Mo Farah Calls Out LetsRun Hype Machine, Says Galen Rupp Will Be an Olympic Champ,

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  • wejo
    cofounder
    4 years ago 05/30/2015 1:37am CDT
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    A happy Mo Farah talked to the media at length after the race.

    He was pleased to get the win, but said he really wanted to run faster. The problem was with the pacing. Once the rabbits stopped at 4k, the pace lagged. Ricky Simms, Farah's agent, told us that they offered guys five figures (more than they would get for winning the 5000m) to pace and they couldn't get anyone. The problem is to run 26:30 pace (13:15 for 5k), you need to be a sub 13:00 guy and sub 13:00 guys think they can win the 5ks, and they want to keep their world ranking etc, so they don't want to pace even if they will get paid a ton.

    Ricky said the race even put financial incentives for the top guys in the 10k to lead after 5k, but it didn't work as the pace lagged the 2nd 5k.

    Farah talked at length about racing everyone at all sorts of distances. His next race is a 1500m in England and he talked about his magical 1500m in Monaco.

    He said he views Galen as his top rival at 10,000m and talked about their friendship and rivalry. He said he thinks Galen will be an Olympic 10,000m champion.

    And he even talked about LRC hyping up Geoffrey Kamworor as the next guy who might be abe to beat Mo at 10k. A reporter asked Farah if it was important to beat Kamworor because he was the guy everyone was talking about. Farah said, "There's been a lot of talk. You guys hype up (the next guy who is going to beat me), particularly LetsRun. Are u (LetsRun) here?"

    I identified myself and we both laughed and I said the sport needs more rivalries and Farah said, "The sport needs more characters."

    Full interview here: https://youtu.be/F7Fsof07EBw
  • Propaganda
    4 years ago 05/30/2015 1:53am CDT
    re: wejo
    Forum Index
    Ugh, that is too much propaganda for team Farah to push in a single sitting. Someone spiked Mo and Ricky's drinks with some uppers.
  • rekrunner
    4 years ago 05/30/2015 3:47am CDT
    re: wejo
    Forum Index
    Who paced Bekele?
  • Bad Wigins
    registered
    4 years ago 05/30/2015 4:05am CDT
    re: wejo
    Forum Index
    What the sport needs is fewer stuck-up prima donnas who expect top elite 5000 runners to pace for them. When's the last time Mo ran sub-13?
  • malmo
    registered
    4 years ago 05/30/2015 4:13am CDT
    re: rekrunner
    Forum Index
    rekrunner wrote:

    Who paced Bekele?

    His brother.

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3eZ3ai6wbAc
  • Wide awake now UK guy
    4 years ago 05/30/2015 5:34am CDT
    re: wejo
    Forum Index
    wejo wrote:

    A happy Mo Farah talked to the media at length after the race.

    He was pleased to get the win, but said he really wanted to run faster. The problem was with the pacing. Once the rabbits stopped at 4k, the pace lagged. Ricky Simms, Farah's agent, told us that they offered guys five figures (more than they would get for winning the 5000m) to pace and they couldn't get anyone. The problem is to run 26:30 pace (13:15 for 5k), you need to be a sub 13:00 guy and sub 13:00 guys think they can win the 5ks, and they want to keep their world ranking etc, so they don't want to pace even if they will get paid a ton.

    Ricky said the race even put financial incentives for the top guys in the 10k to lead after 5k, but it didn't work as the pace lagged the 2nd 5k.

    Farah talked at length about racing everyone at all sorts of distances. His next race is a 1500m in England and he talked about his magical 1500m in Monaco.

    He said he views Galen as his top rival at 10,000m and talked about their friendship and rivalry. He said he thinks Galen will be an Olympic 10,000m champion.

    And he even talked about LRC hyping up Geoffrey Kamworor as the next guy who might be abe to beat Mo at 10k. A reporter asked Farah if it was important to beat Kamworor because he was the guy everyone was talking about. Farah said, "There's been a lot of talk. You guys hype up (the next guy who is going to beat me), particularly LetsRun. Are u (LetsRun) here?"

    I identified myself and we both laughed and I said the sport needs more rivalries and Farah said, "The sport needs more characters."

    Full interview here: https://youtu.be/F7Fsof07EBw

    Love it! I'm sure he knew you there.
    Anyway didn't Kamworor himself hype up his chances after his XC win?

    As far as the pacing goes, bit disappointing noone would step in to do it but on the other hand if he was really in shape to run significantly faster there's nothing to stop him doing it himself and just taking off - unless of course he was afraid of Kamworor sitting on him.
  • Rupp-certified saladbar
    4 years ago 05/30/2015 8:01am CDT
    re: wejo
    Forum Index
    Mo should thank his lucky stars the pace sagged.

    Nobody is mentioning that Kamworor is vastly less experienced than Farah in 10,000 racing. Watching the race he was ***obviously*** told not to make moves but hang with the fast predicted pace until the last lap.

    He basically pulled a Rupp, putting the race on his opponent's terms by not pushing.

    The pace sagging from sub-13:20 to well over-13:30 (over a second per lap slower before the kick) playing into Farah's hands as a kicker and known strong tactician.

    Run the same race next year (or thi summer?), truly turn Kamworor loose and he will run Farah into the ground.

    Farah may have 26:3x in him, but he'll need the heart to actually run it. Not seeing that yesterday.
  • peekay
    4 years ago 05/30/2015 8:50am CDT
    re: Rupp-certified saladbar
    Forum Index
    It is good that Farah acknowledges Rupp is a rival, because after watching the two races last night and recalling Rupp's 26:44, I think for the first time Rupp may have a chance to beat Farah at 10k (not 5k though). And if not this year, 2016 I think Rupp will surpass him in the 10.

    Also, pretty incredible Cam Levins ran 27:07 and was not even in the picture the whole race. Shows why the top guys can kick so much better in slower races--they really are just jogging.
  • the scoop
    4 years ago 05/30/2015 9:34am CDT
    re: wejo
    Forum Index
    wejo wrote:

    A happy Mo Farah talked to the media at length after the race.

    He sure could have fooled me with all the head-shaking he did immediately after the race, looking somewhat away from the camera.

    wejo wrote:

    Farah said, "There's been a lot of talk. You guys hype up (the next guy who is going to beat me), particularly LetsRun. Are u (LetsRun) here?"

    That's interesting. Hasn't Salazar said in interviews that they don't pay attention to LRC & message boards? Lol.

    wejo wrote:

    Farah said, "The sport needs more characters."

    Agreed. This can't be underscored enough. PR-generating machines will always get talk, and always get viewership. "[M]ore characters" is a great way to breathe some more life into the sport, and should not be ignored.

    Not as much in this thread (so far?), but in other threads people have complained about Farah not pushing the pace last night in Eugene. I completely disagree; every time Tanui stepped aside to have someone else push the pace, Farah DID take it up. This stunned me, because I'd never seen him do that before about 800m to go, or outside of ridiculously slow (~75sec) laps at the beginning of a race. I believe he really tried last night, and he was within 4 to 5 seconds of his PB in a race that takes more than 26 minutes. That's pretty good. I think what's really going on is that either (1.) he's getting older (shocker!) or (2.) he's not at peak yet because he's planning the season to peak in a few months (shocker!) so he can win Worlds.
  • tony the tiger
    4 years ago 05/30/2015 9:43am CDT
    re: the scoop
    Forum Index
    Mo was too scared to lose and that cost a shot at PB , he even said it in the interview
  • J.R.
    4 years ago 05/30/2015 10:17am CDT
    re: the scoop
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    I'm impressed Mo lead so much, which was good for him, though it also exposed that he is very WEAK when leading - also the reason he's never done it before. I've said all along the way to beat him is to run him out on the pace, and now this is ever more obvious. Kamworor and Kirui appeared to be just running along, evaluating Farah for later in the season.
  • Bubbadeeboo
    4 years ago 05/30/2015 11:07am CDT
    re: wejo
    Forum Index
    RE: Mo Farah Says Galen Rupp Will Be an Olympic Champ,

    How? Is Mo gonna do the Marathon at Rio? ... I don't see Rupp beating Mo et al next year and definitely not in 2020. Mo consistently produces world class kicks while Rupp has only managed a couple. Will AlSal finally get rupp to tap into his 10.9 flying 100m speed (vs Mo's 11.4, or whatever alsal said in the old sports illustrated article)?


    Re: Mo leading
    While it was nice to see Mo involved in a race for more than the last lap or two, I don't get why anyone would be impressed by him leading... They were simply taking turns, there was no 'attacking' and the splits for these laps were modest (relative to the caliber of the athletes and the time they were shooting for). There's nothing impressive about the best/dominant runner of the last 4+ years taking turns leading a few slowish laps in the middle of a 10k. The thing that was impressive was his ability to essentially toy with them the last 100m...pretty amazing he has that kind of sharpness just a few months after his sub 60 half. I think his ability to perform at such a wide range of events in such a short time frame is a major strength of his legacy/claim to GOAT status. I hope he tries for Worlds XC in the next few years.

    This race has got me excited for the Worlds 10000m. Given Canova's post that Kamworor was in a heavy training block and not fully fit, I think he'll be ready to challenge.
  • Iwastheresawthat
    4 years ago 05/30/2015 12:07pm CDT
    re: Bubbadeeboo
    Forum Index
    Unfortunately, there is no one in the 10k that can be Mo Farah right now. The reason why is simple. All the super starts are in the Marathon! Rupp is good, but he is not great, I think there is way more competition in the 1500m than in the 10k right now in the world. To sum things up, Mo can't hold a 26:30 pace because he can't run alone after a 13:15 5k halfways. He needs someone fast to pull him all the way to the end without doing much work. He will never run as fast as Bekele!
  • Iwastheresawthat
    4 years ago 05/30/2015 12:11pm CDT
    re: Iwastheresawthat
    Forum Index
    Sorry about the misspellings, trying to type on this phone is hard!
  • Find Your Fast
    4 years ago 05/30/2015 12:37pm CDT
    re: Bubbadeeboo
    Forum Index
    Throwback! Any new thoughts 3 year later?

    http://www.letsrun.com/forum/flat_read.php?thread=4460299&page=0
  • A Duck
    registered
    4 years ago 05/30/2015 1:26pm CDT
    re: the scoop
    Forum Index
    the scoop wrote:

    wejo wrote:

    A happy Mo Farah talked to the media at length after the race.

    He sure could have fooled me with all the head-shaking he did immediately after the race, looking somewhat away from the camera.

    wejo wrote:

    Farah said, "There's been a lot of talk. You guys hype up (the next guy who is going to beat me), particularly LetsRun. Are u (LetsRun) here?"

    That's interesting. Hasn't Salazar said in interviews that they don't pay attention to LRC & message boards? Lol.

    wejo wrote:

    Farah said, "The sport needs more characters."

    Agreed. This can't be underscored enough. PR-generating machines will always get talk, and always get viewership. "[M]ore characters" is a great way to breathe some more life into the sport, and should not be ignored.

    Not as much in this thread (so far?), but in other threads people have complained about Farah not pushing the pace last night in Eugene. I completely disagree; every time Tanui stepped aside to have someone else push the pace, Farah DID take it up. This stunned me, because I'd never seen him do that before about 800m to go, or outside of ridiculously slow (~75sec) laps at the beginning of a race. I believe he really tried last night, and he was within 4 to 5 seconds of his PB in a race that takes more than 26 minutes. That's pretty good. I think what's really going on is that either (1.) he's getting older (shocker!) or (2.) he's not at peak yet because he's planning the season to peak in a few months (shocker!) so he can win Worlds.


    This doesn't mean they don't read the articles. Or that someone in their circle bottom lines them or race previews.
  • hey
    4 years ago 05/30/2015 2:33pm CDT
    re: Rupp-certified saladbar
    Forum Index
    Rupp-certified saladbar wrote:

    Run the same race next year (or thi summer?), truly turn Kamworor loose and he will run Farah into the ground.

    Farah may have 26:3x in him, but he'll need the heart to actually run it. Not seeing that yesterday.

    Kamworor didn't go with the rabbits. He truly should have. Everyone knows that they can't win in a kick with Mo.
  • If. k
    4 years ago 05/30/2015 3:38pm CDT
    re: Bubbadeeboo
    Forum Index
    Bubbadeeboo wrote:

    I think his ability to perform at such a wide range of events in such a short time frame is a major strength of his legacy/claim to GOAT status. I hope he tries for Worlds XC in the next few years.


    Competing in a wide range of events doesn't take any special ability. It just takes an interest or money (Mo's marathon). Some of you act like milers can't run longer than 5 miles. Unless he is running world record level performances in a wide range of events, those performance arent adding anything to his claim to GOAT status.
  • henry4knicks
    registered
    4 years ago 05/30/2015 4:52pm CDT
    re: If. k
    Forum Index
    3:28 in the 1500m is amazing for someone like Mo... I think it is definitely safe to say he has some amazing range when he is a close to, or is the world leader in events ranging from the 1500m to the 10k. I don't think Bekele, or Geb could run a sub 3:30 1500m for that matter.
  • truth to irritate
    4 years ago 05/30/2015 5:41pm CDT
    re: henry4knicks
    Forum Index
    henry4knicks wrote:

    3:28 in the 1500m is amazing for someone like Mo... I think it is definitely safe to say he has some amazing range when he is a close to, or is the world leader in events ranging from the 1500m to the 10k. I don't think Bekele, or Geb could run a sub 3:30 1500m for that matter.

    Bekele or Geb couldn't have run sub 27 without EPO.