Britain's Mo Farah breaks 2 mile record in Birmingham

Mo Farah of Britain broke the 2 mile world record with a time of 8m 03.4s at an indoor track in Birmingham on Saturday 21st Feb 2015. The previous record of 8m 04.34 was set by Kenenisa Bekele.

This was the first world record for the double Olympic champion. In a post race interview with BBC Sport, Farah said...."This means a lot to me. I love representing my country, giving something back to all the people. Unbelievable. Definitely, it's about setting myself a goal and knowing what I want out of the year. It's two different things going for a world record or going for a championship. I shouldn't get carried away, it's only two miles indoors, but at the same time it would be nice to be able to do what I can do for 10k, if I can go close or break it."

Earlier in the week, there was a public row conducted on Twitter between Farah and Great Britain team-mate Andy Vernon. After the race, Vernon tweeted.... "Everything aside that was a cracking run @Mo-Farah. Congratulations on the new WR."

BBC Radio interviews with some of the worlds top coaches...

On a BBC Radio 5 programme recently, they had a two hour programme which focused on athletics and coaching and interviewed some of the world's greatest coaches. Included are Alberto Salazar who coached Mo Farah and Galen Rupp to Gold and Silver in the 5,000m at the Olympics in London, Dan Pfaff who worked with long jump Gold medalist Greg Rutherford and Tony Minichiello who coached Jessica Ennis to Heptathlon Gold.

Anyone who has an interest in athletics or who coaches anyone from children to adults should find it of interest.

Guide.....Listen from.....5:00 to 30:20, 35:20 to 43:15, 44:05 to 48:28, 49:00 to 1:05:04, 1:11:55 to 1:30:57 and 1:34:08 to 2:00:00

The link is HERE .......Try to listen to it before the podcast expires.

Ciarán Ó Lionáird from Cork wins the mens mile at Boston Indoor Grand Prix

Ciarán Ó Lionáird from Macroom, Cork won the mens mile in the Boston Indoor Grand Prix last night (Sat 4th Feb 2012). In a high quality field which included Mo Farah from Britain and Galen Rupp from the US, Ciarán Ó Lionáird won in a time of 3:56.01.

Subject to correction but I think that was a new personal best time beating his old record of 3:57.99 in Dublin last July.

Post race interview HERE

Race report.......The men’s Mile featured the meet’s biggest shock when, just three-quarters into the first lap, 5000-meter World Champion Mo Farah of Great Britain, running in front, caught his foot on a trailing runner and sprawled hands-first to the track. After the rest of the field successfully hurdled or otherwise dodged him, Farah sprung back up to give chase. With six laps to go and training partner Galen Rupp in the lead, Farah had worked his way into the middle of the pack, and with three laps to go he was in second.
For an instant, it looked as if he would pull off a miraculous win, but “my legs just didn’t have it,” he said later. “I just had to get back as quickly as possible and work my way through. It wasn’t easy.”
With about 150 meters remaining, Rupp was caught by another training partner, Irishman Ciaran O’Lionard, and Canada’s Taylor Milne. The 23-year-old O’Lionard, who ran for Florida State University, held off Milne for the win, 3:56.01 to 3:56.40. Rupp ended up third, in 3:57.10, while Farah managed a personal-best 3:57.92 in fourth.

“It was disappointing seeing [Farah] fall down,” said Rupp. “We were planning on taking it after halfway, but things happen so you just have to be ready for it.”
O’Lionard, a relative rookie in this company, was thrilled. “I’m so new to the game, and so unbelievably privileged to have such great training partners,” he said, standing with Rupp and Farah. “Part of me is like oh man, this guy has just taken a bad fall and he’s already coming up and kicking my butt. That just shows the character he has and the courage, to be able to get back up and do that.”

Elite training in Kenya...

These are two online newspaper articles that I came across recently...

In the first article, the Independent looks at Brother Colm O'Connell who is a 63-year-old Irish missionary and retired teacher. When he arrived in Kenya in 1976, he was a geography teacher and got involved later in the athletics training programme. After a short period, he took over and  ended up training some of the best distance athletes in the world. Despite that, he seldom leaves Iten in Kenya and has been present to see any of his athletes win a major championship gold medal in either the Olympic Games or World Championships. Article HERE

Update...(Telegraph version HERE)

In the second article, The Telegraph looks at Britain's Mo Farah and his high altitude training in Iten, Kenya. While he might be more used to the facilities in Oregon as part of the Nike Project, things in Kenya are a bit more basic with hazards with donkeys on the track!  “There were donkeys all over the place,” he said. “I tried to shout something to scare them off but they just stood there exactly in lane one. I had to go on a different part of the track.” The article is HERE