Cragg's 12:57 legit?

i just watched the race on WCSN and don't think it was cragg either. Before seeing the results that someone just posted I thought it was a moroccon (shorter, stockier, dark hair). He clearly crossed the line at 12:58 and not 12:57 as well.

There was also a guy in an adidas singlet (definitely white) about 25+ meters back mid race that you can not see again in the race footage.

In the original results there was no other white guy (seidi seif was wearing Nike and webb was WAY back from the start) that it coulda been.

I really believe that Cragg DNF'd and the other dude ran 12:58.

also, the mystery man in adidas that ran sub 13 closed in 56-7.

I raced both but was mainly up against Warren. I actually roomed with duncan At the Jr Nationals in Greenpoint! Small World on this Message Board!

mir wrote:

hey zzz,

I was probably beeing economical with the truth re their school being down the road from us, didnt expect a saffer to be lurking! What I do remember is seeing their names in the Joburg results section of the newspaper, and one or two of our chaps being familiar with them as most schoolboy runners at the time were. I think I'm referring to the two older brothers, Im pretty sure the one was Duncan. They were like the guys every runner knew of, if not having raced or met them. Their times were quite intimidating for wannabe runners to behold. I was at King Edwards.

I ran at Greenpoint,in about 1996 but not in as prestigous an event as yours, we were having the WP Defence Champs and they were held at greenPoint, but only Defence athletes so not the highest of calibres, some good athletes tho

so what school did they go to?

mir wrote:

so what school did they go to?

They went to Greenside. If I remember your Athletics season was in January whilst we ran in October. So you might not have come across them but I tell you they have an amazing team. Both Craggs, Richard Cooney and I think Svan Haines went there all could run under 4:00 for the 1500 at Altitude. I Live in the States now but have bumped into Duncan at a few races and he is living down in Tezas now, I believe he is still running pretty well.

These Africans run sub 12:55 at the drop of the hat.

Webb has a far better chance of being competitive in the 1500 than the 5000. He is still ranked in the top ten in the 1500 by the IAAF.

It is sad that Webb had to through away his season on that absurb 10k. I knew when he announced last year he was moving up to other events that it would be a disaster. What is wrong with being ranked 8th in the world in the 1500.

no, we also ran in sep to about oct, whatever it was it was around there. Its just that KES ran against Pretoria, StStithians, St Johns, Parktown, Jeppe some others from Joeys, then there was the Durban tour against Maritzburg, Durbs, Glenwood, and someone else. I think our B side would run against other schools not named above. Maritzburg always kicked our arses. sub 4 at altitude is wicked at that age, running in Joeys was such a pain, then youd go to Durbs and break all your PBs!

oh zzz,

a smaller world, I went to Greenside Primary, wonder if they went there?

To be fair I went to 7 different schools in joeys til I settled at KES

zzz wrote:

mir wrote:

so what school did they go to?

They went to Greenside. If I remember your Athletics season was in January whilst we ran in October. So you might not have come across them but I tell you they have an amazing team. Both Craggs, Richard Cooney and I think Svan Haines went there all could run under 4:00 for the 1500 at Altitude. I Live in the States now but have bumped into Duncan at a few races and he is living down in Tezas now, I believe he is still running pretty well.

zzz, what happened to the middle brother, heard he ended up in the UK after school and struggled a bit?

wcsn subscriber wrote:

they'll revise the results as they like to monitor this board for review of all things running...

I would like to nominate this post for the Letsrun Hall of Fame

Actually there were four Brothers, One unfortunately died from complications from, I believe, a suicide attempt. Warren went to live in England and again from what I heard did not continue running not for any real reason other then he was done and settled down.... Could be wrong.

All I can say is: though I like Cragg, I was definitely shocked to see he had supposedly ran 12:57. He's a bad-ass, but I just didn't think he had a 12:57 in him at this point in time (maybe someday, if he shows more signs of improvement).

Also: in a way I am glad he did NOT run 12: 57, because......if he had, people like Flagpole would have jumped on it like crazy saying: 'wow, if Cragg can run 12:57, then Ritz can run 12:50 for sure. Ritz is better than Cragg.' Even though that makes absolutely no sense (Ritz is NOT 7 seconds more talented than Cragg at 5k. In fact, he is LESS talented than Cragg for 5k), he would have said it anyway (he is after all Flagpole).

And others would have said: 'Cragg ran 12:57? Goucher, Webb, Broe, Hall, Teg, etc, etc, etc will all be breaking 13:00 too. It's just a matter of time since they are as talented.' But luckily, we won't have to listen to that shit, since Cragg did not run 12:57.

I am just in shock that a mistake like this could happen. For it to happen initially, yes I see that. But how does it get this far? There had to be several people screaming at race officials as soon as this was posted. I mean did the guy who actually ran 12:57 forget and think he DNF'd?

I'd couldn't imagine that Cragg would just go with the results - not because I know anything about his character - but because this is one of those things that will get straightened out, and if he says nothing he looks like a jack ass.

Did the officials just shut everyone out assuming they were complaining about something dumb?

I'd couldn't imagine that Cragg would just go with the results - not because I know anything about his character - but because this is one of those things that will get straightened out, and if he says nothing he looks like a jack ass.

If Cragg DNF'd he probably did not even look at the results so this in no way reflects on him. Only the race officials look like jack asses

the asshole wrote:

You morons Cragg was no where near under 13. You people must really have shit for brains.

action speak bullshit walks

The letsrun front page also declares that it cannot be. So there you have it. IAAF will update soon.

this is in no way unprecedented, willis beat El G at the famous Golden Gala race where Ramzi won, but the results don't show that, even though the photo finish photo clearly shows willis coming in ahead of El G. It's quite embarrasing that the iaaf is this unreliable.

sheister wrote:

this is in no way unprecedented, willis beat El G at the famous Golden Gala race where Ramzi won, but the results don't show that, even though the photo finish photo clearly shows willis coming in ahead of El G. It's quite embarrasing that the iaaf is this unreliable.

I agree. Mistakes happen, but hasn't 2006 been particularly bad? I still have doubts about that 100m in Doha.