Wild WC men's marathon!!!!

[Guest]

The fastest global championship 42.2K ever!!! Not only 6 under 2:10, but 18 under 2:12!!! Unheard of!!!

Also astonishing was how many guys close to the lead so late, according to IAAF splits. At 30k there were 22 runners within 6 seconds of the lead at 1:32:33 ... and another 15 in the next 37 seconds before it spread out a bit.

Also a high number of DNFs, including Shay, who was the top American for awhile and split 1:06. Most of the Kenyans and Ethiopians DNF'd. Anyone know more about this race? One would think the conditions must have been awfully good to have that many that fast for a daytime race ... yet a lot of DNFs, too.

1 912 Gharib Jaouad MAR 2:08:31
CR
2 403 Rey Julio ESP 2:08:38
3 688 Baldini Stefano ITA 2:09:14
4 1101 Chaiça Alberto POR 2:09:25
PB
5 756 Aburaya Shigeru JPN 2:09:26
SB
6 692 Caimmi Daniele ITA 2:09:29
SB

[Guest]

Re: Wild WC men's marathon!!!!

The Europeans are getting fast again. US marathoners can no longer make the African's are faster excuse. It is also the European that are running faster.

I suggest our 10,000 meters guys stay right where there are. They have a better chance of getting a medal in the 10k.

[Guest]

Re: Wild WC men's marathon!!!!

The Africans seem to do even worse in the rain than westerners do in the heat- they react like the Wicked Witch of the West.

[Guest]

Re: Wild WC men's marathon!!!!

>The Europeans are getting fast again. US
>marathoners can no longer make the African's are
>faster excuse. It is also the European that are
>running faster.>

Baldini and Rey have both run faster. How are they 'running faster'?

[Randy Treadway]

Re: Wild WC men's marathon!!!!

>I suggest our 10,000 meters guys stay right where there are. They have a better chance of getting a medal in the 10k.

I agree. There's always a lot of knee-jerk reaction that an athlete 'moving up' can always do better by doing so.

While it's probably true that Culpepper, Meb and Abdi could "whop" most of the current U.S. "elite" marathoner corps, there's no evidence at all that they could compete more successfully against international competitors than they can do currently in the 10K.
In fact the opposite may be true. This wasn't Meb's best year, but last year he was definitely "up there near the top" of the world's best.
Most elite-level nations would envy the U.S.'s 10K corps- why break it up?

There is also often something of a philosphy that 'moving up' subjects an athlete to a greater test of some kind- to 'prove he's a REAL man'.
Well we all know that the 800 is the toughest of all running events, so that theory is in the toilet from the beginning! Maybe athletes should be 'moving DOWN' as they mature!!!

[Guest]

Re: Wild WC men's marathon!!!!

Culpepper may come to his senses and stay with the 10k. Moving up to the marathon would be foolish. Why leave an event where you are one of the few American distance success stories.

American distance runners also seem to make dumb choices. What kind of false bravado does it take to move up to a monster event like the marathon when you are successful running shorter events like the 10k.

Who was the top US finisher in the men's marathon?

[Guest]

Re: Wild WC men's marathon!!!!

>Culpepper may come to his senses and stay with
>the 10k. Moving up to the marathon would be
>foolish. Why leave an event where you are one of
>the few American distance success stories.
>

American distance runners also seem to make
>dumb choices. What kind of false bravado does it
>take to move up to a monster event like the
>marathon when you are successful running shorter
>events like the 10k.>

Right with ya on this one AB!

[Guest]

Re: Wild WC men's marathon!!!!

>Culpepper may come to his senses and stay with
>the 10k. Moving up to the marathon would be
>foolish. Why leave an event where you are one of
>the few American distance success stories.
>

American distance runners also seem to make
>dumb choices. What kind of false bravado does it
>take to move up to a monster event like the
>marathon when you are successful running shorter
>events like the 10k.

Who was the top US
>finisher in the men's marathon?
kevin collins in 2.15.38 was our top marathoner. others clinto verran 2.16.42, keith dowling 2.18.17, jimmy herald 226.59, ryan shay dnf.