LennyZ wrote:
Regardless of the rules and how we interpret them... the rules should be changed to allow almost any behavior that does not involve doping, cutting the course, or physically blocking or impeding other runners.
It would be great if teams brought a contingent to try to control the pace, put in surges and help their front runner. Otherwise, let's just have individual time trials, or keep everyone in their own lanes.
This is what makes a race exciting. The 3k was certainly exciting, more than usual I would say.
Entertaining for the spectators doesn't equal what's fair for all the competitors. Now I'm not saying it has to be fair, because it's not fair from the start that some people get to train with NOP or BTC anyway. That being said, if I were Chelimo, Lagat, Hasaan, Heath or Jenkins I might not like the rules. All these guys would have had a shot at the win or at least making the team had BTC not been able to sacrifice lambs to keep a fast pace.
I've seen races where Kenyans and/or Ethipians use team tactics and as long as all their people are in the race until the real kicking starts (whether that is 200 out or 900 out) I think it's totally fine and an honest effort. However if they would have taken it out at say 12:48 or 26:50 pace only to walk off the track or even bomb out after 50-70% of the way I think that is lame.
It would have been cool if BTC was pressing strong at a pace they could actually handle for 2600-2800 meters to see if they could drop others and dwindle the field down. That would have been both impressive and badass. But this was different. It felt a bit artificial.