Krifchin

Pritz

Big gap

Rothstein Bruce - marathon dress rehearsal

Burla - marathon dress rehearsal

Wow, inside tracker isn't such an insider if he expects Pritz to race well 3 days after ankle surgery.

i hope lagat runs well enough that he will attempt a fast 10000 on the track (meaning american record attempt) before his career ends.

picks

i believe this is a slightly downhill/aided course right?

kipsang 59:30, over all winner.

top americans

lagat 59:40

ritz 60:20

abdi 60:22

chelanga 60:45

is chelanga a USA citizen? i heard he was trying to get citizenship, not sure if he has it yet though.

Tahri is out now too. They changed the course last year so that it is record-eligible now, just barely inside the rules for both drop and start/finish separation.

and the best picker was ??????????

Ritz

Korir

Hartman

Lagat

Abdi

Thompson

Rothstein-Bruce

Adriana Nelson

Bawcom

Borla

Krifkin

Sarah Cummings