Umm! No, the rest isn't all correct. You also said, "nor ran a race over 2000m on the track". That's the second incorrect comment you made.
And there's another inaccurate response. You say races (plural) at school. I mentioned ONE race when he was a junior. The others were all senior races.
Because he was an 800 & 1500m runner and only used longer races to give him an indication how his winter training had gone. Why did he need to go out and run a reasonable 5000m? To satisfy you!? I'm sure he did enough in training to know he could run a reasonable 5k whenever he wanted, as backed up by comments made by Chief UK distance coach, Frank Horwill at the time. I'd rather go with his first hand account than yours, thanks.
http://www.pponline.co.uk/encyc/0059.htmLol! Well Americans may not have heard it, but those who follow the sport in Europe are quite aware of it. The fact it's been won by the likes of Ngugi, Paul Tergat, Tanui, Cova, Panetta, Ovett, etc, shows just how insignificant it is.
I did not try to prove anything. I made that comparison with Ovett to underline the fact that Coe was worth much faster than 14:06 for 5000m. I have made no claims to him being as good as any of the elite at the time. The only claim I have made at all in this thread is that 14:06 is not a reflection of his ability at any time from 78 to 89. I have no idea what the conditions were like for the Vigevano races. The first 3 were over the same course. Then it was reduced when Coe won in 83.
The link you gave shows that the 84 and 85 races were both "apparently" 7.5 km. Well Cova won in 84 in 25:04 and Ovett in 20:07! Are you really telling me they were both the same course? Is Ovett (as great as he was) really going to run almost 5 mins faster than the World & Olympic 10k champion? I think not.
He ran one X Country race in 1972 at 15, then didn't run another until 1978. That hardly reinforces your suggestion that he ran X- country until Ovett came along. You don't think he could find a race where Ovett wasn't running!? Lol. As teens Ovett was a 400/800m runner while Coe was a 1500/3000m runner. So if anything Coe was the one with a background in longer distances.
21st place in the 5 Hills X- country. That was 9.5km running through plowed fields and up and down steps. What baring does that have on his ability to run faster than 14 mins for 5000m on the track?
Here's an extract from an article on the race: -
"Curious about Coe's thoughts, the visitor arranged to meet him in mid-March in San Vittore Olona, Italy, at a strange cross-country race called, innocuously enough, the Cinque Mulini (five mills). The route required the runners to scramble across plowed fields, through barnyards, flour mills, up and down steps, past barking dogs, through dark rooms.
"It's not dangerous, it's fun," said Norway's Grete Waitz, who would win the women's race easily. Coe's impression differed slightly.
"There's been a horrible mistake," he said. "I was told it was flat, fast and grass." He planned to run with one thing in mind, his safety."
From: -
http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/vault/article/magazine/MAG1123545/13/index.htmHe ran several races for his club in Spring relays in 84, 85, 88 & 89. They were usually around 3 miles. That's a lot more than he ran X- country.
If you're definition of "big races" means Championship ones, then no. He used 400m to work on his speed and 3000m to work on his endurance. Why? Because he was an 800/1500m runner. I would think that was quite obvious. Ovett moved up to 5000m in 86 because he no longer had the speed to match the best over 800 & 1500m. That's why most athletes move up. Coe didn't need to do this; he had the speed to rank No. 1 in 86 at 800m and was still up there with the best in 89.
If you read his biography he explains why he didn't move up to 5000m. He also found it boring. But for whatever reason you chose to believe why he didn't move up seriously to 5000m, the idea that he was only capable, even as a 1500m runner, of being at best a 14:06 athlete, is beneath your obvious knowledge and understanding of the sport.