byLarry Eder
BEKELE IS IN PARIS
PARIS (FRA): Legendary Kenenisa Bekele arrived on Friday morning to France. The only athlete ever who has achieved to be an Olympic Champion, World Cross Country Champion, World Indoor- and Outdoor Champion, will now make his marathon debut. He will be on the starting line of the Schneider Electric Paris Marathon on Sunday. His goal is to make a fast marathon debut, and his target is breaking the course record of 2:05:12, set by Stanley Biwott in 2012. Bekele has been preparing for his marathon debut in Addis Ababa where he trains on altitude. He added long runs to his training program which went really well. Although he prepared well, it will be a big question how his first marathon will go. His future goal is to once break the World Record for the marathon. Former World Record holders Haile Gebrselassie and Paul Tergat only broke the World Records in their fifth marathon. Informs Global Sports Communication in a release. Statistician Ken Nakamura notes that the fastest debut time on the standard course is 2:04:16 by Denis Kimetto, and the fastest debut by over 30 years old runner is 2:06:16 by 37 years old Mark Kiptoo. Paul Tergat made his marathon debut in 2001 London Marathon when he was 31 years old and finished second in 2:08:15. Haile Gebrselassie ran 2:06:35 on his “Elite Marathon” debut at 2002 London Marathon (he was almost 29 years old).
(Editor’s note: One of the most medaled and racy savvy runners of all times, Kenenisa Bekele, is preparing to debut at the marathon. Actually, all of the prep work is done. How will Bekele do? We think quite well, but, we are willing to give Kenenisa three races to figure it out. Bekele trains hard, and Jos Hermans, the manager, keeps expectations down. Should be a real race across the streets of Paris, and RunBlogRun will be covering the event live.)
