African trio target sub-2hr barrier
• Elite athletes attempt to break the barrier some think cannot be broken
This weekend, aided by a host of technological and environmental advances, three carefully selected elite African athletes will attempt to run the first sub-two-hour marathon.
This weekend, aided by a host of technological and environmental advances, three carefully selected elite African athletes will attempt to run the first subtwo-hour marathon.
The “Breaking2” project is the latest enterprise of American sportswear giant Nike and has split opinion in the world of athletics and physiology.
In one camp are the purists, who claim that the host of benefits being bestowed on the runners including revolutionary shoes, a pack of interchangeable pacemakers and a nontraditional course, mean the attempt is a marketing gimmick.
In some ways, this is possibly the worst time to start shouting about fast marathon times, with Kenya’s Rio Olympic and London marathon champion Jemima Sumgong’s recent positive doping test landing a body blow to the event.
Nike, and others, however, insist projects such as “Breaking2” show that a combination of talent, training and technology can produce astounding results without the need for any chemical assistance.
Many people are intrigued to see just how much difference such a collection of “marginal gains” can make and suggest that, at a time when athletics is reeling from relentless bad news, such a quantum leap in human endurance, arguably the greatest in the sport’s history, is something to be welcomed and celebrated. Below we look at the key aspects of the project. The current record and its progression: Kenyan Dennis Kimetto set the current record of 2hr 2min 57sec in Berlin in 2014, which is about four minutes faster than it was in 1988.
Kimetto’s time works out to 4:41.5min per mile; a sub-two would require less than 4:35 per mile – an improvement of about seven seconds per mile, or around 2.5%. On the face of it, that appears an impossible leap.
In 2014, the respected Runners World magazine published a data-driven analysis of more than 10,000 top marathon performances over 50 years that predicted a sub-two under normal race conditions would not happen until 2075.
The key to this attempt is that Nike is trying to ensure all the other variables make such an impact that, in theory, the athletes will produce effort levels that equate to a 2:03 time but, boosted by all the extra help, will actually produce a sub-two.
The course will be ratified by the International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF) and the athletes will satisfy all the usual antidoping requirements, but the attempt will not be an officially sanctioned world record due to a host of variables, detailed below. Who is running? After extensive physiological research, Nike put together a team of three runners. Eliud Kipchoge: The 32year-old Kenyan is the stand-out performer. The 2016 Olympic marathon gold medallist and former 5,000m world champion has won seven of his eight marathons. His best of 2:03:05 is the third-fastest in history. Zersenay Tadese: The Eritrean is the half-marathon world record holder with 58:23min and, although he has nothing much in his locker over the full distance, Nike’s scientists identified him as having the potential to go much faster. Lelisa Desisa: The 26-yearold Ethiopian has a marathon best of 2:04:5 and is another athlete
whose numbers in the area of VO² max, which measures the maximum rate of oxygen consumption, lactate profile, which provides an indicator of fatigue during exercise, and running economy are second to none.
The shoes: The 200g Zoom Vaporfly Elite are central to the whole project. Nike says the combination of a new foam and curved carbon insert that also helps change the angle of the foot, means runners require 4% less energy to go at the same speed in comparison with their previous best shoe.
The shoes have been further custom-fitted for the three athletes – which should help prevent a repeat of the blisters that scuppered Ethiopian Keninisa Bekele’s London Marathon bid in similar Vaporfly 4% shoes.
The kit: Nike is also kitting its intrepid trio out in new socks, shorts and singlet, all of which are claimed to offer an advantage in terms of aerodynamics and/or ventilation.
The course: The sub-two attempt will be run on about 17 laps of a 2.4km loop that forms part of the Monza Formula One track in northern Italy. After extensive research, it was selected due to a combination of environmental factors including average temperature, air pressure and wind levels. The surface, with no kerbs or cambers, was also considered optimal.
The course satisfies the rules on elevation that, for example, rule out records set on the overall downhill route of the Boston Marathon.
One area where the Monza track could give a tangible advantage is that the athletes will run exactly the marathon distance. Even on the fastest road courses, the fact that the “blue line” has to follow curves and is marked a minimum distance from the kerb means that runners often actually cover many more metres than the 26 miles, 385 yards that has been the standard since the 1908 Olympics. Pacemakers/drafting: This is another area where quantifiable benefits can be seen – and is the one that seems to have turned many against the attempt.
The three runners will be sheltered throughout the attempt by a group of pacemakers, who will dip in and out at various times to ensure they maintain the demanded pace.
Similar packs are used at big city marathons, with the only real difference being that they have to start the race together.
Such a controversy is not new. Roger Bannister’s subfour-minute mile was achieved with the aid of two pacemakers, while Seb Coe’s golden run of world records in the early 1980s, and dozens more since, have all been set that way.
Mobile drinks: Main sponsor Nike organised a practice event at Monza in March at which the athletes ingested core-temperature pills and used taped-on muscle oxygen and skin-temperature sensors.
The runners followed a car with a large clock on the back showing elapsed time, splits, and projected finish time.
They were also served drinks “on the move” via a moped, avoiding the need to slow and lose rhythm at traditional drinks stations — another innovation the IAAF have concerns about. Is anyone else chasing subtwo? The last four world record holders — Kimetto, Wilson Kipsang, Patrick Makau and Haile Gebrselassie — have been sponsored by Nike’s great rival Adidas and the German company is also running its own “Sub2” project, complete with a new shoe of the same name.