Comparing Farah to Moorcroft in the 5,000m
Britain has progressively gotten better in the 5,000m over the past 110 years. Other than an 18-year gap between 1908 and 1926, the British record for the 5,000m had not lasted more than nine years until David Moorcroft set the mark of 13 minutes 00.41 seconds in 1982. It again took 18 years for someone to set a new height.
On 18 August 2010 Mo Farah became the first Briton to run the 5,000m in under 13 minutes. Farah came in with a time of 12 minutes 57.94 seconds in Zurich at a Diamond League meet. The current world record is held by Kenenisa Bekele of Ethiopia who recorded a time of 12 minutes 37.35 seconds in Hengelo on 31 May, 2004.
“I’m just over the moon. To go under 13 minutes is an awesome feeling,” said Farah
Farah’s run may be roughly 20 seconds off the world record but he may still go down as one of the greatest runners in Britain’s history. Consider that when Farah’s race is matched up against Moorcroft’s 1982 run, lap by lap, Farah was able beat each of Moorcroft’s lap times until he began to tire late, then after losing ground he was able to find new energy for the final lap.
Farah’s first lap was better than Moorcroft’s by .04 seconds, he clocked a time of 61.0 seconds in that lap compared to Moorcroft’s 61.4 time. By the tenth lap Farah was ahead of Moorcroft by 4.5 seconds. The next three laps saw that lead dwindle to only .09 seconds. Farah, who has won gold medals at the European Championships in both the 5,000m and the 10,000m, then amazingly finished the last lap with a time of 56.6 seconds compared to Moorcroft’s 58.4 seconds. In the final 200m of that lap Farah bested Moorcroft’s final 200m time by 1.5 seconds.
It is important to note that when Moorcroft set the British record it was also a world record. Moorcroft shattered the previous record by over five seconds. He also ran alone for the entirety of the race. Farah, in comparison, ran with the pack for the duration of the race and finished in fifth spot, with the 177th fastest time ever. While Moorcroft did not have the pack to set a pace and encourage a late race rush, Farah did. This is not to take away from the accomplishments and drive of a man who has trained in low oxygen areas in order to improve his ability to run in areas with normal levels of oxygen. Farah is a competitor to say the least.
Farah’s impressive record was also set late in the athletics season. Farah won his two gold medals in the 5,000m and 10,000m late in July. Less than three weeks later he was able to set the new British record.
"It was fantastic run," said Moorcroft who also stated that his only disappointment was that Farah didn’t break his record while he was still chief executive of UK Athletics. "If he had done it early in the season when he was fresh it would have been normal, but to have done it after the physical and emotional exertions of Barcelona is pretty spectacular."
Now the 27-year old has been named to the British team going to the Commonwealth Games in Delhi this October. Again he will be running in both the 5,000m and the 10,000m, but he will be facing a tougher group of runners than he did at the European Championships.
After breaking the first British men's track record in over a decade, Britain will look for Farah to make the home crowd proud at the 2012 Summer Olympics in London.
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