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Sub 2-hour Marathon

Eliud Kipchoge 6.2km from managing a sub 2hr Marathon, at present will finish with 10secs to spare

Of course it wont be a World Record as its not in race conditions

Regardless of the conditions though its a monumental effort!!
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Comments

  • McBobbin
    McBobbin Posts: 12,051
    Watching this. Would be an unreal achievement
  • Dropped to a nine second gap
  • McBobbin
    McBobbin Posts: 12,051
    edited October 2019
    Absolutely smashed it... Bit emotional now
  • Amazing!!

    The next question is can it be done in an actual race
  • Amazing achievement.
  • guinnessaddick
    guinnessaddick Posts: 28,598
    edited October 2019
    100m in 17 secs, 422 times. Amazing.
  • Ridiculous time but for me it needs to happen in a 'proper' marathon. Running on his own with tons of pace makers there for just him is slightly cheating it a bit.

    Still amazing though, given that the average person training for a marathon would probably be happy to break 4 hours.
  • 100m in 17 secs, 420 times. Amazing.
    Usain Bolt should attempt it then, he'd do the Marathon even quicker ;)
  • Amazing!!

    The next question is can it be done in an actual race
    Silly question, but what is the different is it due to the number of competitors at the start slowing them down?
  • ForeverAddickted
    ForeverAddickted Posts: 94,288
    edited October 2019
    Amazing!!

    The next question is can it be done in an actual race
    Silly question, but what is the different is it due to the number of competitors at the start slowing them down?
    He wont have the Pace Makers dropping in and out of the race

    It wont start at the same time as it has done today (as that will have been done to increase chances)

    Imagine this route is extremely flat too; London Marathon is not that for one - Think Berlin is the flattest

    Feed / Water would have been planned to the last detail to ensure he fueled at the right times

    In addition the pace makers today would have been position to make him as aerodynamic as possible, I dont think thats allowed in an official race
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  • McBobbin
    McBobbin Posts: 12,051
    It was about proving a point though, can it be done? Nothing to do with a world record, he has that already. Lots of variables in a race, not least they are all about winning and nobody can keep alive with him. It surely can be done in a race, just not sure when or by who
  • Dont get me wrong its amazing he achieved it at all

    Just with the amount of variables used in this I think we'll be waiting a bit longer for it to happen officially
  • Algarveaddick
    Algarveaddick Posts: 21,146
    Brilliant achievement. 
  • MrOneLung
    MrOneLung Posts: 26,835
    It was the lap of honour that finished him off though. 
  • JohnBoyUK
    JohnBoyUK Posts: 9,017
    Brilliant achievement.  Ha, I've only run a half marathon faster than that three times!

    Erm, call me cynical, anyone else raise an eyebrow that it was announced 48hrs ago that the Nike sponsored athlete would attempt this today... nothing like a bit of positive advertising for them after the Salazar saga!
  • ironic that this happened the week I was again rejected for the London Marathon - I'd have been gunning for his time.
  • Addickted
    Addickted Posts: 19,456
    I couldn't do that time on a push bike

  • LenGlover
    LenGlover Posts: 31,651
    Incredible achievement!

    The fact is he has done it even if it doesn't count as an official world record. Up there with Roger Bannister's 4 minute mile and Bob Beaman leaping into the next country as athletic milestones in my opinion regardless of whether it counts officially.
  • Dont get me wrong its amazing he achieved it at all

    Just with the amount of variables used in this I think we'll be waiting a bit longer for it to happen officially
    I disagree. When you get to that level there's psychological factors at play as well as physical. IIRC Bannister's 4 minute mile was bettered by John Landy within a month. After that it's like the floodgates opened and it wasn't long before several athletes were coming in under 4 minutes in the same race. It had taken decades for Bannister to do it, yet pretty quickly after it became very common.

    No idea how many athletes have run under 4 minutes since but it'll be loads. That's not to say bang average athletes will suddenly start running sub 2:00 marathons of course but I would expect, now it's been done, that we'll see someone do it under race conditions reasonably soon. 
  • LenGlover
    LenGlover Posts: 31,651
    The difference 65 years makes.

    A cinder track at Iffley Road Oxford, dear old Norris Mc Whirter with his hand held stop watch compared to 41 pacemakers, refuelling stations and indicative lasers.

    Yet both equally monumental achievements.
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  • I'm not sure loads of athletes will start doing sub 2hr in races but he's been only 100 seconds away so I could see him doing sub 2hrs in a 'real' race.

    Not that it matters in my opinion, he ran 26. 2 miles in 2 hours, pacemakers or not that is a staggering achievement, will definitely be remembered like the 4min mile. 
  • Dazzler21
    Dazzler21 Posts: 51,344
    Amazing!!

    The next question is can it be done in an actual race
    Silly question, but what is the different is it due to the number of competitors at the start slowing them down?
    Loads of stuff went into planning this. Perfect roads, perfect conditions, regular pacers.
  • Callumcafc
    Callumcafc Posts: 63,757
    Totally bonkers
  • Goonerhater
    Goonerhater Posts: 12,677
    edited October 2019
    Well done ---- anything that pushes the boundaries of human effort legally is great.

    Read the book  by Ranuloph Fiennes called Heat, although most of it is about his life in war etc in the dessert he also explores how the human body deals with extremes and adapts---latter years his explorations were funded looking at just that.How people can run etc in extreme heat for long distances (Ethopians for example)
          He entered the Marathon De Sade as a self guiinnie pig(sic) to have his own body monitored.The race organisers said no one who is over sixty or has had a heart condition could enter ----- Fiennes entered and finished---he was 70  and had had four attacks previously ----- supermen/women do exist
  • Carter
    Carter Posts: 14,240
    I don't know anything like enough about marathon running to comment on moving parts that weren't in play. Celebrate the achievement for what it is.  The human race edging ever closer to creating a boy that will one day swim faster than a shark 
  • BR3red
    BR3red Posts: 1,715

  • BR3red
    BR3red Posts: 1,715
    WTF - surely not

    only FIVE people out of 51 MILLION  have beaten his pace over 5 k? And he completed a marathon?

    Super human 🤣
  • AFKABartram
    AFKABartram Posts: 57,823
    Has he done a muddy Parkrun after a Friday night kebab and chips though, beltching onions all over his his pace setters?
  • Chris_from_Sidcup
    Chris_from_Sidcup Posts: 35,994
    edited October 2019
    Some more info on this which made his run a lot easier than a normal race.

    Vienna was preferred to London because of benign conditions.
    Teams of seven pacemakers – in a phalanx formation, 2-1-2-2 - not only kept Kipchoge on the right side of the clock but protected him from what little breeze existed.
    Green lasers were projected on to the road so he knew where he needed to be in relation to beating the 2 hour mark.
    Kipchoge’s route was entirely flat and 90% straight.