Kenenisa should give back his appearance fee

Hey, yeah, that's a great idea. You should tell the organizers. It can't possibly be something that's pre-written into the standard contract for a professional athlete.

his aura is diminishing?

Who ran the fastest 10k last year? Who is the WR holder?

Sounds like hes still on top of his game.

KB would never run a race and not give it his best effort. Clearly he wasn't sharp enough to take on guys in better shape this early in the yr.

I have no doubt he will destroy the field in the Olympics.

Many folks here on LRC argue how important XC is (and even the indoors but let's face it. This ain't highschool. You can't have 4 peaks per year. You can have 2 (Marathon) or one longer one climaxing in the Olympics (track running). That's it.

If KB was in 100% shape now then he'd have to de-load at some point before the Olympics.

Why should he give his money back?

CountryFeedback wrote:

What was that all about??

No discredit to the Brits who beat him but really this was abysmal. After all the prerace buildup to the great man and all his success, he shows up and doesn't even race. If he is in his base phase for the summer fair enough but he would still have been good enough to mix it up front. Comfortably. And Kipruto was no better. The fact that they ran so close to each other all race was even more bizarre.

Kudos to Asbel for saying screw that I'm here to race. And Kipchoge, at least he made an honest attempt.

Boo to KB. Your aura is diminishing.

Did they not use him in promoting their race, featuring three reigning Olympic champions?

It's not really about seeing him in peak form. I don't think anyone expects that in January. More about the fact that in any phase of training, base etc he should have been good enough to contest and possibly win. Maybe not win but surely up at the front with Asbel and Kipchoge. If you watch the race he sits in the middle of the pack about 50m back all the way around. Then as he crosses the finish line he has a sheepish grin on his face.

Or are the domestic Brits really that good? One guy who beat him actually ran the 8k race earlier on.

If he isn't prepared to race it, why would he agree to the trip. The guy is not short of cash so certainly doesn't need to appear when he doesn't want to.

Who knows? Maybe the conditions were aggravating some injury.

Welcome to our sport! I hope you learn something about it soon.

Nutella1 wrote:

You can't have 4 peaks per year. You can have 2 (Marathon) or one longer one climaxing in the Olympics (track running). That's it.

If KB was in 100% shape now then he'd have to de-load at some point before the Olympics.

Evidently Kenenisa should learn something about it too, because he said the same thing.

I'm not serious for this race. At this time of the year I don't want to be in very good shape. It is too early. It is a long time to the Olympics. I want to build up slowly

I think Kenenisia and Jos should get their money back from where they got their last delivery from.

They are just biding their time, or FedEx International probably let the stash get too hot.

trollism wrote:

I think Kenenisia and Jos should get their money back from where they got their last delivery from.

Did you see that course? The poor footing? The big drops? The waiste high logs? For him is the risk worth the reward? No.

That said... Amazing course. That is how xc should be, not on some flat golf course.

'Did you see that course? The poor footing? The big drops? The waiste high logs? For him is the risk worth the reward? No'

He has won on this course before only it had a bigger hill in then

Quote after this years race:

“The course was OK but my shape was not good,” Bekele said. “I am 50/50 and I was not confident before the race. But it’s a long time until the Olympics and it is too early to be in better shape.”

Agree that they should make xc courses tougher. The ones on a golf course are a waste of time you may as well run on the road

'Did you see that course? The poor footing? The big drops? The waiste high logs? For him is the risk worth the reward? No'

He has won on this course before only it had a bigger hill in then

Quote after this years race:

“The course was OK but my shape was not good,” Bekele said. “I am 50/50 and I was not confident before the race. But it’s a long time until the Olympics and it is too early to be in better shape.”

Agree that they should make xc courses tougher. The ones on a golf course are a waste of time you may as well run on the road

Why the F do you think it's called "appearance fee"? He gets the money for showing up. He's earned to get that before the race. F jealous losers.

Once you get to that level, then it becomes not necesarily "win" every race you run; There are issues with peaking, timing, pressure, conditioning and psychological war among these guys. For him losing this race is good, is part of a build up, training, peak performance and getting hungry again in relation to the Olympics games and for his final and important goal of his life, to become the only distance runner in history to win three gold medals in the 10,000 meters. He deserves to get paid, he is the man and when he shows up, he is the one that makes all of the track distance events and cross country "THE MAIN EVENT" One day I would love to see him race (win or loose)

Agree that they should make xc courses tougher. The ones on a golf course are a waste of time you may as well run on the road[/quote]

As a high school xc runner, I strongly disagree with you. High schools don't run road races, and also never run 5,000 on the track. Therefore, I want to be able to run fast in xc. In track, you can set a pr anywhere, in xc, you have to wait around for a fast course and good competition, good conditions, etc. This is so stupid in my opinion; every time I go out there I want the opportunity to run a pr, if I'm in shape. It's also nice to be able to compare your performances from one day to the next...

Your right OP when you win 20+ gold medals in international competition you have lost your aura. Jeeeze Letsrun never ceases to amaze me.

Silly boy. What makes you think the 5k course is actually a true 5000 meters? Fact is it is probably a little off. Your "pr" on that course only.