Bekele running among hobby joggers in a race (video)

It would be cool to see him go back and destroy the field again. He will run much faster this time too. I remember that race. It was an epic end to 2017

Banana Bread wrote:

It would be cool to see him go back and destroy the field again. He will run much faster this time too. I remember that race. It was an epic end to 2017

"I like to eat ice cream, but sometimes I don't want to have it: farts and so on and so on. That's why I don't prefer that one. And I don't want to eat too much ice cream and become a big person [gestures with hands and smiles]"

- Bekele, April 2006 Track & Field News, in answer to the question, "What is your favorite ice cream flavor?"

That race does not seem very prestigious and the prize money seemed low. Did he get a big apparence fee or did he use it like a training ground ?

At the SJ RnR if you were in a certain corral in the 10k/half combined race, you get elites running you down as last 3k is identical

Usually you have to be a pedestrian 50m 10k or so and in like wave 4-5 for the full effecr of the 2-10 elites flying by you in less than 65 mins

I finished in 43m out of wave 2 once and had to wait almost 10m to see Me, but I did see him flying through some dudes in the photos

The only reason be was blowing by the hobby joggers is because of his shoes. He might as well have been on that bike.

A good observer wrote:

Are there others races like that? Cool for the hobby joggers to be able to see him from so close.

Almost every race is set up this way. It's annoying having to navigate through people running half the distance at the end.

In Paris they just let anybody run or bike alongside Bekele:

My coworker and her husband, not track fans, happened to tune in to the 400m finals at the World Championships a few weeks ago. She said she wished they had a normal person on the track so she would have a better feel for how fast the elites were running.

Hardloper wrote:

A good observer wrote:

Are there others races like that? Cool for the hobby joggers to be able to see him from so close.

Almost every race is set up this way. It's annoying having to navigate through people running half the distance at the end.

In Paris they just let anybody run or bike alongside Bekele:

Combined events are fine, but's it's a bit extreme for this race in India, elites shouldn't have to navigate like that.

I don't know how it's set up but Bekele is finishing in 1:13 while the hobby joggers are finishing at 43:30 so obviously they did not start at the same time nor at the same place.

It's nothing like a marathon where the elites don't cross anybody on their path. You notice that the winning woman almost followed the wrong path in the last straight.....

Not very well organized.

I did a triathlon once and they had the same thing, pros starting late and doing a slightly different course I think. Top level Pros powered by me on the run. I was shoulder to shoulder with them for a moment or two. It was really cool.

One thing I noticed about the pros was their level of effort and engagement. They were very serious and freaking grim. You could see it on their faces up close. The really put it out there compared to average joes. That's obvious, probably. It's what they do for a living, but it's just interesting to see it up close, very close. They are not f-ing around. Different level.

A good observer wrote:

I found a cool video that I haven't see before

Basically from 47:30 , Bekele is running past dozens and dozens of hobby joggers who were racing. You don't see many race set up this way, where elites are starting after the others runners and able to catch them.

Are there others races like that? Cool for the hobby joggers to be able to see him from so close.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9rHau7vMthc

Turned it off when the Indian commentator said something like, “Some of these 10k runners are in effect keeping pace with Kenenisa Bekele but running much less...” Nah. He might be going as much as 3x their pace.

Bekele had to dodge one especially inept man-hog around 47:00. You can see dummies “running” 4-5 abreast after Bekele passes them— absolutely no regard for track etiquette— meaning the second place runner is going to have to deal with that and also that Bekele cannot see if someone is gaining on him.

No one should operate a race like this. It is exactly what I would expect from a race (or anything else) organized in India.

At least there were bikes/motorcycles clearing the path for Bekele. Most road races with a common finish are set up like this, with the faster runners having to pick their way through the masses at the end. If the race is set up right, the winning HM runners, for example, only have a few straggling 10Kers to deal with for the last few miles. But I've also spent miles 4 and 5 of a 10K battling through a dense column of mid-pack marathoners, which was pretty annoying.

That reminds me of a lot of my local races and I'm in a big city. Except I don't get police/crowd control. Sometimes I'm asking plebes to move over. Once I had to jump over a dog leash!

Finally once I was running and had bike support the guy was yelling out runner to everyone - made a lot of difference.

Is India specially bad at organizing sport events? i know they have little sport traditions as you see very little indians at top level compared to their enormous population.

Some of them try to keep up a little bit with Bekele, once succeeded, but only for a mere 5 seconds sprinting.

People catching others running a different race happen very often, like marathoners cacting the weakest HMer who started 30 minutes before, but in a race with elite world class runners like Bekele it's quite rare.

I wonder how much he was paid to enter such a middle class race.

Anastase Personnen wrote:

That race does not seem very prestigious and the prize money seemed low. Did he get a big apparence fee or did he use it like a training ground ?

Unless he raced for charity...of course he did.

doctorj wrote:

Anastase Personnen wrote:

That race does not seem very prestigious and the prize money seemed low. Did he get a big apparence fee or did he use it like a training ground ?

Unless he raced for charity...of course he did.

7500$ seems a little low for a winner prize money. Have we an idea how much the most prestigious elites are charging for these kind of races ?

EssosLandis wrote:

Is India specially bad at organizing sport events? i know they have little sport traditions as you see very little indians at top level compared to their enormous population.

Some of them try to keep up a little bit with Bekele, once succeeded, but only for a mere 5 seconds sprinting.

People catching others running a different race happen very often, like marathoners cacting the weakest HMer who started 30 minutes before, but in a race with elite world class runners like Bekele it's quite rare.

I wonder how much he was paid to enter such a middle class race.

Could anyone here keep up for longer?

Banana Bread wrote:

EssosLandis wrote:

Is India specially bad at organizing sport events? i know they have little sport traditions as you see very little indians at top level compared to their enormous population.

Some of them try to keep up a little bit with Bekele, once succeeded, but only for a mere 5 seconds sprinting.

People catching others running a different race happen very often, like marathoners cacting the weakest HMer who started 30 minutes before, but in a race with elite world class runners like Bekele it's quite rare.

I wonder how much he was paid to enter such a middle class race.

Could anyone here keep up for longer?

I feel like I could run at least 1k with him.

The Dipsea out in California has a similar concept. You are handicapped based on age and gender I think. So the older you are after a certain point or the younger you are after a certain point, the earlier you get to start. Interesting race because a really fit old guy can win despite not running the fastest time. I think it is a 7 or 8 mile trail race. They have longer versions too (quad Dipsea) but I don't think they apply the age bias but I could be mistaken.

EssosLandis wrote:

Is India specially bad at organizing sport events? i know they have little sport traditions as you see very little indians at top level compared to their enormous population.

Some of them try to keep up a little bit with Bekele, once succeeded, but only for a mere 5 seconds sprinting.

People catching others running a different race happen very often, like marathoners cacting the weakest HMer who started 30 minutes before, but in a race with elite world class runners like Bekele it's quite rare.

I wonder how much he was paid to enter such a middle class race.

I think India is known to be bad at organizing just about anything... not limited to sporting events.