St. Louis Track Club Elite Men's Mile Big River Festival Elite Mile

i live in st. louis, i wish i would have known this was happening..

thats crazy. what was leo doing at a little track in st. louis?

Good to see Leo run a good race and a good time after is bad race at adidas classic....Good Job!

Thought it appeared to be a bit shaky, I think the camera work overall was pretty good. Don't you think? The way the camera was able to be so close and getting the leo high five was great.

the shaking camera made it look like they we going faster

It looked like a 54 last quarter mile with lots of energy left after finishing. That says he still has plenty of room to drop even further, how about a 3:49.9, wouldn't that be nice!

Just want to thank the people who worked on this especially Ben and all the racers who came out both elites and non-elites.
This will go down as one of the coolest meets I've ever been to with one of the best races I've ever seen in terms of excitement. During the race, the homestretch stands were packed with people standing the whole time cheering and clapping. On the backstretch the Big River guys got a lot of the high schoolers over there and set it up where they could stand all the way up to Lane 4 to be close to the runners. Then they gave them a lot of cow bells. So on the backstretch where all these high schoolers going nuts ringing these cow bells.
One of the coolest parts of the race was in the last lap, when all the runners went by the fans on the backstretch, they ran across the infield all at once to the homestretch to cheer the racers. You can't see it in the video but it was amazing to see Leo coming around the turn and a hundred or so high schoolers all at once booking it like mad cheering waving their cow bells across the infield to be by the finish.
Here are my splits from the race. 58.64, 1:57.92(59.28), 2:59.78(61.86), 3:55.37(55.59). Someone said his last 200m was in the ballpark of 25 something.
The pasta dinner was great after the meet with all the elites taking time to answer questions. Great event for a great cause.

holy crap Leo is the man!

That last 400 was pretty sick. Before that it was just going to be a mediocre performance for him

Man, he was cookin' that last 200! Rock and Roll Baby!

Bench Press - did you not see him in Workout Wednesday a while back? Milers need strong upper body to drive with. He's obviously not too big as he just ran 3:54. Kind of built like prefontaine actually.

he looks too huge to me. hopefully he lays off the heavy lifting for a bit

Totally agree with you Tim, more short track are what is relevant for people today.

Leo is a beast!

Wish I would have known that this was going on, I was staying in St Louis for the NAIA nationals and would have stayed another day if I had heard about this race...

I announced the races yesterday at the Big River Festival of Miles and loved every minute of it.

It was an electric atmosphere and there were quick times throughout the night. I know that the only other videos right now are the women's and master's men, but the 2 junior high races were swift as well, so check out the results page for more info there.
It just felt good, going into that final race... we were raising money for a good cause, the meet was right on time with the posted schedule, and the weather was perfect.
This was track at its best: a great crowd going crazy, seeing these studs make Missouri racing history. That was the fastest mile ever run in Missouri, and the first sub-4 mile in MO since 1962. When Leo came down the homestretch, the crowd went berserk, and it was tremendous.
As a former athlete and coach, and as a current race annoucer, I feel that this Festival of Miles is the type of track that is viable in today's sports market. Big names, quick succession of races, and overall time for the meet should be between 2-3 hours. Let the fans know what is going on, and that knowledge will help to build excitement for the racers.
Huge props go to the meet's organizers, especially Ben Rosario of Big River Running, and to the elite athletes who raced for a great cause. Leo Manzano showed real class after the race, and demonstrated why our top US athletes can still be heroes for our kids. Thanks to Leo, Ben, and all those many others who made this great night possible.

congrats!!!!

Lets just hope he can do this with a real field! cant wait to see him run with the big names. Im rooting for ya Leo!

the HORNS

"Nice":: Just FYI Leo ran against decent international competition just one week ago at Adidas and had a bad race. (last place and at least 15 seconds slower than this race). Glad to see Leo headed back in the right direction

Awesome Race, great crowd.

Track and Field is best sport ever!!!

What a class act and great guy to run down and slap hands with everyone after the race. Great crowds and looked like a fun event. Events like this and the "street meet" are what really help running become more mainstream.

Great for a race where he had to lead. Wait till he gets into international competition

They should shift to small cities, more fans

I heard 1200 was the estimate

wow that was a pretty legit crowd for that type of event. GREAT! this type of things is GREAT for American distance running. Now all those people got a great treat and may come back to the sport for more. any idea the attendance numbers?

Leo is $.

What a Blast!

I ran with Leo and the Big River Team this morning, Forrest Park to the Arch and back, he is an awsome guy.

fast

Great camera work and nice crowd. Leo is BACK!

nice work putting on this event ben, that looked like a sweet crowd for the race and everyone was into it! nice work to leo on the PR and to derek and tommy for dipping up 4

Nice run - small but vocal crowd - good to see Leo run great!

awesome run Leo

beautiful. strong as hell finisher. Showing love to the crowd after the race and feeding off eachothers energy is what its all about.

I love to see awesome people do awesome things. Congrats Leo and kudos for Team Cook.

so hot right now!