By Romaine Soh
After an exhilarating race that saw the lead change multiple times right up to the very end, Great Britain’s Mo Farah powered down the home stretch Friday night to defend his Pre Classic title in the 10,000 meters.
The three-time Pre Classic winner continued his tradition of sub-27 times at the Pre Classic, turning in a season’s best of 26 minutes, 53.71 seconds.
The father of four, double gold medalist in the 5,000 and 10,000 at the 2012 Olympics and the past two world championships, aims to win another two gold medals at the 2016 Rio De Janeiro Olympics to dedicate to his two other kids. “Otherwise the other two are going to go, ‘Daddy, you gave them, not me,’” he said with a chuckle.
“I love my family. I’ve got four kids now — it means there’s more responsibility, you have to plan things ahead. My son was here watching me for the first time. It’s good to have all my family here watching me. It’s just part of life.”
Second place went to Kenya’s William Sitonik in 26:54.66, and third place went to Ethiopia’s Tamirat Tola in 26:57.33.
Bahrain’s Albert Rop led for the first half of the race, with Farah tucked in comfortably behind him. At the halfway mark, Farah seemed to lose his focus as he faded to sixth, but bounced back to second at the sixth kilometer.
The race reached its peak in the last 3,000 meters as Kenya’s Nicholas Kosimbei threw in sporadic surges to take charge of the race. Sitonik looked to be Farah’s final challenger as he sprinted at the bell lap to put as much distance between him and Farah.
Farah then exacted his signature kick on the home stretch to blast past Sitonik and defend his title.
“It’s good to see some new faces,” he said. “The Kenyan guys are always strong. They’re the guys who always push me. Athletics is about going out there and seeing what you can do.”
He had initially gone into the race looking to get a fast time, but he said he felt sluggish in the middle part of the race. Nonetheless, Farah has great memories of racing on Hayward Field, where he set his PR of 26:46.57 in 2011.
“I just wanted to get a fast race out of the way,” he said. “It gives you confidence. It’s like driving a car — take it on a test drive, know the course well. Later on when you get into it, you just feel more relaxed and comfortable.”
Farah has already been pre-selected for the Olympics because he has run a lot faster than everyone else, so he is free of the burden of having to prepare for a qualifying trial.
Recently, 150 scientists signed a decree asking for the Olympics to either be postponed or moved to another country due to the Zika virus outbreak in Brazil. Farah, who had not heard of the news until answering questions after the race, said that he and his family were all going. He boiled it down to “just a lot of talk” like the London Olympics, where rumors abounded that things were not going to be ready and that the bad traffic would prevent smooth operations.
“There was none of that,” he said. “It was the best Olympics ever. As an athlete, you don’t want to think of anything other than racing.”
Farah sported a blue kit in the race, not the traditional black Nike Oregon Project kit. He said that the blue kit was exclusive to Nike athletes who were crowned world champions last year.
“My teammate wouldn’t even cool down with me because they were wearing the black kit,” he joked.
Eric Jenkins, an Oregon alum, made his homecoming memorable by smashing his PR by more than a minute, crossing the line in 27:48.02. He finished 16th. Even with his huge improvement, Jenkins, who was aiming for a 27:30, was not entirely pleased. Although he has some experience with the 10,000 meters, this was the first time he had to run a hard effort right from the start.
“We’re currently at a pretty heavy block of training, so I’ll chalk this performance up to a good workout,” he said. The last time he raced at Hayward was at the U.S. Championships last year, where he raced in the 5,000 meters.
“It’s always nice to come home,” he said. “My old apartment was right on my warm-up route. I almost went in to see what they had in their fridge.”
While Jenkins feels he is more comfortable in the 5,000 meters, he also thinks that he has yet to discover his full potential. “A couple more of these hard efforts, and if training keeps going well, you never really know what your distance will become,” he said.
