Wanjiru Out of World Championship Marathon

ecoli

The world leading marathon runner has announced that he has decided to forgo the world championships in august in order to make a record attempt in Berlin.
This is becoming a regular occurence as we see more athletes opting for the high paying marathons instead of championships much like Haile making excuses to miss the Olympic marathon in order to run Berlin.
Could this be the start in the decline of the quality of marathons in major championships?

Woddle

Out of curiousity will the marathon world champs be the same route as the Berlin marathon and has Haille confirmed the Berlin marathon ? as that would be a great race to see and be apart of

ecoli

I assume they would be the course however i cant faind any listing of the course if that is the case well then the only difference is a month not that i feel that will make to much difference to him. He hasnt announced his intentions yet from what i know.

cfitz

ecoli wrote: »

The world leading marathon runner has announced that he has decided to forgo the world championships in august in order to make a record attempt in Berlin.
This is becoming a regular occurence as we see more athletes opting for the high paying marathons instead of championships much like Haile making excuses to miss the Olympic marathon in order to run Berlin.
Could this be the start in the decline of the quality of marathons in major championships?

I would have thought this has always been the case with marathons. I don't know if the World Marathon Championships have ever been considered to be the pinnacle marathon event. Also, the standard of the Olympic Marathon in Beijing was surely higher than usual?

mrak

That's a real pity but I can see his point. It must be an amazing feeling to hold a world record at the marathon. Even if it were the same course I guess it would be harder to do in a championship since there'd be no pacers, cagey racing going on, etc.

thirtyfoot

ecoli wrote: »

The world leading marathon runner has announced that he has decided to forgo the world championships in august in order to make a record attempt in Berlin.
This is becoming a regular occurence as we see more athletes opting for the high paying marathons instead of championships much like Haile making excuses to miss the Olympic marathon in order to run Berlin.
Could this be the start in the decline of the quality of marathons in major championships?

I totally agree with you and its a shame. However money talks and if they have only 1 big marathhon a year they will probably go after the paycheck. Missing Worlds is one thing but Geb missing the Olympics was a shocker.

Clum

Woddle wrote: »

Out of curiousity will the marathon world champs be the same route as the Berlin marathon and has Haille confirmed the Berlin marathon ? as that would be a great race to see and be apart of

I think the World Championships route is a 4 lap course, based in the parkland area around Brandenburg gate / Richstag.

cfitz

Tingle wrote: »

I totally agree with you and its a shame. However money talks and if they have only 1 big marathhon a year they will probably go after the paycheck. Missing Worlds is one thing but Geb missing the Olympics was a shocker.

He finished 6th in the Olympics ya dope

ecoli

cfitz wrote: »

He finished 6th in the Olympics ya dope

He was training for the marathon but coped out with a lame excuse and did the 10k so he could still race in Berlin that is what he meant

mrak

ecoli wrote: »

He was training for the marathon but coped out with a lame excuse and did the 10k so he could still race in Berlin that is what he meant

Was that wrong of him I wonder? Even money aside.. I couldn't name 2 former world marathon champions but I could rhyme off about 10 former world record holders without thinking.

Pherekydes

ecoli wrote: »

Could this be the start in the decline of the quality of marathons in major championships?

No, that started when they introduced the 3 per country rule.

Tingle wrote:

I totally agree with you and its a shame. However money talks and if they have only 1 big marathhon a year...

He's already run London, so Berlin will be two.

zenmonk

The Worlds is a joke of a competition anyway, the Olympics and the big city marathons are the only ones worth winning for the top athletes. geb owes the world nothing - how many olympic medals has he won?

thirtyfoot

zenmonk wrote: »

geb owes the world nothing - how many olympic medals has he won?

Its a bad precedent if the top in the world of athletics choose a payday over the Olympics. May not have been the case with Geb but it would be sad if it ever materialised that that was the case and my huge estimation of him would go down because of it. I wonder would Redgrave have chosen to miss his 5th gold if someone offered him a bit of cash to do some random boat race that we would all have forgotten about in 20 years.

cfitz

Tingle wrote: »

Its a bad precedent if the top in the world of athletics choose a payday over the Olympics. May not have been the case with Geb but it would be sad if it ever materialised that that was the case and my huge estimation of him would go down because of it. I wonder would Redgrave have chosen to miss his 5th gold if someone offered him a bit of cash to do some random boat race that we would all have forgotten about in 20 years.

You have to consider the event in question though. In tennis, Wimbledon, Roland Garros, US, and Australia are the big events much moreso than the Olympics. In soccer, the World Cup is the big event.

In marathon running, London and the other big city marathons are big events, they're not comparable to some random boat race.

All that said, the standard in the marathon in Beijing was brilliant so I'm not sure there's anything to worry about...

Hard Worker

It's difficult for marathon runners. They cannot race as often as sprinters or even middle distance runners. Their chances of paydays are fewer.
In Wanjiru's case, Athletics Kenya might have something to say about the matter. If they want him in the World Championships, then that's where he'll race.

OBWON

I was hoping he wouldn't do the berlin marathon and do the world champs instead. It will just mean more competition for me when i do the berlin marathon. Ah well:D

Daithi BC

OBWON wrote: »

I was hoping he wouldn't do the berlin marathon and do the world champs instead. It will just mean more competition for me when i do the berlin marathon. Ah well:D

It's not every day you get to race the Olympic champion - I can't wait!

OBWON

Daithi BC wrote: »

It's not every day you get to race the Olympic champion - I can't wait!

I'm the same I can't wait either, but probably wont see him much for the race

Woddle

Last year he hung around to watch others come in, he was gone though by the time I came through

Daithi BC

OBWON wrote: »

I'm the same I can't wait either, but probably wont see him much for the race

Probably won't even see him at the start which is the closest I'll be to him all race. Will have to have the wife briefed to get a photo on the route.

Irishathlete_1

Athletics Kenya has no say at all where athletes like Wanjiru race. Officially they need to grant an athlete permission to race abroad, but this never ever stops them.

Look at Jelimo last season. She was banned from competing in the early Euro meetings. Then over night she was racing in Berlin etc.....

Basically someone at AK bans her so her agent pays him a thousand dollars and all of a sudden she's allowed to race again. Wanjiru will race wherever Frederico Rosa (his agent) wants him to race.

Rineanna

Look at Jelimo last season. She was banned from competing in the early Euro meetings. Then over night she was racing in Berlin etc.....

Basically someone at AK bans her so her agent pays him a thousand dollars and all of a sudden she's allowed to race again. Wanjiru will race wherever Frederico Rosa (his agent) wants him to race.

Really? Never heard that. She certainly raced in Hengelo on May 24th, and Berlin was only a week later. I thought Hengelo was the first European WAT meet? Unless she was banned from running in some low-key meets somewhere...

Irishathlete_1

http://www.letsrun.com/2008/jelimo-0529.php

Here you go.....