The Rome Marathon is offering a 5000 euro bonus to both the men's and women's winners today if they take off their shoes and socks and run the last 300 m of the race barefoot in honor of the 50th anniversary of Abebe Bikila's Olympic win in 1960. They will also get 20 seconds off their official finish time to compensate for the time lost to taking off their shoes.
so if u are losing in a sprint finish with 350m to go u can quickly rip off your shoes and socks and, as long as you stay close, pick up a victory on paper? Seems odd.
It's very weird.
gopre5k wrote:
so if u are losing in a sprint finish with 350m to go u can quickly rip off your shoes and socks and, as long as you stay close, pick up a victory on paper? Seems odd.
? If you are losing then you are not the winner. As I said, the bonus was for the winner.
The women's race was pretty tight so there was no shoeless finish, but men's winner Siraj Gena of Ethiopia did it and ran 2:08:39 with no shoes or socks over the cobblestones in the last 300 m.
Top three on each side:
Men
1. Siraj Gena (Ethiopia) - 2:08:39
2. Benson Barus (Kenya) - 2:09:00
3. Nixon Machichim (Kenya) - 2:09:08
Women
1. Firehiwot Dado (Ethiopia) - 2:25:28
2. Kebebush Haile (Ethiopia) - 2:25:31
3. Mare Dibaba (Ethiopia) - 2:25:38
Is that 21 second margin of victory with or without the 20 second shoeless bonus?
peternowak wrote:
Is that 21 second margin of victory with or without the 20 second shoeless bonus?
without. check the pictures.
notLupus wrote:
check the pictures.
Link?
How long until someone points to this race and/or the picture of the winner wearing no shoes as evidence that barefooting is the "proper" way to race?
Evidence that barefooting is the "proper" way to race.
I like that fact that all the reports said he did it 'to honour Abebe Bikila.
No he didn't. He did it because he dodgy agent wanted a new kitchen.
It looks like there is a timing mat. Once he tossed his shoes, where did the timing chip go?
If he didn't have a chip, can he count as an official finisher?
The chips were attached to the front bib numbers.
The overall winner is always the first person to cross the finish line. Chip time doesn't matter and shouldn't matter. Chip time is for runners doing 4 hour marathons that start in the back.