Wanjiru and Merga's Epic battles

I uploaded private copies a while back:

Part 1:

https://youtu.be/RPXvlTaqNZk

Part 2:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wGhwemiH50U

My favorite race.

Gotta love how Makau was unsigned at that point... adidas then paid $150k/year before his Marathon WR.

Deriba merga had BALLS. He'd always go with the leaders or lead races at a suicidal pace.

Oh Please wrote:

My favorite race.

Much appreciated. Cram and Foster made to eat humble pie.

runnerdave wrote:

It could be argued that the 2008 Beijing Olympic Men's Marathon changed that way the marathons are run today.

What did it change?

My god, Wanjiru was such a beast. He changed the half marathon and marathon distance in two major ways:

1. He made it cool for young guys to skip the track and go straight to the roads. Proved that you didn't need years of 5k/10k experience before you moved up to the marathon.

2. In any race, especially without pacers, he ran hard from the gun, without fear, and challenged anyone to beat him. He proved that the half marathon and marathon could be won in this fashion, for those who dare.

Still #2 all time on the half marathon list and the junior world record holder in the 10k and half marathon. Would love to see all these sub-59 guys that have cropped up in the past couple years to take a crack at the half marathon world record.

skeptical skeet wrote:

runnerdave wrote:

It could be argued that the 2008 Beijing Olympic Men's Marathon changed that way the marathons are run today.

What did it change?

First, THANKS for posting this.

Remember that this was 2008. If you watch at least the first video, the announcers are constantly pointing out that what Wanjiru, Merga and the others were doing was unprecedented and, in their words, "foolish." They blew the race apart in the first 5K and many notables, like Ryan Hall, were never in contention at all.

This was a flat-out race from the start - that nobody expected. In years since, with time trials races like London and Berlin, this is more expected, but in the conditions in 2008 Beijing, people thought it was crazy.

Oh, and during the Beijing Olympic marathon, the world record was Geb's 2:04:26. That would be 1:02:13 for the half pace, and they went through the halfway point at 1:02:34, only 21 seconds off the world record pace. In 80 degrees without pacers. Actually, Geb went through the halfway point at 1:02:29, so they were only 5 seconds off the world record pace.

Yea yea yea, the second half was run in 1:04, but what balls to go out in world record pace in the heat of summer without pacers. Absolutely nuts.

This absolutely changed the way the marathon was run. I remember watching this and being absolutely stunned at the pace.

vivalarepublica wrote:

Oh, and during the Beijing Olympic marathon, the world record was Geb's 2:04:26. That would be 1:02:13 for the half pace, and they went through the halfway point at 1:02:34, only 21 seconds off the world record pace. In 80 degrees without pacers. Actually, Geb went through the halfway point at 1:02:29, so they were only 5 seconds off the world record pace.

Yea yea yea, the second half was run in 1:04, but what balls to go out in world record pace in the heat of summer without pacers. Absolutely nuts.

Well, speaking of balls (ahem), if people has 5 minutes to watch this battle between Wanjiru and Kebebe in Chicago - commentator Tony Reavis is losing his voice, but when Wanjiru makes his final move, Tony blurts out "look at the balls on that guy!" The surging in the last mile is crazy.

..oops

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZJ3s9HRaDJ0

What does Merga do in life now that his career is over? What do most east African high profile athletes do when they finish their competitive careers?

I'm talking guys who have been top 3 in WMM's, run times that are in the top 10 in the respective year they ran them, made national teams if Kenyan or Ethiopian or won international medals.

Professor Chaos wrote:

What does Merga do in life now that his career is over? What do most east African high profile athletes do when they finish their competitive careers?

I'm talking guys who have been top 3 in WMM's, run times that are in the top 10 in the respective year they ran them, made national teams if Kenyan or Ethiopian or won international medals.

You should ask him, I looked him up on facebook, he's not that hard to find.

"...the balls..." I get fired up every time I watch the end of the Chicago race. RIP Sammy.

Wanjiru was a total beast and we know his story well. Merga did not get nearly enough credit for his running style. He went for the win and hit the wall on many occasions, but how many guys truly go for the win the way Merga did so regularly? It's interesting to note that Kebede became a bit of a rival to Wanjiru, but with a totally different approach than Merga. In every way that Merga ran for the win from the start, Kebede ran smart races within his ability. Kebede ran very well for championship-style races. I felt bad that later in his career he had to face the silly Ethiopian qualifying standards that were entirely based on time and not wins, placement, or consistency.

Thanks for posting that to youtube. I know I have it buried on an old external hard drive somewhere, but this is much more convenient at the moment. Always great to watch this race.

And that Chicago finish is epic, too. Definitely a good watch for people that haven't seen it in a while (or ever).

Oh Please wrote:

I uploaded private copies a while back:

Part 1:

https://youtu.be/RPXvlTaqNZk

Part 2:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wGhwemiH50U

My favorite race.

Thanks for that^^^

Such an awesome race and proves sit and kick isn’t the only winning “tactic”

Honest Pace wrote:

Oh Please wrote:

I uploaded private copies a while back:

Part 1:

https://youtu.be/RPXvlTaqNZk

Part 2:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wGhwemiH50U

My favorite race.

Thanks for that^^^

Such an awesome race and proves sit and kick isn’t the only winning “tactic”

Grrrr. So, I noticed that there is no YouTube video of the entire race of the Men's Rio Marathon - where Rupp won the bronze. I uploaded my copy this morning but it was taken down about 4 hours later for Copyright violation. I'm not trying to monetize anything, just want to share with marathon fans.

Any hints about how to get by this? I don't get anything out of this. Why don't the owners of the copyright post the race??