Fastest Surge in a Major Marathon?

The fastest I've ever heard of is Hendrik Ramaala doing a 4:21 on the seventeenth mile of NYC in 2005.

Hot damn. That's crazy!

casual commentary wrote:

Hot damn. That's crazy!

I know, right! Paul Tergat hung back and ended up out-kicking him at the end by 1 second.

mutai in new york 2011? 3 miles in 13:35

http://www.letsrun.com/2011/newyork-menrecap-1106.php

Gebremariam ran 14:04 from 25 to 30k in NYC '10. Geoffrey Mutai has the fastest last 2.195k with a 6:05 from Eindhoven '09.

in 2009 boston marathon i think deriba merga had a 4:19 21st mile or something like that. of course that is a huge dowenhill section of the course but he did end up winning so maybe it should count?

All right, we've got:

Ramaala @ 4:21

Merga @ 4:19 downhill but won

G. Mutai @ 4:31 for 3 miles in a row (in the last 10k no less)

I'm starting to think that to be an elite marathoner you really do need sub 4 speed, or close. Otherwise how can 4:20-4:30 not kill you after running almost twenty miles at 4:5X pace?

The fastest I've ever heard of is Hendrik Ramaala doing a 4:21 on the seventeenth mile of NYC in 2005.

^ This is the fastest one I have heard of also. I watched it on TV....that year was also one of the great finishes in history with Paul Tergat and Ramala in a sprint finish and Tegat by a stride with Ramala collapsing at the finish!

All right, we've got:

Ramaala @ 4:21

Merga @ 4:19 downhill but won

G. Mutai @ 4:31 for 3 miles in a row (in the last 10k no less)

I'm starting to think that to be an elite marathoner you really do need sub 4 speed, or close. Otherwise how can 4:20-4:30 not kill you after running almost twenty miles at 4:5X pace?

Excellent Point...these guys have a lot more pure speed than people realize.

Ryan Hall and a few other guys in the field all split 4:23 or something a couple times in London 2008. And this was en route to his 2:06:17 PR. He needs speed like that again.

The splits for the last 12.195K for the top two at Boston last year are ridiculous. Baldini ran that stretch in 35:05 at the 2004 Olympics which seems unimaginable in and of itself and Mutai and Mosop were both significantly faster than that.

Aachener wrote:

http://www.trackandfieldnews.com/images/stories/tfn_pdfs/marathon_splits.pdf

excellent post

Indeed. That chart is pretty much what I was looking for!

Wilson Loyanai holds the record for fastest last 7.195, in 20:23. Who is this guy?

No doubt, to win a major marathon these days, you need sub-4:00 speed. My guess is that if they had raced a mile instead of the marathon on the same day, the average major marathon winner would go 3:55 or so. Faster with mile specific training.

In Dubai this year, Abshero the winner dropped a 2:42km think between 38 - 39km to break away

The trouble is that you can't really compare surges over different distances. No doubt someone somewhere has run a sub-60 400m in a marathon.

sub3over40 wrote:

I'm starting to think that to be an elite marathoner you really do need sub 4 speed, or close.

Starting to think?

Geffrey mutai in la marathon last year 4:02 14th mile