2 runners start at opposite sides of a track; the first one to catch the other wins. Who would be best?

You want to see who is toughest -- put 8 of the best in a room all facing each other on a treadmill set at 10MPH and 8% grade and give $100,000 to who stays on the treadmill longest

Kipchoge is NOT the correct answer here. There are many guys right now who can run around 26:40s for 10k and I don't think Kipchoge would be prepared for that. He could maybe run 27:10s, which would mean he'd get caught somewhere around 25-30min into the race.

and yes, I know that not many active runners have run 26:40s but that is due to the lack of opportunity, not a lack of fitness.

reed wrote:

Kipchoge is NOT the correct answer here. There are many guys right now who can run around 26:40s for 10k and I don't think Kipchoge would be prepared for that. He could maybe run 27:10s, which would mean he'd get caught somewhere around 25-30min into the race.

and yes, I know that not many active runners have run 26:40s but that is due to the lack of opportunity, not a lack of fitness.

Rupp, Farah, Cheptegei and Tanui are the only to break 26:50 since 2012 so... who are all these 26:40 guys? And.. why can't they run fast at 5k, 10k or the marathon?

reed wrote:

Kipchoge is NOT the correct answer here. There are many guys right now who can run around 26:40s for 10k and I don't think Kipchoge would be prepared for that. He could maybe run 27:10s, which would mean he'd get caught somewhere around 25-30min into the race.

and yes, I know that not many active runners have run 26:40s but that is due to the lack of opportunity, not a lack of fitness.

Actually, not by my math. So "many guys" could run 10k thirty seconds faster than Kipchoge -- that's not enough to catch him.

You could argue they'd catch him on the 11th or 12th kilometer, but now we're stepping into Half Marathon territory.

I think the obvious answer to this question, therefore, is Kamworor

The problem with this question is you need to define a second fastest person.

For example, no one that runs a shorter distance than Mo Farah would ever beat him. 3:28 in the 1500m and very strong times through 10k. That being said, Mo would, without a doubt, lose to a marathoner with decent track speed, such as Kipchoge.

So then we have Kipchoge as #1. But Kipchoge might lose to a very strong 1500-3000m type with still strong 800 speed. So we have defined Kipchoge as #1, but he might lose to one of these Manangoi / Cheruiyot types, but that might be unlikely... For the sake of the argument, lets say he loses to one of them.

Now we have Kipchoge > Mo Farah > Manangoi/Cheruiyot. Who is the best? If they all counter each other, who would you define as the strongest? Well, Mo might lose to 2-3 other Marathoners in this game. Managoi / Cheruiyot would probably lose to 3-5 5k / 10k guys. And Kipchoge? If he would lose to anyone, it would probably be a stretch to say that there is more than 1 person in the world that could beat him at this.

HOWEVER, I think it might be a stretch to have Managoi or Cheruiyot make up a full 200m on Kipchoge. If they run 3:28 pace, that means Kipchoge would have to run slower than a 3:44 or pretty much die after that. I don't think that would happen—I bet Kipchoge could probably beat anyone in the world at this game currently.

Kipchoge #1

Mo Farah #2

Cheriyot / Managoi / Kamworor #3

Rockstar Games wrote:

The current best distance runner of course, Kipchoge. Good luck trying to put 200m on him before lactic kicks in. It's not like he can't run 58 sec 400m for 4 laps at least and then it's over for whoever is against him.

I agree.

If you put 2 top 10km runners together they're not going to bridge a 400m gap

ukathleticscoach wrote:

Rockstar Games wrote:

The current best distance runner of course, Kipchoge. Good luck trying to put 200m on him before lactic kicks in. It's not like he can't run 58 sec 400m for 4 laps at least and then it's over for whoever is against him.

I agree.

If you put 2 top 10km runners together they're not going to bridge a 400m gap

200m!

eg Bekele Vs Feb they're too close at best

Kipchoge won 5000m gold so they're not doing him by 200m either.

It'd be interesting if you had two 2-man teams competing against each other. Each team could have a 800/1500 gunner and a 10K stamina guy -- you send your gunner out to wear out the other team's 10K guy, and you need your 10K guy to stay just ahead of the other team's gunner (once you're caught, you're out).

Or maybe 3 v 3. In any event, having different speeds in there would make it something other than a 10K race.

reed wrote:

Kipchoge is NOT the correct answer here. There are many guys right now who can run around 26:40s for 10k and I don't think Kipchoge would be prepared for that. He could maybe run 27:10s, which would mean he'd get caught somewhere around 25-30min into the race.

and yes, I know that not many active runners have run 26:40s but that is due to the lack of opportunity, not a lack of fitness.

I normally agree with you but I think this is wrong. You think Kipchoge can't break 27 right now?

Never mind that his Breaking 2 effort is "worth" something like 25:40, the guy has run 3:50 and 12:46. I think he could string together a couple of 13:25s. He's run 4:36 for 26 miles - surely he can still manage 4:19 for 6.2

Bekele Wins, If he starts behind a 2:00 flat marathoner and runs his WR 10K pace, he catches them at 2800m. And if he starts in front the shorter WRs would catch him at points past their race distance:

Bekele 5K catches up at 5200m

Rudisha 800 catches up at 1000m

Ngeny 1000 catches up at 1400m

Hicham ElG Mile catches up at 1800m

And Bekele's 5K is the next closest so Kenenisa Bekele is King.

ricerunner32 wrote:

Bekele Wins, If he starts behind a 2:00 flat marathoner and runs his WR 10K pace, he catches them at 2800m. And if he starts in front the shorter WRs would catch him at points past their race distance:

Bekele 5K catches up at 5200m

Rudisha 800 catches up at 1000m

Ngeny 1000 catches up at 1400m

Hicham ElG Mile catches up at 1800m

And Bekele's 5K is the next closest so Kenenisa Bekele is King.

Even EPO Komen's 2 mile WR wouldn't catch up until 3600m

ricerunner32 wrote:

ricerunner32 wrote:

Bekele Wins, If he starts behind a 2:00 flat marathoner and runs his WR 10K pace, he catches them at 2800m. And if he starts in front the shorter WRs would catch him at points past their race distance:

Bekele 5K catches up at 5200m

Rudisha 800 catches up at 1000m

Ngeny 1000 catches up at 1400m

Hicham ElG Mile catches up at 1800m

And Bekele's 5K is the next closest so Kenenisa Bekele is King.

Even EPO Komen's 2 mile WR wouldn't catch up until 3600m

Are you assuming the 2:00 marathoner is running at 2:00 marathon pace? Because that's a terrible assumption.

Me

Slow Bro wrote:

ricerunner32 wrote:

Even EPO Komen's 2 mile WR wouldn't catch up until 3600m

Are you assuming the 2:00 marathoner is running at 2:00 marathon pace? Because that's a terrible assumption.

100%

There is a different type of strategy involved than normal so I would take somebody like Rupp who is coached by Salazar. He is one of the few coaches that would come up with a strategy that we are not considering and Rupp has the range to carry it out without the competition knowing what he will do.

Like Really Bro wrote:So then we have Kipchoge as #1. But Kipchoge might lose to a very strong 1500-3000m type with still strong 800 speed. So we have defined Kipchoge as #1, but he might lose to one of these Manangoi / Cheruiyot types, but that might be unlikely... For the sake of the argument, lets say he loses to one of them.

The thing is, that's pretty unlikely. If Managoi sets off running 1500 pr pace (3:28) for 4 minutes (which he cannot do), he's gone 1730m. Assuming the infield is clear, Kipchoge will see how much group he's losing to Managoi and respond accordingly. In this case, he only has to run 1531m in 4 minutes to avoid the catch. That's 62.7 sec/lap. In other words, 13:04 5k pace. I don't know if Kipchoge can run 13:04, but he can certainly run 3.8 laps at that pace. After those 4 minutes, Managoi is 100% cooked, meanwhile Kipchoge feels like he's 4 minutes into a 5k.

So, Kipchoge beats any track guy, unless

-Kipchoge is not aware of his opponent's position on the track

-Kipchoge makes a big mistake managing the gap

-Kipchoge has a bad day

A 200m deficit is just too big.

Slow Bro wrote:

ricerunner32 wrote:

Even EPO Komen's 2 mile WR wouldn't catch up until 3600m

Are you assuming the 2:00 marathoner is running at 2:00 marathon pace? Because that's a terrible assumption.

I'm saying that 10K is the best measure according to mathematics and KB has the fastest. If Kipchoge could run a faster 10K than KB then he would have done it. I am saying that Kipchoge could never catch KB from behind over 10K, but Bekele could catch Kipchoge.

I say 10K is the best because if they both ran at 5K pace they would not see each other until 16K meaning that going 5K pace or faster is not a viable option, the distance where their paces meet is just under 10.4 K meaning that if both were to run evenly in this contrived event 10K would be the most reasonable estimate.

This is because EK's 10K PR is 26:49 or 32.18 secs per 200

KB's 10K pr is of course 26:17 or 31.55 secs per 200.

This means that if KB starts 200m behind EK, he will pass him at 10.4 K

This means that it'll come down to whether EK can hold off KB for 10.5 K, I would give the edge to the WR holder KB.

Killian Jornet

End of the thread

If you moved the gap to 400m, then Eliud Kipchoge has it. Nobody is catching him.