In a race with 40,000 runners and a top class field including the current Marathon record holder, the great Haile Gebrselassie won in a time of 27:39. After some recent disappointing Marathon performances, there were many articles in the press about whether it was time for the 39 year old Ethiopian to retire. He gave his answer in Manchester on Sunday with the fastest 10k time in the world this year.
In an interview after the race, he said.......
"For me it was just great that I ran so quickly and it reflected on what my training suggested I might do. For a change the Manchester weather was good and I felt very good from start to finish." When asked whether he plans chasing a 10,000m position in what will be the official Ethiopian Olympic trial at the FBK-Games in Hengelo (Netherlands) next Sunday, replied:
"I wanted to run fast today and next week my goal is to run sub-27 minutes in Hengelo. There will be a lot of stars running in the Olympics. It will be difficult to beat them. So I don’t know what would be possible. To get into the top three and win a medal that would be wonderful.""
Looking at Gebrselassie's time of 27:39, it is faster than the 27:47 that fellow Ethiopian and current Olympic champion Kenenisa Bekele set in the Great Ireland Run in Dublin last month. It would be fair to say though that the course through the Phoenix Park may not be as fast as it has a few hills.
Will Gebrselassie make the Olympics? No matter what nationality you are, I think most people would love to see the 39 year old there in the 10k final going head to head with the current Olympic champion Bekele and the Kenyans. Time will tell.
The BBC has a piece on the 2012 Great Manchester Run
HERE
