Following Breaking2...other novelty racing ideas for Nike to consider, from most to least likely:
1. Kenya vs. Ethiopia On the Roads
7-man teams from each country are formed to settle this great rivalry over the marathon distance. I could see this being a team-scored marathon or an Ekiden style road relay, but the marathon would be cool. The problem for Nike is that this would be way less interesting limited only to Nike runners, since many of these top runners are Adidas-sponsored.
2. One of those mud and obstacle course races -- elite edition.
During XC season, have the elites run the long course distance (12k) on a course with stretches of heavy mud and obstacles (nothing too outrageous, maybe some hurdling, rope swings, a bit of light climbing). Would slightly bigger runners like Ben True do better, or maybe the steeplechasers would excel? It would be tough to incentivize this due to higher risk of injury for the participating runners. But with Nike $$$, anything is possible. And it would be amusing to see skinny elite distance runners facing off in these conditions.
3. Return to Monza: Last Man Standing Edition (Green Line of Pain).
Nike returns to Monza, and this time opens the field to at least a dozen of the world's top marathoners. This time there are no pacers except for the car and the green laser line. The green line goes out at Sub 2 pace. If you drift a certain distance from the green line, you're ejected from the race (volunteers like Derrick and Bumbalough run onto the track to escort you away). Last man standing wins, and, if that happens before 26.2, they still win.
4. Doping2.
Okay, Nike wouldn't sponsor this. You'd need a 'bad boy' sponser (cycling fans might think back to the ill-fated 'Rock Racing' team). Retired dopers and those currently serving suspensions would be allowed entry to the race, with PEDs permitted under medical supervision. The goal is sub 2. Perhaps some runners might even accept a two year ban if the 'bad boy' sponsor can make it worth their while financially.
(5). Or we could just continue with great, competitive regular marathon racing with good coverage, like today's Amsterdam marathon. But does it sell shoes?
Following Breaking2: other novelty races for Nike to consider
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I like number 1, but what if a variation of it became "Nike vs adidas"? Or include all other teams/brands as long as they supply a 7-man team.
Interesting thread! :) -
For sure, Nike vs. Adidas over a team-scored marathon would be a great variation, actually, and then you could get funding from both.
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organic crunchy peanut butter wrote:
1. Kenya vs. Ethiopia On the Roads
Is the fact that Kenya has more depth than Ethiopia really in dispute? -
Coed relays? Pro-Am events?
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I would not dispute that Kenya has more depth in the marathon and would probably be the favorite in this concept race, but I think that with teams limited to 7 each, Ethiopia could field a strong team and it would be a good race.
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Karl Hungus wrote:
Coed relays? Pro-Am events?
Good potential.
Coed relays would be a nice twist on the usual 'equalizer races', but I really like the Pro-Am idea, and you could do relays there as well. I imagine you'd have to have quite an entry lottery to decide who gets to hand off to the likes of Kipchoge... -
Do you actually think #4 isn't happening in every race currently?
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Honestly, these are all great ideas but I have to say I like #5 the best. Other than another Breaking2 attempt in a couple of years, or maybe never again, I can't think of any other huge barriers at any distance to break. Good, competitive racing is my favorite version. Not to sell shoes, but just for the good of the sport. In a world so commercialized, distance running should try to stay away from that as much as possible.
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Rod munch wrote:
Do you actually think #4 isn't happening in every race currently?
Especially for sub2, there was zero testing and the runners knew this heading in -
A Nike vs. all other brands ekiden relay in New York City!!!!!! That would be epic!
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I've long wondered why a large company, let's say Nike for eg, doesn't pony up a lot of money and host an elite invitational marathon to say, 100 runners on a course like Monza. The purse would be large, no pacers, but primes for being the first to hit certain splits, provisional on a) finishing the race and b) finishing it under a given time - and bonuses for finishing under 2:10 in progressively smaller increments, from 90 seconds (2:10, 2:08:30), down to 15 seconds, and ultimately under the WR, 2:01, Kipchoge's 2:00:25, and 2:00:00. This would be open to athletes of all shoe sponsors.
I would think that this whole production would still cost less than the entire Breaking 2 project, and be far better PR for the company. If say, Nike, were to put on actual races like this or one of the OP's suggestions that seem to show an actual interest in the sport and could be a wonderful spectating experience, I'd certainly be far more inclined to buy a pair of Nikes than I was before, during, and after Breaking2. -
David Rudisha's 800-meter world record in an unpaced Olympic final was such a travesty. World records are for Diamond League events choreographed with professional pacers, not old-fashioned Olympic races. Couldn't Nike put together a few 6-man teams of 200-meter pacers, along with a pace vehicle with a really big digital clock mounted on the back as an additional windbreak, to get Rudisha or some other Nike runner under 1:40.00? They could call it the "Nike Sub-100 Project," and a whole new generation of runners could be given the opportunity to purchase the very same middle-distance spikes that broke the barrier.
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The women's sub 2:15 attempt... Women are close to it than men going sub 2 in a race
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Really none of these would fly with Nike or any other single sponsor because what if a non-Nike runner/team won? Then Nike would be footing the bill to publicize (and this is all Monza was) the competing brand. Nice to speculate but never gonna happen in reality.
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San Diego hobby jogger wrote:
The women's sub 2:15 attempt... Women are close to it than men going sub 2 in a race
Not true. Unless you plan to resurrect Radcliff. -
Les wrote:
Really none of these would fly with Nike or any other single sponsor because what if a non-Nike runner/team won? Then Nike would be footing the bill to publicize (and this is all Monza was) the competing brand. Nice to speculate but never gonna happen in reality.
They could do this at a world's or Olympics. You don't have complete control of the weather or the participants, but no reason an Olympics in Japan couldn't have a race on a car track outside of Tokyo.
I just realized the next two Olympics are both in missile range of North Korea... -
How about:
Breaking 2:09
Galen Rupp could be supported with groundbreaking shoes, flanked by a dozen pacemakers who are rotated in every lap of the sheltered 400 meter track outside Nike HQ in Beaverton, and a lead golf cart with a 15-foot-high windbreak with an image of Chris Solinsky's backside would lead, in order to set the correct, and scorching 2:08.59 pace.
Rupp's massive effort at cracking this mythical barrier could be live-streamed on Twitch. -
organic crunchy peanut butter wrote:
Following Breaking2...other novelty racing ideas for Nike to consider, from most to least likely:
1. Kenya vs. Ethiopia On the Roads
7-man teams from each country are formed to settle this great rivalry over the marathon distance. I could see this being a team-scored marathon or an Ekiden style road relay, but the marathon would be cool. The problem for Nike is that this would be way less interesting limited only to Nike runners, since many of these top runners are Adidas-sponsored.
2. One of those mud and obstacle course races -- elite edition.
During XC season, have the elites run the long course distance (12k) on a course with stretches of heavy mud and obstacles (nothing too outrageous, maybe some hurdling, rope swings, a bit of light climbing). Would slightly bigger runners like Ben True do better, or maybe the steeplechasers would excel? It would be tough to incentivize this due to higher risk of injury for the participating runners. But with Nike $$$, anything is possible. And it would be amusing to see skinny elite distance runners facing off in these conditions.
3. Return to Monza: Last Man Standing Edition (Green Line of Pain).
Nike returns to Monza, and this time opens the field to at least a dozen of the world's top marathoners. This time there are no pacers except for the car and the green laser line. The green line goes out at Sub 2 pace. If you drift a certain distance from the green line, you're ejected from the race (volunteers like Derrick and Bumbalough run onto the track to escort you away). Last man standing wins, and, if that happens before 26.2, they still win.
4. Doping2.
Okay, Nike wouldn't sponsor this. You'd need a 'bad boy' sponser (cycling fans might think back to the ill-fated 'Rock Racing' team). Retired dopers and those currently serving suspensions would be allowed entry to the race, with PEDs permitted under medical supervision. The goal is sub 2. Perhaps some runners might even accept a two year ban if the 'bad boy' sponsor can make it worth their while financially.
(5). Or we could just continue with great, competitive regular marathon racing with good coverage, like today's Amsterdam marathon. But does it sell shoes?
The standard suspension is no longer 2 years, it’s 4. Any runner interested will need the equivalent of 4 years worth of $$$ to participate, so scratch that one off. -
Beautiful Day wrote:
How about:
Breaking 2:09
Galen Rupp could be supported with groundbreaking shoes, flanked by a dozen pacemakers who are rotated in every lap of the sheltered 400 meter track outside Nike HQ in Beaverton, and a lead golf cart with a 15-foot-high windbreak with an image of Chris Solinsky's backside would lead, in order to set the correct, and scorching 2:08.59 pace.
Rupp's massive effort at cracking this mythical barrier could be live-streamed on Twitch.
Rupp would DEFINITELY break 2 under those conditions. When you convert what he ran in Chicago based on the difference between him and Bekele at the Olympics and Kirui on other courses and factor in Rupp's closing speed and ideal weather conditions because Rupp is a hot-weather runner and adjust his Boston time because he had been injured and couldn't prepare fully, Rupp could easily cut 30 seconds off Kipchoge's Breaking2 time.
