Amazing finish by Gillis, getting the AC olympic standard by 1 second!
Amazing finish by Gillis, getting the AC olympic standard by 1 second!
Ed Whitlock 3:15:51 . . .
It was a good day, albeit windy. Probably took 90 seconds off marathon times.
35-40km is directly into the wind. They probably lost a minute in that segment alone.
Really happy for Gillis, he deserves it.
Shame about the wind, Reid was primed for the record. Maybe he can go for it in London, though times in the Olympics always seem slow.
Not sure of Bairu's chances in Fukuoka, he's had a bit of a crap year.
I ran today--the fact Reid ran 2:10:55 tells me he can run a high 2:08 or low 2:09 right now--that was a brutal wind. Seriously, nasty. That winner Mungara was 2 minutes slower than his win last year (in a battle to the line, and from all indications he is in equal shape) tells us that Reid is ready to smash 2:10 on good day....And Gillis is a beast!! Congrats on a well-deserved Olympic bid. Amazing to watch.
insiders know wrote:
I'm fairly sure AC set the Canadian Olympic standard at sub-2:11:30. That's why there was such a big hullabaloo at last year's STWM when Reid broke it.
I'm fairly sure the IAAF Olympic qualification window didn't start until Jan 1, 2011 so as far as they were concerned, he still needed to run sub 2:15.
Coolsaet or Ryan Hall - who do you take as the best white boy marathoner in North America?
Pretty sure Reid would have been a lot faster without the dump break at 22k as well.
Are you saying Reid had to stop for a dump and still ended up leading the race at 30k?...unreal. I will read his blog to see if this is true.
This morning I was on the edge of my seat watching this race. It occured to me that Coolsaet is Canada's Ryan Hall. What I love is that Canadian runners who have followed this race are so excited and proud of Coolsaet, instead of berating him for not breaking the record like the American's would have done if it had been Ryan Hall in the same situation.
Although as far as who is actually a faster runner, I don't think Coolsaet would have had the speed to run a 2:04 at Boston, even with those ideal conditions. But he is still an amazing, world-class marathoner, and I'm sure we are all thankful that he doesn't spout off about Jesus being his running coach!
I met Jerome Drayton a few times, even ran with him once! He used to run with Toronto Olympic Club, but way before I joined. He was legendary for training alone.
Remember that his 2:10 09 was run when the world record was in the 2:09s
He won Fukuoka 3 times, which was effectively the world champs, and Boston once. This while working a full time job and no sponsors. He would have been expected to do well in Munich, but the Canadian Athletics governing body at the time screwed him over royally.
Yo Coolsaet, I'm really happy for you, Imma Let you finish, but Drayton has one of the best marathons times of all time!
Not American
Not American wrote:
Not American
Joke's on you. He has dual citizenship (but isn't about the change allegiance).
Touche sir.