Sunday, April 02, 2006

A world of difference

Before the weekend comes to a close, I feel it's necessary to at least give some mention to the IAAF World Cross Country Championships that took place in Fukuoka, Japan. So without further adue, my top 5 performers/performances of the weekend.

1. Adam Goucher. Whether he's just a badass, pulled it out of his ass, or took some sort of illegal shot in the ass, 6th overall in the short course is no joke. Good to see him back at the top of his game.

2. Bekele. With no disrespect to Paul Tergat and his XC exploits, this evasive Ethiopian is the real deal over hill and dale, even though there was hardly a hill or a dale on the track-like course in Japan. In the last year of the dual races and ten-straight World XC crowns to his credit, I'll go out on a limb and say Mr. Bekele is the best ever.

3. Dibaba and the Ethiopian women. Dibaba DNF'd in the short course today, but her win over Lornah Kiplagat in the long race yesterday was nothing short of remarkable. The individual win might only be topped by the 16 team points that she and her teammates racked up. Simply dominating.

4. Kenyan junior women's 6K sweep. I'll admit, I watched this race with giddy excitement late Friday night with some of my fellow dorky running friends while at Ed Baker's birthday bash in the South End. A special thank-you to John Friedman for dropping 20 beans on the webcast, by the way. Back to the race - these chicks were HAULING. I doubt the authenticity of their age, but tip my hat to them nonetheless.

5. Goucher, again. For me, his performance might only be topped by Ed Baker karaoking to Japanese rap on Friday night. Words won't do it justice, you just had to be there. Take my word for it.

Quote of the day:

I cannot achieve anything new. I am leaning towards not competing at the World Cross Country any more.
- Kenenisa Bekele

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