Kenyans dominate London Marathon

[running-geek]

First 3 men, 2 out of the top 3 women (good to see the Kenyan women catching up with the men)

http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/athletics/9460602.stm

[running-geek]

forgot to mention this bit:

"None of the British men were able to achieve the Olympic qualifying time of two hours and 12 minutes"

[doc]

but you miss the point ,
their core body strength, unbelieveable , and you should see them stretch ,  veratible indian rubber men
only problem, they run like em too .

[Matthieu O’Halloran - "M@"]

Hey a huge advantage is that the Kenyans train/race as one.
Un-like some western run groups can be self-destructive with jelousy.
Or just demand "me" time.

When a Kenyan is running good, their whole group is running good.
Some of it physical, but a lot is mental.
Especially at the race start line 

[Scott DeFillipis - "Scott D"]

Hey we just had an American woman finish 2nd at Boston today, she got out sprinted at the finish.  She is a part of the Hanson's running group that started back in 2001.  They also produced Olympian Brian Sell.  Ryan Hall also had an unbelievable day finishing 4th.  He however, has been training on his own after leaving the Mammouth Track Club...

[MaryBethEllis]

Amazing how quickly women's marathoning in the USA has improved.  I remember when I started post-college.  We sent only one woman to the 2000 Olympics and you only had to run a low 2:30 to make the US team.  My 2:41 in 2001 was one of the top 15 times in the US that year but now that time would not even be close.  It is so exciting that now with the advent of all the US professional training teams and groups, we have so many women running in the 2:20s and many of them in the low 2:20s.  It seems to indicate that the strategy of a team setting  that provides the opportunity for more of our top collegiate athletes to continue after graduating is really working! 
I think this extends to triathlon too. That is one of the many reasons I am excited to have the opportunity to be a part of our team!

[DamienC]

History has a way of repeating itself.  Anyone else remember the Boston Track Club of the 70s?

[running-geek]

Good stuff, MBE, but can they beat the Kenyan women? Intriguing. And what about Paula, she desperately wants to win the one title that's eluded her, but has she got one more top-class marathon left in her body? (I assume she'll only be trying to make the qualifying time in Berlin, nothing more.)

[endoverend]

in London, Mutai's final 12km were covered in 35:20! 

So, 2:54/km and @ 2:02 marathon pace!!  The ability to surge like that - he did the 5k's from 30-35km in 14.26 and the next 5 in 14.19, nuts!

Think this was the point he ran away from Lel, he initially was gesturing for Lel to run side by side instead of clipping his heels but no way could Lel come through & eventually faded.
Pretty impressive stuff on a fair course.....   

Berlin should be special if these guys are all running as they perhaps have raised the 'whats achievable' bar.

[DamienC]

The splits (from: http://www.sportsscientists.com/ )