"26.2 miles at sub 5 pace makes you a heck of a distance whatever the current world record - FACT"
Would you like to try again! Te he!
"26.2 miles at sub 5 pace makes you a heck of a distance whatever the current world record - FACT"
Would you like to try again! Te he!
Agree a heck of a runner is a bit more than 2.10.
Heck of a runner not only needs to be sub 2.10 but also needs to have pedigree in racing terms at Championship level etc.
Steve Brace (2.10 twice)for example never broke 29mins for 10K.
Gee you don`t half love yourself mate just like most of the egoistic prats who make up the coaching fraternity.
Who are you to suggest to a guy who has just PB`d at 2.10 to "follow a more judicious program of less racing and better planned training."
Whats all this "athletes in my entourage" lark?
You absolute prat.
Abyu runs the race of his life and all we hear is how the course is short and his British eligability then questioned. The course is not short. His run at the Great North indicated such a time was possible.
With regard to his nationality - people emigrate. It is a fact of life, whether we like it or not. Maybe a few more 29min 10km runners might take a bit of inspiration from his run and set their aspirations a bit higher. I'm rather suprised to see a collegue of Pete Reily obviously thinking that a 2.10 clocking is out of reach for him. For someone who has run 28.20ish I think, 2.10 or under should be very reealistic. Such thinking perhaps illustrates what is wrong with distance running in this country.
Don`t have a go at me I was supporting him!
If we stick around do we get to learn the precise criteria, whether time related of Champs positions, that merit being ' a heck of a runner'? Would also be useful to find out the correct categorisation of those who fall just short. 'Good clubman'?
It's not unreasonable for AFrican runners to be running 2.10odd and for people who know in detail their training and racing progs in detail, (coach/manager/training partners) to assess them as having plenty of room for fine tuning. We've had some 62/63 min Kenyan 1/2 marathon types doss down overnight at Chez Ella while relatively raw and within a year or so - with refined training and racing progs along the lines Ghost suggests - have gone onto some startling performances on the next level. Just look at the guys now running the 59 1/2s and 2.07 marathons - it's increasingly not just the legends like Geb and Tergat.
btw,is there an assumption that every Russian distance runner who runs fast is doped? What's this based on?
re russian runners
lots of cheap epo in russia. they are likely to take more risk for 10 grand than others. plus: tradition (coaches are ex-soviet runners).
Kudos to Abyu for what he has done. And yes, you don't need a sub. 28 minute 10.000 to run a decent marathon, but now that the world level is in the 2:06-2:07 range, a runner like Abyu might find it difficult to make the transition to that level, with limited 10.000 speed. At the top level, everything is related, and I would say that, as a minimum, you should be able to run the 10.000 track in around 28:00 to be competitive on a world level, and that is what Abyu will face, if selected, and if he goes to Beijing on the British team. Others will simply concede that making the team would be a tremendous achiement, especially taking his lifestyle and racing schedule into account over the past couple of years. And that's fine - but now that he has run 2:10 - why not aim higher, and do what the Italians do with people like Alberico di Cecco (2:08) who is no more talented than Abyu, but has a fabulous professional set up in Italy, with decent funding (and pension) from FIDAL.
If Abyu were running for a club in France/Spain/Portugal/Italy, his basic needs would be taken care of and he would not have to worry about running silly road races to pay the bills. The support system for sub elite is definetely lacking in the UK, and it will be difficult to change that, the way things are going now. Guys like Andi Jones and company work full time, and it is unreasonable to expect top of the line performances when comparing their lifestyle to semi professional athletes in the Iberian countries and France.
In France, for example, all athletes who run under a certain time in the marathon (2:13?) are invited to the French Federation training camps at different places in France and overseas, fully funded by the Federation. That does not happen in the UK. Other Team B runners from Kenya joing the French Foreign Legion in Marseilles, and then acquire French citizenship within about 2 years! In fact the first Frenchman in the world cross in Mombasa was a Kenyan French Foreign Legion guy!
The point is - unless Abyu can find a system which will help him reach a higher level without having to worrry about finances, I fear that his improvement in the sport will be compromised.
Ghost in Korea
we are getting dangerously close to bob holt and bowler hats putting in an appearance
No doubt we will be told in a few posts time that Thomas is a 'wonderful character' who always turned up for training in 3 piece suit with a gold pocket watch hanging from his breast pocket. How he takes the 8.20 from Surbiton to Waterloo and that the only training he does is a quick morning jaunt in his brogues from Waterloo station to his desk in the city. Oh sorry, that was Bob Hoult...
Bob Holt 'served' his apprenticeship on the track and the country for years, with road relays and 10 mile road races as well, before going for the marathon in October 1975 (Harlow). Bob had credentials on the track of 7:59/13:48/28:39 and so the pace was there. As it happened he ran 2:16 in that epic debut run in Harlow, and many of the Lauriston crowd (Beard, Fuller, Badgery, Roberts, Gough, Samuels, Clarke, Moulton, Barratt, Pearson, Phelan, Blakie, Whitehead, Williams) were expecting great things from Bob when he ran the trial race for Montreal in May 1976 in Yorkshire, but sadly, Bob had an off day, and the selectees for Montreal turned out to be Barry Watson, Jeff Norman and Keith Angus. Another surprise casualty that day was Ian Thompson, who was heavily favored to do well...at least top 3.
I recall Norman sitting on the grass after the race eating his 'jam butties' as if he had just been out for a Sunday walk in the park with the missus. It was strange to see how placid and unmoved Norman appeared to be, despite his immortal run.....(for the record, none of the 3 Brits ran particularly well in Montreal, and I recall Watson making a tactical error and wasting energy by insisting on leading the field on the first lap in Montreal stadium and out onto the streets.
I had seen Watson run a 10.000 on the track at the Palace as a prep. run for the Olympics, and his time was around 29:20. Angus ran a pb 5000 in 13:56 in the Intercounties, and that was remarkable for the Sheffield school teacher, because his speed was limited. Norman continued running to and from work from Timperley to the Royal Infirmary in Manchester, a distance of about 4 miles. On weekends, Norman would run on the fells for hours at a time.
Abyu has now run faster than all those guys, but will he produce the goods, and does he have a coach. Abyu has not really done his time on the track, and it is difficult to assess, at this stage, whether running and training on the track would benefit him, at this stage in his career, but my guess is that it would. Perhaps Alan Storey could take charge of Thomas, and then further improvement might take place.
Ghost in Korea
You are either a peeping Tom or an ex stasi agent.
Give the guy a chance. You're talking like he ran a quick time and then never did another thing for 3 years.
He ran the race on this last weekend. For all you know he could run 2.08 next time.
No and no, but it is fascinating to witness the lives of top runners and compare them with lesser mortals.
Ghost in Korea
Should Thomas ever run 2.08, it would be one of the most surprising stories of British athletics.
I would love to see him run faster, but I fear (realistically) that this time (2:10) will remain his life pb. That will not stop him running races though.
Who do you think has more potential - Thomas or Dan Robinson? Abyu might have more intrinsic potential, but I predict Robinson will produce better goods in Championship marathons, compared with Abyu.
Ghost in Korea
dubliner13 wrote:
re russian runners
lots of cheap epo in russia. they are likely to take more risk for 10 grand than others. plus: tradition (coaches are ex-soviet runners).
In other words, the assumption is based on f*** all.
Thomas = drug cheat
Of course, the really important question is : how does this impact Alex Vero's chances of making the british olympic team? sub 2:15 may no longer be good enough -
Yeah don`t think 2.15 will be good enough. Anyway even if Vero should smash the 2.15 I don`t think it will have any bearing as I expect Stefan Glaysher to be in front of him.