Heavy hitters in the distance world invade Armory 5K

With regular sports like baseball, basketball and football, schedules are released prior to the upcoming season. Anxious fans see their post-season blues mollified for one day when their favorite team’s schedule is announced. While the awareness of the schedule does have its plus sides, there is some merit to a bit of excitement and surprise. This is one aspect that keeps being a fan of distance running fun.

According to the sources at Let’s Run, the Nike boys in Oregon are all coming out to play this Friday, March 1 in New York. Columbia University will host a last chance meet at the famed Armory track, and the entirety of the healthy runners under Jerry Schumacher’s tutelage are entered in the 5K. The healthy guys are Matt Tegankamp, Andrew Bumbalough, Lopez Lomong, Chris Derrick, Elliot Heath and Evan Jager. For the non-distance running fan, this group of runners is equivalent to the Yankees, the Lakers, or any other big market, big talent team. Having them decide to jump into action all together is like seeing the Lakers and Celtics, in their prime, host an impromptu street ball game in Harlem.

With the new additions to the field, the 5K at Columbia now boasts a plethora of sub 13:30 5K runners, one sub-13 5K guy, a handful of USA champions, as well as a few Olympians. The meet itself is a last chance for collegiate athletes to hit the times needed to compete at the NCAA Indoor Regional and National meets, but for the new additions, this is a chance to hit the IAAF Standard to compete at Indoor World Championship in Moscow in March. The  ‘A’ standard for the 5K is 13:15 or better. With a sharp set of runners, the question of whether or not Bernard Lagat’s indoor American Record will stand at 13:07 is also on the table.

For more information on the meet, as well as list of all events and entries, head over to Armory’s website here. Results will be posted in real time as they come in.

Photo courtesy of Human Rights First