Kevin doing a workout in July at UofM's Track

RMDC QUICK FACTS:

Kevin Sullivan:
is a resident of Ann Arbor and University of Michigan Alumni

Kevin is the Canadian Record holder in the indoor mile. Kevin recently was selected for NCAA Today's Top Eight Award.

Kevin was a 10 time Track All-American and 4-time Big Ten Cross Country Champion while running track and cross country for the University of Michigan.

He is currently racing for Reebok this summer in Europe and will compete at the World Championships in August for Canada.

You can e-mail Kevin at:

[email protected]

JULY 26TH, 1999

Linz, Austria -- Zipfer Gugl Grand Prix Track & Field

Here is Kevin Sullivan's first hand account of the 1500 Meter race:

"I came out of this one with my first victory this year on the European circuit but tactically this was probably my worst race of the year.

There was an excellent field lined up for the 1500m here in Linz, Austria including Venuste Nyangabo (3:29 PB), Benson Koech (3:32 PB), Julius Achon, Karl Paranya, David Krumenaker, Matt Holthaus and more.

Nyangabo asked for the pace to be 1:51 at 800m and 2:20 at 1000m, but rumors before the race said that he was not in shape to be running this pace yet. Brian Woodward was in charge of the pacing duties for the first 800m and hit the times right on, but there was a gap between him and the rest of the field. I thought I was feeling pretty good before hand but by the time I finished the first lap I was feeling very flat. (I got out well in the first 100m but everyone has the same idea about getting in behind the rabbit so where I tend to try to run even splits from the beginning of the race, much of the rest of the field end up running 26 seconds for the first 200m which usually leaves me 2 seconds and 15 meters off the pace. This is the one part of racing here in Europe that I have yet to become comfortable with.)

The leaders came through 800m in 1:54-55 and I was sitting back at 1:57 but not feeling comfortable as I should at this pace. At 1000m the second rabbit dropped off and Benson Koech took over the leading duties and through in a surge down the homestretch with 1 lap to go. I fell off the pack by a couple of meters but by 300m to go I was starting to get into a bit of groove as some guys started coming back to me.

I came on Nyangabo with 250 to go and surged to get by him before the turn. Coming off the top of the homestretch I was still only in sixth place and had a good 10 meters to make up on the leaders. I could see that I was moving faster than the leaders with 100m to go but because of all the ground between myself and first I wasn't sure if I was going to have enough room to win the race. So I just dug down and hoped for the best. I caught Koech and Krumenaker with 15 to go and leaned in at the line to nip Koech for the win. I found out later that I closed in the 39 second range for the last 300m. So even though I felt I ran a poor race, I managed to salvage a win with a good finish which will come in very handy in a few weeks in Seville.

My next race was supposed to be Monte Carlo on the 4th of August but the meet director is really limiting his field in the 1500m so I am currently on the wait list My next option was to go to Stockholm for a mile on July 30th but that has since been changed to a 2000m for Noah Ngeny to make an attempt at the world record so I decided this was not in my best interest to race right now. So at the moment it looks like I will be running on August 2nd in Malmo, Sweden in a smaller meet. This race could be a 800m or a 1500m, I don't know at the moment. But that is how it goes here in Europe. "

                                         Men - 1500 METERS

 Pos   Athlete                 Nat       Mark
  1  Sullivan Kevin            CAN   3:36.51
  2  Koech Benson              KEN   3:36.55
  3  Krummenacker David        USA   3:36.70
  4  Liefers Gert-Jan          NED   3:36.78
  5  Achon Julius              UGA   3:37.27
  6  Holthaus Matt             USA   3:38.65
  7  Abdellah Abdelhaq         MAR   3:39.66
  8  Niyongabo V�nuste         BUR   3:39.83
  9  Paranya Karl              USA   3:40.06
 10  Ahlem Yousef              FRA   3:40.73
 11  Davis Marc                USA   3:40.87
 12  Steindorfer Harald        AUT   3:43.86
 13  Ebner Thomas              AUT   3:46.73
 14  Hanzel Roman              SVK   3:52.62
     Nkazamyampi Charles       BUR       DNF
     Vydra Luk�?               CZE       DNS
     Woodward Brian            USA       DNS
     Zorko Branko              CRO       DNS
 

1999 GRAND PRIX STANDINGS
 (As of July 26th)
1500 METRES - Men

    Pos  Athlete                    Nat Meets  Pts
       1  Ngeny Noah                 KEN  4    38
       2  Rotich Laban               KEN  4    23
       3  Lelei David                KEN  4    22
       4  Sa�di-Sief Ali             ALG  4    21
       5  El Guerrouj Hicham         MAR  1    18
       5  Sullivan Kevin             CAN  3    18
       7  Tanui William              KEN  4    16
       8  Holman Steve               USA  3    14
       9  Mayock John                GBR  3    13
      10  Morceli Noureddine         ALG  1    10