Sub 2 hour marathon.

[Ajax Bay]

The point I thought you were jocularly implying was that the 26.2 mile time trial could be staged downhill and downwind. After all if you're going to have pacers stepping in and out and a close lead car then why not? The route at the weekend was designed (deliberately or otherwise) to avoid any (downhill and downwind) criticism - though more likely for logistic and spectator considerations.
Separately I note that Brigid Kosgei has just bested Paula Radcliffe's 16 years old world record: in a time of 2:14:04, racing the Chicago marathon. This is almost exactly 10% longer than the men's record.

 

[Kempstonian]

No, the first guy holds the American record. The other two were international records.

Talking of record breaking marathon runners, I knew this guy when I used to race:
http://richardbird.me.uk/component/content/article/8-local-news/49-marathon-man

He was in one of the Luton cycling clubs in the 1960s, I think it was the Icknield Road Club. He obviously didn't keep up with the cycling because by the time he was 36 he was an overweight heavy smoker. Never having run a marathon before, he set out to break the most marathons in a year record - and he did it, getting himself into the Guinness book of Records. The record was much lower then, but his 71 in a year, travelling all around the world was a tremendous feat.

Incidentally, Richard's 71 marathons were all completed in under four hours except two (4:02 & 4:16). His fastest was 3:10, which he did twice. All his times are here:
http://www.richardbird.me.uk/compon...ocal-news/12-around-the-world-in-71-marathons

 

[Dayvo]

Interesting interpretations on how headlines become "truth". :-)

https://www.theguardian.com/culture...umphant-after-running-27-marathons-in-27-days

He was forced to take an unscheduled rest day on the fifth day of the challenge, which meant he had to complete two marathons on the final day.

An alternative view at https://www.letsrun.com/forum/flat_read.php?thread=7129334

Arghhh, the Daily Mail https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/ar...7-days-intrepid-comic-s-54-year-old-body.html
John Brewer, professor of applied sports science at St Mary’s University in London, says Izzard’s technique was to do each race slowly.

‘If he was going to run them competitively, he would have struggled,’ Prof Brewer explains. ‘Instead, he used a combination of slow jogging and steady walking, which puts far less pressure on the body.

27 days of 26 miles walking/jogging is still a lot of effort for something he didn't have to do. :-)

I wasn't referring to his running 27 marathons in Africa in 2016, I was referring to his running 43 marathons in Britain in 2009, so your above post is irrelevant.

 

[Stephenite]

What about this for a coincidence:

Marathon: 42195.0
Kipchoge: 1:59:40.2

!