Regardless of your personal views on his"doping"
El G vs. Lagat, Athens 2004
Seeing the best miler ever throw down a 1:46 finall 800, and engage in an epic home stretch duel with lead changes and a gradul edinv out of a victory he had been favored for and fighting for for 2 prior Olympic cycles was absolutely awesome
2003 World Championship 5k
Kipchoge sets a new championship record (still the current one) beating El G by .04 seconds (12:52.79 to 12:52.83). Bekele gets third after going out too hard, but still runs a 54 last lap for 12:53.
A championship race with 6 under 13.
*69 wrote:
Mo Farrah, Galen Rupp Olympic 5000m Gold, Silver
Man, I remember each one like it was yesterday.
I don't believe you do.
Rod Dixon running down Geoff Smith in the 1983 New York City Marathon. Best example of trusting yourself and running your race. Loved the way he kissed the ground in disbelief that he actually won.
1. Billy Mills's 10K Olympic Gold
2. Dave Wottle's come-from-way-behind 800m Olympic Gold
3. Michael Johnson's world record-setting 19.32 Olympic Gold medal winning 200m in Atlanta in 1996. Mind-blowing at the time.
My favorite race ever (Wottle) has been said a couple of times, but here's a great one that I don't think has been mentioned:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g-WFjyYVpJ8
Penn Relays 4x800 Champs 2010
Andrews, Wheating, and Foster all get the baton together on the anchor, a rematch of the NCAA indoor meet battle from a few months earlier. Andrews gives yet another thrilling upset over the Oregon Olympian
London 2012 10,000 meters -- Happy for Mo, but ecstatic for Galen Rupp. Watched live on TV.
Boston 1975, Bill Rodgers 2:09:55. I drove my dad's car and saw the race at Framingham, Wellesley College and Newton. Got to the finish at 2:00 then saw a wonderful piece of history.
Eugene, 1982. Watched Salazar/Rono 10,000 on track in rain, 27:29.9 Rono wins by .1
Later that year, Centro senior with an AR 5000 13:12, Al second in 13:15.
Favorite youtube moment: Ovett crushing the World Cup field in '77 with a 25 second last 200, just a jaw-dropping burst.
HS: I think it was 1973 Queens Iona Relays. Bill Dabney of Boys High came from way, way back on the anchor of the 4 x 880 (aka the two mile relay) passing guys like they were walking, to win with a 1:50 split.
1972 Olympic Trials 1500: Jim Ryun wins after years of injury and slipping performances. The finish of the race, with Jim's big smile as he wins, made the cover of Sports Illustrated. He had previously placed 4th in the 800, 0.2 from 2nd.
http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/vault/cover/toc/8289/
1972 Olympic 800. I always felt bad for Arzhanov (silver), the favorite who thought he had done everything right.
Rupp's silver. I was watching with my family, who never heard of Galen before. They were excited by the whole race and as angry as I at the commercials and break-aways. And celebrating at his medal. What a great memory.
One I actually saw was Ovett v Rono at Crystal Palace - new world record by Ovett while waving at the crowd.
Great field, Malinowski, Eamon Coghlan, Mike McLeod (who should have rightly have been an Olympic 10k Gold medallist), Nick Rose....
Dave Moorcroft's near solo world 5k record wasn't half bad either...
boy's 1600m relay at the California high school state meet in 1995:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G5ZnhbKsmfQ
boy's 1600m at the same meet:
Cavorty wrote:
One I actually saw was Ovett v Rono at Crystal Palace - new world record by Ovett while waving at the crowd.
Here is a video of that race:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q5U-LxbZ1GIIt was actually one of Ovett's few races from that period when he did not wave to the crowd.
Ovett's 1997 World Cup 1500, mentioned by someone else above, was also an incredible race.
The Empire Games mile from 1954 should also get a mention. How many races have their key moment turned into a statue?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jP_NzZP_LK02007 Penn Relays high school boys 4x400 Championship of America.
Long Beach Poly vs. St. Jago with Bryshon Nellum and Yohan Blake on the anchor legs
Michael Stember's kick. One of the most legendary high school races of all time. Some say it was that move that sparked the beginning of the return of American distance running.
Kim Batten and Tonja Buford-Bailey's 400m Hurdle battle for a World Title and both break the World record to boot, at Goteborg World Championships 1995. It was awesome.
Very special(and American) to be in that Atlanta stadium the night Michael Johnson broke the 200m World record in 1996.
Wottle was a good choice. Two others come to mind from 1972 Olympics> 5K; Pre fourth but led for much of race. Marathon (Shorter).
Wottle was a good choice. Two others come to mind from 1972 Olympics> 5K; Pre fourth but led for much of race. Marathon (Shorter).
Wottle was a good choice. Two others come to mind from 1972 Olympics> 5K; Pre fourth but led for much of race. Marathon (Shorter).
My favorite Race was the 2008 NCAA D1 XC where Rupp won.
I was a junior in college and I used to be able to convince the professor to put something on the big screen in the class if I could relate it to our subject. I had a whole plan on how I was going to convince him. Then our TA, who sucked, wouldn't let us watch it. So i did what I had to and snuck out and ran back to my dorm. Woke up my roommate, we watched it on a live feed on my lap top screaming GO America when Rupp finally surged...I was ecstatic
I also liked the 10k Olympic this year...I was bouncing at a bar in Boston and watching it by following a Let's run update on Message board. Kept hitting refresh on my phone and looking for results. Nobody probably thought the guy checking id's was getting live race updates
Quenton Cassidy's 3:52 against John Walker
2008 Olympic Trials 800 since I was there in person. I was in the stands on the back straight. Absolutely nuts.