Dejen Gebremeskel

2017 CARLSBAD 5000 – MEN’S RACE VIDEO

/ Toni Reavis / 1 Comment

Carlsbad, CA. – In the battle of Olympic 5000 meter silver medalists, Ethiopia’s Dejen Gebremeskel who won silver in London 2012 took on America’s 2016 Rio silver man, Paul Chelimo in the 32nd Carlsbad 5000, dubbed “The World’s Fastest 5K”.

Competitor Group matchmaker Matt Turnbull and I mounted the press truck while our intrepid camera man Rich Jayne clung to the back of the lead moto.  Here is how the race played out on a perfect Southern California day.

 

Carlsbad 5000 – Results

Overall Bib Name Time
1 1 Dejen Gebremeskel 13:27
2 2 Paul Chelimo 13:47
3 5 Sam McEntee 13:51
4 4 Andy Vernon 13:53
5 9 Stewart McSweyn 13:53
6 14 Jack Rayner 13:59
7 3 Collis Birmingham 14:00
8 11 Haron Lagat 14:11
9 10 Will Leer 14:14
10 6 Jesper Van De Wielan 14:16
11 12 Adam Clark 14:25
12 13 Wade Meddles 14:30
13 8 Tom Lancashire 14:31
14 7 Mac Fleet 14:38
15 16 Nick Scarpello 14:52

CARLSBAD 5000 CHANGES COURSE

/ Toni Reavis / 3 Comments

Carlsbad Logo 2015Carlsbad, CA. — While it was the inaugural San Diego Rock `n` Roll Marathon that set Elite Racing off onto its national manifest destiny in 1998, a status that today has gone global under the banner of The Competitor Group, it was the 1986 Carlsbad 5000 that made Elite Racing’s bones on the international racing circuit in the first place.

This Sunday morning the Carlsbad 5000 celebrates its 30th anniversary, ironically on the same weekend as the IAAF World Cross Country Championships in China. I say ironically, because the history of the Carlsbad 5000 has always been inextricably linked to World Cross, which has traditionally come one to two weeks before CBAD on the race calendar. Accordingly, one could always find Carlsbad elite athlete coordinators Mike Long and now Matthew Turnbull camped out at World Cross with a bevy of tickets for the World Cross medalist to make the trek to the legendary layout 30 miles north of San Diego for a little R & R, and, yes, a hard race in the middle. No wonder Carlsbad has been site to 16 world, 8 U.S., and innumerable other national 5K and age-group road records. Continue reading →

29TH CARLSBAD 5000 PROMISES SEASIDE FIREWORKS

/ Toni Reavis / 1 Comment

CBAD LOGOWith Competitor Group, Inc. back in the elite athlete game, the San Diego-based event and media company has come out swinging in 2014. First they introduced their new CEO, David Abeles. Now, they’ve introduced their pro field for the 29th Carlsbad 5000.

Set to go off March 30th, the 2014 Carlsbad 500 features a showdown between three-time defending Carlsbad champion and 2012 Olympic 5000 meter silver medalist Dejen Gebremeskel of Ethiopia, and first-time CBAD entrant Bernard Lagat of the United States, the recent silver medalist in the IAAF World Indoor Track & Field Championships in Poland over 3000 meters.

WATCH LIVE WEBCAST HERE!
(pre-race show begins at 10:15 a.m. Sunday Pacific Daylight time)

Continue reading →

2013 CARLSBAD FOLLOW UP

/ Toni Reavis / 1 Comment
Gebremeskel Three-Peats(photo courtesy, Competitor Group)

Gebremeskel Three-Peats
(photo courtesy, Competitor Group)

Since its inception in 1986 the now famous Carlsbad 5000 has built its reputation on world and U.S. road 5K records.  To date there have been 16 world records and 8 U.S. marks set on this ocean-side layout.  But while Ethiopia’s Dejen Gebremeskel won his third straight Carlsbad 5000 men’s title yesterday, his winning time of 13:20 was the slowest since countryman Terefe Maregu beat a young Mo Farah, 13:34 to 13:35, in 2008.

Thus, after yesterday’s 28th edition in the charming seaside village north of San Diego, it has now been seven years since the World’s Fastest 5K has witnessed a new open division record.   Meseret Defar ran her 14:46 women’s world record in 2006.  And that’s the newest of the marks.  Deena Kastor’s 14:54 American women’s record is now 11 years old, Sammy Kipketer’s seemingly unassailable 13-flat men’s mark is 12 years old, and it’s been 17 years since Marc Davis’s 13:24 American men’s record was set. Continue reading →

DEMENTIA TEST

/ Toni Reavis / Leave a comment

Brain

So a friend calls me this morning.

“What do you put in a toaster?” he asks.

“Bread?” I reply.

“Say ‘silk’ three times in your head.”

(“Silk. Silk. Silk.”) OK.

“Now, what does a cow drink

 “Water?”

 “Ok. You don’t have it.”

                                                                   “What?”

                                                                     “Dementia.”

                                                                 “Gimme a chance. I’m working on it.”

Press conference this morning at the Lenox Hotel in Boston at 11 a.m. for the 18th New Balance Indoor Grand Prix, featuring the 3000m runners Galen Rupp, Donn Cabral, and Miles Batty of the USA and Dejen Gebremeskel of Ethiopia.  Galen and Dejen hold Olympic silver medals from London 2012.  Full report to follow.

END

YES, BUT IS IT A REAL TOUR?

/ Toni Reavis / Leave a comment

13BBTMtourLogo     Having just passed its first year anniversary the Bring Back the Mile campaign just announced its Bring Back the Mile Tour 2013 which will include 13 stops and an end-of-the-year gala celebrating a Mile legend and the year in the Mile.

Knowing how loosely strung most running “tours” have been in the past,  I emailed BBTM founder Ryan Lamppa the following query:  “Is this simply linking all these mile races up on paper, but not actually creating a specific tour with a prize purse attached at the end?  Now that would be news. Not that this isn’t.”

Here’s Ryan’s response:

“The BBTM Tour 2013 is about the Big Tent, and our main Tour objective in year one is about promotion – promotion of the Mile, Tour events and the athletes, and our broader vision is to have a national Mile grand prix series in 2014 (only top prize money races). In short, we are scaling this. Call the BBTM Tour 2013 lap 2 of the Bring Back the Mile campaign.”

Makes sense, Ryan. Like the mile race itself, it’s important to have a strategy to execute. You’ve had a good first lap, I’d say. Now it’s on to the second.

_____________________________________________________________

NBIGP2013
The first tour site is this Saturday night’s New Balance Indoor Grand Prix in Boston’s Reggie Lewis Center.  I’m fortunate to be the house announcer for the meet.

In the featured men’s mile, 2011 World Championship bronze medalist Matthew Centrowitz, Jr. heads the field. There will also be both boy’s and girl’s junior miles, events which always light up the raucous New England fans.  The meet sold-out early, but you can watch it live on ESPN3 Feb. 2nd, and again on tape-delay on ESPN2 Sunday, Feb. 3, from 2-4 p.m. Eastern standard time.

Of course, the race that has everyone on the edge of their seats is the match up between Olympic 10,000m silver medalist Galen Rupp and his Olympic 5000 counterpart Dejen Gebremeskel of Ethiopia. These two battled three years ago at the Reggie over 5000m with both losing out to Bernard Lagat’s American record 13:11.50.  Gebremeskel took 2nd, Rupp a close fourth in what was his inaugural pro season.

But now they each hold Olympic hardware, and Rupp is coming off the fifth fastest indoor mile in history last week at the B.U. Invitational (3:50.92).  Gebremeskel will have to run something similar to his memorable one-shoe 3000 at the 2011 NBIGP meet where he bested now double Olympic champion Mo Farah in a final lap thriller.

This meet is not one to miss.

END

2012 CARLSBAD 5000

/ Toni Reavis / 3 Comments

     No world records fell at today’s 27th Carlsbad 5000, but on a sun-splashed and windy day hard along the bright, blue Pacific Ocean, two previous champions from Ethiopia, Dejen Gebremeskel, defending men’s champion, and Tirunesh Dibaba, 2005 women’s champion, marked their readiness for the Olympic campaign ahead by posting impressive winning times over Olympic-caliber competition under less than ideal conditions. It was the second victory for each in the “World’s Fastest 5K”.

Men’s Race

13:11 at the line

Gebremeskel’s  winning time of 13:11 equaled the third-best time ever over the famous Carlsbad loop course, and tied the winning times from the previous two years when both he and today’s third-place finisher (second in 2011) Eliud Kipchoge of Kenya hit 13:11 in 2011 and 2010. Today’s runner-up, Hagos Gebrhiwet, just 17 years old, trailed just three seconds behind his countryman (13:14), leading places two through six to the fastest times for those places in CBAD history.  Ireland’s Alistair Cragg’s 13:26 in sixth produced the lone record of the day, a new Irish and European road 5k record.

“My plan was to run sub-13:10,” said third place finisher and 2010 champion Eliud Kipchoge of Kenya (13:14).  “But it was not possible because I could not feel comfortable with everyone on my back. I thought people would work together.”

And how many times have you raced against Ethiopians, Eliud?  Have they ever shown an inclination to assist with the pace?  Exactly.  You might make a note come London this August.

With the two-time Kenyan Olympic 5000m medalist- bronze in 2004, silver in 2008 – towing the field through the first two miles – 4:12, 8:33 (4:21) – the Ethiopians were content to draft in behind, thus saving energy for the long slog into the wind heading north along Carlsbad Boulevard after mile one.   But after passing through boisterous crowds along the center of the T-bar course, the road continues along a desolate stretch to the far turnaround.  It was on that silent patch of road around 4Km that Gebremeskel made his winning move. Continue reading →