For tenacity, Worknesh Degefa was the star of the show in the 21st anniversary race of the Standard Chartered Dubai Marathon this morning, the Ethiopian enduring mid-race physical problems to clock 2.19.38 and win the women’s race. But for sheer opportunism, debutants Olika Adugna of Ethiopia and Eric Kiptanui of Kenya carried the day, outwitting […]
Twenty four hours is a long time in marathon running. Barely was the ink dry on Eliud Kipchoge’s ‘aided’ sub-two hour run in Vienna on Saturday morning than his Kenyan compatriot Brigid Kosgei was writing her own impressive headline, breaking the seemingly inviolable women’s world record at the Chicago Marathon on Sunday morning, with […]
If there were any doubts about the primacy of Eliud Kipchoge in modern marathoning, they were expunged in Vienna on Saturday morning when the Kenyan Olympic champion and world record holder ran the 42.195 kilometres in one hour, 59 minutes and 40.2 seconds, the historic first sub-two hour marathon. Granted it was done with […]
As usual, it was left to the athletes to save the day at the IAAF World Championships in Qatar. They almost made it! They certainly weren’t getting much if any help from the IAAF, whose major input was imposing a torrid antipathetic venue like Doha in the first place. And that decision was almost […]
On holiday last week I got a text from an old running friend, saying ‘A great man has died’. There could not have been a more appropriate way to describe the passing of Basil Heatley, on August 3. Basil’s principal kudos in athletics terms were an Olympic silver medal in the marathon in Tokyo […]
In another record-shattering day at the Standard Chartered Dubai Marathon, Ruth Chepngetich of Kenya became the third fastest woman in marathon history when she clocked 2.17.08, taking over two minutes off the 12 month old course record, and a minute off her own personal best, while more than hinting that, at 22, she might just […]