We predicted ten days ago that Deriba Merga would come short at his trial to run a new road 10k world record by besting Micah Kogo's 27:01 from this spring. However, a 27:24 is much faster than we expected and quite intimidating given that Merga just won the Boston Marathon. He completely annihilated the race putting almost a full minute into Kenyans Boaz Cheboiywo clocking a time of 28:17, while Hosea Kibet Rutto was third at 28:21.Despite taking the 8k world record en route (21:48, minus 14 seconds), Merga wasn't happy with his race. He was cited to have run well and fast back home but somehow not being able to transform that onto the streets of Canada's capital.
[Full results and marathon report to follow soon!]
mzungo.org says: there should be more competitive road 10ks and 5ks. Yes, track is great but racing on the road brings such a different dynamic. People can watch for free. The trace will actually be followed from the gun unlike track where TV stations chime in and out, often just showing the last three to four laps. With a channel like Universalsports we might have a broadcaster for internet showing. When it comes to marathons, Universalsports has started the next big thing with its free live broadcasts.
Put together an elite pack of maybe 30 guys, block an inner city square of about a mile and let them rip it!
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