http://www.globerunner.org/blog/?p=294 Articles by Pat Butcher Wed, 08 Sep 2010 17:31:01 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.5 http://www.globerunner.org/blog/?p=294#comment-782 David Cocksedge Tue, 27 Oct 2009 05:32:10 +0000 http://www.globerunner.org/blog/?p=294#comment-782 I don't envisage that a 2 hour marathon will be run for a long time. Split into quarters, 2 hours exactly for 42.2 kilometres means running four successive 10.55km splits in 30 minutes each - without recovery. To stand a chance of cracking 2 hours, the best runners will have to reach the 40 kilometre point in around 1 hour and 52 minutes (1:52) - a VERY tough prospect. A man capable of this will have to run inside 29 minutes for each 10km split up to that point, leaving himself 8 minutes to cover the last 2km and 195 metres. As good as the current crop of East Africans are, I don't see anyone yet who can handle a relentless pace like that. We may see someone run inside 2:03 within the next four years, but the 2 hour marathon is a very long way off, I suspect. It really is an illogical, insane distance anyway - the Olympic road race distance should have stayed at 40 kilometres (which is almost exactly 25 miles) as it was until the London Games in 1908. I don’t envisage that a 2 hour marathon will be run for a long time. Split into quarters, 2 hours exactly for 42.2 kilometres means running four successive 10.55km splits in 30 minutes each - without recovery.
To stand a chance of cracking 2 hours, the best runners will have to reach the 40 kilometre point in around 1 hour and 52 minutes (1:52) - a VERY tough prospect. A man capable of this will have to run inside 29 minutes for each 10km split up to that point, leaving himself 8 minutes to cover the last 2km and 195 metres.
As good as the current crop of East Africans are, I don’t see anyone yet who can handle a relentless pace like that. We may see someone run inside 2:03 within the next four years, but the 2 hour marathon is a very long way off, I suspect.
It really is an illogical, insane distance anyway - the Olympic road race distance should have stayed at 40 kilometres (which is almost exactly 25 miles) as it was until the London Games in 1908.

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