A Sea Of Red

Fresh off of a NCAA record performance in the 10,000 two weeks ago, Sam is ready to mix it up again with some of the top runners in the country, this time at 5,000. This race guarantees to be anything but pokey, as everyone in the field will be looking for a good time. The race will be carried live here http://www.flotrack.org/videos/coverage ... 34940/live at 11:50 EDT tomorrow night.

The Competition
Seven former Olympians, representing five different nations, are scheduled to run in Chelanga’s section on Saturday. The list is highlighted by Matt Tegenkamp and Ian Dobson, who both represented the United States in the 5,000 meters in Beijing. Tegenkamp owns a stellar personal-best time of 13:04 and placed a close fourth in the 5K final at the 2007 IAAF World Track & Field Championships.

Other Olympians in the field include Bolota Asmerom (Eritrea), Alistair Cragg (Ireland), Andrew Lemoncello (Great Britain), Jonathon Riley (U.S.) and Alejandro Suarez (Mexico).

http://www.libertyflames.com/index.cfm? ... 93&TeamID=

Go Sam!

Sam's got everyone track nerd talking again. This time he is going to run with what is basically the best 5,000 meter field you could expect to see on US soil tomorrow (except for that whole Olympics thing). Sam already holds the collegiate record at 10,000 meters and has an outside shot of taking down the great Henry Rono's NCAA best of 13:08. For comparison sake, Josh McD "only" ran 13:20 in an LU uniform (stay tuned...he is supposed to be making a come-back in the next month or so).

Here's what letsrun.com has to say about Sam:

The NCAA's second-best distance runner behind Galen Rupp, Liberty University's NCAA record-holding 27:28 10,000m runner Samuel Chelanga will be in the race (note: we talked to Chelanga at IC4A's, where he ran the 5k, and he said he's not "tough enough to double", so he's just going to focus on the 10,000m at NCAA's. Good news for Liberty fans, bad news for Oregon fans, great news for NCAA distance fans either way. And of course this explains why he is not running the NCAA regional 5000m). Chelanga may challenge Henry Rono's 1978 NCAA record of 13:08.4 (hand-time) as he goes for NCAA record number 2 in 2009.

http://www.letsrun.com/2009/reebokpreview0529.php

By the way, I still can't get over the picture of Sam in that article. [/quote]

Do I understand this correctly that he's going to run today at 6:40? If so, I'm glued to the tv!!

bozlady wrote:Do I understand this correctly that he's going to run today at 6:40? If so, I'm glued to the tv!!

Unfortunately, NBC's coverage ends at 6.

Yea, hubby and I are both disheartened. We were looking forward to watching it Oh well, we'll just have to keep track some other way.

Maybe we can see it here, I pulled it off the Flames website:
http://www.universalsports.com/mediaPla ... m_id=23000

You can watch it here:

http://www.universalsports.com/mediaPla ... m_id=23000

That link works, and the race has started. Bernardd Lagat will be trying to run the first sub 13:00 5k on US soil.

I don't see him, is he running this race?

Yes. I cought a glimpse of him. He is in the middle of the pack right now.

commentators referring to him as Sam Chelanga "of Kenya"

ok, we see him! Yay! Go Sam!!

He has dropped a bit off the pace of the 5 man lead pack.

I'd like to know what happened to him. How sad to see that he wasn't even in the top five.

The Kenyan Kogo nipped Lagat in 13:02. Best time ever on US soil despite windy conditions. It looked to me like Sam and all the other runners not in the lead pack dropped out with a few laps to go.

Not expected bozlady. These guys are pros. The winning time was 17 seconds better than Sam's personal best.

Sam finished 8th in 13:30, which is 11 seconds off his best. The video coverage didn't show anyone finishing after the lead pack of 5. I'm pretty sure he was the only collegiate runner in the field. He is not planning on running the 5000 in the NCAA meet, only the 10k. His humble reason: "I'm not tough enough to run both".

bozlady wrote:Maybe we can see it here, I pulled it off the Flames website:
http://www.universalsports.com/mediaPla ... m_id=23000

Wait a second. You're married??? I seriously didn't see that one. Must be a retard on my p[art.