Lombard and Cragg's Outstanding Performances - Statistical Observations
6 May 2004
With the outstanding weekend performances of Cathal Lombard and Alistair
Cragg at the Cardinal Invitational at Stanford University making a huge
impression in world distance running circles the question has to be asked:
will these performances lead to a rejuvenation of the Irish middle/long
distance running scene?
Taking Cathal Lombard's 10,000m performance (27:33.53 when finishing 3rd at Stanford) in context, as well as smashing Mark Carroll's Irish record and
moving up to 29th on the All-time European 10,000m Ranking lists only three
European Athletes (Kamiel Masse - 27.26.29 in 2002, Jose Rios - 27.29.60
and Jose Manuel Martinez 27.30.56 both in 2003) have run faster than
Lombard over 10,000m over the past three seasons.
A statistic of more relevance to Lombard is that his run in Stanford would
have placed him 6th in the last Olympic final and positioned him well ahead
of the first European in the Sydney Olympic Final, Karl Keska who clocked
27:44.09 to finish a highly respectable 8th place.
His new Irish record time would also have placed him in 4th place at the
Atlanta Olympics well ahead of the first European in that final - Germany's
Stefan Franke who finished 9th in 27.59.08.
Lombard who was ranked 5th over 5000m in Europe last year with his
13:19.22 run in Heusden last August has now established himself as a
serious contender at international level and lets hope his performance in
Stanford will get the respect and coverage it deserves from the Irish
media.
Alistair Cragg's world leading 13:16.98 coming on the back of a successful
indoor campaign where he clocked an Irish Indoor 3000 record of 7:38.59 as
well as an NCAA Indoor 3000/5000 double safely ensures Olympic
Qualification.
Considering that Cragg won his race at Stanford by over nearly 30 seconds
it is safe to assume that the Clonliffe athlete can expect a sub 13:10
clocking in the faster paced European meets in June/July. Surely it's only
a matter of time before Mark Carroll's Irish record of 13.03.93 from 1998
is under threat.
With thanks to David Reid