by Justin Lagat
Justin Lagat writes about the busy weekend upon us. He also reminds us that Eliud Kipchoge and Brigid Kosgei have let us know, just weeks ago, that getting a world-leading time in the men’s and women’s marathons may be quite difficult.
Eliud Kipchoge, running, photo by NN Running team
Brigid Kosgei, photo by World Marathon Majors
While more marathons usually mean more opportunities for runners to compete, earn and build their profiles; they also say that too much of something is poisonous, and they may have been referring to the happenings of this Sunday.
Looking at the number of marathons scheduled, one cannot help but wonder if there should be a limit on the number of marathons that should happen in a day. On Sunday, marathon fans will be spoilt for choice on which marathon to follow among Paris, Daegu, Madrid, Hannover, Barcelona, and Milano marathons, among others.
Runners in Spain will have two big marathons happening on the same day in their country, which will mean that if one is not in a good form, or is injured, to run a marathon this weekend, then two chances to run a marathon will pass them just like that! The more the marathons are spaced out, the better for runners as they will have enough time to try running well in one, recovering and focusing again on the next one.
Kenyans for example will have two of the biggest marathons in their country; the Eldoret City Marathon and the Nairobi Marathon happening in April and October respectively. This will make it possible for runners in the country to be able to participate in both races.
As more than seven marathons take place this Sunday, runners who will win any of them will not get the full attention and coverage as they would if there were just one or two big marathons happening.
Fans will also have the trouble of moving from one screen to the other before settling on one marathon to watch.
Just like the fans, the media will also be trying not to miss anything in all the races and will be hovering between different taps on their computers to check on time splits for possible course records, national records, and other possible notable performances.
Interestingly, Eliud Kipchoge and Brigid Kosgei; the two world record holders for the men’s and women’s marathons have already set the bar high when it comes to registering new world-leading times this year after running 2:02:40 and 2:16:02 respectively at the Tokyo Marathon early this month. So, they may have helped rule out the possibility of new world-leading times happening again this year.
