Athletics previewIt mightn't have quite the same glamour and mystique as the sub-four minute mile but in distance running terms the sub-13 minute 5,000 metres remains the greatest barrier to becoming truly world class. To date only 50 men have broken that barrier since Said Aouita of Morocco ran 12:58.39 back in 1987, and only three of those are non-Africans - Germany's Dieter Baumann, America's Bob Kennedy and Australia's Craig Mottram.
Tomorrow in Paris at the IAAF Golden League meeting Ireland's Alistar Cragg will look to join that elite club. Cragg, of course, was born in South Africa, but to a non-African background. And having spent most of his running career in the US, he'll be regarded as only the fourth non-African to break 13 minutes should he manage to produce the race of his life in Paris tomorrow.
Cragg's form suggests he will come close. A month ago in New York he lowered his best to 13:08.97, the second fastest Irish time after Mark Carroll's Irish record of 13:03.93 (which still makes him the ninth fastest European of all time). Cragg tuned up over 1,500 metres at the Cork City Sports a week ago, and since then has been resting up for what at least promises to be a race of sub-13 minute pace.
"It's no big deal if I don't get it in Paris," says Cragg. "But it's my one shot this year and I definitely plan to give it my all. I've done some great work-outs in recent weeks, running times that I would have laughed at a few years ago if someone said I could do them. And the training hadn't gone too well before I ran 13:08. So I definitely feel I can go faster now. I've rested up and I'll just throw myself on the line in Paris.
"I'll try not to give up, but once that race is done I'm totally focused on the European Championships in Gothenburg. I expect to be fairly fried after that, mentally anyway, because it's a championship, so this is my best shot at running fast."
The field in Paris is stacked, as they say on the circuit, and includes several sub-13 men such as world record holder Kenenisa Bekele of Ethiopia (12:37.35), Abderrahim Goumri of Morocco (12:50.25), Ali Said-Sief of Algeria (12:50.86) and Benjamin Limo of Kenya (12:54.99). The atmosphere inside the Stade de France should add further fire to the race and if Cragg can hold on long enough then he can at least challenge Carroll's Irish record.
Interestingly, Cragg noted during the week that the Africans don't like being beaten by the "white guys" and he expects to be pushed around a little over the 12 and a half laps. With only seven men going sub-13 so far this season it's unlikely to be run in anything faster than 12:50, although he will only have the figure '12' on his mind. It doesn't matter what comes after that.
Closer to home, a record field of some 2,300 runners is set for Sunday's Irish Runner Five-Mile Challenge in the Phoenix Park, the first of three countdown races to the Dublin marathon in October. This is only the fourth year of the race series, and entries have grown by 60 per cent since the first race back in 2002.
Entries will be taken on race day between 8am and 9am at Race HQ in Castleknock College, with the race starting at 10.0 Last year's women's winner, Pauline Curley of Tullamore Harriers, is back to defend her title, while former national cross country champion Peter Mathews of Dundrum is the favourite for the men's race. This year's races also mark the 25th anniversary of Irish Runner magazine.
