"Absolutely Stacked" Pre 5000m is Incredibly Weak

2012 Results

1. Mo FARAH GBR 12:56.98

2. Isaiah Kiplangat KOECH KEN 12:57.63

3. Galen RUPP USA 12:58.90

4. Kenenisa BEKELE ETH 13:01.48

5. Thomas Pkemei LONGOSIWA KEN 13:03.88

6. John KIPKOECH KEN 13:06.71

7. Yenew ALAMIREW ETH 13:06.84

That one wasn't too bad, I think it's the first time Rupp beat Bekele, which helped build confidence to beat him and his brother for the Olympic silver.

Until they start giving substantial bonus money for running fast times ($25K for sub-12:50?), times probably won't be much faster than this, as much as I'd like to see Rupp go for an AR. All his other PRs, mile, 2 mile on up indicate he should indeed be good for a 12:45-48.

Bad Wigins wrote:

The prefontaine classic is more of a pageant than a track meet. Nike will parade all those big names in front of the geriatric fans, show it on NBC tv, and all the kiddies will think track is a big deal in America and buy a pair of Zoom spikes.

I have always got the impression that the top athletes don\'t give a shit how they perform there, and that those who do go all out are under some kind of contractual duress. Who wants to peak too early and ruin their chances in August?

I wonder why the Pre meet has been mentioned and or called one of the best if not the best meet on the Grand Prix circuit, year after year. Yes its Nike money, thank god shoe companies are spending dollars and keeping the track meets alive.

Athletes love the Pre meet BTW.

I'm not aware of anyone making this claim. Certainly European meets in the prime part of the season like Zurich are far superior. There are rarely even great performances at the Pre meet because frankly, it falls too early in the season. People are not in shape yet. Tom Jordan, the meet director knows this, so with Nike's largess he invites / pays the biggest names he can. The meetz reputation lies on the people invited, not the performances on the track. Quite often he loads up people coasting on past Olympic/World Championships glory but are not longer at the top.

5k meet just got stronger.

German Fernandez now entered.

Trevor Dunbar is the rabbit. Supposed to take them out at 7:48 for 3K.

So, 13:00 target pace.

With the race being under cool/calm Friday night lights vs. Saturday afternoon sun/wind, expect several sub-13s & a new MR.

Jenny Simpson broke 4 for the first time at the Pre Classic, of course she was not a top athlete at that time.

I hope it's a good meet, the W 1500 should be good since it is not a frequent event in the Diamond League this year.

The 5K will be over 13:03, my guess.

Deep thoughts and trenchant commentary LR...and your PR's are...? And your girlfriend's name is...? Yes, that's a very nice name...

chilhowee wrote:

Deep thoughts and trenchant commentary LR...and your PR's are...? And your girlfriend's name is...? Yes, that's a very nice name...

The OP makes an astute observation that the 5000m field at PRE is weak, and you start inquiring regarding his girlfriend's name and his PRs? How is that germane to the discussion? Try harder next time.

You nailed it except you were too optimistic.

mremri wrote:

The OP makes an astute observation that the 5000m field at PRE is weak, and you start inquiring regarding his girlfriend's name and his PRs? How is that germane to the discussion? Try harder next time.

ummm, legendary athletes on LRC run sub 14 5Ks with easy, have 10/10 girlfriends who work as high priced models, and make $250k per year "net." The information request is necessary to establish the legendary poster's level of trolliness.