Marty posted the following info:
>15:26.10/13:00.10 - 1. Paul Bitok
>15:26.61/12:56.50 - 2. Luke Kipkosgei
>15:26.63/12:59.97 - 3. John Kibowen
>15:26.70/12:58.57 - 4. Hailu Mekonnen
>15:27.94/12:54.07 - 5. Sammy Kipketer
>15:28.00/12:56.72 - 6. Richard Limo
>15:30.51/12:59.39 - 7. Million Wolde
Two observations:
a) This doesn't happen with a more diverse field. These guys were all
willing to run this slow because they knew that running faster wasn't going
to lose anyone. Toss a Bernard Lagat in there makes things a bit more
interesting, although Lagat ran pretty poor in the mile. Maybe Sully
should have run the 5K?
b) Nobody cares who takes the Silver or Bronze at the Goodwill Games (how
is the prize money structured? I couldn't find anything out). So there's
no incentive for anyone to take risks to split up the pack, if they think
it will hurt their chances of winning.
Finally, hell, as long as they were just jogging, they should have made it
more fun by calling out preems for the winners of certain laps, like they
do in bike criteriums. Imagine the runners, entering the backstretch,
seeing a sign that indicated $500 to the leader of the next lap. Now
imagine that 4 or 5 times during the race!
Phil
