Americans at Comrades

Thank you for confirming your mindset of top three. Salazar went with the mindset of winning. Gifta, the guy that won, had the mindset of winning.

You do realize that CW, a 2:44 Marathoner, ran 6:12. That is 9-minutes slower than the top American at 6:03 with a 2:16 PB. Something is amiss.

Leirbag wrote:

Thank you for confirming your mindset of top three. Salazar went with the mindset of winning. Gifta, the guy that won, had the mindset of winning.

You do realize that CW, a 2:44 Marathoner, ran 6:12. That is 9-minutes slower than the top American at 6:03 with a 2:16 PB. Something is amiss.

Hey Leirbag, why don't you get out there and show them how it's done? It's all about mindset, not physical ability - so you have no excuse. Go out there with gusto and balls and win the thing! I'll be cheering for you.

Ok so top three is not good enough for you. Sitting at your computer you will accept only first place, or failing that, suicide.

From my own computer, and many experiences with Boston, it is clear that Comrades is a different beast, that takes many attempts to master (Kelehe and Woostmann and EllieG have done it several times). And as Sage says, it's best not to do Boston beforehand next time.

As for comparisons with Salazar, no American these days is as fast as him at the marathon either. We know this already. And Salazar was not in the race this year.

So all I see in your thread is Monday morning trashing of American runners who explored new challenges at the toughest road race in the world and have now embarked on the necessary learning curve. What a contribution you have made.

Why can't we just admit that Salazar had a kind of ferocity to him that stands out? Sure, all distance runners are tough. But that guy was maniacal. He just refused the lose, the only thing that defeated him was his own body. He was really struggling in those years, read the book (14 Minutes).

I was surprised that Max placed 50th with a 6:33. It is my belief that the front end depth is usually deeper than that, even taking into account the construction detour. When I ran a 6:46 in 1996 I placed 220th (also in the up direction). This year that time placed 83rd. Is Comrades going the same way as U.S. marathons with the depth disappearing?

Running per se has changed and Comrades for the front end and overall runner.The professionals who are the top 10 where 5,6,7,8,9 and 10th this year ran 5hrs54 plus,yet in 1996 36 runners ran sub 6.In 1988 12th ran 5hrs54.Ok so it was a little longer but they are "professionals" have coaches,get paid,have 10 times more technology,massages and i can go on and on.So in their defence would have more pressure to perform as their livelihood depended on it (they have yearly contracts).The top 100 think they going to win and receive all that(so maybe the reason for bad times) IMO regarding running and Comrades which i have been running since 1990its now about participating and completing hence the doubling of numbers 22000 from 9000 when i ran but at the expense of competing.Which is all good for business but Wow do the performances drop.This year there were 4000 non finishers at Comrades and i could go on and on about the huge decline across the board on performances.So Comrades gets glamourized to the general public(hence the huge amount of sponsors and a whole day television coverage) gets the numbers up and mission accomplished.Who cares if you did 6hrs or 11hrs59 you still finished.Dont get me wrong i am all for the numbers(very good for the sport) but again IMO thats why performances drop.

oakland runner wrote:

I was surprised that Max placed 50th with a 6:33. It is my belief that the front end depth is usually deeper than that, even taking into account the construction detour. When I ran a 6:46 in 1996 I placed 220th (also in the up direction). This year that time placed 83rd. Is Comrades going the same way as U.S. marathons with the depth disappearing?

Um, because she had an amazing race and I bonked? I've been beaten by women at 42km when I've had a bad race as well...it happens to runners at my level: at Boston the top women were only a few minutes back as well!As far as the competitiveness and history of the race...I don't know what it was like in the past but I can assure you that there was fierce competiton (prize money is huge!) in the huge lead pack early on. I'd also guess that a lot of the local guys in the lead pack aren't pulling big sponsorship deals and very well could be trying to run out of poverty or atleast improve their lifestyle...they focus their year of training on this one race (as I should have done). It is very important to them and they compete with everything they have!I also heard that because we attacked the hills so hard early on it caused some more damage (and hence some slower times and a bit more of a spread) in the second half than usual.

Leirbag wrote:

Thank you for confirming your mindset of top three. Salazar went with the mindset of winning. Gifta, the guy that won, had the mindset of winning.

You do realize that CW, a 2:44 Marathoner, ran 6:12. That is 9-minutes slower than the top American at 6:03 with a 2:16 PB. Something is amiss.

mckayla maroney wrote:

Leirbag wrote:

Sage almost matched Michael Wardian's 2012 time of 6:03:42, but a great reminder of how well Salazar's 5:38:39 was in winning in 1994.

As mentioned above, the course was 1/2+ mile long this year due to rerouting because of construction, so technically Sage ran faster than Michael. This was a very unimpressive performance for our top two American ultra performers. Goes to show what happens when you throw a few Africans into an ultra: they dominate it too.

Naming yourself after a teenage gymnast whose boobs have been made public...sigh!

Hay Sage, I completely agree with you. To win the Comrades you have to specificly train for it and make it your only focus for the year. I am sure of it that you can crack top 3 if you really focus on running it. Bruce Fordyce a 9 time winner only focused on it. He was slower than Salazar on a marathon (2.14) but his up run in 1988 of 5.27 is 10 minutes faster than Salazar's time. That shows that you don't have to be the fastest guy to win it, just the strongest. Fordyce finished 43rd on his debut. Mohammed Husien the 2 nd guy over the weekend is a 2.10 marathoner, but got smacked by the 10 minutes by a guy that is probably slower than that on a marathon. By the way Leonid Shetshov the course record holder ran his fastest time when he was 37

tired of dope trolls wrote:

sbear wrote:

If you know anything about Comrades you would know the DOWN is more difficult than the UP.

But let's not forget that Salazar was a drug cheat...

And you know this how?

What were you saying? Did you ask how I know this?