More than 100 years ago, at the 1896 Athens Olympics, Spirido Louis of Greece won the marathon in 2.58:50, almost an hour behind the present world record. It has taken seven good months of preparation and dedication, but I am happy to have done that time. Kipchoge said at the end of the run, “It has been hard. What is important here is the global interest in breaking the time barrier and the various efforts going on worldwide to achieve it. But it is not the technology part of this race that should capture our imagination. It is the physical equivalent of sending a man to Mars.įor Nike, it was, well, a marathon effort, which would also test its new Zoom Vaporfly Elite shoe that has a graphite plate that saves runners the hassle of bending or flexing their toes. The Manza race will not be counted as a world record since it was run under controlled conditions, drinks were delivered to the runners and pace setters joined the race at different points, but it has opened up huge possibilities. After Roger Bannister ran the mile in under four minutes, there has not been such a global endeavour to conquer a time barrier that seemed insurmountable only a decade ago. Kipchoge, who had won the Delhi marathon in December last year, was the lead runner in a team effort sponsored by Nike to see if a human being could run the marathon in under two hours. When Kenya’s Eliud Kipchoge finished the experimental marathon run at Manza racing track in Italy on Saturday in 2 hours and 25 seconds (the world record is at 2 hours, 2 minutes and 57 seconds held by Denis Kimetto), it was a monumental feat that perhaps only three others in the world can match under the same conditions.
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