Keith Brantly's Florida 28:31 10,000 record was good for 44 years. This week it was broken by a 25-yr old freshman from Kenya.

Kieth was the real deal back in the day.

You're worrying too much about things you can't control. I don't mind college aged Kenyans taking down records. Samson Kimobwa was younger than Craig Virgin. Was that fair to him? Brantly had another 2-3 years of eligibility to improve if he wanted to. But he didn't.

Get this -- I had my Maryland State HIGH SCHOOL 2 mile record taken down after 35 years by Solomon Haile, a 24 year old Ethiopian. The guy had previously tried to enroll in a Virginia school, but was rejected for being to old. Applied to a Maryland school with new "papers" so they accepted him without checking. Ridiculous!

2008 9:06.13 SOLOMON HAILE ...SHERWOOD
1973 9:07.00c GEORGE MALLEY ...DUVAL (ht-9:10.2 2-Mi)
1972 9:08.30c OTTO MAZZONI ....DUVAL (ht-9:11.7 2-Mi)
1972 9:10.10c KENT STAVER (2nd)...BETHESDA-CC (ht-9:13.3 2-Mi)
1973 9:12.30c JEFF SMITH (2nd)....TOWSON (ht-9:15.5 2-Mi).
2019 9:12.44 ELDAD MULUGETA ...NORTHWOOD
1981 9:12.90 JOHN O’NEILL...BOWIE
2009 9:13.27 GRAHAM BAZELL ..ATHOLTON
2006 9:13.68 MATT CENTROWITZ ..BROADNECK
1979 9:13.70c TOM CUFF ..SENECA VALLEY (ht-9:16.9 2-Mi) ..

He sure was. He made the Junior team at the 1981 WXC. He had a cast on his wrist/arm. I asked him what happened? He said he got in a fight at a bar with a bouncer. WXC is at the end of March, right after the college kids invaded Ft. Lauderdale for Spring Break.

"You got in a fight with a bouncer?" Besides the imagery of 98 pound Brantly squaring up with a professional bouncer
"....uh...Wait a minute, you're not old enough to drink!"
A pause .... "So?"
Right then I knew that he was going to go places... Yup, Keith was the real deal.

Seems like he got caught in the changing eras of road racing. He once told a mutual friend that for a few years he made a nice living running 10k road races a bit on either side of 29:00 and coming top two. Then there was one race where a high 28 put him in ninth behind eight Kenyans and money was always harder to win after that.

I am surprised Centro didn’t take that Maryland record first as he ran 8:41 at a narional meet while in HS.

Kimobwa’s age was “adjusted”. Even back then people were suspicious. Today we’re flooded with over age Africans. Some admit their actual age, most still don’t. Solomon Haile’s story is not out of the ordinary, at all. People go on defending these frauds even as the Africans howl with laughter among themselves at the gullibilty of many Westerners.

His best international result was 28th in yhe 1996 olumpic marathon.

Real deal?

Back in 1988 I went to Gainesville to train and escape the Michigan winter. Keith let me stay at his condo for a few weeks. Good guy. Very generous. The “real deal”. And not just in running.

Gerard you were the real deal too, as you were a very good runner.

I am from Michigan too and Gerard was such a down to earth nice guy. Races from starting outside the Silverdome (10k) to downtown races in downtown Detroit. I was a shy 33 minute 10k SLUG, and he was winning championship 10,000 meter races, yet humble as can be. I hope you are doing well Gerard and thanks for being friendly to me as a young kid/adult.

He ran the mile. State meet was never run at night. It was always under the hot sun in the afternoon, and windy. Much different tracks.

Hey y'all. Started competitive running in 1975 and finished around 2002...so many changes in that time. We went from no monetary rewards allowed, to trust funds, to open prize money (Thanks to Anne Audain, Frank Shorter, Pre, and Jon Sinclair).
Regarding foreign runners coming to the US...while I took advantage of racing road events that had American-only prize money, I did that to keep the lights on financially, so to speak. But even since High School, I competed against foreign athletes....Jack Buckner...now the CEO UK Athletics and I raced against each other at Florida Relays and a few other meets when the English Public schools toured Florida; he and some of the other guys even stayed at our house...the same year "Sultans of Swing" was released! So, from very early on, I recognized the importance of racing against everyone, regardless of nationality and age. Maybe I was too clueless to know, but I believe you can't become your best, if you're not competing against the best.
Same when I was in college...UTEP, Washington State, East Tennessee, were all loaded with "mature" foreign runners, but I never bitched about older, foreign runners' eligibility. My roommate at Florida was 27 year old Junior, John Rogerson who had a Military exemption and a 1:02:00 half marathon to his credit. I always figured I'd be racing foreign runners after college so I might as well get used to getting my ass-kicked.
While I had some good marks in HS, (4:15, 9:03ish) (14:18 for 3 mile cross), I wasn't a blue-chipper....but I truly believed in my primary goal of competing for the US in the Olympics. It took a long time to realize that goal, with a lot of self-inflicted failures.
Bottom-line...my running career was an absolute blast. Despite being an over-confident, impetuous, braggart, douche-bag from time to time, I built great friendships. I trained with, and raced against some of the best; Salazar, Nyambui, Rob DeCastella, John Treacy, Craig Virgin, Gerard Donakowski, Spence, Eyestone, Centrowitz, Sr., Pat Porter, Bill Rodgers, Godfrey Kiprotich, Sammy Lelei, Tommy Nohilly, and many, many others. Had one post-collegiate coach, Dr. David Martin, for 16 years, and was supported by New Balance for 12 years (despite some epic failures on my part).
By no means not a perfect career, but what a run.
Hope everyone stays healthy and reaches their goals.
Best...Keith

Love this. Thanks for jumping in, Keith.

Best wishes back to you.

Gerard! Miss you Buddy! Like the guy above said...not sure if I was the "real deal" , but he never had to race against us either. I DO know that you were the "real deal."
Hope you and your loved ones are well!

Stop your racist bullsheet. Nobody back then questioned Kimobwas age. You're re-inventing facts that weren't there. There were already enough over-aged Europeans. As for Rono, who really cared about his age. If you look at his year by year age performances (steeplechase) he tracked even or only slightly better than mine until 1978. So much for an age advantage.

Were you questioning Rupp's age and eligibility as a professional cheat when he enrolled at Oregon? If you're going to talk about white privilege start there.

Haile's story was completely out of the ordinary since it was completely out in the open and documented, year by year. Tried to enroll in Virginia with his real age and was rejected. No big deal, Montgomery County MD will take him, wink, wink, in the name of diversity. How many kids lost State titles because of him? I even think that he might have set the Van Cortlandt Park course record. A complete fraud every step of the way. An impoverished Ethiopian child who was a refugee only seeking opportunity in America? Weathered the voyage in a raft across the ocean to get here. Montgomery County politics is cynical.

Any skinny 98lb kid who fought a bouncer is the real deal, Keith. I heard you killed three men in a bar with a pencil. A fookin pencil.

Respect to keith for posting and for malmo no doubt pulling strings.

Fair enougb.

Good on you.

Edit, and if i post that 28th in an oly marathon isnt good, thats from the pov of the best, for mere mortals its epic. Respect again.

Letsrun at its finest.

BRANTLY SUCKS! BRANTLY STUPID! BRANTLY NOT REAL DEAL! EVERYBODY STUPID!

And all I got was a flesh-wound (and a broken finger)