2015 Boston international field announced - Meb will have his hands full with 5 sub 2:05, 10 sub 2:07 guys!!!

Here is the official Boston press release:

http://www.letsrun.com/news/2015/01/john-hancock-financial-announces-2015-boston-marathon-international-elite-field/

Here is the Race Result Weekly article on the field:

http://www.letsrun.com/news/2015/01/meb-keflezighi-face-patrick-makau-lelisa-desisa-2015-boston-marathon/

Our analysis of it will be up shortly. While there are a lot of super fast PBs, many of them weren't set very recently.

Always a shot on the BAA!! Great job by them gathering all of the remaining talent out there in addition to the best of the Americans. I think that the course keeps a lot of the top guys away. Hopefully more do like Kipsang did last year when he ran & won NYC.

I expected Geoffry Mutai to be on this list. He is not making a spring appearance, it seams, while his training partner Makau is.

Clerk wrote:

I expected Geoffry Mutai to be on this list. He is not making a spring appearance, it seams, while his training partner Makau is.

A good observation. That should have been point #4 in our analysis. Here is our analysis with 3 takeaways:

Dathan will win

Clerk wrote:

I expected Geoffry Mutai to be on this list. He is not making a spring appearance, it seams, while his training partner Makau is.

Well, you know, maybe there is another World Marathon Major in the spring.

I would like to dream that you are right...I can't though :/

It doesn't matter. They'll let him win like last year.

I had read on a letsrun thread a few weeks ago that Ejegayehu Dibaba retired, yet she is on the elite list for Boston?

My source is the poster called (loot) on the first page right after my post's.

http://www.letsrun.com/forum/flat_read.php?thread=6127864&page=0

Short retirement.

TAA wrote:

It doesn't matter. They'll let him win like last year.

No they won't. That would be WAY too obvious. It was obvious enough last year to the intelligent. The last thing they want is for the masses to catch on.

survey says wrote:

Well, you know, maybe there is another World Marathon Major in the spring.

You mean besides London which he isn't running?

Actually to be fair, I don't think Tokyo has announced an elite field yet, so it is possible he's running there in February. It's pretty much a joke that that race constitutes a "major"

You're probably right, I imagine GM will run Tokyo, with his training partners Kipsang and Kimetto otherwise occupied. Still, I'm dreaming in technicolor that he skips the bigger races this spring (maybe to aim for NY in the fall), and runs the marathon here in Ottawa at the end of May. We have some really good races in Canada, but haven't managed to get any truly super-elite fields together yet. Until recently, the Waterfront Marathon in Toronto has been closest, but last year in Ottawa we had a really good race, Yemane Tsegay winning in 2:06:54. Still, no really big names. Well, that's not entirely true, the 10k has some decent prize money, and that has been kinda interesting. Mary Keitany set the course record last year, Deriba Merga in 2009, and GM himself has run it the last couple of years. In any case, IMO the Ottawa race weekend has become one of the most enjoyable race weekends in North America. First, it's nicely spread out: the 2k, 5k and 10k are held on Saturday afternoon, the marathon and half marathon on Sunday morning, Second, the organizers have gradually put together a very nice course. Ottawa is a pretty scenic town anyways, and the course manages to catch a whole lot of it. Also, there's good crowd support in most sections, great in the last few km, and only about five miles of the course is along boring straight-aways with not a soul in sight. Addiitonally, last year they had bands playing in the finish area all Sunday morning, so there was a really festive area, and a good time to be had after the race was done - hopefully that will be continued this year. Finally, everything about the race, from the expo to the water stations, is really well orgainized. It is a special weekend, and while it probably doesn't need athletes like GM to run the marathon, that sure would be the icing on a most delicious cake.

Gronk wrote:

survey says wrote:

Well, you know, maybe there is another World Marathon Major in the spring.

You mean besides London which he isn't running?

Yes, besides London which he isn't running.

Gronk wrote:

Actually to be fair, I don't think Tokyo has announced an elite field yet, so it is possible he's running there in February. It's pretty much a joke that that race constitutes a "major"

Oh, hey, it only took you five minutes to remember that there are six WMM.

Idiot comment. There is a world outside the US of A.

It has a better course than Boston, better support than New York, and is better organised than either. Being a huge flight from anywhere it will never get a field to match other majors, but for every other reason it is way better than any US marathon.

Run it, then give us your feedback.

Nibali wrote:

it will never get a field to match other majors

Have you seen the field for this year yet? 21 guys 2:03-2:09. Boston has 15 in that range. London has 13.

survey says wrote:

Oh, hey, it only took you five minutes to remember that there are six WMM.

No, it took me five minutes to realize that when you said "spring" you meant "February"