Was Colin Bennie punished for running a smarter race than Albertson?

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No, he placed higher and ran about 20 seconds faster.

Would you have been "punished" if some kid went out and blew up in an XC race, no.

CJ played to his strengths and ran the downhills hard and did something in line with what'd you'd expect. Good job to both of them.

Colin Bennie ran a fantastic race and should have been given more credit for sure. 7th overall and first American. He ran 2:09 in the Marathon Project in Arizona. And was 9th in the Olympic Trials. A rising star who was a key runner in Fox’s Cuse program and part of the National Championship XC team overall team win.

Prima Donna wrote:

Colin Bennie ran a fantastic race and should have been given more credit for sure. 7th overall and first American. He ran 2:09 in the Marathon Project in Arizona. And was 9th in the Olympic Trials. A rising star who was a key runner in Fox’s Cuse program and part of the National Championship XC team overall team win.

He has finished ahead of Fauble in all three of his career marathons.

I wouldn't say he was punished. CJ was rewarded for taking the lead and basically being a visible part of the race for as long as he did. Finishing 7th is cool and all, but it is less notable than leading 20 miles. Bennie will be rewarded accordingly if he finishes 3rd in a Major or even top 5, but otherwise leading for 3/4+ of the race is more notable than executing and finishing off the podium (and not top 5) in a whatever time.

By punished, I mean he got light years less exposure than Albertson. Does Albertson now get better endorsement deal(s) even though Bennie ran the better race?

People love guts. Fellow runners just love runners who are willing to put their asses on the line and run balls to the wall! By your reasoning, we would denigrate Pre for going after the gold in the 72 Olympics, and missing a medal. But we don't. Daring greatly is a thing that inspires us.

There's a fine line between guts and stupidity when it comes to running races. I do denigrate Pre for 72. He could've possibly won gold if he ran a smarter race. ;p

THOUGHTSLEADER wrote:

I wouldn't say he was punished. CJ was rewarded for taking the lead and basically being a visible part of the race for as long as he did. Finishing 7th is cool and all, but it is less notable than leading 20 miles. Bennie will be rewarded accordingly if he finishes 3rd in a Major or even top 5, but otherwise leading for 3/4+ of the race is more notable than executing and finishing off the podium (and not top 5) in a whatever time.

I disagree. 7th is better than 10th, and that’s all that really matters.

I don't care how good of a downhill runner you are...CJ did not run the smartest race possible. He could have run faster with better pacing but the casual running fan will never understand that.

1) $5,000 difference in prize money for 10th vs 7th

2) gutsy running is good, smart running (which also requires “guts”) is better.

3) there are all types of runners, so we can enjoy watching the variety, which makes races exciting

John Wesley Harding wrote:

THOUGHTSLEADER wrote:

I wouldn't say he was punished. CJ was rewarded for taking the lead and basically being a visible part of the race for as long as he did. Finishing 7th is cool and all, but it is less notable than leading 20 miles. Bennie will be rewarded accordingly if he finishes 3rd in a Major or even top 5, but otherwise leading for 3/4+ of the race is more notable than executing and finishing off the podium (and not top 5) in a whatever time.

I disagree. 7th is better than 10th, and that’s all that really matters.

Better? Yes. More notable? No.

THOUGHTSLEADER wrote:

I wouldn't say he was punished. CJ was rewarded for taking the lead and basically being a visible part of the race for as long as he did. Finishing 7th is cool and all, but it is less notable than leading 20 miles. Bennie will be rewarded accordingly if he finishes 3rd in a Major or even top 5, but otherwise leading for 3/4+ of the race is more notable than executing and finishing off the podium (and not top 5) in a whatever time.

Leading til 20 and fading when it mattered is not notable.

Running your best race is more important. This guy ran a better race and finished 7th. Which by the way, isn't quite as good as 6th, but better than 8th and above.

In reality, CJ gave himself zero chance of his best finish. And it wasn't.

JITFO wrote:

By punished, I mean he got light years less exposure than Albertson. Does Albertson now get better endorsement deal(s) even though Bennie ran the better race?

Thats not how it works.

JITFO wrote:

There's a fine line between guts and stupidity when it comes to running races. I do denigrate Pre for 72. He could've possibly won gold if he ran a smarter race. ;p

Pre ran his best race.

Don't think anyone is punishing Bennie. He did the 1st American interviews & earned that title. Albertson led the Boston Marathon for 21 miles, going out on PR pace. I think it's fair to receive attention for that. Bennie is clearly built for the marathon & is 3/3 in his young career. Both had good races. Both can be talked about.

JITFO wrote:

CJ got sooo much credit yesterday for essentially running a, euphemistically let's call it not the smartest race ever. I never once heard Bennie's name during the broadcast until after the leaders had all finished. Isn't he basically being punished for running the smarter/better race?

I think there's a halfway decent case to be made that CJ Albertson is getting more attention than his end result merits (I personally do not agree, but that's a reasonable argument). However, that doesn't mean Bennie is being "punished" in any way. I could be wrong but honestly do not think he (Bennie) would have gotten any more attention had Albertson not even run and Bennie still finished 7th. I suppose if Bennie judges his status in life by comparison to CJ Albertson, he might feel like he got cheated on this one, but at the end of the day Bennie did is job and was rewarded as expected for it. That Albertson ran slower but got more credit is another matter altogether.

I'm not even convinced it is true that "CJ gave himself zero chance of his best finish." The next 3 finishers behind CJ were Felix Kandie, Jake Robertson, and Geoffrey Kirui. What do you figure CJ's odds would have been of finishing ahead of those three men had he just run with the pack? It felt sort of like watching Stewy McSweyn blast the first 1300 meters of his 1500 before a bunch of guys start going by him - he can't close with those guys, and he knows that, so even though it doesn't look like it, he does what he does to give himself the best chance.

okaywantkababi wrote:

THOUGHTSLEADER wrote:

I wouldn't say he was punished. CJ was rewarded for taking the lead and basically being a visible part of the race for as long as he did. Finishing 7th is cool and all, but it is less notable than leading 20 miles. Bennie will be rewarded accordingly if he finishes 3rd in a Major or even top 5, but otherwise leading for 3/4+ of the race is more notable than executing and finishing off the podium (and not top 5) in a whatever time.

Leading til 20 and fading when it mattered is not notable.

Running your best race is more important. This guy ran a better race and finished 7th. Which by the way, isn't quite as good as 6th, but better than 8th and above.

In reality, CJ gave himself zero chance of his best finish. And it wasn't.

Fat Slow Lurker wrote:

I'm not even convinced it is true that "CJ gave himself zero chance of his best finish." The next 3 finishers behind CJ were Felix Kandie, Jake Robertson, and Geoffrey Kirui. What do you figure CJ's odds would have been of finishing ahead of those three men had he just run with the pack?

It felt sort of like watching Stewy McSweyn blast the first 1300 meters of his 1500 before a bunch of guys start going by him - he can't close with those guys, and he knows that, so even though it doesn't look like it, he does what he does to give himself the best chance.

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Do you realize the 3 guys you mentioned were ahead of him at 35k, and he closed faster than them? He would have been able to close even faster if he’d gotten to 35k more efficiently; he may have been smart and gutsy to lead from the gun, but his first 5-10k was still a bit too quick.