Two words:
Greedy
Coward
Two words:
Greedy
Coward
looks like we'll get more evidence that Kiprop is a damn sight better than a 13:20 5000m runner.
Salazar gives people an inferiority complex by forever giving them excuses and having them dodge the top competition. Fortunately, Farah seems to be the one person immune to his games.
Interesting to note that all the star runners are racing in the 4k except for Mo Farah who is racing in the "international" 8k.
Great Britain and Northern Ireland teams
Senior Men: Andrew Butchart, Luke Caldwell, Jonathan Davies, Mo Farah, Will Gray, Callum Hawkins, Jonny Hay, Adam Hickey, Charlie Hulson, Ross Millington, Jonathan Taylor, Tom Wade.
Junior Men: Elliot Bowker, Jack Crabtree, Oliver Fox, Jonathan Glen, James Hall, Jac Hopkins.
Senior Women: Rhona Auckland, Emma Clayton, Lauren Deadman, Emelia Gorecka, Maryse Haynes, Katie Hewison, Katie Holt, Jessica Judd, Lily Partridge, Charlotte Purdue Sonia Samuels, Gemma Steel.
Junior Women: Grace Baker, Amy Griffiths, Phoebe Law, Georgina Outten, Sabrina Sinha, Lydia Turner.
International men's 4km field
Asbel Kiprop (KEN), Yomif Kejelcha (ETH), Barnabas Kipyego (KEN), James Magut (KEN), Augustine Choge (KEN), Bernard Lagat (USA), Garrett Heath (USA), Paul Robinson (IRL), Krystian Zalewski (POL), Silas Kiplagat (KEN), Thomas Longosiwa (KEN), Edwin Soi (KEN), Japhet Korir (KEN), Jairus Birech (KEN), Tom Lancashire (GBR), Kyle Langford (GBR), Chris O'Hare (GBR), Ross Murray (GBR), Andrew Heyes (GBR), Richard Goodman (GBR), Michael Callegari (GBR), Ryan McLeod (GBR).
Editor's Note: We changed the title of the thread. Initially it was titled "Great Edinburgh XC - either Mo is ducking competition or UK Athletics is setting up a "race" for him to win?
Is the iaaf going back to adding a 4k?! Sweet!
It's nice to see a 4 k minimarathon has been included.
I like Jairus Birech's chances to win
3k steeple is probably the closest you can get to a 4k European style XC race, and he's run sub 8... if this doesn't come down to a sit and kick (which is usually does, I mean, Garrett Heath won last year for crying out loud), then he could take this one...
I wish Mo Farah was in this, I would love to see Birech take down Farah, that would be something to see...
jjjjjjj wrote:
Fortunately, Farah seems to be the one person immune to his games.
Seems based on what?
NOP Skeptic wrote:
I like Jairus Birech's chances to win
3k steeple is probably the closest you can get to a 4k European style XC race, and he's run sub 8... if this doesn't come down to a sit and kick (which is usually does, I mean, Garrett Heath won last year for crying out loud), then he could take this one...
Kicking on the roads/country is different than kicking on the track. Heath beat Kiprop and Manzano at last year's Newcastle mile. He won Edinburgh XC. He outkicked all the milers in San Jose. These were not flukes.
Well, on August 2015 Mo wont/cant duck competition can/will he ?
Here are the international studs that Farh will NOT be racing:
International men's 4km field
Asbel Kiprop (KEN), Yomif Kejelcha (ETH), Barnabas Kipyego (KEN), James Magut (KEN), Augustine Choge (KEN), Bernard Lagat (USA), Garrett Heath (USA), Paul Robinson (IRL), Krystian Zalewski (POL), Silas Kiplagat (KEN), Thomas Longosiwa (KEN), Edwin Soi (KEN), Japhet Korir (KEN), Jairus Birech (KEN), Tom Lancashire (GBR), Kyle Langford (GBR), Chris O'Hare (GBR), Ross Murray (GBR), Andrew Heyes (GBR), Richard Goodman (GBR), Michael Callegari (GBR), Ryan McLeod (GBR).
LetsRun.com wrote:
Here are the international studs that Farh will NOT be racing:
International men's 4km field
Asbel Kiprop (KEN), Yomif Kejelcha (ETH), Barnabas Kipyego (KEN), James Magut (KEN), Augustine Choge (KEN), Bernard Lagat (USA), Garrett Heath (USA), Paul Robinson (IRL), Krystian Zalewski (POL), Silas Kiplagat (KEN), Thomas Longosiwa (KEN), Edwin Soi (KEN), Japhet Korir (KEN), Jairus Birech (KEN), Tom Lancashire (GBR), Kyle Langford (GBR), Chris O'Hare (GBR), Ross Murray (GBR), Andrew Heyes (GBR), Richard Goodman (GBR), Michael Callegari (GBR), Ryan McLeod (GBR).
This was in the original post. It even bolded the standouts.
Has anybody considered that this may simply be a consequence of the fact that he's a 5K/10K runner?When you look at all the great runners in the 4000m race, a huge portion of them are 1500m or 3000m specialists. I'm certainly not all that familiar with every one of the runners there, but Kiprop and Kiplagat are exceptional 1500m runners, Lagat is the second-fastest 1500m runner ever, Choge has widespread talents but is weighted more towards the 1500m/3000m races, and Soi and Longosiwa are both 3000m/5000m racers.
RunWild wrote:
International men's 4km field
Asbel Kiprop (KEN), Yomif Kejelcha (ETH), Barnabas Kipyego (KEN), James Magut (KEN), Augustine Choge (KEN), Bernard Lagat (USA), Garrett Heath (USA), Paul Robinson (IRL), Krystian Zalewski (POL), Silas Kiplagat (KEN), Thomas Longosiwa (KEN), Edwin Soi (KEN), Japhet Korir (KEN), Jairus Birech (KEN), Tom Lancashire (GBR), Kyle Langford (GBR), Chris O'Hare (GBR), Ross Murray (GBR), Andrew Heyes (GBR), Richard Goodman (GBR), Michael Callegari (GBR), Ryan McLeod (GBR).
It makes perfect sense for runners who specialize in races between 1500m - 5000m to choose the 4000m race.
Why would a 5000m/10000m specialist coming off of a decent Marathon-campaign not choose an 8000m race? It's obviously the most comfortable and sensible distance.
You might be right, you might not be. But the brojos would never accept your idea. They prefer to call out NOP for ducking competition.
Seyta wrote:
Has anybody considered that this may simply be a consequence of the fact that he's a 5K/10K runner?
When you look at all the great runners in the 4000m race, a huge portion of them are 1500m or 3000m specialists. I'm certainly not all that familiar with every one of the runners there, but Kiprop and Kiplagat are exceptional 1500m runners, Lagat is the second-fastest 1500m runner ever, Choge has widespread talents but is weighted more towards the 1500m/3000m races, and Soi and Longosiwa are both 3000m/5000m racers.
It makes perfect sense for runners who specialize in races between 1500m - 5000m to choose the 4000m race.
Why would a 5000m/10000m specialist coming off of a decent Marathon-campaign not choose an 8000m race? It's obviously the most comfortable and sensible distance.
Farah has a 1500m PR just as good as those guys. He is not a 5k/10k guy. He is a 1500m runner that runs the 5k/10k time. He has ALWAYS been a speedy guy. Any Brits keeping up with him throughout the years know this.
Two Olympic Golds and Three World Golds--races in which one cannot duck anyone. There was a time when a runner of such distinction would be worthy of a great deal of respect. Alas, we live in a time when only demeaning someone counts.
True story. I was at the Edinbrugh XC race a few years ago. Ryan Hall was kicking ass at the time. I spoke to a Brit (not someone associated with the race) and they said something along the lines, "What are you all doing? If Ryan Hall was a Brit I guarantee we'd make sure he won the London Marathon (by watering down the field)."
Well the good news is they didn't water down the London Marathon so Farah would win last year.
This one however is being set up so Farah wins. That's how our sport works a lot now. Farah runs, gets paid a lot, the race gets better TV numbers because he's running. I'm sure the organizers would say would you rather have Farah or no Farah even if he is in the "B" race.
wejo wrote:
True story. I was at the Edinbrugh XC race a few years ago. Ryan Hall was kicking ass at the time. I spoke to a Brit (not someone associated with the race) and they said something along the lines, "What are you all doing? If Ryan Hall was a Brit I guarantee we'd make sure he won the London Marathon (by watering down the field)."
Well the good news is they didn't water down the London Marathon so Farah would win last year.
This one however is being set up so Farah wins. That's how our sport works a lot now. Farah runs, gets paid a lot, the race gets better TV numbers because he's running. I'm sure the organizers would say would you rather have Farah or no Farah even if he is in the "B" race.
How is it being set up for Farah to win? It's an international match GBR-USA-EUR, just as it's been for years. They've already announced the European squad, and it includes most of the top 5-6 or so from Euro Champs.
They haven't announced the USA team yet, but it's selected by USATF, not GBR or Nova.
Farah may indeed be avoiding the better field by running the match, but you can't accuse the organizers of keeping the field weak.
Exactly, just like last summer:
He wasn't fine before Glasgow meet, then, he's fine enough to run the Glasgow meet and they watered down the field for the 2 mile so he would win and set the British record, then he announced he wasn't doing Commonwealth, then all of a sudden everyone thought he was going to compete in the rest of the DL season (DL Stockholm, DL Zurich, DL Brussels, could've shown up to Rieti, or Continential Cup), but no, then he's all of a sudden not ready to race anymore
I'm getting kinda tired of it, and I hope in 2015 he races some big competition and chases some records, but I'm not banking on it...
Heard the young brit Mike Vennard is in the race and is in filthy shape right now. Farah probably just doesn't want to lose to a future all star of the sport, before he was a somebody.
No Mo apologist wrote:
How is it being set up for Farah to win? It's an international match GBR-USA-EUR, just as it's been for years. They've already announced the European squad, and it includes most of the top 5-6 or so from Euro Champs.
They haven't announced the USA team yet, but it's selected by USATF, not GBR or Nova.
Farah may indeed be avoiding the better field by running the match, but you can't accuse the organizers of keeping the field weak.
I remember it was 2011 when they changed the race from short & long course to "team invitational 8k and elite 3k". Before this happened, Bekele dominated the good east Africans in the long course race while the short course race was the "JV" race.
Guess who went 1-2 in the 2011 team race?