Bowerman Mile will be Magnificent! release, note by Larry Eder

Bernard Lagat winning the USA Outdoor 5,000m, June 25, 2010, photo by
PhotoRun.net.

Seven of the top ten milers in the world will be duking it out at the Nike Pre Classic, to be held on Saturday, July 3, 2010. Included in the mix are Lopez Lomong and Leonel Manzano, who ran stride for stride, with a final lap of 50.5 in the US champs last week. Also in the hunt is Bernard Lagat, who set the new 5,000m AR of 12:54.12 in Oslo, and won the USA Outdoor title at 5,000 meters last Friday night! RBR will see you there!

Lopez Lomong, Leonel Manzano, USA Outdoor 1,500m, photo by PhotoRun.net.

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MAGNIFICENT
MILE AT THE PRE CLASSIC

Eugene, Oregon–There
have been some great racers and great races in the Bowerman Mile over
the 36
years of the Prefontaine Classic. But
there has never been a field as talented and deep as in this year’s
meet on
Saturday, July 3^rd at Hayward Field.

            Imagine
this: the Nos. 1, 2, 4, 5, 7, 8, and 10 milers
from last year, as ranked by Track & Field News magazine,
are in
the Bowerman Mile. That’s right, 7 of
the top 10 milers from 2009 are in the race, led by Beijing
Olympic gold medalist Asbel Kiprop
of Kenya.

          We know that defending Pre champion Kiprop has a feel for
racing at Hayward Field. His 3:48.50 to win last year’s race was his
first-ever sub-3:50, and left him only 0.23 seconds shy of breaking the
meet record set by Daniel Komen in ’07.

Then there’s Osaka World
Championships gold medalist Bernard Lagat of the U.S. Lagat
is on the cusp of tying two Bowerman Mile records: if he can win, it
will be his third, equaling the record held by Duck legend Joachim
Cruz, who won in 1985, ’85 and ’88. Lagat has also broken the 4:00
barrier 6 times in the Bowerman, trailing only the 7 of Canada’s Kevin
Sullivan.

And let’s not forget the Osaka World
Championships gold medalist Youssef Kamel
of Bahrain.
So loaded is this field that Morocco’s Amine
Laalou, who ranked 10^th
in the world last year at 1500 meters, has already run a quick 1:43.71
800
meters in 2010, while Kiprop has run even faster, 1:43.45.

Americans Lopez Lomong and Lionel Manzano, who
went 1-2 at last weekend’s USA Track &
Field Championships, join Lagat as the top domestic challengers to the
invasion
of the world’s best milers.

Tickets for
the Prefontaine Classic are still available at preclassic.com or from
1-800-WEBFOOT.

BOWERMAN MILE (MEN)

Asbel Kiprop (Kenya)
Youssef Kamel (Bahrain)
Haron Keitany (Kenya)
Bernard Lagat
Mohammed Moustaoui (Morocco)
Nicholas Kemboi (Kenya)
Lionel Manzano
Amine Laalou (Morocco)
Daniel Komen (Kenya)
Gebremedhin Mekonnen (Ethiopia)
Lopez Lomong
Lachlan Renshaw (Australia)–pace
Gideon Gathimba (Kenya)–pace

Author

Larry Eder
Larry Eder has had a 52-year involvement in the sport of athletics. Larry has experienced the sport as an athlete, coach, magazine publisher, and now, journalist and blogger. His first article, on Don Bowden, America's first sub-4 minute miler, was published in RW in 1983. Larry has published several magazines on athletics, from American Athletics to the U.S. version of Spikes magazine. He currently manages the content and marketing development of the RunningNetwork, The Shoe Addicts, and RunBlogRun. Of RunBlogRun, his daily pilgrimage with the sport, Larry says: "I have to admit, I love traveling to far away meets, writing about the sport I love, and the athletes I respect, for my readers at runblogrun.com, the most of anything I have ever done, except, maybe running itself." Also does some updates for BBC Sports at key events, which he truly enjoys. Theme song: Greg Allman, " I'm no Angel."
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