Mo Trafeh gets 9th place in San Blas 1/2 M

Bobby, when you get a fast enough connection watch this other video of Kwambai winning in 2009:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dDQEW-Fhxfk

bobby e. wrote:

I can't watch that right now (slow connection), but do a Google image search for "James Kwambai" and tell me if any of those photos look like the guy in that photo.

Also, Kwambai has always been a Nike-sponsored athlete, and that runner is in some sort of club kit, and shoes that certainly don't look like Nikes.

The video Coamo posted from elnuevodia.com has Kwambai. You can see him pulling away in the final part of the video.

BTW I was there, and he did win. He was wearing number 2, since last year he finished second.

Lost Soul wrote:

Wow, surprised to see him race so soon after his US Champs victory. Marathon pace workout perhaps?

Yikes, I hope not. 2:12-2:13 would seem like a disappointing debut.

1:06 at San Blas is worth much faster on a flat course in good weather. No one PRs at this race.

Re: Kwambai - the poster above says he wore #2, but the athlete in the photo on the first page of this thread is wearing #10. I apologize for not being able to watch the video, but I'm pretty sure the athlete in the photo is not James Kwambai (at least, not the James Kwambai with the 2:04 PR).

bobby e. wrote:

Also, people need to quit confusing Mo Trafeh (American, born in Morocco) with Mo Farah (British, born in Somalia).

Maybe they should get different first names then.

Man I love these forums...

"____ runner got __th place in ____ race"

"He's done."

"Yeah, and his coach is a douche bag."

"@* You, you're a douche bag!! I don't see you running a 3:__ mile. You are so ignorant and you make me sick."

"Well if his coach followed the ______ horse racing calculator, you'd obviously see that his training must include more hill sprints, and it's obvious that horses and humans are almost exactly the same in every way, so if he were to run on all fours, he would break 3:30 in the mile. Stupid !~@$#er"

"Sounds like someone needs to get off his *#@^ing high horse and realize we're talking about humans."

"bump"

"I'm so emo I'm going to twist a potentially interesting discussion into me releasing my anger problems"

"I hate being a high schooler in middle-class suburbia and I'm never satisfied with what I have so I have to take it out on other overly emotional unsatisfied teenage runners online"

bobby e. wrote:

1:06 at San Blas is worth much faster on a flat course in good weather. No one PRs at this race.

Re: Kwambai - the poster above says he wore #2, but the athlete in the photo on the first page of this thread is wearing #10. I apologize for not being able to watch the video, but I'm pretty sure the athlete in the photo is not James Kwambai (at least, not the James Kwambai with the 2:04 PR).

You are correct. The guy on the first video is taken at the Chicago 07 (i think) marathon. I think he meant that that was the second place finisher in San Blas, not that it was Kwambai.

Yes, the guy in the picture wearing #10 is Chebon. Kwambai did win wearing #2.

Results:

http://www.allsportcentral.com/results/results.cfm?EventID=34407

For what is worth, I am rooting for Mo Trafeh's future career. Takes real balls to tackle San Blas just after winning the US 1/2 M championship. There was a time when many more top Americans went to San Blas to test themselves against the best on a brutal course. Being humbled at this point may turn out to be good for Mo....

[quote]Coamo wrote:

Yes, the guy in the picture wearing #10 is Chebon. Kwambai did win wearing #2.

Actually, the guy wearing number 10 is Patrick Nthiwa. Kwambai did win though.

Thanks Identifier, just to get the record straight, looks like the paper mistakingly posted a picture of Patrick Nthiwa, last year's winner (wearing #10 at the time).

Also, Kwambai did win, Mo Trafeh (Current US 1/2M champion) did get 9th place and like Billy wrote: "Mo Trafeh (American, born in Morocco)" is not "Mo Farah (British, born in Somalia".

they must not do drug testing

actually they prob did have testing. why do you think mo races 2-3 races in a very short period of time, then disappears for weeks, if not months? hey, it could be a legitimate "injury" that keeps him out between races but it could also be something else. typical way to cycle folks. lets just hope usada follows him close enough....

iran2day wrote:

"Well if his coach followed the ______ horse racing calculator, you'd obviously see that his training must include more hill sprints, and it's obvious that horses and humans are almost exactly the same in every way, so if he were to run on all fours, he would break 3:30 in the mile. Stupid !~@$#er"

Absolute classic.

Where's wentolin^0 when you need him?

cheap american bastard wrote:

actually they prob did have testing. why do you think mo races 2-3 races in a very short period of time, then disappears for weeks, if not months? hey, it could be a legitimate "injury" that keeps him out between races but it could also be something else. typical way to cycle folks. lets just hope usada follows him close enough....

Great, Mo shows some promise of bringing about a ressurgence in US distance running and letsrun losers shower him with unfounded accusations...

Cheap A.B., you boast about "being first non kenyan plenty of times", when was that?

just back from PR hot and humid (mid 80s) there every single day

Sorry Coamo, but it's just way too painfully obvious. He should have done it a little slower, like over a period of 18mos and perhaps he could have got away with it. also, he needs to not win by so much, that's also a dead giveaway. c'mon man, the guy can barely run 4:35's for a 5k, and less than 12mos later he can barrel out in 4:teens and carry on close to an AR- then run 60:xx ONE WEEK LATER??? gosh, must be that new training program. oh, and signing with Makke didn't help things one bit either. of course, he didn't have much choice, few others would touch him.

cheap american bastard wrote:

Sorry Coamo, but it's just way too painfully obvious...

Perhaps Cheap A.B., but…

The kid was a running freak in a much less than competitive high school, did not adapt to his college program and decided to go pro the old/hard way, getting by on race money, bunkering and living meagerly. I recall reading he lived with Khannouchi for a while, doing nothing but guess what, running.

These days you never know, but maybe he is just smarter.

sorry, he was NOT a running freak- unless you mean he was weird/conceited. Lukas V is a freak. German F is a freak. Ritz was a freak. get the point?

sorry hombre, nothing trafeh did would indicate 60flat, esp nothing he did in college, or for several years afterwards. as i said, the fact that no big name american agents would sign him says something. so does the fact taht he went with Makke, who is about as dirty as they come. how many athletes has he repped that tested +?? more than i can count on one hand. not a good sign. sorry charlie, it just doesn't add up and he's not done a good job of covering it up.

cheap american bastard wrote:

sorry, he was NOT a running freak- unless you mean he was weird/conceited. Lukas V is a freak. German F is a freak. Ritz was a freak. get the point?

sorry hombre, nothing trafeh did would indicate 60flat, esp nothing he did in college, or for several years afterwards. as i said, the fact that no big name american agents would sign him says something. so does the fact taht he went with Makke, who is about as dirty as they come. how many athletes has he repped that tested +?? more than i can count on one hand. not a good sign. sorry charlie, it just doesn't add up and he's not done a good job of covering it up.

Not to say Trafeh is in the class of Lukas V or German, but he was a very solid HS runner. And just ot show you don't pay attention to your facts before posting - he never ran in college so I would expect him to not have done anything in college. In HS he tied Ryan Hall's Mt SAC course record. So he didn't set any HS mile or 2 mile records, he still showed he could put a show on in cross. As others pointed out he skipped college to try and go pro and struggled for a couple years after that.

Everybody has suspicions about everybody, but just get over it and enjoy a solid performance for what it is and criticize a not so solid performance for what it is. All this negativity is just a drag man...