Mebrahtom Keflezighi & 2 others join the Incredible field for the 2005 London Marathon

Stupid Move

I don't understand why you think its dumb for Mebrahtom to run London, but I disagree with his spring marathon because he intially intended to train to lower his 1500m (3:42.29), Mile (4:02.79), and 5000m (13:11.77) times in 2005 to improve his 10000m American Record (27:13.98). The sudden turn around to participate in the marathon seems to me that he wants to compete against a stacked field on a fast course because he feel he is ready to pop (A REALLY FAST) one and confirm he is one of the best marathoners today.

Mebrahtom wouldn't committ to such a race unless he was sure he could and will be ready and compete very well. I guarantee that he will be shooting for AT LEAST top three; however, with the speed those guys have will he be able to keep up when the surges come late in the race? Mebrahtom really should focus on improving his 1500m, Mile, and 5000m times first and thus be better prepared to run a faster 10000m and Marathon. I think he could run around 2:07:30 (flat course) now but to go faster he needs to improve his speed at slightly shorter distances, strength can only go so far without some speed.

VIPAM

Micheal,

De Lima will be running Biwako in Japan next March.

Does this mean London will bid for the 2008 Olympic Trials??

We'll kick their ass!

Benoit Z? How about some more European marathoners?

Karl Keska is running

I Agree Montesquieu, is this to much? not sure how i feel about this because I always say these guys should run like the guys from the 70's and 80's and they would have run that many in a year. I didn't think Meb should run NY and he did great! I remember my coach (who coach Chris Fox and many other great runners) say to Chris well you have only so many good Marathons in you, Now tech. has made that different but is that true?

Paul Tergat 9/2

Evans Rutto 9/2

Gezahegne Abera 10/1

Stefano Baldini 10/1

Sammy Korir 10/1

Khalid Khannouchi 16/1

Meb Keflezighi 16/1

Jaouad Gharib 16/1

Abdelkader El Mouaziz 16/1

John Yuda 33/1

John Brown 33/1

Antonio Pinto 33/1

Field 12/1

Provisionally, here it is! Field will include any other athlete - pacemakers, Gebre, Jon Orange etc etc.

Personally, the last time London got billed as the big big race the race ended up slow and tactical with Abera winning. There's too many cats in the race for anyone to really go for it early. i can see it going the way of 03 unless one of the names with little to lose just goes for it (Korir or Rutto?).

Thanks, bookie. I'm a bit surprised that Korir doesn't get better odds. Although he raced poorly a few weeks ago, he all but tied Tergat for the WR in Berlin 2003, and has run faster than anyone else in the field (albeit not so consistently).

I can only imagine that Tergat wants this win, very very badly, after Athens, and might rather not risk losing the race and his record in another sub-2:05:00 showdown.

Tactical will also help Abera, Baldini, Keflezighi to hang in for a shot, but with this field it would be a shame for the top six guys to all finish in 2:07:xx. If it turns cat-and-mouse I'd love to see Korir and/or Rutto (and/or whoever else has it) put the gears to the field (and the clock) from early on. If this happens, and if conditions are right, London could very well get have the top two or three finishers in 2:04:xx.

Greatest marathon in history, anyone?

The Jerk wrote:

Greatest marathon in history, anyone?

5/2

2002 was a good stab at the title,2003 not a bad attempt at a sprint finish.

BBC America is a cable network I get. I've emailed them to ask them to broadcast the race. If you want to do the same, you can go to http://www.bbcamerica.com/about/contactus_suggestion.jsp

In order to run the times that you all are hypothesising these athletes will run, you can't forget how important the pacers are in this race. To run the 2:04.xx that we all think is possible by this amazing field the pacers have to be aware of not taking it out too fast. I am predicting, if the conditions are good, the pacers would have to take the first half out at a brisk pace in about 1:02-1:03'ish to be able to finish with a negative split.

Strategy also plays a huge role as well. If Tergat or KK want to keep the pace fast, which they have shown the rest of the world that, besides Korir, are the only 'real' contenders for the WR. Those two have clearly shown that they are up to fast pace that could occur. Now I'm not saying that the others can't compete at that pace, but some of the times that have been run by the rest of the field don't really contend with the WR time.

Meb would have a HUGE PR if he in fact was up to running that fast. You can't also forget that when one is running as fast as these athletes are running it is hard to shave off the seconds or even minutes it takes to run that fast. You have have run that fast before you truly know how fast that feels. Not only physically but psychologically. Besides, just being in the company of these great athletes will be the test. Not the race. I mean how many times have athletes walked onto the court with Micheal Jordan standing at the other end and couldn't perform because of his demeanor and stature? These athletes have to mentally prepared to run "their" race, not the race of the others that are competing.

Love, peace and chicken grease!

Carpe Diem,

Rungeek

Ukiah, CA.

Don't forget Ian Syster. Can this guy ever pop another good one?

Thomas

Khalid Khannouchi is without doubt the best marathon competitor of the lot. 2 time world record breaker. 4 time Chicago Marathon winner. This is his game. Don't count out this Moroccan born machine. He's about to return to his element. Remember in 2002 when he was ingnored, and what happened.............

I agree. If KK is in condition, he will have a fantastic chance. Khalid Khannouchi has never ran a marathon at 100% and lost.