Official 2013 Dubai Marathon Discussion Thread - Race is tonight at 10pm - Live and Free!!

Come on Mayne wrote:

Raptured wrote:

Times seem a little ridiculous again, btw... 5 guys under 2:05? 3 in their debut, one a 2:08:51 guy (with a 13.1 PR of 1:01:25 and a 5000 of 14:09), and the last a guy who has never gone faster than 2:06:41 on any course other than Dubai (but has now run 2:05:10 and 2:04:49 at Dubai). Just seems too fast IMO. I'd believe 5 sub-2:05s if we had someone in there with the credentials to accomplish that, but the only guys on paper with the chance of doing so seemed to be the debutantes.

For what it's worth the course is super flat with virtually no turns. If any place were to have times that seemed unattainable, Dubai would pop into mind after watching that race.

Oh come on... Massive hair-pin turn has to hurt, temps are a little higher than ideal, and the humidity was insane. Typical Berlin is definitely more suitable for super fast times if the courses are the exact same distance.

Wino Hobo wrote:

I personally don't doubt the Dubai course and give full credit to today's five 2:05 runners. Having 20-25 top racers to run with for so far into the course, and the prize of $200,000 plus course record bonuses combine to give quite an incentive to push to the limit.

On the other hand, I was surprised by the relatively small number of pacemakers compared to other top marathons.

I wonder how a healthy Mosop and Lel would have affected the times today. We'll never know, but that would have been something to see. As it is, this group of five have much to look forward to on the world marathon scene, and I'm looking forward to seeing them on other courses against more well-known names.

Well, if 2:08 high anywhere else leads to 2:04 high here, I guess we would've seen Mosop at close to 2-flat and Lel not far behind. :P

Raptured wrote:

Oh come on... Massive hair-pin turn has to hurt, temps are a little higher than ideal, and the humidity was insane. Typical Berlin is definitely more suitable for super fast times if the courses are the exact same distance.

BS.

ONE TURN in the whole race is not going to make much of a difference, and regardless of what the announcer said for drama it was NOT a "hair-pin" turn. Houston has a hair-pin turn. Very different. This was hardly tighter than an indoor track.

On the other hand, Dubai has essentially ZERO other turns, making a huge difference. If you watched this race and don't think Dubai is faster than Berlin, you have no idea about running tangents and how badly runners do it.

Fastest course on earth. Easily.

rupp-certified saladbar wrote:

Raptured wrote:

Oh come on... Massive hair-pin turn has to hurt, temps are a little higher than ideal, and the humidity was insane. Typical Berlin is definitely more suitable for super fast times if the courses are the exact same distance.

BS.

ONE TURN in the whole race is not going to make much of a difference, and regardless of what the announcer said for drama it was NOT a "hair-pin" turn. Houston has a hair-pin turn. Very different. This was hardly tighter than an indoor track.

On the other hand, Dubai has essentially ZERO other turns, making a huge difference. If you watched this race and don't think Dubai is faster than Berlin, you have no idea about running tangents and how badly runners do it.

Fastest course on earth. Easily.

Ok, fair, that probably was only worth about 2 seconds for the lead pack given that here were enough of them up there to keep the pace from falling off, but what about the temperature and humidity? Temp of 62 F costs ~20 seconds off an ideal performance for an elite just right there. Not entirely sure how much humidity would be, but it's not insignificant.

Fair point, and sorry for getting so wound up about this.

I just don't really believe that the course certifiers could mess it up.

You're right, though. Those performances in the temps and humidity they had today are pretty crazy.

You course skeptics are daft. Almost two dozen guys went thru halfway in 1:02:40-ish. If that isn't a set-up for five of them to run under 2:05:00, what is? It's a flat course and you should all be aware by now that while 60 degrees isn't ideal, that "warmth" simply doesn't affect East Africans to the extent it does others. Everything else was perfect for running fast. Would it really have been a shock to see the top five times 45 to 60 seconds faster had it been 45 degrees Fahrenheit?

if everybody thinks the course is short, why not have a bunch of americans who are trying to get the olympic marathon trials standard of 2:18.00, the trials qualifying window will be open in august so the next couple of years, would be good to go for it.

No info about ladies ?

It's too bad that all these newcomers won't get the proper attention that a 2:04 should deserve, but doggone if I even recognize all the new youngsters coming out. You pretty much have to run 2:04 again and again before you would even get on the radar todays. I am now properly spoiled to as not get excited anymore until someone runs a 2:02.

douglas burke wrote:

if everybody thinks the course is short, why not have a bunch of americans who are trying to get the olympic marathon trials standard of 2:18.00, the trials qualifying window will be open in august so the next couple of years, would be good to go for it.

Hah, well, I'm not fast enough myself... Looking to break within 1 min/mile of that 2:18 standard in 5 weeks. Haha... But seriously, Dubai has had a lot of really really ridiculous PRs by everyone up front and not a single guy from last year has had a run of similar calibre on any other course since then. If that isn't solid evidence, I don't know what is. Also, they clearly were not accurate with all of their KM splits, so why is it so hard to believe that the total could be off. Look at 39 and 40 for example... Sure, they average out to a believable pace compared to everything else, but that sort of sloppiness lends credibility to the possibility of a short course.

Kevin girl wrote:

No info about ladies ?

0/10. Paula is still the best, whether or not you will admit it. Btw, you hate women with pacemakers, right? Lead chick had a guy pacing her...

That was a great race to watch; a fast time with a sprint finish is the best combination.

Why couldn't the Ethiopians do this well at the marathon for the Olympics?

That was quite an amazing finish, and I missed it.

Does anyone have the women's results?

J.R.> Does anyone have the women's results?

Top 20 men and top 10 women listed here:

http://www.letsrun.com/news/2013/01/ethiopias-lelisa-desisa-wins-2013-standard-chartered-dubai-marathon-in-20445-as-a-record-5-men-break-205/

Unofficial Top 10 Women’s Results

place startno. lastname Club Team ac Est.Finish diff time

1 1 Tsegaye Beyene, Tirfi (ETH) WH - +00:00 02:23:23

2 11 Kiros Reda, Ehitu (ETH) WH - +00:16 02:23:39

3 5 Gobena Gemeda, Amane (ETH) WH - +00:27 02:23:50

4 17 Kiros Abeye, Aheza (ETH) WH - +01:07 02:24:30

5 15 Oljira Jemama, Belaynesh (ETH) WH - +01:38 02:25:01

6 6 Bedasa Ordofa, Shitaye (ETH) WH - +02:24 02:25:47

7 4 Andersson, Issabellah (SWE) WH - +02:42 02:26:05

8 12 Afework Bekele, Abebech (ETH) WH - +03:45 02:27:08

9 10 Naigambo, Beata (NAM) WH - +04:31 02:27:54

10 9 Katsumata, Misaki (JPN) WH - +07:19 02:30:42

Raptured wrote:

Also, they clearly were not accurate with all of their KM splits, so why is it so hard to believe that the total could be off.

Because two independent course measurers don't separately measure and certify every KM. Those markers are there as a courtesy to athletes. Only the total distance is certified (and splits if organizers want to set up for intermediate WRs).

What you're saying is similar to if the NBC splits at 10m, 20m etc in the Olympic 100 turned out to be off. Doesn't matter. The distance itself is what is measured.

As I said above, if you watch any marathon with turns (ALL off them) you will see that the runners unavoidably do extra distance during the race. They would have to turn on perfect right angles not to. Other than the ONE turnaround, Dubai has ZERO turns, just long straights and some VERY gradual curves. So the runners are probably running very little more than 42,195m - less than they are in Berlin, anyway.

Flat isn't all it takes to make a fast course. Dubai is the fastest marathon course on the planet, hands down.

well numbers, michael boating tweeted there wre 47 ethiopians in this race, so lets say there were 30 ethiopian men in the race odds are some will run well, the olympics with only 3 per country just happened all 3 men flopped.

Raptured wrote:

If that isn't solid evidence, I don't know what is.

No, that isn't solid evidence. So yes, you don't know what is.

The Waterboy wrote:

Why couldn't the Ethiopians do this well at the marathon for the Olympics?

Exactly... All of the athletes from Dubai thought they were much better than they actually were. I predicted DNFs or massive blow-ups from all but Gelana Feleke (not at Dubai) at the Olympics, based on my belief that the course in Dubai was short and the Ethiopians would be overconfident after their outrageous times. Guess what happened? All 4 post-Dubai runners DNF'd. If today's times are to be believed, based on temperature and humidity, we just saw 5 of the top 10 performances, of all time, all in one race, and all by 100% unproven marathoners (except Tadese Tola, who has run 2:06-high once on a course other than Dubai, putting today's time at least within the realm of possibility for him).

2-04 age 19 in 5th marathon in 2 years ..is that physically possible CLEAN ?