He wouldn't have been mixing it up with the big boys even if he was in their heat. This may workout better as he will have a chance to be in the mix and have a more evenly paced run

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Styrrell

#1: every heat has a rabbit. This will be quick.
#2: do you recognize any of those names? Colby Lowe, Dustin Emerick, Michael Fout, Chris Barnicle? These are all D1 XC all-americans with serious wheels. Throw in a few other international guys looking for World Champ "A" standards to represent their countries in Russia this summer, and you will have a damn fast race. People don't fly from all over the country and Americas for this race for nothing.
#3: Did you really think they were going to give him a lane in the top heat? That is full of WC runners and near-misses. Ali ain't there yet.

This. If he were in the faster heat he'd either try to hang then blow up or fall back from the start and end up running his own race. In the slower heat he has a better chance of running w/ his competition making him faster.

A lot of the time one can talk one's way into a fast heat if you have some pull, so this leads me that he likely seeded himself in the second heat, since he probably could have talked his way into the fast if he wanted to.

I doubt it. Nobody trying to get into these heats can use a bogus time, their PRs and recent performances are a matter of record. Basically he has no seed time (ITU 10K splits are not real), so in some ways he is lucky to even be in the second heat, basically he probably had to talk his way into that.

It is not like this is the USATF championships or the US Olympic trials and he is sponsored by Nike......

Ice burn!!

But yeah, he doesn't have that much pull. He's a triathlete trying to play in the T&F world with no past times or standing . He's luckly they are even letting him run

I honestly don't know whether he would have pull with the meet director or not, so you guys may be right - I wasn't suggesting that he try to sneak in on fake times, rather than his sponsor or agent may have pull with the meet, or his celeb factor buys him some seconds. As you noted, Nike/Salazar has been pretty good at getting their guys in the "wrong" heat at Nats in the past.

tri yoda is awesome

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Kat Hunter reports on the San Dimas Stage Race from inside the GC winning team
Aeroweenie.com -Compendium of Aero Data and Knowledge
Freelance sports & outdoors writer Kathryn Hunter

He has a history in xc running and the occasional road race plus he is the reighning OG gold medalist. The Stanford meet director doesn't live in a vacuum. He may not put him in a fast heat but AB wouldn't have to talk his way into the meet. No other guy in slow heat will generate as much interest.

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Styrrell

My guess is that he does have some pull if he actually needed it. On merits alone anyone can see he deserves to be in the 2nd heat, add in that he is an olympic medalist where 10k running is part of his event and he is the number one guy in the entire sport, then the RD would be foolish not to take advantage of him wanting to do their race.

We did that back in the day when i put together a tri team to race in the Redlands stage race. There were 40 pro and national teams that wanted in, but just 25 team spots. I had a little pull and the guys on the team were pretty big names as cyclists in the tri world. Lots of kicking and screaming from the other teams to let us in the race, but after we got 9th overall beating the Saturn and Canadian national teams, everything got quiet.

Eric Heiden went through this too after he won those 5 gold medals in speed skating. Got into a lot of big races on his name, but once he qualified for the olympic kilo in 1980 and then won the 165m Core states pro championship, not much from the peanut gallery. Steve Hegg was an olympic caliber downhill ski racer that was also caught up in the boycott of 80', got some good starts from his back cred and fast times, then in 84 won the gold medal in the 4k pursuit.

My advice to any doubters is the be ready to replace your doubts with a cricket sound, might come in handy. (-;

I think the 2nd heat will be good for him as they will be on full charge from the get go. It should not be a tatical race as they are the ones that have to get times to compare with the main heat. The quality should just be right at the point that A will be able to hang for some time and take advantage of the draft, and hopefully he only gets spit out after the 1/2 way point with others that he can draft. He is so tenacious though it is possible he just goes for it and really suffers in, perhaps he should have his bike on a trainer in the infield to warm up on. I really think the hard bike is just a great warm up for these guys that are in the shape he is in, so don't expect him to go too much faster than his best tri times. I think a well paced effort should be in the 28;45 range if he is in good form. Hard to think he is not from san diegos race, but perhaps too early for peak form..

Just to be picky E Heiden was a alternate on the 1980 Oly team. The boycott still annoys the crap out of me.

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Styrrell

Thanks for bringing up that team of triathletes...I recall seeing pictures of Mike Pigg riding in the pack with a J-Disc for a rear wheel...very cool!

Why is it a "disappointment"?

Perhaps that is the heat that he wanted to be in or the one that based on the inputs he had based on the qualifying criteria, that he qualified for.

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Steve Fleck @stevefleck | Blog

Does anyone know if this event will be broadcasted anywhere? Streaming online, maybe? I would love to watch this.

He wanted to be in the 2nd heat. The first heat will be run at a pace of 27:30, going through 5k in 13:45. The second heat most likely will be shooting for 28:15, so going through in 14:07ish for 5k. The reason for this is that the people in the first heat are looking for the A standard for Worlds which is 27:40 (http://www.iaaf.org/...in-athletics-daegu-1). If you look at the results from last year (http://www.flotrack.org/...rdan-Cardinal-Invite) you will see that section 1 was won in 27:27 (29th and 39th fastest times in the world in 2012), section 2 in 28:11 (with lots of people within 3 seconds of that time).

The race should be covered on Flotrack.com, not sure about payment or not. The better race will be the 5k though: http://www.flotrack.org/...is-an-Understatement

It'd be a pretty big shock if anyone does 27:30. You can't compare to an olympic year.

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Styrrell

Its still a world champs year and those guys need to get the A or at worst a fast B standard. Bumbalough, Cheseret, Vail will all be close to that and Mack will be right there.

Just to be picky E Heiden was a alternate on the 1980 Oly team. The boycott still annoys the crap out of me.
Styrrell \\

From what i remember from that time is that he got 2nd in the trials, or what would have been the trials. I always thought we took two guys in that event, but from what you say we only took one??

I don't remember how it worked back then, just remember that he was an alternate. But at time nly one rider went in certain events. In 84 we culd send lots of riders due to lower attendance. Ironically, the boycott may have jump started track cycling in the US, as almost no chance of a mens medal in 80 or an unboycotted 84, but we cleaned up in 84 with the boycott.

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Styrrell

Define close, I can see one guy, maybe 2 just under 27:40, unless some of the japanese are around.

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Styrrell

The reality is, whether Ali is in the A or B race, he's going to be going up against some incredibly fast guys. I'm interested in if he'll try and lead from the front like he does in tri's, or sit back in the lead group and begin a kick with 800m left -- because I doubt he has a track runners closing speed...

10K preview from Stanford's website...
Men’s Kim McDonald Memorial 10,000, 9:45 p.m.: Aaron Braun (fifth Olympic Trials, 27:41.54), Ryan Vail, and Bobby Mack all finished among the top nine at the U.S. Olympic trials, all under 28 minutes. Andrew Bumbalough, fourth in the Olympic trials 5,000, also will chase the world ‘A’ standard of 27:40.00. Japanese runners Yuki Sato and Suguru Osako will renew their rivalry after Sato outsprinted Osako to win the 2012 national championship and earn their country’s lone Olympic berth. Both will be aiming for Japan’s national record of 27:35.09 set by Toshinari Takaoka at this meet in 2001.

Monty agree with most, if not all what you said but A. Brownlee faced being lapped in the first heat; especially if he tried to hang it out there for say, 6k-ish, he'd either have to dnf or shuffle in with a time that wouldn't get him what he wants, which is a qualifier.

B heat is great for him and I hope he gets his Q time.

He is sponsored by Adidas, though, and I imagine they have some clout in the running world as well...

That said, i agree that the second heat is where he ought to be, and he'll probably have a better run as a result.

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