¶mMarathon: Luke Kibet (Kenya) 2:15:59

[gh]

T&FN premeet formchart:

1. Abderrahim Goumri (Morocco)
2. Toshinari Suwa (Japan)
3. Luke Kibet (Kenya)
4. Mubarak Hassan Shami (Qatar)
5. Tsuyoshi Ogata (Japan)
6. Wataru Okutani (Japan)
7. Julio Rey (Spain)
8. Hendrick Ramaala (S Africa)
9. Laban Kipkemboi (Kenya)
10. Gashaw Melese (Ethiopia)

(edited after withdrawal of Gharib)

[Master Po]

Goumri's IAAF profile:

http://www.iaaf.org/athletes/athlete=55 ... PopUp.html

[tafnut]

M Hassan Shami 4/1

And Shami isn't even in T&FN's Top 10. I think I'll make him a pick, cuz the Mar is such a crap shoot anyway. You're better off picking 'none of the above'.

[AS]

M Hassan Shami 4/1

And Shami isn't even in T&FN's Top 10. I think I'll make him a pick, cuz the Mar is such a crap shoot anyway. You're better off picking 'none of the above'.

Isn't he 4th on the list?

[pela2]

less than 24 hours now before this first event starts...

[tafnut]

less than 24 hours now before this first event starts...

Doh! I think I just widdled myself.

[eldrick]

i woud so much like to post the headline :

shami kebabs 'em !!!

[Jaack]

Oh yeah- and there off in a matter of seconds! Wo hoooooooooooo

[dj]

Two minutes before race time and GH is announcing a victory ceremony. I presume they're rehearsing.

I'm watching this from my hotel room, will have to rely strictly on video feed and hoping I can pull up numbers and stats off the screen.

Gun! We've started. First 80m in about 14 seconds. Looks like there might be a (very) few hundred people scattered throughout the stadium.

Khald El Boumlili (Mor) leads at 600m.

[dj]

Sun is breaking through the morning haze. GH is now doing a race call, reahearsals must be done. El Boumlili continues to lead as they head out of the stadium at 4:25

[dj]

Are people getting the video feed? I'm trying to gauge what I'll have to provide at this end.

Temperature right now is about 80f.

Pack of about 30-40 at 2km in 6:38.

[dj]

Commercial break?! In Japan??!!

I thought this was the national obsession.

Mad bear brought down to size in advert #2, turns into cuddly (but large) panda.

Now we get whiter whites, brighter brights for laundry day.

And we're back after a 1:30 cutaway.

[dj]

Migidio Bourifa (Ita) the titular leader of a pack of about 40 at 3K in 9:57.

[dj]

Did some clean up work for about 1K, and now they've cut to commercial.

Here's a revamp of the T&FN formchart with bib numbers. For the first time I'm aware of in an IAAF competition, the bibs appear not to have been assigned randomly, with the top seeds having the single digits.

T&FN premeet formchart:

1. Abderrahim Goumri (Morocco) 5
2. Toshinari Suwa (Japan) 14
3. Luke Kibet (Kenya) 15
4. Mubarak Hassan Shami (Qatar) 4
5. Tsuyoshi Ogata (Japan) 29
6. Wataru Okutani (Japan) dns
7. Julio Rey (Spain) 1
8. Hendrick Ramaala (S Africa) 2
9. Laban Kipkemboi (Kenya) 11
10. Gashaw Melese (Ethiopia) 8 (Asfaw)

And we're back. 5K in 16:37, still a large pack.

[dj]

William Kiplagat of Kenya moving to slight lead at about 5.25k. First water station at 5.3k.