Just for the love of the sport

Imagine you're lining up in a local 10km race and a couple of athletes to your right stands one of the finest middle distance runners in history! And imagine your surprise, when, after about 7 km, you see that same vest coming back towards you as you catch up to him, pass him and then beat him to the line in a 10km race! OK, you probably, in your moment of reality check, should realise that he's not racing you and is out for a fun run, but, hey, at least you'd be able to tell someone that you beat the great Hicham el Guerrouj in a 10km race!

That's what happened this past weekend in Nice, France, where the great Moroccan ran perhaps his first race since retiring from the sport after his double gold in Athens in 2004. According to reports, el Guerrouj took to the start line with about 4500 runners, stayed with the leaders for a short while, but then dropped back, giving plenty of runners a chance to pass a world record holder, Olympic champion and a man who has run 12:50 for 5km!

el Guerrouj, for his part, seems to be enjoying the fun run approach, saying "People were overtaking me and I could see they were pleased, surprised. I could hear some of them say "well, I can say I have beaten Hicham at least once!".


Hicham El Guerrouj at the start of the Prom Classic 10km road race in Nice

..captured from ScienceOfSport dot blogspot