3 runners go for magical 1.59.59 in marathon

Monza, May 5 

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Three elite runners, backed by a small army of scientists, will tomorrow attempt an audacious assault on the boundaries of the possible by trying to run a marathon in less than two hours. Reigning Olympics marathon champion Eliud Kipchoge from Kenya, Ethiopia’s Lelisa Desisa and Eritrea’s Zersenay Tadese will aim to complete the classic marathon distance of 26.2 miles (42.195 kilometres) in 1hr 59min 59 sec or faster on a fixed loop at the Monza National Autodrome racing circuit in Italy.

In their pursuit of sporting immortality, the trio will need to set a ferocious pace of 4min 34sec per mile — seven seconds quicker than the pace of the existing world record of 2:02:57 set by Dennis Kimetto of Kenya at the 2014 Berlin Marathon.

Scientists feel it's achievable

In many respects it is the distance running equivalent of attempting to put a man on the Moon, requiring the sort of evolutionary leap against the clock that is usually only achieved over decades.

But increasingly scientists are convinced that the sub- two-hour marathon is achievable. “People have been thinking about the magical sub-two-hour marathon for a long time,” said Wouter Hoogkamer, lead researcher of a study recently published by the University of Colorado, Boulder. Hoogkamer’s team set out a series of mathematical calculations demonstrating how a marathon runner could break the two-hour barrier. 

“Our calculations show that a sub-two-hour marathon time could happen right now, but it would require the right course and a lot of organisation,” Hoogkamer said in the study published by the journal Sports Medicine.

Kipchoge, Desisa and Tadese were selected by Nike after an exhaustive analysis of their physical make-up and technique. “We have spent a long time exploring many dimensions of their performance, like the maximum oxygen an athlete can consume; the critical speed, or threshold an athlete is capable of maintaining; and the energy required,” a spokeswoman for Nike said. “We know that these runners are perfectly equipped and wanting to run something that has never been run before.”  — AFP

Going for 1:59.59 in Marathon

The marathon is a 42.195km race. The world record  is 2 hours, 2.57 minutes, set by Dennis Kimetto of Kenya in 2014 

For a sub-2 hour race, the current world record has to be beaten by 2.58 minutes

Experts believe Eliud Kipchoge of Kenya, whose best of 2:03.05 was recorded last year, has the best chance of recording 1:59.59

Interestingly, the top 24 times recorded in the race have been set by Kenyans or Ethiopians