13:42 5k race doesnt seem to have the depth of previous years
Before you all throw shade on the Carlsbad 5000_ please be aware that Meb Keflezighi is trying to bring the spirit of the race back.
In 2018, the Competitor Group had control of the race. It was the most disorganized management and elite purses were lessened. This resulted in more local talent but a winning time of above 14 for men and above 16 for women
This Is when it broke at the seams.
Look at the Carlsbad 5000 winners on Wikipedia and you'll see.
Many people 's times got messed up.
This was the last race i did before moving to Murfreesboro Tennessee
As runners, help Meb to make it better next year.
Competitor Group failed.
Let's help to rebuild
Michael A Rouse - Carlsbad 5000 1992,2006-2010, 2012-16, 2018
Looks like SoCalCush had a pretty good day. I remember when the full elite + AG races were available on YouTube. That was awesome.
Yes, a very solid run for cush along with quite a few others. It's too bad USATF and Carlsbad 5000 couldn't team up to make this a championship 5k. At least for the masters.
Yup. Because a track 5000 in spikes in perfect conditions is comparable to a windy road 5k in flats. I live along the coast a little north, but it was very windy around the time of the race. That’s why the times were slow. That’s always the issue with Carlsbad. Most years it’s windy. The years it’s not they go 13:0x.
The elite race was stalled for about 20 minutes due to a train having plowed into a now corpse or a vehicle with a now corpse inside. Happened south of Carlsbad. So this had some effect on the elites. Starting at almost pm plus the elites got one night hotel and had to check out prior to going to the start. That’s a major F-up that Meb needs to resolve.
And Reid Buchanan racing in a turquoise colored crop top (looked like a halter top) put a lot of questions in people’s minds. Myself included.
I was at the race. What's sad is that Meb's Q&A session on expo day started late and ended early due to having to share the stage/area with VERVE cycling studios (which likely had some sponsorship deal with the race). Maybe 30 people from the expo gathered around the stage to hear Meb speak. The small army of VERVE employees couldn't have seemed less interested in seeing him on stage.
The men's open field was much deeper than in 2019 and I enjoyed the race. For its reputation, though, two turnarounds and 55 feet of elevation gain doesn't actually strike me as an optimally quick race course.
Traffic getting out of Carlsbad was a nightmare because there was a flood of oblivious people who had no info or police/volunteer guidance turning from Tamarack onto Garfield Street. Took nearly an hour to get out of town.
The race spacing doesn't make any sense to me. If the train schedules allow it, the masters and open women should just be staggered 5 minutes after the men.
Crowd support from the town of 100k people was not impressive. As we were leaving people were actually shouting at us to "get out of our town as quickly as you can!"
As others have stated, elite fields were not worth sticking around for. If this is to be the premier 5k in US/World why not try to assemble a crazy field?
For the masters race, when I finished Meb was in the finish chute congratulating every single runner who came through. I assume he did that for each of the races. Class act.