Might Galen Rupp have his own rabbit in Chicago? A Ricky Simms' athlete is a last-minute addition to Chicago

Stuff like that happens in so many marathons or big races. One guy follows a person who is leading is almost every race. People complain about clipping in lots of circumstances. If that happened in Bostom, it’s probably no different from what I have seen dozens of times in other races. People just care more when it’s Rupp. I just want to see a good race tomorrow. I prefer no pacers but I dont think we should preemptively declare it ruined by Bett’s presence, whether or not he was brought by Rupp.

Boston Rupp wrote:

The most recent is Boston 2017. Rupp clipped the heals of several runners he was trying to use, without permission, as personal rabbit. Kirui had enough of Rupp's nonsense and left him in the dust. The drafting by Rupp was not enough for him to keep up with Kirui's increased pace.

Why only Rupp? wrote:

Which time? The time he trailed Bekele and Rotich or the time in Eugene where the whole field benefitted from a rabbit (Sambu?) who finished the race.

rojo wrote:

Do not bet on BETT @ sub 2:10 wrote:

His 1/2 marathon 1:02ish PR puts him as a 2:10 marathon and last year he ran 2:16 for his marathon debut

What are you talking about? His half-marathon PB is better than Rupp's. It's 60:08.

I was wrong he ran 2:16:10 & 61:47 last year(62ish) but his PR from '15 is in fact 60:08.

In Chicago wrote:

Anyone in the elite field could hire their own pacesetter. This is known to all entrants well in advance, but only Rupp is taking advantage this year. It breaks no rules whatsoever.

1. Please remember we dont have any confirmation of anything. I"m just telling people what the scuttlebutt is in Chicago according to our boots on the ground.

2. No anyone couldn't hire a pacesetter as the race is sold out. Additionally, many of these Africans don't make much money so Rupp woud have way more resources. I guess one could say the Yankees have way more financial resources than my beloved Orioles but this is different than that.

But for other races that don't sell out, I always thought it would be funny if a stud Kenyan showed up at a race that tries to manager its field (not talking about Chicago) and just bought a bib.

3. To the people who don't understand how this is different than Bayer, Bayer qualified for the race. THis guy was added by meet management at the last minute to a race which has specifically highlighted the fact they don't have rabbits.

This happens in WMM all the time - the Kenyans do it in literally EVERY race. And is he seriously going to run directly in front of Rupp and break the wind for him for 20 miles? If he pushes ahead, he is setting the pace for EVERYONE that wants to go, not just Rupp............

+1

Were the founders of this website talking about how controversial that was (not that I'm saying it was)? Also haven't ya'll been advocating for pacers to come back to Chicago? It's good if he is in there to go through in 1:03-1:04. I'm in. I'd rather see a 2:05-07 FTW instead of 2:11.

Also a small part of me hopes that Nike just spent money on that dude to troll this website. It clearly got a bigger reaction than warranted.

wins by a hare for 200 Alex wrote:

I can see the headline already

RABBIT WINS CHICAGO MARATHON

That would be awesome lol

I do think this is a valid line of logic.

At the same time, lets say Bett is personally pacing Rupp. There is still nothing at all preventing other runners from slotting in right beyond Rupp. That actually yields marginally more of a drafting advantage than Rupp himself would have.

Basically, the concept of Rupp having a "personal" pacer IS definitely dubious conceptually. That said, I don't think Rupp would get any inherent benefit that other runners would not also get. So basically if Bett hammers out a steady pace at the front I don't really care, no benefit for Rupp there that does not exist for other runners.

One exception: That being if some runner makes a move, and then Bett responds to those moves with Rupp following. That, even as a Rupp fan, would be very distasteful to me. Races as they are now are not meant to be team competitions.

FightFor15 wrote:

It's good if he is in there to go through in 1:03-1:04. I'm in. I'd rather see a 2:05-07 FTW instead of 2:11

exactly

the lack of rabbits is devaluing chicago

don't people realise it is a WR calibre course !!!

Dennis ran 2"03'45 there in '13 when just a coupla weeks before Wilson ran 2"03'23WR in berlin

if the schedules had been reversed & chicago came before berlin, then Denis wouda nearly broken the WR which upto then was Patrick's 2"03'38

if you have a WR possible course, you don't ignore it's attributes & stop using pacers !!!

you don't see london stop using pacers !!!

FightFor15 wrote:

It's good if he is in there to go through in 1:03-1:04. I'm in. I'd rather see a 2:05-07 FTW instead of 2:11

exactly

the lack of rabbits is devaluing chicago

don't people realise it is a WR calibre course !!!

Dennis ran 2"03'45 there in '13 when just a coupla weeks before Wilson ran 2"03'23WR in berlin

if the schedules had been reversed & chicago came before berlin, then Denis wouda nearly broken the WR which upto then was Patrick's 2"03'38

if you have a WR possible course, you don't ignore it's attributes & stop using pacers !!!

you don't see london stop using pacers !!!

admittedly that is an odd thing considering what is usual for this marathon. but it would be strange to doom rupp while being enthusiastic about sub2, track or every other great marathon result in the world, where pacing is crucial.

When Mutai beats Rupp will the NOP still be 'controversial'??

I agree, Rojo.

And if Rupp wants it to go out in 1:04 not 1:07 then he can go run 1:04 while the pack hangs back if he likes. That's called racing.

All of the other athletes/agents/coaches thought they were showing up for an unpaced race. That would of course impact preparation and even race selection to some degree. Are people pissed off? What are the LR boots on the ground saying?

So we know he's in the race to pace Galen? If not this thread is worse than tabloid bs

scorpion_runner wrote:

He is a 2:16 marathoner, but a 60:00 min half marathoner, so do the math. He is entering to push the pace, and then drop out after the 13th mile.

It's funny how the NOP are exhausting every resource that they can to ensure that rupp performs at a high level. But this thing might completely backfire on rupp. The fastest marathoner in the world is running the race, as well as Lilesa

and Abel Kirui. Lilesa knows the course, and ran 2:04. Rupp might be setting up his competition more than he is setting up himself. Does he really want to give those guys a pacer , considering he has never run sub 2:09?

I think he would be better off just running on his own and using the others as pacers...LET THEM DO ALL THE WORK!.

Good point. A tactical race is risky for these guys against Rupp. He obviously has gears and nobody knows what he can throw down at the end of a 2:08 marathon. They DO know he can't run with them at 2:04, though, so for Team Rupp to conjure a paced fast race may prove idiotic.

26.3 wrote:

"personal rabbit"

Oh, so no other racer can run behind him? What is he going to do if someone else joins the train, brake check them? Use your brains folks, it's not possible to have your own rabbit.

You have clearly never run a road race.

What's wrong wrote:

Not a big deal. Kenyans and Ethiopians have use teamwork to win races, where there are sacrificial lambs being asked to push the pace for the big names.

But rojo never complains about that.

This is rumored more than it is actually done.

Kenyan example, please?

This thread is one of the worst I've ever seen, I have no words for this stupidity here

How do you not get this?

Nobody but Rupp knows what Bett is going to do! If Rupp as a 2:09 PR runner goes ahead by himself, it is like Mutai and Mosop to Hall in Boston: they let him go, knowing they can reel him in. Now, what if Hall had personally hired a 60:0x Kenyan of fairly unknown marathon ability and they took off together, with only Hall knowing whether dude is finishing or dropping out? Of course that changes the race!!!!!

Tell me how you know that Rupp knows what he is going to do