Valencia Marathon dunks on NYC, Boston and Chicago Marathons: Reigning NYC, Boston and Chicago champs commit to Valencia

Two dudes—one of whom won NYC two years ago and is returning from a stress fracture, while the other competed in the Olympic marathon only two months ago (opting for Valencia gives him practically double the time between 26.2 mile races).

My question is how much is Valencia paying you, rojo?

That men's field is excellent, only London has better this season. But... NYC has Bekele and Kandie. You don't know which Bekele will turn up, and Kandie is debuting, but those two are both more interesting storylines than anything at Valencia so far. I suppose I'm interested in Kamworor's fitness, to see if he can run sub-2:03 on a what is a fast course.

The women's field in Valencia could use some sub-2:20 runners. I'm sure some could double-back from London. There's a lack of star power in the field at the moment.

And yes, Valencia is a major. It has consistently had deeper fields than anywhere except London.

Rahima Tusa for the win in valencia....

Also nyc the elite coordinator is a piece of trash

Valencia is NOT yet a major, neither was Dubai, even when Gebre ran it... You can't become a major in only a few years because you invest a lot of money on a flat race.

It may not be a major but it is deeper than the majors. Which for us on this board is far more relevant as runners.

Last time it was run as a mass race (2019), 100th place ran a 2:23:23. Over a minute quicker than the Berlin just gone, way quicker than London, Chicago 2019 was 2:26:05 and so on.

Perfect course, perfect conditions, don't have to pack much of the training block into the summer heat, etc etc. Great event for the masses and seems like it may be twisting towards the elites as well. Although we'll have to wait until a 'normal' schedule to see how that pans out.

Why is it shocking that Cherono wanted a little more recovery time following the Olympics? Stop it with the click-bait. Just get us hyped for what should be a very good race.

Excited to see what Kamworor can do after his accident. He's been the HM GOAT for so long and it sucks that his record got blown away by the carbon shoes while he was in rehab.

lol you can hear from him directly on the recent Ali on the Run podcast episode and learn all about his work

rojo wrote:

The Valencia elite field came out today and it includes on the men's side the reigning NYC, Boston and Chicago champions. It's unusual for a marathon champ to not defend their crown but that's happening this year as reigning Boston/Chicago champ Lawrence Cherono and reigning NYC champ Geoffrey Kamworor are in the Valencia field.

...

If the money is similar, why go through such long/arduous travel thru many time zones, during a pandemic, for a so called major race when Spain is relatively close to their training areas?

Only a blind man can deny that Valencia becomes an ever stronger marathon year after year. That city first surpassed the largest spanish marathons, Madrid and Barcelona, and now is beating the Majors. Someone at that event has a growth plan that exceeds each year the previous year. There is a strong elite leaderboard, but behind many groups of the highest level, not only African runners, and it cares the mass race very well, it's a complete race. And the Half Marathon, what to say, amazing. Total fan of Valencia, I'm sorry.

Valencia is basically a Major to me. If this is a zero-sum game then Chicago should step up its elite fields considerably or potentially lose their status.

If everyone turns up healthy and pretty much uninjured (I'm assuming Kamworor wouldn't run a marathon off of an unhealed stress fracture) then this could be one heck of a marathon. The times won't be as fast as last year, but it will be the fastest major marathon of the year, winning time wise. Here are my predictions:

Lawrence Cherono 2:03:53

Amos Kipruto 2:04:47

Geoffrey Kamworor 2:04:52

Mule Wasihun 2:05:01

Kinde Atanaw 2:06:34

Gabriel Geay 2:06:39

Andamlak Belihu 2:06:54 (debut)

Getaneh Molla 2:06:56

Tsegaye Mekonnen 2:08:23

marathoning this year fina suc wrote:

If everyone turns up healthy and pretty much uninjured (I'm assuming Kamworor wouldn't run a marathon off of an unhealed stress fracture) then this could be one heck of a marathon. The times won't be as fast as last year, but it will be the fastest major marathon of the year, winning time wise. Here are my predictions:

Lawrence Cherono 2:03:53

Amos Kipruto 2:04:47

Geoffrey Kamworor 2:04:52

Mule Wasihun 2:05:01

Kinde Atanaw 2:06:34

Gabriel Geay 2:06:39

Andamlak Belihu 2:06:54 (debut)

Getaneh Molla 2:06:56

Tsegaye Mekonnen 2:08:23

I think Kamworor runs faster than that. 2:06 with old shoes at NYC compared to a fast course with carbons? Of course the injury will be a mystery but I don't think he's done a marathon on a fast course since Berlin in 2014 and that was already a 2:06 during 10k training

Valencia is now the best marathon, better than any of the 'majors'. It has the fastest course, deepest field and is best organised.

LRC should do a deep dive into Valencia and how it is suddenly the world's hottest city for running. Valencia half is super deep too (https://www.valenciaciudaddelrunning.com/en/valencia-half-marathon-announces-its-international-elite-aiming-to-achieve-new-records/) and of course they organized Cheptegai and Gidey's track records. How did this come about?

big daddy wrote:

LRC should do a deep dive into Valencia and how it is suddenly the world's hottest city for running. Valencia half is super deep too (

https://www.valenciaciudaddelrunning.com/en/valencia-half-marathon-announces-its-international-elite-aiming-to-achieve-new-records/

) and of course they organized Cheptegai and Gidey's track records. How did this come about?

Agreed

High hopes wrote:

That men's field is excellent, only London has better this season. But... NYC has Bekele and Kandie. You don't know which Bekele will turn up, and Kandie is debuting, but those two are both more interesting storylines than anything at Valencia so far. I suppose I'm interested in Kamworor's fitness, to see if he can run sub-2:03 on a what is a fast course.

The women's field in Valencia could use some sub-2:20 runners. I'm sure some could double-back from London. There's a lack of star power in the field at the moment.

And yes, Valencia is a major. It has consistently had deeper fields than anywhere except London.

women's field: will Bornes Kitur back up in 6 weeks after her third last weekend?

Stress fracture should be healed in 6-8 weeks max, prob 6 for someone with good health and rehab programme. As for Kamworor’s time, I think 2:04 mid to high is realistic. But I’d love to see him beast it