Edinburgh X-country 10/01/2015

pconn062

Always a good one, and with a bit of Irish interest I thought it deserved its own thread.

European team has two of our ladies competing, Fionnuala Britton and Sara Treacy.

Full team here.

Mo Farah out due to a flu apparently, must be disappointing for the organisers. Interestingly for me I see Dathan Ritzenhein is down to run, always a runner I liked and curious to see how he goes.

International 4k also has a decent field with Heath back defending his title from last year, as well Kiprop, Korir and Lagat.

robinph

Always thought the 4km distance was a bit pathetic for these guys, especially seeing as they will be making me run 12km in the National XC next month. grrr

Not like it will be taking them long to complete the race anyway, they could surely make them run a bit further.

ECOLII

robinph wrote: »

Always thought the 4km distance was a bit pathetic for these guys, especially seeing as they will be making me run 12km in the National XC next month. grrr

Not like it will be taking them long to complete the race anyway, they could surely make them run a bit further.

The 4k race was introduced to try and incorporate a more middle distance aspect and this year they seem to have out done themselves as its stacked with top class 800-5k runners (will be interesting to see how Robinson fairs)

Asbel Kiprop (KEN),
Yomif Kejelcha (ETH),
Barnabas Kipyego (KEN),
James Magut (KEN),
Augustine Choge (KEN),
Bernard Lagat (USA),
Garrett Heath (USA),
Paul Robinson (IRL),
Krystian Zalewski (POL),
Silas Kiplagat (KEN),
Thomas Longosiwa (KEN),
Edwin Soi (KEN),
Japhet Korir (KEN),
Jairus Birech (KEN),
Tom Lancashire (GBR),
Kyle Langford (GBR),
Chris O'Hare (GBR),
Ross Murray (GBR),
Andrew Heyes (GBR),
Richard Goodman (GBR),
Michael Callegari (GBR),
Ryan McLeod (GBR)

Netwerk Errer

Good to see Ritz getting some consistency and form back. He won the Campaccio 10k XC today in 29:08 over Meucci and Lalli.

The 4k field is a cracking line-up. Be interesting to see how Japhet Korir gets on. He looked to be a superstar in the making with his domination on the track as a junior and becoming the youngest winner of the World XC but he seems to have gone off the radar. The only thing I've heard of him other than winning the GIR was running a 62 half.

hillsiderunner

Will be spectating at this next weekend. Did not realise we had someone in the 4km, will make sure to catch that run so I can support Paul Robinson... I like to think my yelling helped FB work up from 3rd to 2nd place last year .

pconn062

ECOLII wrote: »

The 4k race was introduced to try and incorporate a more middle distance aspect and this year they seem to have out done themselves as its stacked with top class 800-5k runners (will be interesting to see how Robinson fairs)

Asbel Kiprop (KEN),
Yomif Kejelcha (ETH),
Barnabas Kipyego (KEN),
James Magut (KEN),
Augustine Choge (KEN),
Bernard Lagat (USA),
Garrett Heath (USA),
Paul Robinson (IRL),
Krystian Zalewski (POL),
Silas Kiplagat (KEN),
Thomas Longosiwa (KEN),
Edwin Soi (KEN),
Japhet Korir (KEN),
Jairus Birech (KEN),
Tom Lancashire (GBR),
Kyle Langford (GBR),
Chris O'Hare (GBR),
Ross Murray (GBR),
Andrew Heyes (GBR),
Richard Goodman (GBR),
Michael Callegari (GBR),
Ryan McLeod (GBR)

I missed Robinson in the original list, that's some field in the 4k alright. Nice bit of competition for him.

Netwerk Errer

todays timetable. Coverage starts at 1 today on BBC 1.

Anyone predictions?

I'll stick my neck out.

4k: Kiprop. Good course form, 2nd last year and 1st in 2013. Could be testing for him if the pace is taken out fast. Test his early season strength.

8k: Derrick. In a different league to everyone else.

6k Women's: Gemma Steele. In great form throughout 2014. A 68 half and Euro XC champ. The strongest in the field.

rom

Good run for Britton.

hillsiderunner

Not sure whether this was on Irish TV or not but here's a local report [edit: just saw previous post about BBC, so this a bit redundant] ... I went round to Holyrood park for 1pm to catch the international races. They are set up as laps of a 2k route, so I set myself up in the second half of that (basically running between the 1.2k stage and the 1.7k or thereabouts ...).

The main news: Fionnuala Britton was 2nd *and* most importantly Gemma Steel did not beat her (it was Emilia Gorecka that won). Sara Treacy did pretty well too. But Paul Robinson didn't run in the 4k after all. The American men did brilliantly.

4k International Race.
This was the race with all the huge names, 4k, so two laps of the course. The runners set out with a local Scottish runner in the lead, but by the time they settled into it the leading pack had Garrett Heath (last year's winner, from the USA) at the head of the pack. Behind him was Japhet Korir ... anyway this is the way things worked out at the end: Heath 1st, Japhet 2nd, and 3rd/4th were settled between Kiprop and another runner (can't remember now). I had been watching out for Silas Kiplegat and was very surprised to see him in last position during the first lap. Then at the end of the second lap, he didn't come round until the spectators were starting to leave, about 200m after all the others ... so he may have been injured. Us spectators that were still waiting gave him a decent clap and we got a thumbs up from him. Nice guy .

8k Men's Team Race:
I don't know lots of the runners in the men's teams (Europe, UK, USA), but I knew Chris Derrick from his win last year. He moved up into the front after about a lap... and managed to hold on to the front pack all the way through and get the win. The biggest threat came during the final lap when Jake Riley, also from the US, started to push from 2nd position. Anyway Chris held on all the way and took the win, with Jake in 2nd position and a UK runner third I think. I was very much on the side of Derrick since he'd won it the previous year so I did quite a bit of shouting in the final lap (I gave Heath quite a bit of support in the 4k for the same reason)... There were mostly USA runners in the top 6 of this race so they will have smashed the UK and Europe teams, they did brilliantly.

6k Women's team Race:
Of course my main interest in this was Fionnuala Britton and Sara Treacy. They headed out for the first lap and Fionnuala took the lead fairly soon into that lap.... they came past me first at around 1.2k and I was happy to see Fionnuala in the lead ... but had an ominous feeling to see Gemma Steel on her shoulder . Another lap and and this time a group of three at the front with Emilie Gorecka just ahead of Fionnuala - but Gemma Steel was now in 6th place, whew!, a big relief to see her fallen behind. Then the final lap, and by now a bit of light hail was started to fall ... when they came past this time Gorecka had about 20m lead on Fionnuala unfortunately . There is a bit of climb in the second half of the lap and when they came out of this and headed down towards the finish, Fionnuala seemed to make up some of the metres - but it was not going to be possible to catch Gorecka at that stage. So Gorecka 1, Britton 2. I can't remember who was 3rd, but Gemma Steel was about 8th or 9th. Sara Treacy was bit a further back but she was managing to pick off a few people in the final 300m or so ....

I walked back to my flat in the sleet and washed off my feet (shoes, socks and jeans got covered in muck). Was freezing out there. Perfect cross-country! But spectators were thin on the ground, a pathetic showing of support I have to say ... probably the (no) Mo effect I think. Anyway I was delighted to get so close to so many incredible names, even to be running (ok, running between viewpoints) in their company

ECOLII

Michelle Finn must have been a late call up. Great to see all three women with solid performances. Notable scalps for Treacy beating Erdmann and Belete.

Mens short course race had Ritz in 3rd. Not often you see names like Choge, Kiplagat and B Lagat making up the 2nd half of results sheets.

US utterly dominant in the Long course with 6 in the 1st 10. Decent run by Hay for 3rd.

walshb

Fantastic run by Britton in a quality field!

pconn062

US Mens team looked very strong, wonder are they in a position to have a team that could possibly challenge the Africans at the World Cross? Big fan of Derrick, he is super at just grinding our races. Super run by Britton too, Gorecka looked super as well, a quality athlete.

Netwerk Errer

pconn062 wrote: »

US Mens team looked very strong, wonder are they in a position to have a team that could possibly challenge the Africans at the World Cross? Big fan of Derrick, he is super at just grinding our races. Super run by Britton too, Gorecka looked super as well, a quality athlete.

They have a shot in my opinion. Conditions and who runs will play a big part though. Pretty sure German Fernandez and Derrick will run but Ritz probably won't because of Boston. They rarely ever send a strong team to World XC. If they could pull in True, Rupp, Fernandez, Derrick and Ritz. I think they could compete in any conditions but the chances of getting those guys together is slim to none.

Rineanna

Britton looked strong. Gorecka was a worthy winner, and had a point to prove after her 12th place finish in the Euro U23 XC; a race she should have easily won. With Kate Avery establishing herself in the senior ranks, and with Steph Twell slowly returning to her best, the women's team title will be hard to wrestle from GB&NI over the coming years.

ECOLII

Netwerk Errer wrote: »

They have a shot in my opinion. Conditions and who runs will play a big part though. Pretty sure German Fernandez and Derrick will run but Ritz probably won't because of Boston. They rarely ever send a strong team to World XC. If they could pull in True, Rupp, Fernandez, Derrick and Ritz. I think they could compete in any conditions but the chances of getting those guys together is slim to none.

Could Rupp compete over a true XC course? Even in college Terre Haute would be an a typical golf course style XC course when he won NCAA's and the biomechanical input on his training from Salazar has him a very efficient but not sure whether he would respond well in a broken rhythm style run.

Also is Fernandez fit? Hasn't raced since Sept IIRC which does not bode well given his injury history

Netwerk Errer

ECOLII wrote: »

Could Rupp compete over a true XC course? Even in college Terre Haute would be an a typical golf course style XC course when he won NCAA's and the biomechanical input on his training from Salazar has him a very efficient but not sure whether he would respond well in a broken rhythm style run.

Also is Fernandez fit? Hasn't raced since Sept IIRC which does not bode well given his injury history

Yeah, Worlds and Terra Haute are completely different tests and Rupp might struggle with changing gears but his class is so far above everyone else in America bar arguably, a peak Ritz. He might not have have the gears to challenge for individual honours but in a team situation, I think he would be invaluable.

I'd actually argue that Salazar's changes made him a more inefficient XC runner. He's not quite as lopey as Mo but they are very similar. I was always of the opinion that a choppy stride was better for XC but you could Bekele as an argument against that too.

Fernandez ran a turkey trot at the end of November and said in a post race interview that he was healthy but not fit. Haven't heard anything since but I presume a month and half of solid training since would have brought him along nicely.