2014 Boston runner-up on Meb: "I thought he was a pacesetter..I lost the title last year to an Eritrean turned American"

LetsRun.com wrote:

The 2015 Boton Marathon is coming up in 11 days. This out to get American fans riled up.

Wilson Kwambai Chebet said:

"I did not see Meb until we were all on a flat course. For me I thought he was a pacesetter but later learned that he was competing and beating him with the distance he had was too big for me."

"I lost the title last year to an Eritrean turned American Meb (Keflezighi) but this year, I want to try my best in one of Majors."

http://allafrica.com/stories/201504081370.html

We don't think it's been reported until now that Wilson thought Meb was a rabbit.

OK, I know this matters, but it doesn't really. We all knew that it was a mix of luck, running ability, and tactical saavy that won Meb this race.

If this is true, then it looks like Chebet made a tactical blunder too. OK, we already knew that Meb won it partly on tactics -- we're giving him credit for that. We're not saying "he won the race because no one could go with his surge." So this doesn't change my perception of anything.

If true, big blunder by Chebet. You don't need to know everyone in the field, but how could he miss the guy with probably the best resume of anyone there. Meb has been.was one of the top 10 marathoners in the world for the past decade -- this isn't an Emma Coburn situation where she had a dramatic improvement. Meb has been kicking guys like Chebet's asses for years. And he did it again last year.

reader of the forums wrote:

If true, it's his fault for not knowing who an olympic silver medalist / NYC marathon winner / 4th place from the previous olympics was.

Or that there are no pacers in Boston

Or this wrote:

reader of the forums wrote:

If true, it's his fault for not knowing who an olympic silver medalist / NYC marathon winner / 4th place from the previous olympics was.

Or that there are no pacers in Boston

^^^^^This.

Great point.

Or, if you don't see the pace car, you'd better catch up to it.

The loser of the 1994 LA Marathon sued the race because the rabbit didn't die. The winning rabbit was Paul Pilkington. The loser was Luca Barzaghi.

"By the time Barzaghi crossed the finish line, he had already chosen the color of his new car. He raised his arms. He smiled."

http://articles.latimes.com/1994-03-07/sports/sp-31105_1_los-angeles-marathon

Why would be a pace be that far ahead, by himself?

He "lost the title" to Meb? You can't lose what you didn't have.

Why Would A wrote:

Why would be a pace be that far ahead, by himself?

Because pacers are paid to pass certain checkpoints at predefined times.

Pacers can only be taken seriously if they're allowed to finish.

Anyway, that Kenyan dude is super stupid for not knowing that Boston doesn't have pacers...

Why Would A wrote:

Why would be a pace be that far ahead, by himself?

Josphat Boit was with him until they were out of sight. When Boit fell back to the chase pack by himself, maybe he assumed "the other guy" dropped out. Not that he shouldn't have known better.

It's a total BS excuse.

It is made very clear to the elite men who have a shot a winning that there are no pacesetters at Boston.

I would have won the Superbowl, but I thought that defender was the groundskeeper. I lost the title this year to a Mississippian turned New Englander.

It doesn't surprise me that he didn't know Boston has no pacers. His first language isn't English. I think many foreign runners may just be like, "Yeah, whatever just let me run and make money." without really knowing what they are being told.

What I find interesting is when he said, "I lost the title last year to an Eritrean turned American...". Why did he specify that? I see no other reason than to respect the talents of other African nations and point out that born and raised Americans cannot truly compete with the top talents of Africa.

If the "thought he was a rabbit" claim is true (I'm skeptical), the guy needs to get a little more paranoid in races. For one thing, hasn't he heard any of the true tales of rabbits winning races? And for another, if it were me, and I was trying to win this huge payday and prestigious title, I wouldn't just nonchalantly let some unknown guy get a couple of minutes ahead in the middle of the race on the assumption that he was going to drop out, even though nobody had specifically told me that he would.

It's kind of like, Meb took the lead and must have been in sight for a good while, and this was just before the middle miles of the race. For instance, at 15 miles, he must have either still been able to see Meb, or else realize that Meb had gapped him so badly that he was out of sight. Didn't it occur to this guy that if Meb was a rabbit, he better be dropping out pretty danged soon? Rabbits don't take huge leads into the latter stages and then drop out.

My guess is that he was so focused on other (fellow Kenyan) competitors, he didn't WANT to focus on Meb. Maybe he HOPED Meb was a rabbit, because he didn't want to be the one to lead the chase. But I'm not buying into the claim that he truly had no inkling.

Chebet himself was a rabbit that didn't drop in his first marathon, 2010

Pace Car wrote:

Or, if you don't see the pace car, you'd better catch up to it.

The loser of the 1994 LA Marathon sued the race because the rabbit didn't die. The winning rabbit was Paul Pilkington. The loser was Luca Barzaghi.

"By the time Barzaghi crossed the finish line, he had already chosen the color of his new car. He raised his arms. He smiled."

http://articles.latimes.com/1994-03-07/sports/sp-31105_1_los-angeles-marathon

Sorry, I can't let this go. The LA times said: "It was the first time in nine years that the men's and women's winners in one of the big three marathons--New York, Boston, Los Angeles--were U.S. citizens at the time of the race."

Since when was LA one of the big three? Ever heard of Chicago? Those Californians definitely live in their own world.

Ummm, Mr. Chicagonian, in 1994 participants were:

LA Marathon: 19,000

Chicago: 10,000

Why would you think I was referencing quantity not quality? LA has never had the quality at the top end of the field as those other 3 marathons.

Oh, stop your incessant crying. Chicago was a smaller event in 1994. The race was named the "LaSalle Bank Chicago Marathon" starting in 1994. Chicago's winning times were 2:11 and 2:31. LA winning times were 2:12 and 2:28.

The best interpretation of this is that Chebet was joking when he made the "rabbit" comment and the humor was lost in the translation. If he seriously believed Meb was a rabbit, he's a freaking idiot. More likely, he's just making poor excuses.

The more troubling part is where he specifies "Eritrean turned American". I'm also confused as to why he felt the need to say that.

I doubt Meb will repeat, but it sure would be nice to see him beat this guy again. Next excuse: "I saw someone ahead, but I thought that it was a woman. By the time that I realized it was an Eritrean turned American man, it was too late."

what an arrogant, excuse-making d-bag. USA USA USA