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10 YEARS LATE, GEBRSELASSIE TO MAKE GREAT NORTH DEBUT
Published by
Sep 17th 2010, 8:40pm
10 YEARS LATE, GEBRSELASSIE TO MAKE GREAT NORTH DEBUT By David Monti (c) 2010 Race Results Weekly, all rights reserved - used with permission
NEWCASTLE,
England (17-Sep) -- By running Sunday's 30th BUPA Great North Run here,
Haile Gebrselassie will be fulfilling a promise he made ten years ago
in Sydney, Australia.
After winning the Olympic 10,000m title for
the second time, Gebrselassie went to a press conference held by the
Great North Run organizers, Nova International, announcing that he would
run his first-ever half-marathon at their event. He was joined by
Britain's Paula Radcliffe, and Nova International chief executive
officer Brendan Foster.
"In Sydney we had already done a deal
with Haile to run his first big road race," Foster explained here
today. "The deal was done and we had a press conference in Sydney at
Circular Quays. We had Haile there, we had Paula Radcliffe there."
But Gebrselassie suffered an injury during the Olympic final, and didn't make it to Newcastle.
"Paula
came and ran the Great North Run after she ran the 10,000 [she won in
67:07], but Haile hurt his leg in the 10,000, and couldn't even run the
five, and couldn't run the Great North Run," Foster recalled. "Ever
since then we've had an agreement that he would run the Great North
Run."
A year later, Gebrselassie did make his half-marathon debut
in Britain, but it was in Bristol at the IAAF World Half-Marathon
Championships. He won in 60:03, setting the stage for a brilliant road
running career which had the real,-Berlin Marathon as its centerpiece.
That event usually takes place in the same September timeframe as the
Great North Run.
"Every year Berlin's been in the way, the
marathon's been in the way, he was ill one year, the (world)
championships were too late one year, " Foster lamented.
Although
Gebrselassie would feature prominently at other Nova events --like the
BUPA Great Manchester Run which he won three times in 2005, '09 and
'10-- he just couldn't make it to Newcastle for what Foster considers
his most important event. The Great North Run is Europe's second
largest half-marathon, and the largest road race in Britain with 37,599
finishers in 2009.
"You know, it was supposed to be ten years
ago," Gebrselassie said today at a news conference shaking his head.
"You know, I don't understand that this is the only race I keep
promising for ten years. You know, in 2000 we had the press conference
and I was supposed to run here in the Great North Run. It didn't
happen. I keep my promise for ten years, and I came this year. Sunday,
I'll be on the starting line."
That last line brought applause, and when the room quieted down Gebrselassie turned to Foster and said, "I'm sorry, Brendan."
Gebrselassie's
presence here is particularly important for Foster because his elite
field has suffered several withdrawals. Two-time men's champion Martin
Lel was forced to abandon with a fever; World Marathon Majors women's
champion Irina Mikitenko caught a cold in St. Moritz where she was
training for the Bank of America Chicago Marathon; and defending women's
champion Jessica Augusto has an unspecified injury. Foster's elite
athlete team recruited two-time world marathon champion Jaouad Gharib of
Morocco, and reigning Olympic Marathon gold medallist Constantina Dita
as last minute replacements.
But no organizer can replace the
smiling Gebrselassie, whom American rival Dathan Ritzenhein said today
was "without a doubt" the world's greatest distance runner (the two will
also face each other at the ING New York City Marathon in November).
At the half-marathon distance, Gebrselassie has been particularly good.
A former world record holder with a 58:55 personal best, Gebrselassie
remains the fourth-fastest half-marathoner ever. He has broken the one
hour mark five times, and has nine half-marathon victories in 11 efforts
at the distance.
Gebrselassie's longevity continues to impress.
Ritzenhein pointed out that he was just 13 years-old when the evergreen
Gebrselassie won in Sydney. Now 37 --and many experts think he is
actually older-- Gebrselassie dismissed any notion that he is too old to
be competitive. Flanked by the 40 year-old Dita who won her Olympic
title at 38, he joked today that he is "only 21" when a reporter asked
about his age, causing the assembled press to break out in laughter.
"Let
me tell you, age is just a number," Gebrselassie intoned. "If you are
old mentally (then) you are old physically. No doubt about that."
PHOTO:
Constantina Dita, Haile Gebrselassie, Mara Yamauchi and Dathan
Ritzenhein prior to the 2010 BUPA Great North Run (photo by David Monti)
ENDS
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