olympic 5 and 10k champion mo farah is running the new orleans half marathon on sunday, can he run the fastest half marathon on american soil which is 58:46 by matthew kisorio in phiadelphia.
just a sidenote the womens race features meseret defar, shalane flanagan and kara goucher.
i say
men
1. mo farah 58:40
women
1. meseret defar 1:05.59
2. shalane flanagan 1:06.25
3. kara goucher 1:07.35
these were the only elites listed.
No. Mo will jog to a 60:00 +/- :30 (unless he has massive financial incentives to run a faster time).
He has the ability, but I say no, it's too early in the season.
They also got Berhane Adere (67:52), Jemima Jelegat (2nd in 2012 Boston marathon), Mary Ngugi (70:54) and Mary Davies (2:28:56).
Not sure if Jemima Jelegat is the same runner as Jemime Jelegat Sumgong that ran 68:39 in the Philly RnR last year.
Farah is probably capable of that time, but they haven't listed who else is in the men's elite field to challenge him.
I doubt it. If you saw the BBC coverage of his Birmingham run last weekend, Cram was saying that he got into serious training later than normal this winter due to all the extra curricular attention a double Olympic gold brings. He wanted to start his 2013 campaign with a low key domestic field as he wasn't sure what sort of form he is in. Hence the easy run last Saturday. He might not even win in the half this weekend. It's very early in the season.
Lel and Gebremariam are running:
http://www.nola.com/running/index.ssf/2013/02/mo_farah_humble_beginnings.html
he will run 1 flat for a new british record. he got into training later than usual and he is running part of the london marathon to see the course. it seems as if he is gearing up for worlds this year.
Depends on the weather. Could be anywhere from 30-80' temp.
douglas burke wrote:
1. mo farah 58:40
these were the only elites listed.
Mr Burke or anyone else,
We'll give anyone that wants to bet 3 to 1 odds that he won't break 59 flat. So we put up $300, you put up $100. Minimum $100 bet.
Hopefully this isn't illegal. Email us if you are interested.
not interested in betting.
my predictions are based more on what i hope happens.
It will be interesting. I can see the case for it either way. Its almost 2 full years ago that Farah and Rupp ran the NY half together. As I recall Farah ran about 60 with a strong finishing kick for the win. Clearly Farah only got better and stronger since.
On the other hand what has Farah's recent training been like? He has said he has lagged behind Rupp in training this winter. He had a newborn child this winter too.
My guess would be 5 - 10s ahead of whoever finishes 2nd, which I suppose will be Gebre Gebremariam.
Therefore:
1) Farah - 60:48
2) Gebremariam - 60:56
3) Lel - 60:58
He had quite a 'break' after his twins were born in late August and I don't think really got back into hard training until he went back to his Kenya base, so I doubt he's in shape to time trail for a sub hour race.
I'll take doug's times and add 1:30 to each.
Mo - 60:10 - PB for Mo and most likely good enough for the win. Mo might be in 58:xx shape later in the season, but probably not now.
Defar - 1:07:29 - PB and course record (also faster than Dibaba's time at GNR).
Flanagan - 1:07:55 - good PB by more than half a minute.
Goucher - 1:09:05 - she hasn't run sub 1:09 since 2009, so a good time for Kara during training for the Boston marathon.
59+
douglas burke wrote:
not interested in betting.
my predictions are based more on what i hope happens.
LOL.
Letsrun classic.
Agreed with the other posters abover that around 60:00 seems right. If anyone's betting, an hour would make a good over/under on this one.
Given the site and time of year, a lot will be down to the weather. With both Lel and Geb-Geb in the field the pace will be honest early on.
no
he will run 5 flat pace then sprint the last 400
Should be upper 50s race day in New Orleans. I really doubt Lel and Gebre have a sub 60 in them. Mo will probably just race for the win. 60:30 should get it done. The womens race could be interesting. Shalane and Kara have had enough time to get back into shape. I wonder whether they will be able to compete with Defar and Adhere or just make it an overpaid tempo run.
I ran this race last year and really enjoyed the course as it was flat and fast. Besides the last mile and half which was rutted out and pot holed, I would lean towards seeing faster then average times.
wccelder wrote:
I ran this race last year and really enjoyed the course as it was flat and fast. Besides the last mile and half which was rutted out and pot holed, I would lean towards seeing faster then average times.
Faster THAN. How does 'faster then average' make any kind of sense?