Fastest Marathon ever as 5 men break 2.05

ecoli

Despite the results ad what was an amazing finish with 4 men in a sprint finish in he last 200 personally I am feeling like this race is a bit artificially and has just thrown money at it to make it one of the big races (pretty much the philosophy in all aspects from Dubai)

http://www.letsrun.com/news/2013/01/ethiopias-lelisa-desisa-wins-2013-standard-chartered-dubai-marathon-in-20445-as-a-record-5-men-break-205/

average_runner

ecoli wrote: »

Despite the results ad what was an amazing finish with 4 men in a sprint finish in he last 200 personally I am feeling like this race is a bit artificially and has just thrown money at it to make it one of the big races (pretty much the philosophy in all aspects from Dubai)

http://www.letsrun.com/news/2013/01/ethiopias-lelisa-desisa-wins-2013-standard-chartered-dubai-marathon-in-20445-as-a-record-5-men-break-205/

Unfortunately its like all sports. Throw money at it to make it the best and don't worry about history and tradition.

eyescreamcone

average_runner wrote: »

Unfortunately its like all sports. Throw money at it to make it the best and don't worry about history and tradition.

Please explain
Was it not the full distance or something??

average_runner

eyescreamcone wrote: »

Please explain
Was it not the full distance or something??

Its just a marathon that was setup with bags of cash.

eyescreamcone

average_runner wrote: »

Its just a marathon that was setup with bags of cash.

What's wrong with that??

im invisible

Whats the temp. /humidity like over there this time of year? I presume its a relitivly flat race

myflipflops

Dubai is actually very competitive because of the money.

I think it is much closer to a proper, raced marathon than somewhere like Berlin when they were setting it up as a time trial for Gebrselassie.

ecoli

myflipflops wrote: »

Dubai is actually very competitive because of the money.

I think it is much closer to a proper, raced marathon than somewhere like Berlin when they were setting it up as a time trial for Gebrselassie.

True I suppose if "new money" is willing to invest in the sport we should be welcoming of this and commend it, but for me something still feels missing from this race and the general build up (might just be a personal opinion)

I do agree that Berlin over the last few years had become a farce and a pure time trial for one runner with the budget controlling the level of competition which is a pity

myflipflops

ecoli wrote: »

True I suppose if "new money" is willing to invest in the sport we should be welcoming of this and commend it, but for me something still feels missing from this race and the general build up (might just be a personal opinion)

I know what you mean and a year ago, I probably would have agreed.

Tika Gelana confirmed in London that Dubai was attracting proper racing marathoners. It does not have the history of the marathon majors and it gets close to zero publicity in the western media but it is now a really quality marathon.

In another sense, it stands as a great example of how the sport of distance running has absolutely no idea how to market these 'faceless' Africans who are all outstanding athletes.

sideswipe

I think they should have the prize money in gold bullion, sitting in the open boot of the lead car, sub 2:00 2014.:cool:

T runner

Wish more top Kenyans ran this....I think the national Ethiopian Athletic association are very well organised and have targetted this race obvioulsy. A lot of their runners arent well known in the the west but their Athletic federation know exactly who they are and who their juniors are. The Kenyan mass of elite distance runners numbering over 1000 is largely unknown even to their own federation. This looks like a perfect marathon for the most talented up and coming Kenyans to target. It looks like the fastest elite marathon in the world (newly paved pancake flat long streets) and it would be great to see it turn into a Kenya vs Ethiopia battle.