Fukuoka - Former WR Holder Patrick Makau wins in 2:08:02

thats some really remarkable stuff from ziggy ser-od. 2:26-->2:14 from 2002 to 2009... to 2:11 in 2012, and now 2:08. wonder if some of our own 2:25 guys will stick with it for another 12 years

Here's an interesting SI link to a 1970's Fukuoka marathon featuring Kenny Moore and Frank Shorter's adventures running in the race.

It's a pretty good read.

http://www.si.com/vault/1972/05/08/613564/concentrate-on-the-chrysanthemums

That's a good article.

Funny about Shorter playing Adidas against Puma 'without mercy' but feeling sympathy for the Onitsuka Tiger rep.

Thanks.

juan_t_reyna wrote:

thats some really remarkable stuff from ziggy ser-od. 2:26-->2:14 from 2002 to 2009... to 2:11 in 2012, and now 2:08. wonder if some of our own 2:25 guys will stick with it for another 12 years

Props to Ser-Od, but can you imagine a US 2:26 runner even thinking about competing in the olympics, much less getting national support. Must be nice to be from a country where no one runs. Respect to Ser-Od though busting your butt to get down from 2:26 to 2:08:high is incredible.

Newsreader wrote:

Here's an interesting SI link to a 1970's Fukuoka marathon featuring Kenny Moore and Frank Shorter's adventures running in the race.

It's a pretty good read.

http://www.si.com/vault/1972/05/08/613564/concentrate-on-the-chrysanthemums

How times have changed:

We marathoners have to go under 2:16 simply to be considered. That time will put a man in the top 20 in the world...

+1 Bat Ochir

Newsreader wrote:

Here's an interesting SI link to a 1970's Fukuoka marathon featuring Kenny Moore and Frank Shorter's adventures running in the race.

It's a pretty good read.

http://www.si.com/vault/1972/05/08/613564/concentrate-on-the-chrysanthemums

Thanks, that was a great read!

Gastronicus wrote:

That's a good article.

Funny about Shorter playing Adidas against Puma 'without mercy' but feeling sympathy for the Onitsuka Tiger rep.

Thanks.

Truth be told , Shorter was always a sleaze when it came to money and playing games. He was a sleaze ball with all the Frank Shorter apparel and his retail group.

We put him a pedestal , if you really know him , well its another story.

Sleaze ball wrote:

Gastronicus wrote:

That's a good article.

Funny about Shorter playing Adidas against Puma 'without mercy' but feeling sympathy for the Onitsuka Tiger rep.

Thanks.

Truth be told , Shorter was always a sleaze when it came to money and playing games. He was a sleaze ball with all the Frank Shorter apparel and his retail group.

We put him a pedestal , if you really know him , well its another story.

Why don't you tell it?

unfortunately, I can second that. shame because he could be regarded like billy rodgers, meb, joanie, etc, but that baggage makes a difference especially to those of us with memories. the younger kids who don't know about it, don't really even know who he is, so he's certainly in some fading light.

must be nice wrote:

juan_t_reyna wrote:

thats some really remarkable stuff from ziggy ser-od. 2:26-->2:14 from 2002 to 2009... to 2:11 in 2012, and now 2:08. wonder if some of our own 2:25 guys will stick with it for another 12 years

Props to Ser-Od, but can you imagine a US 2:26 runner even thinking about competing in the olympics, much less getting national support. Must be nice to be from a country where no one runs. Respect to Ser-Od though busting your butt to get down from 2:26 to 2:08:high is incredible.

It is hard to imagine a US runner doing that. But we have all these threads here about why the US doesn't have sub 2:10 guys and I've always said that a big part of the reason is that it can take years and years to reach your best marathon and mostly our better people give up on the distance if they don't get the results they want in 2-3 tries.

I'm assuming that with 7 PB's in the top-14, it was a good day for relatively fast times.

Former WR-holder Makau, running 'only' 2:08 in a fairly evenly-paced race with a pack he could run in for >50% of the time, probably means he's never touching anything close to the WR again. The better question is, can he win Boston, New York, Chicago, Berlin, London, WC's, Olympics? Does this win put him back in line for big-time appearance fees at those races? Obviously he's not getting a fee to run the Olympics or WC's. Or does he decide to be a headliner on the almost-top-tier marathon circuit? Considering Meb just won Boston, and Makau is known for fighting hard for some of his wins, the answer must be yes, he can win, or runner-up at a WMM race, but probably not London, NY, Berlin, or Chicago (i.e., maybe he could win Boston. Those other fields are just too deep with 2:02-2:05 guys, which Makau doesn't seem to be anymore). He would need a fighter's race that doesn't require sub-2:04 wheels. As for appearance fees, I don't know enough to say what he can demand relative to people like Geoff Mutai, Bekele, the tiny guy from Ethiopia, Kimetto, Kipsang, Meb, etc.

Winning Fukuoka is great for a guy like Makau, don't get me wrong. Surely this will be oft-forgotten, but Makau is a Kenyan hero because his performance reclaimed the men's marathon record from Haile and Ethiopia. He did it in awesome fashion, a man-on-man 'slaying' of Geb en route to the record. All the Kenyan success in the marathon since then (multiple world records, WC's, world-best times and unprecedented elite depth), was spearheaded by Makau's practically and symbolically heroic performance.

I believe I'm correct that Makau comes from a bit different ethnic background and neighborhood from many of the top Kenyan runners. Whomever is his agent could probably try to market this somehow, though Makau's personality is a bit difficult to market. He may have beaten Geb, but at this point he's sure no Geb personality-wise.

Of course, not being able to speak fluent English automatically means you have no personality. Hey, if the winners are usually Kenyans, ever think of having a Swahili interpreter around to get some real in-depth answers for a change? Nah, who really cares what they have to say anyway.

makau update wrote:

Whomever is his agent could probably try to market this somehow, though Makau's personality is a bit difficult to market. He may have beaten Geb, but at this point he's sure no Geb personality-wise.

Hello and thank you for the interest in Patrick Makau.

What we tweeted post-Fukoka at twitter.com/reddirtreport relates to most what you have mentioned in your comment:

#TeamAdidas #boost #FukuokaMarathon (1 of 2) Patrick Makau wins 2014 @FukuokaMarathon in 2:08:22 after conservative racing, as a tactical victory as a confidence booster was the only goal for Patrick Makau today. --- D. (IAC) #athletics #marathon

Many thanks to @FukuokaMaraton, @WataruOgushi for believing in Patrick Makau even before Patrick raced well in 2014 TD Beach to Beacon. -D.

Special thanks to unnamed World Marathon Majors event which negotiated in September & believed in Patrick Makau through ZB and yours truly.

I would love to thank THAT person right now in public, but I can't. Hence, after Patrick Makau's spring #WMM marathon is announced, I will.

#PatrickMakau Few comments: 1) There was ton of pressure on Patrick. He raced well in 2014 TD Beach to Beacon. His interval training in AUG

#PatrickMakau and SEP was better than before 2011 BMW Berlin Marathon and WR. 2) Patrick burned amazing training session on Tuesday before

#PatrickMakau Valencia Half marathon and has got ill on Thursday. If there was no pressure, Patrick would records DNS, but as there was...

#PatrickMakau pressure, Patrick decided to race and we decided not to share info on strong cold he had. 3) Winning today was of extreme...

#PatrickMakau importance to Patrick. Our @BransonZane reports sleepless night and focus on controlling the race with minimal risk. -D. (IAC)

----------------------------------------------

Patrick belongs to Kamba tribe, with most of Kenyan top level athletes being Kalenjin people (with high percentage of medals coming from Nandi, approx. 1 million people). Ross Tucker (Science Of Sport blog) published good breakdown of Kenyan medals - Nandi / non-Nandi.

In addition to Patrick Makau, names (Kamba) fans of sport would recognize are Patrick Ivuti and Jimmy Muindi.

Recent tribal issues in Kenya don't warrant any work on tribal level when it comes to athletics or sport in general. Also, Patrick was never interested in this approach, as he sees himself as proudly Kenyan.

Example of work done with Patrick:

Running tips by Patrick Makau – Rest & recovery

http://vimeo.com/102131796

Running tips by Patrick Makau – Long Run

http://vimeo.com/102130707

Running tips by Patrick Makau – Interval training

http://vimeo.com/102130706

Running tips by Patrick Makau – Racing responsibly

http://vimeo.com/102130708

IAAF - Work, rest, play – Patrick Makau

http://www.iaaf.org/news/feature/patrick-makau-marathon-athletics-work-rest-pl

UNEP Goodwill Ambassador - Clean Air Patron

adidas, geo-market activation - adidas Russia (March 2014)

adidas, global use of photo / video

Thanks for sharing! Didn't know about Patrick being Kamba.

I could post another pullup video with Rich Froning and it would probably get double the views than any of that running by Makau nonsense.

Ok, honest question. Should I post a Rich Froning pullup video? I will need 3 "yes please XFit Guy" before I post.

Waiting...

Xfit_guy_the_real_1 wrote:

I could post another pullup video with Rich Froning and it would probably get double the views than any of that running by Makau nonsense.

Ok, honest question. Should I post a Rich Froning pullup video? I will need 3 "yes please XFit Guy" before I post.

Waiting...

You are so 2014...

makau update wrote:

Makau is a Kenyan hero because his performance reclaimed the men's marathon record from Haile and Ethiopia. He did it in awesome fashion, a man-on-man 'slaying' of Geb en route to the record. All the Kenyan success in the marathon since then (multiple world records, WC's, world-best times and unprecedented elite depth), was spearheaded by Makau's practically and symbolically heroic performance.

No, Makau followed in the wake of Samuel Wanjiru's gold medal in Beijing. That was the run that launched the modern era of Kenyan marathoning and all its success, Makau's WR included.

Yes please XFitGuy