Berlin WR!

[MJD]

Tergat-2:04:55
Sammy Korir-2:04:56
WR and 4th place master-Andrés Perez Espinosa-2:08:46.

Under 2:05 and you lose in a kick...

[tafnut]

Re: Berlin WR!

How would you like to be able to run 26xmile in 4:46's, no rest.
Or maybe 13x2mile in 9:32's, no rest
or perhaps 4x10000 in 29:30's, no rest

I can't even imagine the fact that they are reeling off 72 second quarters - forever.

[Pego]

Re: Berlin WR!

This is insane. How long before the 2 hour barrier falls?

[bhall]

Re: Berlin WR!

I just posted an initial breakdown of the Berlin splits and splits from Khannouchi's 2:05:38 WR for comparison. Enjoy!

http://www.trackandfieldnews.com/genera ... ergat.html

[MJR]

Re: Berlin WR!

Definitely overtakes the 2 RW World Records for Performance of the Year, althought they should be 2nd and 3rd.

[Guest]

Re: Berlin WR!

Suddenly a 2:10 sounds kind of ho-hum.

[Guest]

Re: Berlin WR!

YIKES!

Tergat's only marathon win ever, by one second, over the guy who was supposed to just set the pace, and he had to break the WR to do it. Down the stretch he had to be thinking "Not again!"

Here's a long-term bet: When will the 2-hour mark get broken? Will it ever? Considering that it took almost 36 years to get from sub-2:10 to sub-2:05, I wouldn't put my money down.

[Guest]

Re: Berlin WR!

It's nice to see Tergat "finally" live up to the marathon potential we all thought he had. If ever there was an ideal marathoner, it's him. I wouldn't hold my breath on a 2-hour race anytime soon, however. It's taken a long time to get from Derek Clayton's 2:08:33 (1969) to this first sub-2:05. That's a total of "only" 3:38 in 34 years--an average decrease of about 6-1/2 seconds per year. If my math is correct, at that rate of improvement, it will take 45 more years to get to 2-flat. Relatively speaking, I'd guess the marathon record is still slighter softer than the 3000, 5000, and 10,000 records.


And, to "Who Cares" above. Newsflash: 2:10 ceased to mean anything a LONG time ago. In these big races, 2:08s or even 2:07s are being run by (and I exaggerate only slightly) hordes of "no-name" guys. (Lest I be stating the obvious, these are of course non-American "no-names.")

[Powell]

Re: Berlin WR!

Good point about the 2:10 barrier - since 1997, it's been broken by approximately 50 guys every year (last year it was 57), i.e. it's about as common as a 65' SP.

[Guest]

Re: Berlin WR!

Interesting correlation: to a 65' shotput. Put in those terms, a 2:10 marathon is distinctly unimpressive. By comparison, in the 2002 season, the 50th best performers in these events were:

1500: 3:37.15
5000: 13:19.75
10,000: 27:58.93
Etc.

Thus, clearly, 2:10 is at the very low end of the scale of "world class" in the marathon.

[Guest]

Re: Berlin WR!

When will someone run a 2 hour marathon (as some have asked above)? The answer is never... I don't think it is humanly possible. I know, someone will say,"that's what they said about a sub 4:00 mile" et al, but I think there are limits out there and a 2 hour marathon is not reachable. Who has the caculator to break down the mile splits etc. that would take?

[bhall]

Re: Berlin WR!

2 hrs comes out to 4:34.6 per mile and 2:50.6 per kilometer. Tergat ran 4:45.9 per mile and 2:57.6 per kilometer. KK ran 4:47.5 and 2:58.7. Carlos Lopes WR of 2:07:12 from back in '85 comes out to 4:51.8 per mile and 3:00.9 per kilometer.

[tafnut]

Re: Berlin WR!

The 2-hour barrier will go very easily when science becomes even more a factor than it is now, and I'm not just talking drugs. Right now we are at the very beginning of a steep learning curve about human physiology. This will happen sooner than later.

[Guest]

Re: Berlin WR!

Someday someone will run a marathon going under 4:30 per mile! I don't think it will be in my lifetime, but I do think it will happen before 2054. Can you imagine a marathon, not run on cement, but on a 26.2 mile straight-away made of a tarten track? Today's big city marathons on the streets really take a lot out of a runner. The surface could be a big factor in the final time.

[MJD]

Re: Berlin WR!

Ed Whitlock, at age 72, became the oldest to ever break 3 hours today in Toronto-2:59:09.3. Those yammering away about breaking 6 minutes for the mile should take note.

http://www.sportstats.ca/res2003/scotiam.htm