byLarry Eder
Some not particularly well organized thoughts on the men’s 10k at Pre this evening, from Kevin Mangan
Galen Rupp wore the mask before the race then took it off and he proved once again that he can run well despite what the pollen count is. The race became a four-man affair a little past the 5k mark with Sambu leading the pack containing Rupp, Tanui and Karoki. Tonight, though, was Galen’s night and he was in superb form surging to the front with about 850 meters to go. His last 800 was 1:57 with his last two laps being 59 and 58. Over the last lap he put five seconds on Tanui, eight second on Karoka and ten on Sambu. Not too shabby.
Someone was very excited and anticipated Rupp’s record because, as Peter Abraham tweeted, the American Track & Field Records Wikipedia page was updated to include the new 10k record within 30 seconds of Rupp crossing the line. Karoki and Sambu became the 49th and 50th people to ever run under 27 minutes.
RunBlogRun’s Kenyan correspondent Justin Lagat tweeted: “Last month, it was Meb in Boston. Today it is Galen Rupp! Americans are now a threat to East African domination of long distance”.
Certainly a small sample size, but Justin makes a valid point because it’s hard to ignore the names and PBs of the guys both Meb and Rupp took down in their victories. Galen Rupp has now run a faster 10k than Mo Farah ever has. Mo’s best time is from the Pre Classic three years ago where he ran 26:46.57
