by Justin Lagat
The Impossible Games will be held on June 11 in Oslo, Norway. The Oslo Bislett Games is holding this amazing event. In honor of the amazing Maurie Plant, who passed at the end of last year, and was a guiding force with the Oslo Games, a 2000m event will be held in Oslo and in Kenya. In this piece, Justin Lagat comments on the unique concept.
Where there is a will, there is always a way.
The Oslo Diamond League organizers have come up with a brilliant idea that will see athletic fans across the world get an opportunity to watch some of their favorite middle-distance runners competing on the 11th of June in a split-screen that will show one team of runners running in Nairobi, Kenya while the other side will be showing runners in Bislett, Norway.
The runners will compete over the 2,000m distance on track in a race that has been dubbed as the “Impossible Games.” The Bislett Alliance wants to pay tribute to the legendary Maurie Plant, who passed away in January this year, with The Maurie Plant Memorial Race over 2000 meters.
One of the runners who will most likely be joining Timothy Cheruiyot in Kenya will be his training partner and Commonwealth Champion, Elijah Manangoi. The other side in Norway will include the Ingebrigtsen brothers.
The Nyayo National Stadium in Nairobi is expected to be the venue of the event in Kenya, despite the fact that there a few more renovations to be made within the next two weeks.
Each team will consist of five runners in which three of them will be required to finish the race. The winner will be the team with the best overall time for three runners. But individual times will count as well. Steve Cram, the European record holder at the distance with 4:51.39, will be commentating on the Impossible Games in English. His record could be in danger as he commentates on the race.
One challenge though, is that the runners will be running on different altitudes. Bislett Stadium is at a low altitude of about 50m above the sea level while the Nyayo Stadium in Nairobi is at an altitude of about 1,800m.
