YOUR SAY
RECORDS FOR FARAH
THE current world records of Kenenisa Bekele at 5000m and 10,000m emerged at the end of a period when numerous runners were running fast over several years, the bar gradually being raised by a few seconds and most importantly in races with other athletes close behind. Then the flood of world records stopped.
This is not unusual – often world records are gradually pushed further and further until they are perceived as no longer attainable by the current generation. No one has got within 25 seconds of Bekele’s 10,000m mark in a decade.
Mo Farah should be looking for a more attainable record – the one hour and 20km marks set by Haile Gebrselassie. It is within his range as he is comfortable at the half-marathon. However, more particularly, the hour record is arguably the benchmark of greatness – Walter George, Alf Shrubb, Paavo Nurmi, Emil Zátopek, Ron Clarke and of course Gebrselassie have held the record, while the 20km mark has been held by Nurmi, Juan Carlos Zabala, Viljo Heino as well as Zátopek, Clarke and Gebrselassie.