Wow. With all of the majors taking place this fall, the majors were expected to be a bit diluted this fall. Don't tell that to London as they are going to destroy the record for most sub-2:05 men in a race (7, previous record 4) as well as sub-2:20 women (8, previous record 7).
Gene Dykes is also looking to beat the WR he set.
No Bekele, No Kipchoge, no party.
The two Ethiopians tomato cans that gave up in Tokyo, Lemma and Kitata are announced.
Amazing quality as ever. The lists show no men with PBs between 2.05.09 and 2.10.51; and one women between 2.21 and 2.28, which suggests what London cares about, and what it seems not to care about. It's lucky that the large majority of Brits are really clued up on the 2.03/04 guys and the sub 2.19 women and so can cheer on their East African faves.
Kieffer? Is she even running now? I stopped following her on IG, so have no idea what she's been up to.
Tete DLO wrote:
Amazing quality as ever. The lists show no men with PBs between 2.05.09 and 2.10.51; and one women between 2.21 and 2.28, which suggests what London cares about, and what it seems not to care about. It's lucky that the large majority of Brits are really clued up on the 2.03/04 guys and the sub 2.19 women and so can cheer on their East African faves.
Need more Euro, American, Canadian, Aussie, Japanese representation. Not necessarily to vie for the win, but to get faster PBs
Nice to see Diver in there
Can the WR fall?
Meh. I would rather see them limit the elite field to 3 Ethiopians and 3 Kenyans max. The amount of pure epo in this field is staggering.
aIIez wrote:
Can the WR fall?
Hang on, I have sorted the Boston field and this is out. My wife is not going to see me for a while. So much to do.
I assume they'll round out the fields with some domestic runners. Great fields up front. Boston has more sub-2:07 & sub-2:08 runners which makes things interesting in a non-pancake flat/non-rabbited race. Boston doesn't really need a ton of 2:02-2:03 marathoners because those runners won't go out in 1:01 solo. They'll have a big pack through halfway and when moves are being made in the Newton hills. London usually has just a handful of runners left in the race by the 25k mark. Not here to say one format is better than the other. I enjoy watching both races.
Can we assume, then (or hope), that Bekele will be doing the Berlin Marathon in September?
juvie wrote:
Need more Euro, American, Canadian, Aussie, Japanese representation. Not necessarily to vie for the win, but to get faster PBs
Nice to see Diver in there
I agree. Slightly hijacking the point of the thread but I doubt if even 500 people in the UK will really have any interest in which of the elite 10 -12 runners , men and women, actually show up and how, athlete by athlete, they perform on the day.
I’m not saying it’s wrong or right but the race org clearly chooses to channel maybe 99% of the elite athlete budget to a tiny number of relatively anonymous runners from 2 nations rather than allocate maybe 10% to get a good and sizeable bunch of the best of the rest of the world – who will probably head to the likes of Valencia. London always says it's the worlds greatest marathon and maybe that doesn't need a bunch of guys going round in 'only' 2.08/09 and women at 2.25. (And I’ll pre-empt the point that it may be shameful race-based blinkers that keeps some from knowing the East African athlete minutiae. But that's how it is currently)
I hope Geremew wins London. He is deserving after giving Kipchoge a hard go in '19.
I was hoping Geremew would win Olympic Gold and was wondering why he didn't even make the team.
flyoverstaterunner wrote:
Kieffer? Is she even running now? I stopped following her on IG, so have no idea what she's been up to.
She won gold in fencing
No Farah. Is he done now then?
Maybe he'll do the Great North Run again instead.
Face Time wrote:
No Bekele, No Kipchoge, no party.
The two Ethiopians tomato cans that gave up in Tokyo, Lemma and Kitata are announced.
I have 7 of my top ranked 13 men and 9 of the best women.
Aussiestatman wrote:
Face Time wrote:
No Bekele, No Kipchoge, no party.
The two Ethiopians tomato cans that gave up in Tokyo, Lemma and Kitata are announced.
I have 7 of my top ranked 13 men and 9 of the best women.
Not impressed if you have the 7th to 13th.
Legese wrote:
Aussiestatman wrote:
I have 7 of my top ranked 13 men and 9 of the best women.
Not impressed if you have the 7th to 13th.
Numbers 4,5,6,8,9,10,12, and 13. So 8 of the 13. You will find out the order starting today when I begin a profile thread.
Aussiestatman wrote:
Legese wrote:
Not impressed if you have the 7th to 13th.
Numbers 4,5,6,8,9,10,12, and 13. So 8 of the 13. You will find out the order starting today when I begin a profile thread.
A clue to who I think can win: has a third and a fourth in majors.
Bekele is confirmed for Berlin (NN running team on Instagram )