4x1 Mile Relay World Record Attempt - Official Discussion Thread

I’d have been surprised if they did get it. You really underestimate how good the Irish quartet were.

It would be interesting to have a proper race featuring top runners from:

GB

USA

Norway

Kenya

Ethiopia

Australia

Spain

Ireland

and maybe ‘B’ teams for GB and USA

Silly it wasn't. The lads haven't had to race as often, nor with as high an intensity as the collegians. A shake out pacing/racing weekend where they weren't both pitted against each other will work out fine.

They trust the system and the manager.

Our comments, both helpful and those less so, won't change their strategy, or, more importantly, Ben Thomas'.

They'll be fine.

If Kenya wanted to they could run mid 15:30s. They could have two teams run under 15:40 in the same race. I’d much rather see Kenya have an A, B, and C team because a USA B team would not break 16 minutes. The Kenya C team beats the Oregon guys today.

Beats? Maybe, maybe not. Kenya, on paper, should have bested Norway in the at the Impossible Games. That they did not.

Did they race the pacing light? What were they set at?

Has anyone pointed out that both Wisner and West raced the 1500 the previous day, running 3:39 and 3:42, respectively. A bit odd to race Friday if they were overly concerned with trying to break the record on Saturday.

Apparently someone forgot Kenya raced in crap weather at almost 6000ft of elevation...

3:59’s don’t get contracts these days

Matt, you wouldn’t even be the best high schooler right now.

I agree, this guy is the next big thing. Does anyone know how to get ahold of this guy? I'd like to give him a deal he can't refuse.

Yes. This was a silly stunt and quite emberrasing as they didn't even take the reicord. They should try out running races against the best in the world in stead.

How does a USA B team not break 16 (especially with hypothetical competition)? Let’s take Centro out for now and call the A team Hocker/Teare/Prakel/Alexander. That leaves a relay pool of Nuguse, Josh Thompson, Gregorek, Engels, Beadlescomb, Christian Noble, Nur, Ciattei, Wynne, Reed Brown, Ferlic, Brazier, Kessler, Fisher, McGorty and literally dozens of other men capable of breaking 4:00.

Our A team would have a difficult time beating Kenya, Great Britain or a healthy Australian team, though. I would pay to see a truly top notch clash of those four squads.

That 10k at Cardinal was in 2006. At nationals that year Ritzenhein gave Lagat, Tegenkamp, and co all they could handle in the 5k. He was 9th at Worlds in 2007 in the 10k.

People say he shifted too drastically to the marathon, but it's not really true. He ran track in 2006 then New York in the fall. Track in 2007 including 8:11 for two miles (probably his second-best track PR) then the trials in the fall. Beat all the white guys except Rothlin but including Hall in Beijing 2008, then set the AR at 5k in 2009 after joining the Oregon Project.

Most of the track he missed was due to injuries, not a marathon focus. Story of his career, sadly.

This should be an Olympic event.

USA B would not break 16 minutes??? I'm in college and we literally have 6 American born runners that ran sub 4 in the mile this indoor season. What world are you living in?

On paper, as mentioned. They agreed to the challenge with the disparities in altitude, day and weather readily known.

wait til you hear this.... the reason they didn't go to Penn.... despite the athletes requesting to to get in a good race opportunity..... was because coach Ben said the same thing and didn't feel it was worth traveling for

and all you losers are throwing so much hate at kids who didn't get a say in where they raced but decided to make the most of the opportunities they have anyways

This post encapsulates so much of what is wrong with this sport.

They had some fun running hard and giving the record a decent shot. It's slightly ridiculous that the only time anyone should ever try doing any of these races is if they are guaranteed to get the record. How boring is that?

As it is - they've put themselves on the line, generated some interest for the sport and had a hard run out.