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The Past Week


Dominic Ferraris
January 28, 2008

The 2008 Reebok Boston Indoor Games features some of the most amazing indoor performances of the year. Meseret Defar of Ethiopia and the 2007 IAAF female World Athlete of the Year started her indoor season off with a spectacular 2 mile victory at the 2008 Reebok Boston Indoor Games. Defar finished in 9 minutes 10.50 seconds, smashing Regina Jacobs previous world record of 9 minutes 23.38 seconds set in 2002. Defar who turned 24 in November has set five world records and more to come. With Beijing only 7 months away, Defar hopes to defend her 2004 Gold medal in the 5000 meters.

Defar said after her race, "I didn't think I'd break the record by so much. I could have run faster. I'm always trying to run my very best.” (Quote from Boston.com)

Runner-up Kim Smith of New Zealand was the only runner to keep in contact with Defar. Smith finished in 9 minutes 13.94 seconds.

"I knew I was in good shape," said Smith, a Providence College graduate who usually trains near her alma mater. "It wasn't a very strong record, so I thought I could run under it. It's always nice to run under a world record." (Quote from Boston.com)

The Men’s 3000 meter race was the final event of the meet. Craig Mottram of Australia, Nick Willis of New Zealand and Kevin Sullivan of Canada were the three major contenders for the victory. Craig Mottram who won in a time 7 minutes 34.50 seconds made it look easy. Mottram set a meet record beating Haile Gebrselassie's 7:35.24 set in 2004 and running the fastest 3000 meters on American soil.

"I didn't know it was Haile's [record]," said Mottram. "I was pushing pretty hard to keep on pace. Had I known it was Haile's, I would have pushed a little harder. It's one record I'll be proud to have." (Quote from Boston.com)

Other performances at Reebok included Khadevis Robinson and Nick Symmonds in the men’s 800 meters. Robinson was able to overcome Symmonds signature kick in the last 60 meters. Robinson won in 1 minute 50.92 second, Symmonds finished second in 1 minute 51.16 seconds.

At the Findlay Indoor Track & Field Classic the women’s 3000 and 5000 meter races had some outstanding performances. In the 3000 meters Alissa McKaig a Junior at Indiana Tech finished in 9:50.24 almost a full minute ahead of the competition. Ann Alyanak won the 5000 meters in 16 minutes 43.31 second

The Middle Tennessee Classic featured some great race including the Men’s 1 Mile Run. Jacob Korir of Eastern Kentucky won the men’s mile in 4 minutes 11.98 seconds. Korir’s victory was seven seconds ahead of the competition. To see the complete results of these meets please visit the Flotrack track and field recent results.

(Photo by John Nepolitan)

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