Mods: another thread on The TEN was created a few weeks back; however, could not recall the Subject title nor find via browser search; if locates, suggest merging with this update thread.
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A few notable additions have occurred within the past couple weeks:
- Men's field has become significantly deeper with the recent additions of Telahun Bekele, Brian Musua and Denis Kipngetich. At 12:42/5000, Bekele is the fastest 5000 runner ever entered in The TEN. Pace lights set for 27:00 Tokyo Q.
- Women's field now has pace lights set for 30:00 as well as the 30:20 Tokyo Q. Only Hailu has broken 30. Pretty shrewd hunch the 30:00 pacing lights are at Elise Cranny's request in an attempt for a new AR (current AR 30:03/Monson) and first Western Hemisphere woman under 30:00. If so, would expect Kelati and several others to tag along. If they need to back off running 15-flat/5000, still should have built enough buffer to achieve their 30:20 Q.
Bekele & Hailu coming over from Ethiopia is quite a coup for Sound Running/Jesse Williams, further cementing The TEN's status as -- in only it's 5 year -- the world's most prestigious 10,000-focused track meet.
Moving The TEN to the end of March now allows collegians to better recover from indoors and properly prepare for this meet as their outdoor season opener, as evidenced by at least 5 collegians (possibly more in the "B" races) entered in the Tokyo 10,000s.
Full afternoon and early evening of hs races (presumably made possible by sponsorship from HOKA) should be quite fast and entertaining.
High school race field lineups should be populated within a few days.
