Ethiopian third in race, but is unofficial dancing champ
Like everyone else, our eyes are now on London this weekend, however we are still reminiscing about the amazing races in Boston on Monday. In case you missed them, check our live coverage and post-race analysis before looking ahead.
Our London preview will follow soon, but in the mean time we will have one look back at Boston. This year Deriba Merga, the hard and aggressive running Ethiopian who won the 2009 race, looked well enough to repeat and reap the rewards from his early race attacks. He and Cheruiyot went clear with many miles to go, although the young Kenyan dropped Merga en route to his course record. Merga hung on for third but finished nearly three minutes back from the winner and lost another minute to second-place Tekeste Kebede.
But all was not lost for Merga, because some time after the race he went on to win an impromptu dancing contest between the elite runners. Therefore The Science of Sport are proud to crown him the unofficial Marathon Running Dance Champion.
Special thanks to the photographer who was in the right place at the right time to capture this, and also for posting it, and also to our friends at LetsRun.com for the link.
Seriously now, all eyes are on London now so watch for our preview before Sunday!
Jonathan
When I saw the word 'amazing', I thought he had done the splits, or break dance on back or even a 'moonwalk'.
ReplyDeleteAlas..what an exaggeration, sorry. What did we think, these guys don't like to hang out and do some bad dancing too?
Hi Anonymous
ReplyDeleteWhere exactly did you see the word "amazing"? We used it to describe the Boston Marathon, which I'm sure you will agree were pretty amazing.
Not sure what you were expecting. No one thought these guys don't like to hang out - but have you seen this kind of clip before? I think it's a nice light-hearted view of the athletes, myself. Not an indictment of their dancing or social skills, or our misconceptions of them.
Regards
Ross
The inability for a highly trained long distance runner to make powerful lateral moves is painfully evident here! ha!
ReplyDeleteI remember trying to play basketball near the peak of my marathon training
impossible!