French website reports 2019 World Championship marathon may be cancelled due to hot weather - IAAF denies report

MY GOODNESS! What should we do?!?!

For any number of reasons, the WCs should NEVER have been awarded to Doha. Makes me wonder just how big the incentives/bribes were to get the votes for it to be there....

Night run...

Just run slower.

This is exactly like NASCAR racing when it rains. "The best drivers in the world," and they can't go around corners if it's wet. Just put windshield wipers on the cars, and rain tires (like F1 has figured out).

Digressing, but run the marathon primarily in the dark, and run slower. It's still a race, so what's it matter?

It was already scheduled to start at midnight...

How about Fly ALL the Runners to Berlin or Chicago , let them run the Berlin or Chicago Marathon and those supposed to be in the World Champs in Doha would be the ONLY ones eligible for the medals, though they would be part of the regular race, Imagine if the winner of the World Champs is declared the World Champion in a race they lost fair and square?

WONT Happen, but I can wish.

Would be great if they just flew all the WC marathoners to Berlin and ran it there on Sunday (started them an hour before the actual marathon or something). Clearly not going to happen, but a man can dream. Honestly it’s not worth risking trashing your body long term to race a marathon in 90F conditions with dew point in the 80s. This makes Duel in the Sun look like a journey through the arctic.

The World Championship marathon is usually a B race at best. Really no reason to have it on the schedule in the first place.

douglas burke wrote:

How about Fly ALL the Runners to Berlin or Chicago , let them run the Berlin or Chicago Marathon and those supposed to be in the World Champs in Doha would be the ONLY ones eligible for the medals, though they would be part of the regular race, Imagine if the winner of the World Champs is declared the World Champion in a race they lost fair and square?

WONT Happen, but I can wish.

ha, didn’t see your post while i was typing the same thought.

Devil Dog wrote:

The World Championship marathon is usually a B race at best. Really no reason to have it on the schedule in the first place.

Have you seen the quality of the field? It's WAY better than any WOrld Marathon Major save for London. It's LOADED. Read our preview;

They should not cancel this race. Hold it in a different city if need be.

You don't schedule a marathon in a hot city, have people train for six months for it and then cancel the race because it's too hot. You either hold it even later like 2 or 3 am, Postpone it to a different day (just hold it the same day as the men), or move it to another city.

Isn't it hot at every WC or Olympic marathon?

They are run in the summer, after all.

Los Angeles, Atlanta, Athens, London, Rio, Sydney, Beijing, Daegu, Osaka... all were varying degrees of "it too hot for the marathoners".

The people least concerned are probably the runners, after all they figured it would be hot.

rojo wrote:

Devil Dog wrote:

The World Championship marathon is usually a B race at best. Really no reason to have it on the schedule in the first place.

Have you seen the quality of the field? It's WAY better than any WOrld Marathon Major save for London. It's LOADED. Read our preview;

https://www.letsrun.com/news/2019/09/2019-worlds-womens-marathon-preview-five-sub-220-women-do-battle-in-midnight-marathon-along-doha-corniche/

They should not cancel this race. Hold it in a different city if need be.

You don't schedule a marathon in a hot city, have people train for six months for it and then cancel the race because it's too hot. You either hold it even later like 2 or 3 am, Postpone it to a different day (just hold it the same day as the men), or move it to another city.

+1

Just set up sprinklers all along the course.

They can move it indoors!

https://www.inthesnow.com/first-indoor-snow-centre-opens-in-qatar/

I just wrote and asked the IAAF for comment. I couldn't help but steam in my email. I guess it's only appropriate given the steamy conditions. Normally I let Jonathan or Weldon read my emails and calm me down before I hit send but everyone is working hard to get ready for Worlds.

Rojo wrote:

Why would you cancel it? Why not move it to another day when it's cooler or run it even later when it's cooler like 2 am? Or why not run it in another city? Yes, moving it to another city would be hard to logistically pull off but it seems like the definition of amateur hour to schedule a race in a hot city, have people train for it for six months and then cancel the race an hour before it was schedule to start because it's too hot. I mean it's quite embarrassing from a PR front.

LOL!!! You could’ve written any of these ridiculous heat related weather problems the second the IAAF announced Doha was the winner. Or about how nobody would go. Or about how people with no interest in the meet would be bused in to fill the stands.

The IAAF is trying to fit a square peg into a round hole. At least more than a few hands got greased with some green to make up for the empty stadium during football season that will appear on TV.

Only redeeming thing about this meet will be dopers with “injuries” are out, other real dopers are out for doping and men competing with women are out.

It should actually be an enjoyable meet to watch if you can ignore the absurdity of it being there.

Hey Rojo do you remember the “hotter than hell” marathon that used to be run in Egypt, maybe in the Sinai?

Speaking as someone who regularly runs in 80 F dew point weather before sunrise, this race would feel like a total slog, but it wouldn't be dangerous. You just have to slow way the hell down, and really think about how you want to hydrate (because it's super easy to overhydrate, and stomach issues are very common in ultra-humid conditions).

The 2020 Olympic marathon also should be held at a different venue,

If the race were held in Sapporo rather than Tokyo, it could actually be a legitimate race worth looking forward to, instead of having to wonder how drastically the conditions will affect performances or whether someone will suffer heatstroke.

Thus, instead of kicking out Kenya for doping, they will just kick out everybody.

Makes sense.