End of the World...

Krusty_Clown

...Marathon majors?

Time to ditch the fiasco that is the Marathon majors competition? After the sham ending to the Berlin marathon, it seems that the world marathon majors competition is coming under some scrutiny, as it does not seem to be adding any value to the running world, but rather has simply become an opportunity to elevate the reputation of some of the world's foremost marathons one rung up the ladder ahead of others. This updated Runner's World article discusses the issue. Should the whole thing just be abandoned? Suggestions for a better system? Remove the league element and keep the 'marathon majors' umbrella of blue riband marathons?

From my perspective, it's little more than an exclusive club at this stage, with a prize-fund that only serves to reduce the quality of the elite races. There are other marathons (e.g. Rotterdam, Tokyo, perhaps Paris, etc.) that probably deserve to be among the 'prestige marathons' list. I think there's value to having some form of marathon classification, in order to maintain high standards (and to create a bucket-list for people to target), but the competition element should be dropped.

<yes, yes, running and athletics isn't just about marathons, but we are in the middle of marathon major season, with Berlin, Chicago and NY marathons all taking place over a couple of weeks>

nerraw1111

Replace it with a winner takes all race. Rotate the venue from year to year.

Imagine all the top guys battling for half a million.

TFBubendorfer

Krusty_Clown wrote: »

From my perspective, it's little more than an exclusive club at this stage

It was exactly that from the word "go", and nothing much has changed.
To have a 2-year league with overlapping years is a stupid system to start with IMHO.

ThePiedPiper

The concept, I believe, is a good one, in that it should encourage the top marathoners to go up against each other at regular intervals. The big prize money should mean that there should be serious competition in the top 5 marathons with the world's best distance runners. However, this clearly isn't happening. The one race where it comes close to the aspiration is London. Berlin was a joke at the end this year. But, it's been predictable for years. The winner in Berlin has been predictable for the past 10 years, with the one exception being when Haile and Makau went head to head. Chicago had a great race when Kebede and Wanjiru went at it right up to the last 200 metres.

Boston and New York usually have deep fields, but rarely one of the top 5 marathoners in the world. London gets it all right in my opinion. A deep field, and usually 5 of the top 10 best marathoners in the world. It is rarely predictable, never a time trial, and never a farse like how Berlin finished this year. As well as that, it is by far the best value for the average punter.

The Gold label status of races runs alongside the Major and obviously includes loads more races. I think it's important that there be some sort of group of races that are labelled the pinacle, but as things stand, I believe that the race organisers of Berlin in particular, and possibly the three majors in the US need to do something to better mirror the spectacle that London produces year in, year out.

RayCun

Just drop the thing. A league makes sense in a sport where the top people are competing against each other regularly - the golf or tennis circuits, diamond league, whatever. But elite marathon runners race at most 3 times a year, there's not a lot of head-to-head competition. The WMM is just an attempt to set up a closed shop of 'big' marathons for marketing reasons.

Seanie_H

Get Bernie Ecclestone in to work his magic.

There'll be an established glitzy track and venue with a major race every 2nd Sunday.