Great 5km Race - 2011 Season Opener

Here is a great video from FloTrack of the Melbourne Classic Men's 5km - stud field, as several Yanks, incl. Legat, Teg, Solinsky, and Bumbalough all flew down to nail the "A" standard - guess you will have to watch to find out if they do,,,

2011 Men's 5k Melbourne Track Classic
This was actually live streamed earlier this week - at 5:03am.
Now, I love watching races - track, road, TDF - but seriously, do  have re-post Beck's video ["I'm a Loser, Baby )so why don't you kill me)"?] - 'cause anyone who actually gets up at 5am to watch a track race is wayyyyy more hard core than I am!

After watching the race video. you can then always read the interview below from KIMbia Athletes - the sports agents' who represent these guys...

ya, how cool is that? Runner's have sports' agents! 

Matt Tegenkamp, Chris Solinsky, Tim Nelson andAndrew Bumbalough journeyed to Australia for a fast, uber-competitive early season 5000m in Melbourne, and got just that. Solinsky was 3rd in 13:10, Tegenkamp 4th in 13:16, and Bumbalough 5th in 13:16, with each bettering the World Championships “A” qualifying standard of 13:20. Nelson reportedly felt bad right from the start, but still managed 7th in 13:28. Throughout this week, we’ve been sharing reports from them.

Now, Matt Tegenkamp shares his post-race thoughts below:

It is an awesome feeling to be back on the track racing at a high level!

I am super excited to get the 2011 World Champs “A” out of the way and now I get to gear everything towards USA Champs in June. I was a little worried half way though the race that we were going end up around 13:22 or so… but then I remembered that I did not travel all the way to NOT get the job done! With 800 to go I knew I was not going to be involved in the kick so I focused on staying with the leaders as long as possible. Down the backstretch, just before 600, the gap formed but at that point I was confident I could maintain 63-64 [per lap, 13:20 pace] and get what I came for. It was good to be in the race and feel the suffering again; the suffering started with 900 to go and I am confident that I still could have run another lap at pace! I am the type of athlete that need a couple of races to hit his stride, so to open up with that effort tonight is great. It has already been stated, but that is my best opening 5k ever, so it is a great platform to jump off of. Looking forward to a strong 2011!