Boston had weather, drama, surges, upsets. Yuki was a stunner. Insane finish.
London is flat and choreographed, pacemakers, tons of "random" dodgy East Africans. Fast times run by zero-personality athletes. Snooze. Can't believe people in the U.S. wake up at 3 or whatever to watch this.
You mad, bro?
Phantasy Star wrote:
Boston had weather, drama, surges, upsets. Yuki was a stunner. Insane finish.
London is flat and choreographed, pacemakers, tons of "random" dodgy East Africans. Fast times run by zero-personality athletes. Snooze. Can't believe people in the U.S. wake up at 3 or whatever to watch this.
For all the crap that people on LR give "gimmick races" like Tough Mudders, Obstacle Races, Warrior Dashes, etc., they are shockingly excited about a marathon that was effectively an extended "gimmick race". Toss all the runners out in the middle of a storm and see what happens. Pretty much along the lines of making them run in a mud pit or crawl under a set of barbed wires every few hundred meters.
If you ACTUALLY think this way, the aforementioned gimmicks are MUCH more exciting.
I agree.
Boston was the more interesting race this year.
2019 could be different but we won't be certain until then.
There are no standard conditions for a road-race marathon--that is, you can't point to a set of conditions and say that it is any better or worse in which to hold a race. All competitors are subject to the same conditions.
True that a given athlete may perform best in particular conditions, but there are lots of different athletes.
I personally have an incredible tolerance for heat. I actually prefer super hot and humid to anything else, as long as I have water, and depending on race length. Kawauchi seems the opposite. Conditions aren't relevant to assessing the quality of a marathon race, even if, say, 50% of competitors withdraw. Withdrawal is a choice made by athletes, and is just one choice among many choices that take place throughout a thon, the overall total of which describes the fabric of the race.
It is not equivalent to something like a mudder...nor is it equivalent to a race run on a track. It is somewhere in-between.
no filter wrote:
I agree.
Boston was the more interesting race this year.
2019 could be different but we won't be certain until then.
+1, for all sorts of reasons.
With ideal conditions, Boston would have been a snoozer as well. As it was, Yuki + Desi + sh!tty weather = Perfect Storm
I agree. And I hate to agree with the brojos but this is on the London marathon organizers. The pace was stupid and lead to a usps/sky type race (except for the epo) - fast pace, lesser guys try to keep up and eventually fall off leaving the only man standing to win. Don’t get me wrong, kipchoge is a beast, a beastly beast and he won fair and square - it’s not his fault the pacers went at out 61.
If they went out at 62, it would have been much more exciting, maybe guys would have had enough in the tank to actually try to make a break in the second half. Kipchoge still probably wins, but a more exciting race to watch