byLarry Eder
Image via Wikipedia
In another innovative event at the BUPA series, team USA men took 2nd in the first BUPA Great Ediburgh International Cross Country Challenge. Team USA finished three points down from Team Europe.
Mo Farah, the European champ at 10,000m and 5,000m, won by nine seconds over Galen Rupp…
Team USA takes second at first Bupa Great Edinburgh International Cross Country Team Challenge
INDIANAPOLIS – Galen Rupp
(Portland, Ore.) finished second to Great Britain’s Mo Farah to lead
Team USA to a second-place finish at the first annual Bupa Great
Edinburgh International Cross Country Team Challenge Saturday at
Holyrood Park in Edinburgh. The European Select team scored 50 points
to edge Team USA by three points for the title.
Team USA was aggressive from the gun with Stephen Furst (Raleigh, N.C.) taking the lead at the end of the first 2 km loop. Approaching the halfway mark of the race, Rupp and Scott Bauhs (Mammoth, Calif.), ran in the lead group with Furst and Bobby Mack (Raleigh, N.C.) running in fifth and tenth respectively.
Going into the final lap, Farah led comfortably with Rupp
running in second. With 1000 meters to go, Farah made his final move,
pulling away to take the overall win in 25:41. Rupp was timed in 25:50.
Also finishing top-ten, Mack, Bauhs and Furst took sixth, seventh and ninth, running 26:15, 26:16 and 26:24 respectively. David Jankowski (Blowing Rock, N.C.) and Ed Moran (Williamsburg, Va.) rounded out the scoring positions, finish 14th and 15th in 26:35 and 26:38 respectively. Matt Gabrielson (Minneapolis, Minn.) finished 18th in 26:43 and Nick Arciniaga (Flagstaff, Ariz.) finished 23rd in 26:51.
2011 was the introduction of the International Team Challenge
and featured men’s teams from Great Britain & Northern Ireland, the
United States and a European Select team racing over 8.2 km. Each squad
consisted of nine athletes with the first six athletes to complete the
course receiving a score based on their position. The winning team is
determined by the lowest overall score.
For more information on the 2011 Great Edinburgh International Cross Country Team Challenge visit www.usatf.org.
About USA Track & Field
USA Track & Field (USATF) is the National
Governing Body for track & field, long-distance running and race
walking in the United States. USATF encompasses the world’s oldest
organized sports, the World’s #1 Track & Field Team, the
most-watched events at the Olympics, the #1 high school and junior high
school participatory sport, and more than 30
million adult runners in the United States: www.usatf.org
