23-Year old Kelvin Kiptum of Kenya sets new marathon record of 2:00:35

At the 2023 Chicago Marathon last weekend, 23-Year old Kelvin Kiptum of Kenya set a new marathon world record of 2h 00m 35s. This is a 34-second improvement on the previous record of 2:01:09 set by Eliud Kipchoge in Berlin back in September 2022.

Until just over 10 months ago, the 23-year-old Kiptum had never run a marathon. As of mid-Oct 2023, he has now ran three of the fastest top 10 marathon times.

All-time marathon top 10 as of mid Oct 2023

Race Athlete Country Race
2:00:35 Kelvin Kiptum Kenya 2023 Chicago
2:01:09 Eliud Kipchoge Kenya 2022 Berlin
2:01:25 Kelvin Kiptum Kenya 2023 London
2:01:39 Eliud Kipchoge Kenya 2018 Berlin
2:01:41 Kenenisa Bekele Ethiopia 2019 Berlin
2:01:53 Kelvin Kiptum Kenya 2022 Valencia
2:02:37 Eliud Kipchoge Kenya 2019 London
2:02:40 Eliud Kipchoge Kenya 2022 Tokyo
2:02:42 Eliud Kipchoge Kenya 2023 Berlin
2:02:48 Birhanu Legese Ethiopia 2019 Berlin

A trend of new fast marathon times is due in no small part to the current crop of high technology shoes. Kiptum crossed the line in a world record time at the Chicago Marathon on Sunday in a pair of Nike Alphafly 3 shoes.

According to his coach, Kiptum ran three weeks of more than 300 kilometres (186 miles) per week before his London victory this spring. 

Many will question if the shoes and intense training are the only reasons? One line in an article on the LetsRun website sums up what a lot of people will be thinking...

“Doping is everywhere in Kenya,” he laments. “But it is mainly the clumsy ones who are caught, victims of a lack of education and information.”

Until such time that someone fails a test then these are just opinions and the new record stands. 

You can check out these links for more info.

a) BBC News... https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/athletics/67047638

b) LetsRun... https://www.letsrun.com/news/2023/10/kelvin-kiptums-coach-reveals-his-incredible-training-before-marathon-world-record-in-chicago/

New marathon record set in Berlin by Eliud Kipchoge - Sun 25th Sept 2022

Last week, I had a post up about whether Eliud Kipchoge of Kenya could break his own marathon record of 2:01:39 in the 2022 Berlin Marathon?

Sure enough, he duly delivered last Sunday with an amazing time of 2h 01m 09s which was 30 seconds faster than his previous record set in Berlin in 2018.

The new record works out as an average pace of 4:37 per mile (2:52/km) for 26.2 miles which is just crazy.

The problem when reading media reports about new records is that it can often be difficult to know how much of an improvement a new record is. Is a 29-second improvement a lot? How much were the previous records broken by?

With that in mind, I put together a chart showing the progression of the marathon record since the year 2000.

After the 2002 record was set in London, the next six records were broken by these amounts... 43s, 29s, 27s, 21s, 15s & 25s... an average of 27-seconds. In this regard, the improvement by 30-seconds this year is a similar to the amount that the record was broken in previous years.

The major outlier recently though was Kipchoge's record of 2:01:39 in 2018 which was a huge improvement of 78-seconds on Kimetto's record of 2:02:57 set in 2014. 

The one major change in the last few years has been the advances in running shoe technology with inbuilt levers returning more energy to the athlete when the foot hits the ground. It very likely that this accounts for a lot of  the huge improvement of 78-seconds in 2018.

Is a sub 2-hour record possible??? The new marathon record of 2:01:09 is still 69-seconds away from the 2-hour barrier. Without some sort of game changing shoe tech, it's a huge gap to bridge.

On the 12th of October 2019 in Vienna, Kipchoge ran 1:59:40 for the INEOS 1:59 Challenge. This involved running 4.4 laps of the Hauptallee, a tree-lined avenue picked as the location because of its long, flat straight sections and its protection from the wind.

The effort did not count as an official new world record under IAAF rules due to several factors...

a) It was not an open event.
b) Kipchoge was handed fluids by his support team throughout.
c) The run featured a pace car.
d) Kipchoge had a team of 41 pacemakers, featuring some of the best middle and long-distance runners. 

It's worth noting that all of the marathon records since 2003 have been set in Berlin. In 2019, two Ethiopian athletes ran 2:02:48 and 2:01:41 in Berlin so it's seem to be the marathon of choice for the fastest times.

In November of this year, Kipchoge will be 38-years old and is probably close to the end of his running career. If someone does eventually break 2-hours then I suspect it will be someone younger and a really exceptional athlete.

It's possible that the marathon record in an open race may never reach two hours. The aerodynamic drag at these speeds is a major factor which may be the ultimate stumbling block.

Berlin Video... This video from Total Running Productions gives an overview of Kipchoge's race last Sunday.

92 year old woman sets marathon record in the USA

Over the weekend at the San Diego marathon in the USA, 92 year old Harrietee Thompson became the oldest woman ever to complete a full marathon of 26.2 miles. Thompson who is 92 years and 65 days old completed the course in seven hours, 24 minutes and 36 seconds.

A one-time concert pianist and a two time cancer survivor, she didn't run her first marathon until she was 76 years old.

Thompson crossed the line accompanied by her son Brenny aged 56.

Kenyan Dennis Kimetto sets new marathon record in Berlin

30 year old Dennis Kimetto from Kenya set a new world record of 2h 02m 57s when he won the 2014 Berlin Marathon on Sunday 28th Sept 2014. Emmanuel Mutai who finished in second place in 2h 03:13s also broke the old record of 2h 03m 23s which was set by Wilson Kipsang in 2013. The temperature today was a cool 8 deg C in contrast to other warmer years so conditions were perfect.

Full race....2h 50m long. Finish ~2:12. Commentary in German...


After winning the race, Kimetto said...."I feel good because I won a very tough race. I felt good from the start and in the last few miles I felt I could do it and break the record."

These are the marathon records as they were set over the last 30 years....

2:08:05    Steve Jones     United Kingdom    Oct 21, 1984    Chicago Marathon
2:07:12    Carlos Lopes     Portugal    Apr 20, 1985    Rotterdam Marathon
2:06:50    Belayneh Dinsamo     Ethiopia    Apr 17, 1988    Rotterdam Marathon
2:06:05    Ronaldo da Costa     Brazil    Sept 20, 1998    Berlin Marathon
2:05:42    Khalid Khannouchi     Morocco    Oct 24, 1999    Chicago Marathon
2:05:38    Khalid Khannouchi     United States Apr 14, 2002    London Marathon
2:04:55    Paul Tergat     Kenya    Sept 28, 2003    Berlin Marathon
2:04:26    Haile Gebrselassie     Ethiopia    Sept 30, 2007    Berlin Marathon
2:03:59    Haile Gebrselassie     Ethiopia    Sept 28, 2008    Berlin Marathon
2:03:38    Patrick Makau     Kenya    Sept 25, 2011    Berlin Marathon
2:03:23    Wilson Kipsang     Kenya    Sept 29, 2013    Berlin Marathon
2:02:57   Dennis Kimetto     Kenya    Sept 28 2014    Berlin Marathon

The chart above shows the progression. As you can see, the record is broken by about 20-30 seconds each time and the question now is how long will this new record last?

It will also no doubt raise the question again of whether a sub 2 hour marathon is possible? In this interview, the former record holder Wilson Kipsang said he believes that a sub 2 hour marathon is possible after the record gets into the 2:01 region first...


So is it really possible? The current record of 2:02:57 is 4:41 minute mile pace. A 2 hour marathon would be an incredible 4:34 per mile pace.

By the way, the current half-marathon record is 58:23...4:27 per mile pace.

Marathon record to go in April???

Consider the following statistic : - The qualifying 'A' standard for the Marathon for the 2012 London Olympics is 2:15. Some 150 Kenyan men have reached this standard. Out of those 150, Kenya can only send three to the Olympic games.

That is the current situation that faces some of the best Marathon runners in the world. So many world class runners yet only three can be picked. The final team will be selected on the 30th of April so it will be a case of posting an incredibly fast time between now and then. The person with the fastest time so far is Patrick Makau who won the Berlin Marathon last September to set a new Marathon record of 2:03:38.

Coming up in April, there are two Marathons with flat and fast courses.....Rotterdam on the 15th of April and London on the 22nd. The problem of course is that anyone who runs in London (Mutai and Makau) will know exactly what is required to qualify so anyone running Rotterdam will have to set a really fast time.

In an interview, the London Marathon race director David Bedford said..."It's a good bet the men's record will go. The Kenyans know only one way to race, and they're all fighting for an Olympic spot. Someone could carve a chunk off that world record. The week before our race, Moses Mosop (the 2011 Chicago Marathon champ and Boston runner-up) runs in Rotterdam. If he breaks the world record, the Kenyans running in London will know they need to break it again just to make the Olympics."

Some of those taking part in London...
Elite Men                     Personal Best
Emmanuel Mutai (Kenya)    2:04:40
Patrick Makau (Kenya)    2:03:38
Wilson Kipsang (Kenya)    2:03:42
Abel Kirui (Kenya)    2:05:04
Vincent Kipruto (Kenya)    2:05:13
Martin Lel (Kenya)    2:05:15

In Rotterdam.......
Moses Mosop finished second in Apr 2011 at the Boston Marathon in 03.02.06. (4 seconds slower than Geoffrey Mutai). His time was not recognised as a world record because the course in Boston does not comply with all the conditions of the IAAF. 

Interesting times ahead.

Richard Donovan from Galway sets new Marathon record...

Richard Donovan from Galway has set a new record by running a Marathon in each of the 7 continents in a time of 4 Days, 22 hours and 3 minutes. Starting in Antarctica on Wednesday 1st February 2012 at 09.53 (GMT), he ran the first Marathon in 4:21:11 in a balmy -10 deg C. From there, he went to Cape Town to run 4:23:51. Then across the South Atlantic to Sao Paulo in Brazil where he ran 4:19:00. Then on up to Orlando Florida where he ran 4:44:27 for Marathon No.4.

Then it was across the Atlantic to London to run 4:32:45 in weather conditions of -3 to -6 deg C, not much warmer than Antarctica! Then a long flight to Hong Kong for Marathon No.6 in 5:03:03....and  finally....another flight to Sydney in Australia where he ran 5:21:40 for his 7th and final Marathon and a well earned rest ;o)

A total time of 4 days, 22 hours and 3 minutes. More info on http://www.worldmarathonchallenge.com/

Traviss Willcox from the UK now claims annual Marathon record!

On Tuesday, I put up a post about Larry Macon from the USA running 113 Marathons in one annual year and claiming a new world record. This was reported by some of the American running websites and was even picked up the by the online Huffington Post.

Well, now it seems that Traviss Willcox from the UK was busy racking up the Marathons quietly in 2011 and now claims to have run 114, one more than Larry Macon! His 114th and last Marathon of 2011 was in Pensacola, Florida. After 51 weeks of often painful effort, he was forced to run eight marathons in the final eight days of 2011.

Marathon Records of Traviss Willcox (as of January 2, 2012)
Most marathon events completed in a year: 114 (World Record)
Most marathon events completed in a 365 day period: 115 (World Record)
Fastest to first 100 marathon completions: 688 days (World Record)
Fastest to first 100 different marathon events: 720 days (World Record)
Fastest completion of 100 marathon events - 284 Days (World Record)
Fastest completion of 50 marathon events - 114 Days (World Record)
Most UK&I marathon events in a calendar year - 79 (British Record)

Excerpts from an interview with Traviss Willcox on another website........

My initial goal was to do 50, and then the thought struck me, well, if I can do 50 in a year, could I maybe do 67, to reach my 100 marathons? Then by March it was could I do 74, to break the British record for most in a calendar year? By April it was 87, beating the British record for most in a 365 day period, and for a while the target hovered around the 90 mark. It really wasn't until June/July when a couple of events sprung up in Ireland that 100 in the year really became a target. And beyond that didn't happen until October.

How do you manage to fit in 100+ marathons in a year?

Basically that's two most weekends and I think every Bank Holiday - simple as that. One or two are on weekdays but 95% are weekends and holidays.

Now these were all proper 'official' marathon events?

Absolutely. The 100 Marathon Club have a set of rules as to what can be counted a marathon. No running round the park by myself and calling that a marathon as some people count them. Have to have permits, minimum numbers of people, results published, open to everyone and so on.

The logistics of all this must be pretty terrifying. How did you find them all?

Well some were ultras and all involved lots of early morning drives, late night drives, all over the place. That's really the hardest part of the challenge, people often ask me, how on earth do I do it? But half the battle is simply getting to these events. Saturday might be Devon, Sunday Wiltshire. Being in Kent that's three long drives, at odd hours, two of them whilst very stiff and sore! Some of the drives were just horrible, I'd just tend to seize up and they weren't much fun. This is where having an understanding girlfriend helps. Rachel, who did 20 marathons herself in 2011, probably drove me to 20-25 events, that sort of thing just saves a lot of wearing down, dozing in a car is rather more restful than driving! Then a couple of times there have been Monday events in Ireland, so I'd tack that on the end. The Royal Wedding weekend for me was a marathon on the Friday in Berkshire, a 40 mile ultra on Saturday in Oxfordshire, a marathon in Dorset on Sunday, then fly to Belfast, got there at midnight, marathon in the morning and back home again that evening. Running around the local park by myself would have been so much simpler!

What's this circuit you've mentioned?

Well there are a few hardcore runners about, members of the 100 Marathon Club, those aspiring to join that sort of thing. People doing 20, 30, 40 marathons a year sort of area, one or two doing 50 plus. You just meet an awful lot of nice people, generally everyone is supportive, encouraging and knows what you're going through as we all go through the same experiences. Have made a lot of great friends. There are maybe only a hundred people doing this sort of thing in the country, but you soon get to know the faces. The nice thing though is that there is little ego involved, nobody cares if they did better than you, or worse than you, they're just glad you showed up and put the miles in.

People must have suspected your target though?

Yes, by April or May some of the regulars had noticed that I always appeared to be everywhere, and they could add up and put two and two together. I was generally vague and stuck to the line of just trying to do as many as I could in the year, which then went to 100 in the year eventually when that became obvious. Records though I only really ever mentioned later in the year to a few trusted friends. Didn't really want word getting out. But in many ways that didn't really matter anyway, the goal was really just to do as many as I could. The records were just milestones along the way, they weren't the reason, the real reason was pushing till I broke. Or not, as the case may be! I always assumed at some stage I would just get injured, be out for a month or two and then that would be that - I'd tried, and that's as far as I got.

When did the world record really start to enter your thoughts?

Six Mile Bridge in Ireland (photo above), 5 in 5 days, I was last every day, I was in a lot of pain, but the Irish guys were so friendly and supportive, I started to think that if I could do that, then maybe, just maybe... But it really wasn't until October that plans firmed up, I had a very tough end of August and September, 15 in about 30 days or so, survived that and then decided to go all in for everything. The UK season starts winding down about October so knew I'd have to travel if I was to get close to the world record and decided to go all in for everything I could. I was fortunate that several small events sprung up that fitted in well with my schedule and friends found me a couple of obscure events I wouldn't have otherwise found. Finally the Christmas to New Year marathons were confirmed in Florida and my credit card took a hit!

Did you ever have any doubts?

Every single time I lined up! The problem is that 26.2 miles is just so far! There have been times I've gotten 500 yards and thought I cannot possibly do this. By three miles, it's beyond my comprehension how I'm going to manage another 23 of them sometimes. But you just put one foot in front of another, and eventually the end arrives.

What was your quickest time?

Each time was a real surprise, but I actually broke my PB (Personal Best - Ed) five times during the year. The quickest was 4 hours 41 at the Andover Marathon in December, the 103rd of the year. I must have been getting the hang of it by then!

365 in one year.....Just for reference purposes.....at the start of 2011, Stefaan Engels from Belgium claimed a record by running 365 Marathons in one year. What Engels did was to run the marathon distance for 365 days (12 officially organised Marathons and the other 353 were ran by himself around his home town) whereas Larry Macon and Traviss Willcox actually ran official Marathons.

Paula Radcliffe’s 2:15:25 will remain as the official world record

Back in September, the IAAF said they would reduce Paula Radcliffe’s marathon world record to a ‘world best’ as there were male pacemakers in the race. Following an appeal by Radcliffe and growing opposition, the IAAF have decided to leave her 2:15:25 times as the official womens Marathon record.

Now, the IAAF is expected to work out a system where the records in mixed races could stand side-by-side with records in all-women races once they get the terminology sorted out.

Many in the sport agree that women run marathons faster when paced by men, since keeping up with men can provide a target to aim for. Running in a group of men can also be less tiring if they shield the athlete from incoming wind.

While the Radcliffe issue may have been sorted out, the fact that any records set in future mixed races are likely to be counted separately means that this story has still a bit to go. What happens if at some future date a woman runs 2:15:20 in a mixed race? If she is denied the title of the Marathon record, could she not point to Paula Radcliffe and say you counted her time, why not mine? How can the old record then be valid if someone else breaks it in the same circumstances? Still sounds like a mess.

Winner of Frankfurt Marathon just 4 seconds outside world record...

Wilson Kipsang of Kenya has won the Frankfurt Marathon (Sun 30th Oct 2011) in a time of 2:03:42, a mere four seconds short of Patrick Makau’s World record of 2:03:38, set in Berlin just five weeks ago. His time was also over a minute faster than his 2:04:57 in Frankfurt last year.

From the IAAF..."The race went exactly as Kipsang had planned it, until just after 30 kilometres of the 42.195k. An early morning shower had given way to a still, slightly misty morning, with temperatures rising from 11C at the 10am start to around 14C at the finish (52-58F); just about perfect conditions for a Marathon.  A group of 15 men went through 10k in 29:25, diminishing to a sextet at halfway in 1:01:40, four seconds faster than Makau in Berlin. Deriba Merga of Ethiopia, who finished fourth in the Beijing Olympics, was still in the lee of the pacemaker, Peter Kirui of Kenya, who was reproducing his metronomic feats from Berlin last month; but so were relative unknown Kenyans, Levy Matebo and Albert Matebor.

But it was clear that the pace was dropping when Kipsang went up onto Kirui’s shoulder at around 33k, and when the defending champion saw at 35k that he was heading for a 2:04 finish, he took off by himself. It was Kipsang against the clock. And what a race he made of it. Kipsang’s 2:03:42 is clearly the second fastest in history, behind Makau, but 17 seconds ahead of the great Haile Gebselassie, whose 2:03:59 has taken a bit of a battering in recent weeks."

What's almost as amazing is that a record 14 men finished under 2:10, the most in any Marathon ever. Even Kirui the pacemaker managed to hang in there to finish 6th in 2:06:33!

Surely at this stage it's only a matter of when the Marathon record will be broken rather than if???

Patrick Makau sets new Marathon record of 2:03:38

Kenyan Patrick Makau won the 2011 Berlin Marathon on Sunday, the 25th of Sept. His time of two hours, three minutes and 38 seconds was 21 seconds faster than the record set by Haile Gebrselassie on the same course back in 2008.

"In the morning my body was not good but, after I started the race, it started reacting very well. I started thinking about the record. I didn't have any problems in the race. Last year I had some problems with my soles inside my shoe, but today everything went very well." said Makau.

The previous record Haile Gebrselassie failed to finish having experienced apparent stomach problems around the 27km mark.

GEBRSELASSIE'S RECORD AT BERLIN MARATHON
2006 - First in 2:05.56 (fastest time of year)
2007 - First in 2:04.26 (world record)
2008 - First in 2:03.59 (world record)
2009 - First in 2:06.08
2010 - Did not compete
"Gebrselassie, the 38-year-old double Olympic champion at 10,000m, had also been looking to post a fast time and ease the pressure on him to qualify for the Games ahead of strong Ethiopian rivals.
But he found himself forced to step off the road midway through the race as Makau, sensing the Ethiopian great was struggling, upped the pace"....BBC News
Just to give you some idea of the pace, a 2:03:38 Marathon is an average of 4:43 minutes per mile or 2:56 minutes per km.

Is a sub 2 hour Marathon possible???

There was a recent article on the BBC News website which asked this very question. Over the years, the record has been edging down towards the 2 hour  barrier and it currently stands at 2 hours 3 minutes and 59 seconds.

This was set by Haile Gebrselassie in Berlin in 2008 and he believes that a sub hour Marathon may be possible some time in the distant future, perhaps in 20 years time. Others however believe that the record of 2 hours 2 mins is possible after which it will plateau.

To set the current record, Haile had to run at an average of 4m 43.7s per mile whereas someone would have to run an average of 4m 34.6s per mile to break the 2 hour barrier. That's an incredible speed to maintain over 26.2 miles. Is it possible though???

The full article can be seen HERE

News.....365 Marathons in 1 year / New race in Clon / Next weekend

Belgian runner sets Marathon record...
A Belgian runner has set a new world record by completing 365 marathon races in a year. Stefaan Engels, dubbed "Marathon Man", began his challenge in Belgium a year ago and has since run a marathon every day across seven countries. He crossed the finish line in the Spanish city of Barcelona after running 15,000km (9,569 miles) in a year.
"I don't regard my marathon year as torture. It is more like a regular job," the 49-year-old said.
He averaged about four hours to complete a marathon. He said his best time was 2 hours and 56 minutes.
Engels suffered from asthma as a child and had been told by doctors to avoid sport. Before Engels, the record marathon man was Akinori Kusuda of Japan - who ran 52 races in a row at the age of 65 in 2009.

New race in Clonakilty...
A new race has now been added to the Cork Race Calendar. This 10km race will take place in Clonakilty in late April. More details closer to the date.

Next weekend...
After a bit of a lull with local races, next weekend is going to be a busy one. You have a choice of a 10 mile race near Bantry, a BHAA cross country race in Cork City or if you live in East Cork, there is a 5 mile race in Waterford which might be of interest. More details later...