BUPA Great North Run 2013

The Spam Folder: Bekele's thrilling win or Jeptoo's historic run?

The Spam Folder: Bekele's thrilling win or Jeptoo's historic run?

Sep 16, 2013 by FloTrack Staff
The Spam Folder: Bekele's thrilling win or Jeptoo's historic run?
 The Spam Folder is back. This week, Mitch Kastoff and Ryan Sterner both watched the BUPA Great North Run and came away with two different opinions. What was the better race: Kenenisa Bekele's thrilling win over Mo Farah and Haile Gebrselassie or Priscah Jeptoo's historic run over the titans Meseret Defar and Tirunesh Dibaba?

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TO: Mitch Kastoff
FROM: Ryan Sterner
SUBJECT: What rhymes with BUPA?


Can we take a minute to talk about the Great North Run on Sunday? I can’t be sure if you managed to be awake for the gun, but as long as you caught the last mile of the men’s race we’ll have something to talk about.

I can’t remember the last time I’ve seen a road race come down to three people in the final stretch like it did yesterday. And we’re not talking about three Joe Hobby Joggers. The three still in the race were arguably three of the greatest distance runners of the last twenty years: Geb, Bekele, and Mo—and all three of them were rubbing elbows with one mile to go.

We’ve seen the results, so we know what happens, but I’m still going to echo what a lot of people have been saying: what a race.

We saw the return of Bekele—perhaps he was never gone, it was just that his old bones now prefer the roads—who has had a disappointed past twoyears on the track, but showed us tremendous form yesteday. LetsRun reported his last 400m in 60.3, which seems silly for a half marathon.

Geb ran an age-group world record—and here I think age group gets a bad rap, because he still ran 60:41, proving that form is temporary, but class is forever.

And someone finally took down Mo Farah. I’ve seen some message board grumblings about some people being happy about this fact—I kind of have to agree.

Anyway, in the words of Aaron Carter, “party of the month? More like party of the year.” BUPA didn’t let me down.

Mondays,
Ryan

TO: Ryan Sterner
FROM: Mitch Kastoff
SUBJECT: Ice is back with my brand new addition

Stop. Stop right there. Collaborate and listen.

The BUPA Great North Run was the race of the weekend. There’s no doubt about that. But the men’s race was the one you picked? You had a 50% chance to guess the correct answer for “The Best Race on the roads of Newcastle” and you were wrong.

The women’s race was far more impressive. I won’t disagree with you that the battle between two all-time legends and one British GOAT was easily the winner of the most exciting finish on Sunday. But the best race? I’d agree with you, but then we’d both be wrong.

Priscah Jeptoo almost ran an unofficial world record. A. World. Record.

Jeptoo’s 1:05:45 win was absolutely stunning. Stunning in the sense that she completely disregarded the pre-race mega matchup between Meseret Defar and Tirunesh Dibaba. We had waited so, so long for those two to lock horns. When we finally got our wish - which may have blinded us - there was Jeptoo, swooping down like Sting from the rafters to remind and everyone that, “Hey remember when I won silver in Daegu, won the ‘13 London Marathon, and silver at the London Olympics?" Also stunning.

The point-to-point course has too much of a net downhill to officially count, but regardless, it’s third fastest half marathon of all-time. Only Paula Radcliffe’s 1:05.40 from South Shields (2003) and Susen Chepkemei’s 1:05:44 from Lisbon (2001) are faster.

I’ll just throw some “Did you know?” facts out there.

Did you know? She almost ran the fastest half marathon of all-time? I just thought I’d reiterate that.

Did you know?
Jeptoo threw down a 4:34 tenth mile? That would be like if Bekele dropped a 4:07 mid-race.

Did you know? She ran 30:03 for a cool mid-race 10k and then ran an extra kilometer that LetsRun had at sub-15 pace? Silly. She may have had a decent tailwind (10 – 15mph) and a net downhill, but the road 10k WR of 29:31.78 seems breakable.

Did you know? See DYK point number one.

Cheers,
Mitch

TO: Mitch Kastoff
FROM: Ryan Sterner
SUBJECT: Mitch has a case of the Mondays

Great to see that you woke up on the right side of the bed this morning. Your condescension is noted.

I’m not saying that the women’s race wasn’t impressive. It’s always nice to see someone who is the slight underdog beat up on two of the greats. But this race really comes as no surprise, and was it really all that fun to watch?

Why was it no surprise? Because of the stats you already dropped. Jeptoo is exclusively a marathoner with two medals on the world stage. Sure the pre-race hype may have gone to Defar and Dibaba, but at the end of the day it wasn’t even a race. Jeptoo won by 25 seconds and the clash of the track Titans was a bust, as Defar bested Dibaba by 45 seconds.

In the men’s race, Bekele defeated the double Gold medalist from the Olympics and World Championships (and suffice it to say the greatest distance runner of the past two years) by a margin of one second. And he did it all in the last mile. That’s the equivalent of the Utah Jazz taking the ’98 Bulls to game seven and having little Johnny Stockton drop the game winner instead of Michael Jordan.

In addition to that (yes there’s more) Haile Gebrselassie—the Orginal Father Time, sorry Bernie—was in the race with a mile to go and broke a world record. The man could be classified as a geriatric and he ran a half marathon 30 seconds faster than any American did this year. And if we want to age grade his performance, his 60:41 is equivalent to 58:15 or a world record by seven seconds.

Jeptoo may have put down an impressive performance. But you’re choosing a blow out by the statistical favorite—she had a PR over a minute faster than anyone else in the field—over the underdog who staged a Doug Flutie-esque come back.

Please,
Ryan

TO: Ryan Sterner
FROM: Mitch Kastoff
SUBJECT: The "Thrilla on Tyneside" doesn't rhyme

When you emailed me asking for a link to an age-graded calculator, I figured you were trying to see if you could still out-run your 13-year-old self.

The men’s race had all elements of the classic The Italian Job. But rather than watching a British caper film about a young Michael Caine stealing Chinese gold from very stereotypical Italians, the Great North Run was an Ethiopian caper about how an Ethiopian ran a tactically brilliant final last few miles against a tactically brilliant Brit.

Get it? Bekele pulled a "heist?!"

If you’re into race theatrics, then yes, truel (three-way duel) between Bekele, Mo, and Geb was fantastic. There were even some quotes in the media zone that made things extra special:

Farah was thinking ahead: He’s stepping up to the road and still competing on the track, like me; definitely, it could tee up a great rivalry. It’s what athletics is all about, not one person should be dominating. This is what the sport needs.
Geb dreamed: [Farah and Bekele] can both go on and break world records, why not?
Bekele joked: I’ll see you in London.
Jos Hermens (Bekele’s agent) teased: In London, if [Bekele] is fit, he could break the world record in his first marathon. That’s how talented he is.

The fact that the women’s race was a blow out is the sole decider in this one-sided debate. We may see those three men battle it out again, but we may never see someone like Jeptoo run that fast ever again. Comparatively, I don’t care for fast finishes as opposed to monumental runs. I’ll watch a record performance over an Olympic win anyday (though conversely, I would rather have the medal than the record).

I think the one thing we can agree on is that the BUPA Great Run showed us that there is value in elite athletes. The Philadelphia Half Marathon may have been much faster, but everyone was waking up early to watch the BBC, not some stream of a local PA affiliate station. Was the Philly Half even televised? It doesn’t matter because I wouldn’t have watched anyway. There were upwards to 55,000-strong at the “Thrilla on Tyneside.”

It’s not fast races that race directors should be chasing after - it’s matchups.

… but the women’s race had both of those things so suck it.

Cheers,
Mitch

TO: Mitch Kastoff
FROM: Ryan Sterner
SUBJECT: Marky Mark FTW

In the version of The Italian Job that I know and love, the hero is Mark Wahlberg (Kenenisa Bekele in this fun and extended metaphor). And at the end of the movie Wahlberg punches Edward Norton (who has enjoyed great prosperity in recent years due bogarting all the Gold from Jack Bauer's dad. Also, Mo Farah in this metaphor) in the face and steals the gold back. There is much rejoicing. 
 
Happy Monday.