However, the Twickenham-based runner (Mo Farah) will first turn his hand to an unusual race at the Norwich Union Birmingham Grand Prix on 17 February.
He will join 11 other athletes in the rarely run "devil take the hindmost" mile at the National Indoor Arena, where the last runner across the line at the end of laps two to seven is removed from the race.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport2/hi/athletics/6233763.stm
Anyone in run a race like this before? Sounds like a real killa of a race...
They used to run this event at the Jaycees Indoor meet here in Albuquerque in the 70's and 80's. Hell to race, great fun to watch. Works real well on a 10-11 lap to the mile track. Lots of action. Maybe we'll see if there's any interest again with the new 200 meter track at the Convention center.
I used to run a few of these (back in the 70's)and they were great for those of us who were not able to run a fast mile. I was able to beat others who could bury me a a real mile race because of my ability to kick a few meters and move out of last.
I believe there are a few meets in Maryland that feature this event.
we had a race like this in Minnesota in the 60's-70's that was very interesting to watch and run. We called it the LAST MAN(oops, "person") OUT. (Actually, we could have called it the LAST MAN OUT race because no women ever ran it.) We had a few national class women marathoners back
then, but maybe the name of the race discouraged them!?!?
In the 70s in L.A. there was a "Devil Take the Hindmost" 11-mile run, done as 11 laps of a 1-mile loop on the roads in Griffith Park. At the end of the 2nd and subsequent laps, the 10% of the field that was trailing was eliminated. Made for crazy pacing for most...brutal!