NATIONAL 5000M RECORDS FOR FARAH, RUPP IN BIRMINGHAM
By David Monti
(c) 2011 Race Results Weekly, all rights reserved - used with permission

New training partners Mo Farah and Galen Rupp broke their respective national records for 5000m at the Aviva Grand Prix in Birmingham, England, today. 

Farah, the reigning European 5000m and 10,000m champion, won the race in 13:10.60, smashing Nick Rose's 1982 British record of 13:21.27 set in New York City.  Farah now holds the British indoor records for both 3000m and 5000m.

"I'm really happy, it felt good," Farah told UK Athletics.  "The crowd (at the National Indoor Arena) made a big difference and it was a nice race for me with Galen [Rupp] my new training partner so I'm look forward to the next few months."

Rupp, who has been training with Farah under coach Alberto Salazar (an unusual arrangement because Farah is an adidas-sponsored athlete and Salazar has previously only coached Nike-sponsored athletes), finished second in 13:11.44, surpassing Bernard Lagat's 2009 American record by just 6/100ths of a second.  Just last Saturday, Lagat had earned what was his fifth USA indoor record over the two-mile distance at the NYRR Deuce Record Challenge in New York City.  He's back down to four again (1500m, mile, two-mile, 3000m).

"He got it by a whisker," Lagat said in a brief telephone interview from Tucson today.

Farah started off conservatively and initially was as far back as 20m off the leaders.  But, as pacemaker Scott Overall stepped off the track with 15 laps to go, Farah moved up into third and was already well inside record breaking pace when he moved to the front.

"We had a plan going into the race," Farah explained.  "We wanted to start off steady and work our way through – that was the aim."

Farah earned a USD 5000 bonus for the record.  He now needs to decide if he will defend his 3000m title at next month's European Indoor Championships.

PHOTO: Mo Farah after winning the 2010 European 5000m title in Barcelona (photo by Jane Monti)

ENDS

1	Mo FARAH	GBR	13:10.60				NR
2	Galen RUPP	USA	13:11.44				NR
3	Shedrack KORIR	KEN	13:39.52				SB
4	Rui SILVA	POR	13:41.93				NR
5	Gezachw YOSSEF	ISR	14:17.81				NR
6	John BEATTIE	GBR	14:18.71				SB
7	Ross MURRAY	GBR	15:17.56				PB
8	Ryan MCLEOD	GBR	16:32.72				PB
9	Jonathan MELLOR	GBR	16:32.76				PB
	Gideon GATHIMBA	KEN	DNF
	Scott OVERALL	GBR	DNF