17 yr old Female Miler runs an INCREDIBLE debut Marathon

She is now under the guidance of the Ethiopian Federation and sponsorship of Nike. I guess they felt she had limited future in the 1500m; otherwise, why would the allow her to run a marathon? Training?

VIPAM wrote:

Personal Best

1500 Metres......4:20.19.....Bressanone 08/07/2009

Marathon.........2:33:56.....Cannes 08/11/2009

4:20 is plenty of speed to run a 2:33 for the marathon.

Not bad for a 23 year old.

Are you saying Jordan Hasay could run 2:2x then?

Sorry but I need age proof. Regardless, white girls look out - you're about to get swamped like the men.

[quote]WOW!!! wrote:

Are you saying Jordan Hasay could run 2:2x then?[/quote

Jordan Hasay doesn't have anywhere near the endurance needed to run a 2:2x marathon.

4:20 is about equivalent to 2:38-40. 2:33 is exceptional- especially in a youngster's debut.

J.R. wrote:

VIPAM wrote:

Personal Best

1500 Metres......4:20.19.....Bressanone 08/07/2009

Marathon.........2:33:56.....Cannes 08/11/2009

4:20 is plenty of speed to run a 2:33 for the marathon.

trollism wrote:

Not bad for a 23 year old.

probably closer to the truth.

WOW!!! wrote:

Are you saying Jordan Hasay could run 2:2x then?

No, because she is a 1500m runner not a marathon runner.

mans best friend wrote:

4:20 is about equivalent to 2:38-40. 2:33 is exceptional- especially in a youngster's debut.

No, your statistics are way off as I did not say they are equivalent.

A 4:46 mile or 4:25 1500 are sufficient speed to run 2:33 for the marathon.

J.R. wrote:

mans best friend wrote:

4:20 is about equivalent to 2:38-40. 2:33 is exceptional- especially in a youngster's debut.

No, your statistics are way off as I did not say they are equivalent.

A 4:46 mile or 4:25 1500 are sufficient speed to run 2:33 for the marathon.

..........

The amazing thing is that the young lady was training for the 1500m the entire year and targeting the World Youth Championships. She is a 1500m runner who probably was encouraged to run a marathon four months after her last 1500m race and won her debut marathon in 2:33.56. With more competition in the marathon the youngster probably could have run faster off her 1500m training and limited marathon preparation. Impressive range and more impressive is the amount of time a high schooler posted both results!

This is kinda like when Meselech Melekamu ran a sub-30:00 10k despite having barely run sub-9:00 for 3k previously. These Ethiopian star females just pop out of nowhere.

but heres the thing... wrote:

This is kinda like when Meselech Melekamu ran a sub-30:00 10k despite having barely run sub-9:00 for 3k previously. These Ethiopian star females just pop out of nowhere.

before melkamu ran her sub 30 for 10k she had been a world junior champion in cross country and in track in the junior 1500 and 5k, she also had already ran 8:23 for 3k indoors, and she was 3rd in world xc in 2009 and she has consistently been one of the top female runners in the world, she just has been in the shadows of her 2 legendary teammates t. dibaba and defar, melkamu is not one who came out of nowhere, and melkamu's father was a good marathoner, so she probably has good running genes.

i was looking at the improvement in depth of countries sub 2:10 men and sub 2:30 women, since this is a thread on the ethiopian woman here is their number of sub 2:30.00 marathoners by year.

1997-1

1998-1

1999-3

2000-4

2001-4

2002-6

2003-4

2004-6

2005-7

2006-7

2007-7

2008-13

2009-25 (so far)

notice the huge increase in the last 2 years and look at all the young talent that has not tried a marathon yet, but have run excellent at the half marathon, aberu kebede, wude ayalaw yimer, abebu galen, mestawot tufa and the big names that will be running 1 in a year or 2, kidane, e. dibaba.

the most females under 2:30 by 1 country in a year before this year was japan who has had 19 girls under 2:30.00 in 3 separate years including 2009 (so far).

i could see in 5-10 years the kenyan/ethiopian woman dominating like their men do.

I thought this thread was about the teenage 1500m runner Merima Mohammed running the marathon?

16 years of "base"... I'd say that's sufficient to run a decent first marathon. BUT you have to work at the marathon to become one of the best. I'm not convinced the Africans, esp. young African females, are willing to put in the work equivalent to their countrymen and Caucasian and Asian females. Talk all you want about how great they COULD BE, but the fast African women who have gone to the marathon haven't lived up to their hype. They come and they go.

douglas burke wrote:

i was looking at the improvement in depth of countries sub 2:10 men and sub 2:30 women, since this is a thread on the ethiopian woman here is their number of sub 2:30.00 marathoners by year.

1997-1

1998-1

1999-3

2000-4

2001-4

2002-6

2003-4

2004-6

2005-7

2006-7

2007-7

2008-13

2009-25 (so far)

notice the huge increase in the last 2 years and look at all the young talent that has not tried a marathon yet, but have run excellent at the half marathon, aberu kebede, wude ayalaw yimer, abebu galen, mestawot tufa and the big names that will be running 1 in a year or 2, kidane, e. dibaba.

the most females under 2:30 by 1 country in a year before this year was japan who has had 19 girls under 2:30.00 in 3 separate years including 2009 (so far).

i could see in 5-10 years the kenyan/ethiopian woman dominating like their men do.

Those are amazing stats, quite a transformation!

Doug, thanks it is very interesting data

marathon requires work wrote:

16 years of "base"... I'd say that's sufficient to run a decent first marathon. BUT you have to work at the marathon to become one of the best. I'm not convinced the Africans, esp. young African females, are willing to put in the work equivalent to their countrymen and Caucasian and Asian females. Talk all you want about how great they COULD BE, but the fast African women who have gone to the marathon haven't lived up to their hype. They come and they go.

That might be one of the dumbest things I've ever heard on LRC.

If you knew anything about the East African nations then you would know that KENYAN women are not mentally adapt for the marathon. There is an notion that if you run it you will not be able to bear children.

ETHIOPIAN women however are very capable of becoming the next great marathoning nation. Just look at NY