Saturday, January 5, 2013

Bobby Mack's win leads Team USA Men to victory at Great Edinburgh International Cross Country

The Mack Attack on the BBC. Get this man a shoe deal!
Cool calm and collected was the best way to describe Bobby Mack's run over the grassy hills of the course at the 2013 Great Edinburgh International Cross Country race Saturday afternoon in Scotland. That was until the last 200 meters, when he began his eyeballs out attack on the 2012 winner, Ayad Lamdassem.

For most of the race, Mack, Lamdassem, Andy Vernon and Sergey Lebid trailed a defiant Tom Humphries, who would lead until about 250 meters to go. Humphries would finish just off the podium in fourth. Mack, on the other hand, would let Lamdassem lead him out until the final 100 meters, where he would find another gear and storm across the finish line in first in 24:27 over the 8 kilometer course.

"I knew if I could hang with Lamdassem when he pulled away that I could have a good opportunity to kick and get off that mud and thick grass over the last 50 to 100 meters" said Mack to Alberto Stretti after the race (full interview below). "It's really fun to get over here and run some true cross country, because usually in the World Championships, you're going to be out on a course that could be just like this. So it's good preparation."

Mack will attempt defend his 2012 USA Cross Country title and qualify for the 2013 World Cross Country team February 2nd in St. Louis, MO. Mack is currently a volunteer assistant coach at NC State and runs for (and works at) Capital RunWalk in Raleigh, NC, where he is hosting a 3-day running retreat, starting January 18th. He currently trains under Coach Rollie Geiger; with Ryan Hill, Stephen Furst, Sandy RobertsAndrew Colley and the rest of the Wolfpack squad.

Team USA took the win on the Men's side with a strong come from behind finish. Behind Mack was Jake Riley (7th - 24:50), Craig Forys (8th - 24:56), Elliot Krause (10th - 25:05), Sean Quigley (11th - 25:07), Jonathan Peterson (12th - 25:08), Matt Forys (14th - 25:11), Joe Moore (15th - 25:11) and Philip Reid (22nd - 25:42).

Watch the race replay below:
Watch Mack's interview with Alberto Stretti below:

Read "5 Questions with Bobby Mack" here

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