Our London preview will go live in a few minutes. We're calling it the greatest men's marathon field ever assembled.
The field in London has all the current Major Marathon (Boston, NY, Chicago, Berlin and London) record holders, including the World Record holder (Makau), and fastest marathoner ever (G Mutai) facing the Olympic champ.
If you think there was a better marathon field ever assembled post it here.
LetsRun.com wrote:
...all the current Major Marathon (Boston, NY, Chicago, Berlin and London) [course] record holders
This is probably the craziest stat I've heard about the London field. Very excited.
I'm rooting for atsede baysa to finish in the top 3. It's possible atsede can run 2:19:30 finish because she pr big 1:07:34 at barcelona half marathon.
Seeing stats like this makes me think that London must pay big appearance fees. Any of these would have won Boston this year by over 2 or 3 minutes without a tailwind. But instead they are all racing each other. And I'm glad they are.
London 2002?
You guys always say "so and so race is the greatest field ever assembled." Maybe true, but it feels overused sometimes.
What about the Tokyo, the new 6th Major? Dennis Kimetto is the course record holder. Is he running?
Mo Farah is getting the equivalent of $587,275 US dollars and he's not even going to finish the race!
having such a competitive field usually misfires leading to a tactical cat'n'mouse game after the pacer drops out
the winner of this race can be called best M runner in world, but it's hard to get a WR - we may "only" get a 2"04+ from the winner
the guy in top form is geoffrey ( sub-59 in dubai )
i'd have just preferred him as main name & let the other guys race other places
if you want a WR, it's usually best to build it around 1 guy & no distractions from guys hanging around him cutting in, slowing him down, speeding up, slowing down - generally messing him about
you coud/shoud leave that race for moscow, not a major
Kimetto is pacing - and apparently supposed to bring them through 30k/20m on 2.03.30 pace, so if he is still there with only 6-7miles to go, you might expect someone to drop the hammer, rather than there being a load of cat and mouse stuff => fast time? course record? WR?
makau doesn't expect wr to go ( as is my fear )from home page
The pacemakers have been instructed to run at 2:03:30 pace until 32 kms, although world record holder Patrick Makau was expecting a tactical race and did not think his mark of 2:03:38, set in Berlin in 2011, would be broken on Sunday.
"I can't talk about the world record," he said solemnly.
"The course is different from the one in Berlin and we have a very big group of athletes which are strong, so I can't say that the world record will be in danger," added Makau
Biggest appearance fees but Kiprotitch says he will still work as a prison warder once he is done with running - yeah sure he will!
EliteWannabe wrote:
What about the Tokyo, the new 6th Major? Dennis Kimetto is the course record holder. Is he running?
Yup.
For me as an American, it isn't. No Ritz. No Hall. No Meb. No Abdi. No Rupp. Nobody to spice up the huge number of sub-2:05 guys in the field.
stevejobsisdead wrote:
For me as an American, it isn't. No Ritz. No Hall. No Meb. No Abdi. No Rupp. Nobody to spice up the huge number of sub-2:05 guys in the field.
Spice it up? By doing what, finishing 4-5 minutes behind, if they finish at all?
Why no Americans running in London (apart from Rizzo or whatever his name is)....
friction wrote:
Mo Farah is getting the equivalent of $587,275 US dollars and he's not even going to finish the race!
He is a celebrity runner and they are letting him run up front with the real marathoners. The whole show (I'm not going to call it a race) is a farce. No way does this deserve to be called the greatest marathon.
Hey, you can't have the best field in history without Wanjiru!
All those special K guys can't beat his ghost. It's still flying.
Makau doesn't want to see his record broken so I wouldn't take his comments seriously nor would I expect him to take the lead when the pacer drops out.
Dennis Reynolds wrote:
London 2002?
I'll have to look that one up but was that Gebrselassie and Tergat and Khannouchi?
That one might win.
And I think we said last year's women's race was the best ever. We've said something might be the best NYC Marathon ever but I don't think we drop "best marathon field ever" all the time.