Zak Mahamed (GB) (8:28/14:59), beats I.Aouani (Ita) (13:28/27:45) in cross country international

Well it helps that the Italian import is cycling off epo.

The Mahamed brothers are both very good XC runners. Not the best speed, hence their modest track pbs, but heaps of strength

I remember when Garret Heath crushed Mo Farah in international XC as well -

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g_Ye3x9ow6U

Cant think of a username wrote:

The Mahamed brothers are both very good XC runners. Not the best speed, hence their modest track pbs, but heaps of strength

Obviously Zak hasn't run any track races at the level of fitness he had for the that XC race. At a minimum, he's in 13:40/28:00 shape.

I know that Zak wanted to work on his track times and recently joined up with Idris Hamud who is based in Hillingdon to help with that. Zak raced at Watford last year and he looked ok, I thought he would go much faster then. I think he just hasn't had the chance to get stuck in to track either due to injuries or lack or racing when fit as someone else mentioned. He's the same age as my son and the timing of covid and the lack of races when they were in their last years as U20 didn't help.

Zak is brilliant in the second half of a longer race. You saw that in the recent Euros. He is often like this.

I hope he gets a chance to show more of what he is capable of. Perhaps the Night of the 10K PBs this year at Highgate would show what he can do on the track?

[quote]netscrape wrote:

I know that Zak wanted to work on his track times and recently joined up with Idris Hamud who is based in Hillingdon to help with that. Zak raced at Watford last year and he looked ok, I thought he would go much faster then. I think he just hasn't had the chance to get stuck in to track either due to injuries or lack or racing when fit as someone else mentioned. He's the same age as my son and the timing of covid and the lack of races when they were in their last years as U20 didn't help.

Zak is brilliant in the second half of a longer race. You saw that in the recent Euros. He is often like this.

I hope he gets a chance to show more of what he is capable of. Perhaps the Night of the 10K PBs this year at Highgate would show what he can do on the track?[/quote

Based on his recent performance, I am thinking 14:00 minutes and 29:00 minutes (5000/10,000), or just under for both of those distances on the track this year would be a good goal.

Ghost1 wrote:

Based on his recent performance, I am thinking 14:00 minutes and 29:00 minutes (5000/10,000), or just under for both of those distances on the track this year would be a good goal.

That's pretty realistic and he just needs to get something done, improve on his PBs and then go from there.

Steve The Addict OFFICIAL -----^^^^^ wrote:

Well it helps that the Italian import is cycling off epo.

Sad state of affairs that this was my first thought as well.

Picture a beloved brit getting crushed in Edinburgh xc.

It’s interesting and eye opening when you see an athlete’s potential true colors. Surely, it’s disheartening for the athlete as well if in fact they are so great because of artificial means.

Steve The Addict OFFICIAL -----^^^^^ wrote:

Well it helps that the Italian import is cycling off epo.

Curious to know if you thought he was on EPO while at Syracuse?