Sub 2 hour marathon.

[Beebo]

It’s live on the BBC website now. He has a changing cast of pace makers, water bottles handed by bike and a laser on the ground showing his perfect pace. It won’t be an official record but still an amazing effort. Sponsored by Ineos too.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/live/athletics/49771509

running 100m in 17 seconds is hard enough, but keeping that up for 26 miles is bonkers.

 

[PeteXXX]

That's my average cycling speed...

 

[delb0y]

He's running faster than my average cycling speed

 

[cyberknight]

sorry started another thread on this , i will delete
I think it smacks of cheating as the pacemakers are not running the distance so hes getting a draft from fresher athletes .I am not knocking his obvious talent and fitness, determination etc but seems to be bending the rules and should not stand as a true record .

 

[Mugshot]

sorry started another thread on this , i will delete
I think it smacks of cheating as the pacemakers are not running the distance so hes getting a draft from fresher athletes .I am not knocking his obvious talent and fitness, determination etc but seems to be bending the rules and should not stand as a true record .

I didn't think it was going to stand as a record, just the first sub 2 hour marathon.

 

[Tail End Charlie]

At school aged 11 was the last time I was timed over 100m and, try as I might, I couldn't get below 17 seconds once. Incredible what he's attempting.

 

[vickster]

....and he's barely broken a sweat

Hope they got the course measurements spot on

 

[winjim]

sorry started another thread on this , i will delete
I think it smacks of cheating as the pacemakers are not running the distance so hes getting a draft from fresher athletes .I am not knocking his obvious talent and fitness, determination etc but seems to be bending the rules and should not stand as a true record .

It's not cheating, it's just a different thing. I don't think there's any suggestion that it should stand as an official record, it seems to be just a bit of fun.

 

[PeteXXX]

I believe the Guinness Book of Records are accepting it.

 

[swansonj]

sorry started another thread on this , i will delete
I think it smacks of cheating as the pacemakers are not running the distance so hes getting a draft from fresher athletes .I am not knocking his obvious talent and fitness, determination etc but seems to be bending the rules and should not stand as a true record .

Aren't the rules (and therefore what counts as cheating) pretty much arbitrary? Didn't Roger Bannister plan a previous attempt on the four minute mile where his third lap pacer had run the first lap at half speed so it was only their second lap and they were fresher? (That would have been a valid record but Bannister said he was glad he hadn't done it that way). Paula Radcliffe taking advantage of male pacers to set a female record? Cheating or not? And the Bob Graham Round only accepts records if they are set with pacers, who are almost invariably rotated between sections, so a completely different philosophy. People do extraordinary things and the world is better for it - the rules that determine whether a given extraordinary feat is feted in the record books or described as cheating are arbitrary.

 

[Beebo]

He’s done it. Well done.

 

[cyberknight]

Aren't the rules (and therefore what counts as cheating) pretty much arbitrary? Didn't Roger Bannister plan a previous attempt on the four minute mile where his third lap pacer had run the first lap at half speed so it was only their second lap and they were fresher? (That would have been a valid record but Bannister said he was glad he hadn't done it that way). Paula Radcliffe taking advantage of male pacers to set a female record? Cheating or not? And the Bob Graham Round only accepts records if they are set with pacers, who are almost invariably rotated between sections, so a completely different philosophy. People do extraordinary things and the world is better for it - the rules that determine whether a given extraordinary feat is feted in the record books or described as cheating are arbitrary.

Of course we are entitled to our own opinions , mine is that if you need to use pacemakers that are not doing the whole race from start to finish and drafting in an event that is an individual event then for me it isnt a valid record , is like thecycling hour record allowing it .

 

[swansonj]

Of course we are entitled to our own opinions , mine is that if you need to use pacemakers that are not doing the whole race from start to finish and drafting in an event that is an individual event then for me it isnt a valid record , is like thecycling hour record allowing it .

Absolutely we are all entitled to our own opinions ... as long as we recognise that our opinions are just that, and there is no definitive rule. You make the point quite nicely: the cycling world hour record does not involve pacing at all, athletics records allow pacing provided the pacer completes the whole course (but with no regard to whether the pacer was running competitively or not), and the fell-running records I alluded to earlier expect the pacers not to complete the whole course.

It seems to me that running a solo marathon with no runners around you has some sort of absolute meaning; doing what was done today and running as fast as you can, making whatever provisions assist you, has some sort of absolute meaning; anything in between, any rules about what pacers can or cannot do, is arbitrary.

 

[numbnuts]

 

[Grant Fondo]

It totally beggars belief! 100 years ago it was closer to 3 hours. Wow!