Really looking forward to this! Farah needs a big improvement on his previous performance to be considered a serious player at the distance. Probably due to inexperience and lack of focus on be distance he got stuck in no man’s land in the previous time he raced London and never really got into the mix with the front runners. There’s a good article on BBC Sport with some interesting insight here:
Really looking forward to watching it and then all the “everyman” runners. One of my favourite sporting spectacles each year.
Weather is looking good for the weekend in London, it’s been rubbish lately…
Gonna be a great race for sure! Haven’t heard anything about what pace they are setting for the half, but interesting that Farah said he will be going with the leaders regardless of pace.
Guessing they will go for 1:01:2x for half and that it will be a bloodbath (though no more bloody than Boston).
Saw that Kipchoge is racing in new shoes, 3D printed Nike flyprint, which weighs 11gr less than the shoes he wore in Monza
Hard to bet against Kipchoge, but hoping for Bekele.
Will be interesting to see Adola, though I don’t think he will podium. Karoki and Cherono are dark horses.
Haha, yes it was that article that inspired me to post about it!
I’d love to see him run a sub-2:05 but I’m doubtful we’ll see that happen; it all depends on how the race plays out, but with a field of that quality if he’s tempted in to running too fast too early then it could turn into a long day.
I’ve been wondering for a while now how Kipchoge and the other elites view the World Record after the *Breaking2 *project? This sounds a bit ridiculous, but even with the somewhat contrived conditions on that day, in light of the 2:00:22 Kipchoge laid down, the current mark of 2:02:57 looks a bit soft. With a bit of cooperation in the lead-group they could see Sunday as an opportunity for blowing the WR out of the water.
London Marathon trivia - if you watch the BBC coverage did you know the theme they use is called ‘The Trap’? Already humming that to myself. Everyone in my family is cynical and has a go at Steve and Paula but I like the coverage. I liked Brendan, people are too critical of the small things these days. The preview linked above is spot on IMHO, Mo needs a good performance which should be judged on time not position. I like Mo but I worry he might not switch his mind off in the early stages and just cruise as long as possible. If he starts whooping the crowd up or pushing the pace then I think that’s a big mistake. Just worried he might feel like he has to interact with a London crowd or entertain them or something.
Tirunesh is an angel who happens to run. If she was just going for a training run on Sunday I’d watch that for 2 and a half hours.
in light of the 2:00:22 Kipchoge laid down, the current mark of 2:02:57 looks a bit soft. With a bit of cooperation in the lead-group they could see Sunday as an opportunity for blowing the WR out of the water.
current forecast temps are too warm…
“whenever anyone has tried to run the first half of a marathon anywhere near 61 minutes, even in seemingly perfect condition, the result has been carnage.”
so, I look forward to watching the carnage 
The 2:00:22 has to be corrected for the drafting effects of pacers and pace car, also time saved because the racers had drinks handed to them. That gets it right up around 2:03… not ruling out a WR from Kipchoge but it won’t be a big jump.
in light of the 2:00:22 Kipchoge laid down, the current mark of 2:02:57 looks a bit soft. With a bit of cooperation in the lead-group they could see Sunday as an opportunity for blowing the WR out of the water.
current forecast temps are too warm…
**“whenever anyone has tried to run the first half of a marathon anywhere near 61 minutes, even in seemingly perfect condition, the result has been carnage.” **
so, I look forward to watching the carnage
The 2:00:22 has to be corrected for the drafting effects of pacers and pace car, also time saved because the racers had drinks handed to them. That gets it right up around 2:03… not ruling out a WR from Kipchoge but it won’t be a big jump.
Not true, they reached half in 61:24 in London 2016 and Kipchoge finished in 2:03:05 with Biwott also running sub 2:04. In Berlin 2016 they hit half in 61:11 and Bekele finished in 2:03:03 with Kipsang finishing 10s behind them.
Sure some will fall off pace, but that is what happens when some 5-6 east africans with 2:06 pb’s try to hang on.
I would say that both the half and marathon records are weak compared to most track distances. We have athletes close to the wr in these events each year, but how often do you see sub 26:30s?
London Marathon trivia - if you watch the BBC coverage did you know the theme they use is called ‘The Trap’? Already humming that to myself. Everyone in my family is cynical and has a go at Steve and Paula but I like the coverage. I liked Brendan, people are too critical of the small things these days. The preview linked above is spot on IMHO, Mo needs a good performance which should be judged on time not position. I like Mo but I worry he might not switch his mind off in the early stages and just cruise as long as possible. If he starts whooping the crowd up or pushing the pace then I think that’s a big mistake. Just worried he might feel like he has to interact with a London crowd or entertain them or something.
Tirunesh is an angel who happens to run. If she was just going for a training run on Sunday I’d watch that for 2 and a half hours.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2eDb4AfMImA
Don’t watch that
I think Brendan has retired though. Or was that only from Track stuff?
Pre-Race Update:
Temperature forecast is a couple of degrees warmer than above (20 degrees C at start and 22 at finish) and possibly with a bit of humidity to go with with. Not ideal for blazing fast times you would think.
Regardless, apparently the organisers have asked the first group of Male Elite pacemakers to run 61:00 for the first half, with a second group at 61:45. That seems suicidally fast, so I wonder if that is at a particular athlete’s (i.e. Kipchoge’s) request?!
It’s going to be an epic race!
Just tuned in to BBC coverage, really bad keeps freezing plus showing athletes and no idea what position they’re in.
Farah is on for a British record that’s all I know.
Farah 3rd with a British record, seems like a very good effort for your first crack?
He would have run a lot faster with more even splits. 13:4x 5k split is just stupid!
As usual EK gave us a masterclass.
Seemed to have a lot of issues at the Aid stations, seemed very amateurish.
He said in an interview that he got mad at volunteers because they were taking selfies instead of giving him his bottles. Apparently his weren’t laid out correctly.
Also saw that Guye Adola finished in 2:33, prob had a finishing clause for his fee.
Put Farah into a race without a suicidal start and he keeps up with Kipchoge for much longer. Give him two more years and some more marathon experience and in a tactical championship style race he is right there contending for the win. Tokyo 2020 could make him the running goat.
Today was such an insane start that it was basically about who dies less. Farah impressed me very much with that. He had the guts to go out with the big boys and didn’t fall apart until very late.
Farah 3rd with a British record, seems like a very good effort for your first crack?
That’s a dope performance from Mo.
I’m not really too sure how to feel about this race! Unbelievably, it feels like Kipchoge has executed a perfect smash-and-grab!
As rumoured, the leaders blitzed the start, crossing the halfway mark bang-on 61:00. I think most people agree that this suicidal pace was at the request of Kipchoge and as the rest of the field started imploding in the second half he just kept tapping along and almost eased it home for the win! At the end of the day he ran basically the same time he has for every other competitive marathon he’s run, just in more spectacular fashion.
This sounds a bit critical, but in hindsight, watching the outcome of the women’s race its hard not to feel that if the rest of the field hadn’t let pride get the better of them and play along with Kipchoge’s game then they would have had a much better shot at the win.
It seems like a perfect EK tactical assault on the entire field, which has to be commended in itself, but for some reason leaves me feeling a bit disappointed!
As for Mo, it goes without saying that his aid stations were a complete clusterf***; it must be hard to keep your shit together when you’re running the wrong way down the course to get your bottle! For him to finish in the time and position that he did was impressive; seeing him dig that deep in the last 5 miles after sticking with that suicidal start was great to watch. It’s still hard to say how fast he could be though…
Yeah, but I guess even Kipchoge didn’t intend to run the first 5k in 13:48.
Perhaps, but the more I look at it the more it looks like a tactical masterclass.
I reckon he wanted to avoid a dramatic finish like he had with Adola in Berlin last year and prevent the field from ganging up on him and the easiest way to do that was just to gun it from the start and prevent any attacks.
It reminds me of watching the Team Sky train in the Alps, neutralising the race with sheer pace!
Bekele spoke something along the lines of this as well. Saying he wanted to go out in 61:30 but EK gets to decide and they would not give him a second pace group. Honestly it’s just gonna be the same story in Berlin. If Kipchoge really wants the record he needs to go out 61:30 and he needs better conditions.
Tough for the rest of the field since they know they are screwed if they don’t go with the group and run alone.
Bekele has a few times before dropped back when the pace was hot and then come back later on when everyone was suffering, and he should have done that today. The first 13 miles looked like the old Bekele and I still think he has an amazing performance still in him.
I think Kipchoge is amazing at not slowing down, but knows he is easily outkicked. Especially with Mo and Ken in the field, he doesn’t want to be near them by the end so he uses the same tactics as Alistair Browlee and figures If I’m suffering, they’re suffering harder!