The cold had many of the Kenyans in tears but only slowed their running but did little to stop their domination of US high schoolers.
The cold had many of the Kenyans in tears but only slowed their running but did little to stop their domination of US high schoolers.
Their top 3 pretty much dominated the US runners. The top US runners would have matched up with their 4-5 guys, maybe even the 3rd guy. The other two were just way too far out.
how is the kenyan team selected? Is it a team of the top runners in kenya, because if it is than you have to realize that they are racing against school teams. I feel like if the US made a team of the top runners (such as FLN top 5) then they would have had a fighting chance against the Kenyans. (although i'm being totally biased, and have no idea how the kenyan team is selected)
The Kenyan team that ran was selected in a Kenyan team race similar to NTN last February. The best team (no individuals) got to go on the trip to Portland. So one Kenyan High School is pretty much better than the whole of US High Schools. It was the best Kenyan school that competed, but it was still only one school. Derrick and Lowe are two of the top 5 HS runners in the country right now, and neither one of them would have been higher than 3rd against the Kenyans in all likelihood.
The Kenyan teams are selected at a race of high school teams. Both Singore and Kapcherop (the two Kenyan teams) are high school teams, not "a team of top runners in Kenya." Hopefully Nike will put them in the Championship race next year. I think it'd be much more interesting.
question234232 wrote:
how is the kenyan team selected? Is it a team of the top runners in kenya, because if it is than you have to realize that they are racing against school teams. I feel like if the US made a team of the top runners (such as FLN top 5) then they would have had a fighting chance against the Kenyans. (although i'm being totally biased, and have no idea how the kenyan team is selected)
Although, it is true that Kenyan schools are like magnet schools, all of the best runners in a greater area go to one school.
Actually, that's not really true. There are some schools that have great traditions (St. Patrick's comes to mind) and therefore attract some of the best athletes, but it's no different than some of the big private high schools in the US. Parents will move or send there kids 100's of miles away just so they can go to the best schools, whether for academic or athletic reasons. Regardless, for the most part, high schools in Kenya are like high schools in the US (in terms of where the students come from). There are definitely fewer schools per mile in Kenya, hence drawing students from a larger area, but those areas are also less populated. In the end, it's a wash. A high school is a high school.
kenya wrote:
Although, it is true that Kenyan schools are like magnet schools, all of the best runners in a greater area go to one school.
Awesome. How can the US compete?
Cheruyiot, a 15-year-old freshman at Kapcherop High School, three hours north of Eldoret, the cradle of the Rift Valley, won in 15:25. It was his first victory. After crossing the line, he was composed. One of the Kenyan coaches relayed Cheruyiot’s assessment: “It was easy for him. He did not feel a thing.” This was his first plane trip, his first time out of Kenya. “He is so raw, he had no expectations coming into the race,” said Martin Keino, a son of Kip Keino whose sports marketing firm in Kenya promotes youth running and works with Nike to bring the Kenyans to Portland.
Other than running a few 3,000-meter steeples last spring, with a 9:14 best, Cheruyiot, 5’10” and 120 pounds, has done very little racing. He has only been training for two years. But, like all his teammates, he’s been running a lot longer. In grade school, he walked and then ran 10 kilometers roundtrip to school, barefoot and carrying schoolbooks, from his family’s grass-and-corrugated hut in nearly 8,000-foot altitude.
Likewise for the defending champion, Paul Lonyangata, who ran 15:54 last year as a freshman and said before the race that he was only in “okay shape.” He was the fourth Kenyan in 15:42. He’s run 23:23 for 8k cross-country and 13:42 for 5k on the track. He was 13 before he had his first pair of running shoes. He is on scholarship at school because his family is poor.
When he ran to school as a youngster, Lonyangata said he would see cheetahs and leopards in the brush but he was unafraid. From this experience, said Kenyan coach Byron Kipchumba, “he will grow and learn about life’s impediments. He will become fearless.” And in running, as in life—the two are no different in Kenya—the environment, added Kipchumba, “would demystify the element of fear.”
PUT THEM IN THE SAME RACE WITH THE TOP US TEAMS, WHY DO YOU RUN THEM IN THE OTHER RACE? IT MAKES NO SENSE, AND THERE IS NO TELLING WHAT MIGHT HAPPEN IF YOU DO THAT---WHY FLY THEM ALL THE WAY OVER HERE AND HAVE THEM NOT RACE THE BEST KIDS WE GOT?
Lonyangata the 4th place finisher has run 13:42 for 5k on the track?? As a freshman last year??? That would be the 2nd best HS 5k time EVER for the US.
Y'know, the thing I don't get is why the Kenyan kids are here at all. It's "Nike Team NATIONALS," right?--and the "nation" is the United States? So WTF?
Basically, what Nike accomplishes by bringing over the Kenyan kids is to tarnish the performance of the winning American team in the other race. Way to undercut your own meet, guys.
Also, why Kenya? Why *only* Kenya? Don't they have high schools (and high school cross-country running) in other countries--Canada, Eritrea, Thailand, India, Australia, Belgium, South Africa, Chile, Guatemala, and/or Japan, say?
I'm sorry to be so jaded, but I find myself looking only for cynical reasons why Nike brings these Kenyan kids to the meet...
UFCfan wrote:
PUT THEM IN THE SAME RACE WITH THE TOP US TEAMS, WHY DO YOU RUN THEM IN THE OTHER RACE? IT MAKES NO SENSE, AND THERE IS NO TELLING WHAT MIGHT HAPPEN IF YOU DO THAT---WHY FLY THEM ALL THE WAY OVER HERE AND HAVE THEM NOT RACE THE BEST KIDS WE GOT?
Maybe because that other race is a National championship race? As far as I know, the Kenyan team is not part of the same nation as those other teams, so why should they be competing against them for a title they can't have?
UFCfan wrote:
PUT THEM IN THE SAME RACE WITH THE TOP US TEAMS, WHY DO YOU RUN THEM IN THE OTHER RACE? IT MAKES NO SENSE, AND THERE IS NO TELLING WHAT MIGHT HAPPEN IF YOU DO THAT---WHY FLY THEM ALL THE WAY OVER HERE AND HAVE THEM NOT RACE THE BEST KIDS WE GOT?
Maybe because that other race is a National championship race? As far as I know, the Kenyan team is not part of the same nation as those other teams, so why should they be competing against them for a title they can't have?
Recent interviews with the organizers of the meet have given the impression that they would like to expand the field to include runners from other countries at some point.
The Kenyans were slated to run the championship race, as opposed to the open, last year when Nike first brought them here. Too many HS coaches balked at the idea and thus the current alignment.
Although NTN is billed as a high school championship event, it remains under the auspices of Nike, and they can do whatever the hell they want. If this were NFHS or some governing body of sport it might be a different story.
Whether we agree with the principle or not, it does (ironically) prepare homegrown kids for what they are going to face when they get to college anyway: a national meet where many Africans will vie for top honors.
If a team were really opposed to the Kenyan presence they could always refuse Nike's invitation to participate.
over-age bastids....
yeah wrote:
Y'know, the thing I don't get is why the Kenyan kids are here at all. It's "Nike Team NATIONALS," right?--and the "nation" is the United States? So WTF?
Basically, what Nike accomplishes by bringing over the Kenyan kids is to tarnish the performance of the winning American team in the other race. Way to undercut your own meet, guys.
Also, why Kenya? Why *only* Kenya? Don't they have high schools (and high school cross-country running) in other countries--Canada, Eritrea, Thailand, India, Australia, Belgium, South Africa, Chile, Guatemala, and/or Japan, say?
I'm sorry to be so jaded, but I find myself looking only for cynical reasons why Nike brings these Kenyan kids to the meet...
Very valid points.
Is there a rule against attaching a helium balloon to yourself while running a road race?
Am I living in the twilight zone? The Boston Marathon weather was terrible!
How rare is it to run a sub 5 minute mile AND bench press 225?
Move over Mark Coogan, Rojo and John Kellogg share their 3 favorite mile workouts
Mark Coogan says that if you could only do 3 workouts as a 1500m runner you should do these
Matt Choi was drinking beer halfway through the Boston Marathon