Elite Marathon Thread - Amsterdam: 21 year old Yegon debuts with 2.06.18!

Rineanna

I'll be the first to acknowledge that my marathon knowledge is pretty basic, but something has to fill the void between the end of the outdoor T&F season and the start of the Indoor season in January, so I've found myself following the elite sections of the major marathons more and more, as well as the Cross Country season (We'll start a build up to Dublin 2009 thread for the Elite cross country season soon, too).

I was hoping we could use this thread to follow the major marathon, and their elite sections.

The big races coming up on the IAAF calendar over the Autumn/Winter season are:

October
11/10/2009 Bank of America Chicago Marathon (IAAF Gold Label Road Races)

18/10/2009 31st Istanbul Marathon (IAAF Silver Label Road Races)

18/10/2009 Amsterdam Marathon (IAAF Silver Label Road Races)

18/10/2009 Beijing International Marathon (IAAF Gold Label Road Races)

25/10/2009 Bupa Great South Run (IAAF Gold Label Road Races) Portsmouth

25/10/2009 Classique Internationale Marseille (IAAF Silver Label Road Races)

25/10/2009 Commerzbank Frankfurt Marathon (IAAF Gold Label Road Races)

25/10/2009 Venice Marathon (IAAF Silver Label Road Races)

November
01/11/2009 Airtel Delhi Half Marathon (IAAF Gold Label Road Races)

01/11/2009 ING New York City Marathon (IAAF Gold Label Road Races)

01/11/2009 JoongAng Seoul Marathon (IAAF Silver Label Road Races)

08/11/2009 Athens Classic Marathon (IAAF Silver Label Road Races)

15/11/2009 Fortis Zevenheuvelenloop (IAAF Label Road Races)


December
06/12/2009 Fukuoka Intl Open Marathon Champs
(IAAF Silver Label Road Races)


...and of course we have our own ever popular Dublin City Marathon soon too.

So tomorrow we have the Chicago marathon, with Olympic Champ, Wanjiru, aiming for Gebreselassie's WR. I'm going to be a negative nelly and say he won't get it, but what do you think?

Unfortunately, no Martin Fagan, but Goumri and Kipruto are there to keep Wanjiru company for some bit, and the women's race is packed, with Kastor, Mikitenko, Adere and Grigoryeva.

IAAF Preview: http://www.iaaf.org/LRR09/news/newsid=54609.html

Krusty_Clown

Anyone know if the Chicago marathon is on TV/t'internet? Would love to watch Wanjiru have a go. If he gets it, I wonder if Geberselassie will switch from Berlin to another (cooler) marathon for his WR attempts in future. You'd imagine Chicago or Rotterdam might be a better option, but Berlin really is home-advantage for him at this stage.

Chicago elevation profile actually looks pretty good:

myflipflops

SHould be able to see it for free on universal sports. It's a really good site.


http://www.universalsports.com/

myflipflops

Krusty_Clown wrote: »

Anyone know if the Chicago marathon is on TV/t'internet? Would love to watch Wanjiru have a go. If he gets it, I wonder if Geberselassie will switch from Berlin to another (cooler) marathon for his WR attempts in future.
]

Berlin throw their whole budget at Gebrselessie to go and try break the WR there. I actually think that he isn't able to go any faster anymore though.

I'm really looking forward to seeing Martin Lel in New York. I think he's the best marathoner we've ever seen and has something really special in him. He had malaria leading up to the Olympics and still came 5th or so!!

ecoli

Weather conditions appear not favourible for tommorrows race forecast has it very windy could hamper a record attempt for sure

baza1976

anyone know what time the Chicago marathon kciks off at?? Irishtime

nutzzz123

baza1976 wrote: »

anyone know what time the Chicago marathon kciks off at?? Irishtime

i think its 13:30 irishtime

Bobby04

Wasn't Ronan Keating meant to be running today? Wonder if this is still the case. Reports say all the band members are heading to Majorca in light of Stephen Gately's death.

Krusty_Clown

Here's the link for the Universal Sports live video feed. Looks like the pacers have gone out quite fast (unsustainable pace).

Krusty_Clown

10k in 29:12, which is bang on Gebrselassie's pace when he got the WR.

ike

10sec ahead of WR after 10k...:eek: bombing along one the pacesetter have alredy dropped out

asimonov

i don't think universal sports is mac & firefox friendly; its on justin.tv though.

ike

Have it on firefox, althout its the first time I ever got a live stream working from universalsports

ike

Wanjiru is egging on the pacemakers!

Krusty_Clown

Looks like 'Tara' got her strategy all wrong, in the ladies.

ike

Halfway split 1:02:01 there or thereabouts for the WR

ike

20sec off the pace after 30K, WR prob gone, could be in for a good 3 way finish,

Deena Castor has got herself back into contention in the womens race, seemingly she came to a complete stop at one of the water stations.

ike

Wanjiru throws in a bit of a surge this will kill the other 2 (mile 22)

ike

Wanjiru finishes unofficially in 2:05:40 new course record (nice payday), Haile still reigns for now, brilliant running by the moroccan Goumri to finish second

dna_leri

1 km splits are on http://www.sportsscientists.com/

What happened at the 30km mark, pace dropped from sub 3 min km to a 3:21 ?

Sosa

I enjoyed the last 20 minutes of it.
4:47 pace :eek: hard to comprehend
Why don't Wanjiru and Haile go head to head ?

Krusty_Clown

Because one of them would get first place, and the other 2nd. This way, they both win, and the payoff is significant. Wanjiru ($75k for the win) set a new course record (+$100k) and took the majors title (+$500k).

It's probably in neither athletes interests to go head-to-head. I know they're not in it for the money, but it certainly helps. Also, having your own race means you get to tell the pacers what to do, have the crowd behind you, and probably get a fantastic sponsorship fee.

Sosa

Krusty_Clown wrote: »

Because one of them would get first place, and the other 2nd. This way, they both win, and the payoff is significant. Wanjiru ($75k for the win) set a new course record (+$100k) and took the majors title (+$500k).

It's probably in neither athletes interests to go head-to-head. I know they're not in it for the money, but it certainly helps. Also, having your own race means you get to tell the pacers what to do, have the crowd behind you, and probably get a fantastic sponsorship fee.

Makes sense i suppose.
Maybe they might go for it at the London Olympics....if Geb is still firing on all cyclinders

Rineanna

2.06:18 marathon debut for Yegon in Amsterdam! Sizzling, and at 21 years old!

The second placer, Keitany, was also making his debut and also went under 2.07.

If I remember correctly, this is where McKiernan made the fastest ever debut marathon at 2.22.xx. However, the winning time was a relatively tame 2:27:42 by Kuma.

Hilda Kibet. who I think was meant to compete at Euro XC, was third in a new PB of 2.30.33.

http://www.iaaf.org/LRR09/news/newsid=54710.html

Beijing Marathon Race Report

Intercontinental Istanbul Eurasia Marathon

scottreynolds

Krusty_Clown wrote: »

Because one of them would get first place, and the other 2nd. This way, they both win, and the payoff is significant. Wanjiru ($75k for the win) set a new course record (+$100k) and took the majors title (+$500k).

....I know they're not in it for the money, but it certainly helps..

OH..... thats an awful lot of money. I'm sure the money is an incentive. They have to o head to head that would be awesome.

thirstywork

From an Irish perspective Brian Maher is running the Great South Run.Good luck!!!

myflipflops

I see Dan Robinson ran 2.12 in Amsterdam. That should be very relevant to any Irish guys having a proper effort at the marathon. He's a 29.30 10k runner and a 63 minute half marathon guy who has focussed solely on the marathon from a relatively early age (26 or so).

Running 2.12 will get an Irish guy to a Worlds, Olympics or Europeans and a run like that from Dan Robinson tells me that there's a few guys out there with the ability to go as quick over the distance.

Fair play to him.