That was a good showing for Bekele and I think he could have been closer to 60 flat if he'd run a bit more conservatively. I'm taking the positive that he's fit and I think he'll be ready for London. Still missed Geb's vet-40 record though
I would say he is not fit and at this point in time he's not ready for London.
That said, if this run is part of a training block in prep for London and he continues to improve between now and then we could see a great performance.
Hopefully with that training he'll drop down to where he needs to be weight-wise.
That was a good showing for Bekele and I think he could have been closer to 60 flat if he'd run a bit more conservatively. I'm taking the positive that he's fit and I think he'll be ready for London. Still missed Geb's vet-40 record though
I would say he is not fit and at this point in time he's not ready for London.
That said, if this run is part of a training block in prep for London and he continues to improve between now and then we could see a great performance.
Hopefully with that training he'll drop down to where he needs to be weight-wise.
I would say Bekele is 40 years old, and can’t really be held to his previous magnificent standards. Geb ran 60:41 in the same race and only one month younger (that classic race Bekele won over Farah) but 61:00 going with the leaders is pretty good for a masters runner.
I would say Bekele is 40 years old, and can’t really be held to his previous magnificent standards. Geb ran 60:41 in the same race and only one month younger (that classic race Bekele won over Farah) but 61:00 going with the leaders is pretty good for a masters runner.
Never mind, I was misremembering KB’s birthday as being in March. It’s June, so Geb was ~2 months older. Not that it matters much.
Chris Thompson has run sub 61 on this course. Bekele and Begera both had very poor runs by their standards.
I disagree. Bekele is training for London so 61 flat for a 40 year-old is a good run. His HM PB is only 60:09, set on this course nearly ten years ago. I'm not saying we're going to get 2019 Bekele but we might get a version of him in 2:05 shape, which would be outstanding given his age.
Barega will be disappointed. A talent of his level should easily have a sub-60 in him
The women's time puts Kara Goucher's 66:57 all conditions Half Marathon American record at Great North in perspective. Still amazed how fit she was at that time and how she ran away from Paula R. so early on in a truly epic run.
Chris Thompson has run sub 61 on this course. Bekele and Begera both had very poor runs by their standards.
I disagree. Bekele is training for London so 61 flat for a 40 year-old is a good run. His HM PB is only 60:09, set on this course nearly ten years ago. I'm not saying we're going to get 2019 Bekele but we might get a version of him in 2:05 shape, which would be outstanding given his age.
Barega will be disappointed. A talent of his level should easily have a sub-60 in him
he ran the diamond league final 5,000m on wednesday. Imagine he wasn't peaking for this
Talked to a couple of people who ran this (both sub-70 guys). They both said there was a headwind for most of the first 11 miles which might explain the slow times across the board.
Talked to a couple of people who ran this (both sub-70 guys). They both said there was a headwind for most of the first 11 miles which might explain the slow times across the board.
Make that a headwind for the first 12 miles.
Even stronger case for Bekele being in great shape.
Talked to a couple of people who ran this (both sub-70 guys). They both said there was a headwind for most of the first 11 miles which might explain the slow times across the board.
Make that a headwind for the first 12 miles.
Even stronger case for Bekele being in great shape.
Talked to a couple of people who ran this (both sub-70 guys). They both said there was a headwind for most of the first 11 miles which might explain the slow times across the board.
Make that a headwind for the first 12 miles.
Even stronger case for Bekele being in great shape.
I raced, conditions were pretty much perfect IMO... Maybe a little warm, but the wind was a light breeze at most.
What hasn't been mentioned is that the Great North Run is not a particularly fast course, despite being net downhill it has a lot of ups and downs.
What was your finish time? I don't mean to be rude, but a headwind when you're running 60 minute pace is different to the headwind you feel if you're running 1:45 pace. As I said, the guys I know who both ran under 70 minutes said the headwind was a definite factor