MO TRAFEH

I know he had applied to a number of the post collegiate groups and got no bites....do they know something? I believe he was briefly in Flagstaff, AZ (McMillan?) Clearly the kid is a huge talent - but I too had heard about him training in Morocco, that fact is by no means an indictment. It is sad that we even have to wonder. Perhaps he just has been hitting the training hard with the runners in North Africa.

jt

I dont think you've been looking... This guy was great in high school, flamed out in college, and has been stellar since leaving arizona.

As a high school sophomore he ran 9:08 at the CA State 2 mile.

Last year in June 2009, Trafeh got 2nd at the USA Roads 20k and ran 59:01.

http://www.usatf.org/events/2009/USA20kmChampionships/results.asp

I know he ran the USA Road 5k too. I think he just recently became a US Citizen though and so that's why he's poppin up on the USAs Road Race scene.

Does anyone here know if he plans to do track this year? I'd love to see him drop a 27:30. After all, he came by at 28:18 in this past race!

He ran 29:XX for the 10k in high school so it's not like he came out of nowhere.

He's leaving from various training groups probably has more to do with his personality.

He's also running the NYC Half-Marathon on Sunday.

He has been a citizen for 10 years

Here's a post from 2007 on Dyestat.......

"I dont know what happened to him, he kind of fell off the radar.

What a great runner in HS - 29:54 track 10k on the spur of the moment, and a 14:28 at Mt.Sac.

http://www.directathletics.com/athle...ck/443029.html

There don't seem to be any results from him after 2006"

He's been training hard and improving every year for last 5 years or so.

Times are listed on his webpage. A great American prospect, should get the support he deserves.

www.motrafeh.com

I saw him run Mt Sac as a junior in high school. His performance now does not surprise me at all based on the talent I saw back then.

He never worked with McMillan.

Gate River Run. Last I checked they paid $10,000 to the winner.

Like him or not he is now legit.

Guys let people run freely without you giving them your dumb advices. This guy represented himslef well and worked hard to get the victory in Florida and he deserves everyone's respect and support. You can't accuse anyone of being doper if he havent been caught. That is just unfair.

During his college years he was training very hard (I heard him say that he would go out and race multiple 10km races back to back as training). Sometimes the training and racing went well, sometimes it went poorly, but I think the training he did then has given him a nice base now. Now that he has been training and racing well there is no telling how fast he could be. Watch out Ryan Hall your half marathon record could be gone shortly (but probably not this weekend because its pretty slow right?)

So people want to accuse him of being a doper because he won a USA 15K that didn't have Hall or Meb or Ritz or even Tegenkamp or even the defending champ Famiglietti or even Brett Gotcher, who beat him at the USA 20K last fall?

Seems like a stretch.

A sub-30:00 10k in HS, and now doing what he's doing does NOT seem like a stretch.

CONGRATULATIONS Mo Trafeh!!!!! I hope he get a sponsor as in a recent interview he said he still seeking sponsorship. They guy is a tremendous talent and he say he is self coached as his last coaches had him at a stand still in his performances.

The sad thing about Mo Trafeh he said is that with, "no sponsor he says I can't afford to run track races as I have to win money on the road to survive." He definitely could join the all-time top 10 USA list at 5000m, 10000m, and marathon this year with the fitness he showed in his last 2 races; however, unless something changes he may not ever touch the track in 2010.

Again CONGRATULATIONS Mo Trafeh great USA prospect!

I believe if Trafeh comes out and asks to be olympic style tested after these 2 great performances, he will indeed get a nice sponsorship deal. If not, he'll keep hammering the roads. 2 awesome back to back races, but hard not to be very skeptical

why would anyone want to hand out a contract to a guy that has NEVER had any stable running situation? didn't work with coaches in hs (left his team senior year of track), bounced around in college because he couldn't deal with coaches or teammates... i don't think people really care much for his attitude. he has no real appeal besides running fast. nobody will relate to this guy, hard to market somebody like that.

You couldn't be more wrong. I've spoken with the guy, and people will relate to him. He's very bright and personable. So he likes to coach himself. Didn't Alan Culpepper like to coach himself?

From speaking to him he doesnt have an agent but a lot are interested.

Very nicely done, Mo. Keep up the good work.

USA All-time half marathon list

59:43 ( 1) Ryan Hall (CA) 14 Jan 2007 Houston TX USA

1:00:00 ( 3) Dathan Ritzenhein (OR) 11 Oct 2009 Birmingham ENG

1:00:55 ( 1) Mark Curp (MO) 15 Sep 1985 Philadelphia PA USA

1:01:00 ( 1) Mebrahtom Keflezighi (CA) 04 Oct 2009 San Jose CA USA

1:01:07 ( 2) Abdihakim Abdirahman (AZ) 17 Sep 2006 Philadelphia PA USA

1:01:17 ( 1) Khalid Khannouchi (NY) 17 Sep 2000 Philadelphia PA USA

1:01:30 ( 2) Keith Brantly (FL) 19 Sep 1993 Philadelphia PA USA

1:01:32 ( 1) Paul Cummings (UT) 25 Sep 1983 Dayton OH USA

1:01:43 ( 2) George Malley (MA) 19 Sep 1982 Philadelphia PA USA

1:01:47 ( 1) Herb Lindsay (MI) 20 Sep 1981 Manchester VT USA

1:01:47 ( 4) Bill Reifsnyder (NM) 15 Sep 1985 Philadelphia PA USA

11

1:01:47 ( 5) Jon Sinclair (CO) 15 Sep 1985 Philadelphia PA USA

1:01:52 ( 1) Todd Williams (MI) 07 Dec 1991 Orlando FL USA

1:01:54 ( 1) Antonio Vega (MN) 17 Jan 2010 Houston TX USA

1:01:57 ( 2) Bruce Bickford (MA) 14 Sep 1986 Philadelphia PA USA

1:02:00 ( 1) David Morris (IL) 14 Mar 1999 Yamaguchi JPN

1:02:01 ( 2) Patrick Smyth (MN) 17 Jan 2010 Houston TX USA

1:02:04 ( 3) Brent Vaughn (CO) 17 Jan 2010 Houston TX

1:02:06 ( 1) Eric Polonski (TX) 19 Jan 1997 Carlsbad CA USA

1:02:07 ( 1) Martyn Brewer (KY) 20 Sep 1987 Philadelphia PA USA

20

1:02:09 ( 2) Steven Spence (PA) 16 Sep 1990 Philadelphia PA USA

1:02:09 ( 3) Brett Gotcher (AZ) 18 Jan 2009 Houston TX USA

1:02:11 ( 4) Tim Nelson (OR) 17 Jan 2010 Houston TX USA

1:02:14 ( 2) Kirk Pfeffer (CO) 20 Sep 1981 Philadelphia PA USA

1:02:14 ( 1) Dean Matthews (FL) 16 Sep 1984 Philadelphia PA USA

1:02:14 ( 6) Phil Coppess (IA) 15 Sep 1985 Philadelphia PA USA

26

Aided courses

1:00:29 a ( 2) Abdihakim Abdirahman (AZ) 05 Aug 2007 New York NY USA

1:00:40 a ( 3) Mohammed Trafeh 21 Mar 2010 New York NY USA

1:01:56 a ( 7) Josh Rohatinsky 21 Mar 2010 New York NY USA

All Courses Performance list

59:43 ( 1) Ryan Hall (CA) 14 Jan 2007 Houston TX USA

1:00:00 ( 3) Dathan Ritzenhein (OR) 11 Oct 2009 Birmingham ENG

1:00:29 a ( 2) Abdihakim Abdirahman (AZ) 05 Aug 2007 New York NY USA

1:00:40 a ( 3) Mohammed Trafeh 21 Mar 2010 New York NY USA

1:00:55 ( 1) Mark Curp (MO) 15 Sep 1985 Philadelphia PA USA

1:01:00 ( 1) Mebrahtom Keflezighi (CA) 04 Oct 2009 San Jose CA USA

1:01:07 ( 2) Abdihakim Abdirahman- 2 17 Sep 2006 Philadelphia PA USA

1:01:17 ( 1) Khalid Khannouchi (NY) 17 Sep 2000 Philadelphia PA USA

1:01:21 ( 3) Khalid Khannouchi- 2 19 Sep 2004 Philadelphia PA USA

1:01:25 ( 1) Mebrahtom Keflezighi 2 18 Jan 2009 Houston TX USA

10

1:01:25 a ( 3) Dathan Ritzenhein 2 01 Oct 2006 South Shields ENG

1:01:28 a ( 2) Mebrahtom Keflezighi 3 27 Aug 2006 New York NY USA

1:01:30 ( 2) Keith Brantly (FL) 19 Sep 1993 Philadelphia PA USA

1:01:32 ( 1) Paul Cummings (UT) 25 Sep 1983 Dayton OH USA

1:01:33 a ( 3) Abdihakim Abdirahman- 3 05 Oct 2008 South Shields ENG

1:01:34 a ( 3) Abdihakim Abdirahman- 4 27 Aug 2006 New York NY USA

1:01:35 ( 2) Dathan Ritzenhein 3 18 Jan 2009 Houston TX USA

1:01:38 a ( 3) Dathan Ritzenhein- 4 27 Jul 2008 New York NY USA

1:01:43 ( 2) George Malley (MA) 19 Sep 1982 Philadelphia PA USA

1:01:43 ( 1) Mark Curp- 2 14 Sep 1986 Philadelphia PA USA

20

1:01:47 ( 1) Herb Lindsay (MI) 20 Sep 1981 Manchester VT USA

1:01:47 ( 4) Bill Reifsnyder (NM) 15 Sep 1985 Philadelphia PA USA

1:01:47 ( 5) Jon Sinclair (CO) 15 Sep 1985 Philadelphia PA USA

1:01:52 ( 1) Todd Williams (MI) 07 Dec 1991 Orlando FL USA

1:01:52 ( 1) Ryan Hall 2 20 Sep 2009 Philadelphia PA USA

1:01:54 ( 1) Antonio Vega (MN) 17 Jan 2010 Houston TX USA

1:01:56 a ( 7) Josh Rohatinsky 21 Mar 2010 New York NY USA

1:01:57 ( 2) Bruce Bickford (MA) 14 Sep 1986 Philadelphia PA USA

1:02:00 ( 1) David Morris (IL) 14 Mar 1999 Yamaguchi JPN

1:02:01 ( 2) Patrick Smyth (MN) 17 Jan 2010 Houston TX USA

30

1:02:04 ( 3) Brent Vaughn (CO) 17 Jan 2010 Houston TX USA

1:02:06 ( 1) Eric Polonski (TX) 19 Jan 1997 Carlsbad CA USA

1:02:07 ( 1) Martyn Brewer (KY) 20 Sep 1987 Philadelphia PA USA

1:02:09 ( 2) Steven Spence (PA) 16 Sep 1990 Philadelphia PA USA

1:02:09 ( 3) Brett Gotcher (AZ) 18 Jan 2009 Houston TX USA

1:02:14 ( 2) Kirk Pfeffer (CO) 20 Sep 1981 Philadelphia PA USA

1:02:14 ( 1) Dean Matthews (FL) 16 Sep 1984 Philadelphia PA USA

1:02:14 ( 6) Phil Coppess (IA) 15 Sep 1985 Philadelphia PA USA