| guest_7 |
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Its no secret the best distance runners in the world have been the kenyans and ethiopians for 50 years. How long do they have to dominate until their home races are recognized as the prestigious events in the sport? |
| HRE |
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Probably until their home marathons have the sorts of paydays and attract the kinds of fields that the world majors do. |
| Bertrand Russell |
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The world marathon majors also have huge numbers of participants to fund the prize money. You won't get 30,000 joggers to line up in a race anywhere in Kenya or Ethiopia. Also, I don't think those countries could meet the infrastructure requirements for a major race . |
| yagtash |
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one might say that the majors are held in NY, boston, chicago, london, and berlin because those are among the most powerful and important cities in the world (minus boston and chicago), not because anyone claims they are the "home races" for the best runners in the world. it seems boston is a major just because it is so old. it isnt really a big city marathon until the last 10k or so. dont get me wrong, boston is great, it just doesnt seem to fit in the same context as the other majors. it would make sense to have a major in east asia, but AFAIK, there isnt really a big marathon with a long history like we have in berlin (1974), new york (1970), boston (the dark ages), london (1981), and chicago (1977, but more marathons before that back to 1905) *wikipedia |
| jksnckjw |
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Fukuoka since 1947? |
| dontflushwhileyousit |
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You do know that Kenyan and Ethiopian are not races, correct? Therefore, not having a world marathon major for them is not racist. |
| The MonBRO Doctrine |
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Where would big city marathons be in Kenya or Ethiopia? Nairobi and Addis? Both have subtropical highland climates and are at fairly high elevation, which would make either location not exactly ideal for marathons, whereas the "World Marathon Major" series are all close to sea level, usually cool at the time of the race and mostly flat (except for Boston, which is net downhill). Who cares about the "World Marathon Major" series anyway? It's just a marketing tool for a bunch of banks. There are plenty of other big, fast, prestigious marathons around, such as Rotterdam, Fukuoka and Tokyo. Anyway, there are marathons in both Addis and Nairobi. If the big time studs want to run them no one is stopping them. |
| well |
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Chicago and Boston aren't among the most powerful and important cities in the world? 2012 Global Cities Index: 1. NYC 2. London 7. Chicago 15. Boston 20. Berlin 2012 Global City Competitiveness Index: 1. NYC 2. London 9. Chicago 10. Boston 31. Berlin 2011 Global Power City Index: 1. NYC 2. London 6. Berlin 16. Boston 26. Chicago 2010 Globalization and World Cities Index: NYC: Alpha++, London: Alpha++, Chicago: Alpha+, Boston: Alpha-, Berlin: Beta+ |