the new record set by Kenyan in Marathon

Not all sports are followed in India and not all achievements make great headlines !  In India a player of CLT20 perhaps garners more attention than an achiever in any other International competition.

Athletics is very interesting – in the sport of Running – there is vast difference between ‘long distance and sprint’.  In common parlance, anything of extended contest or great endurance is called ‘marathon’ – which in fact is a long distance running event with an official distance of 42.195 kilometres (26 miles and 385 yards), that is usually run as a road race.   Legend has it that this event is  in commemoration of the fabled run of the Greek soldier Pheidippides, a messenger from the Battle of Marathon to Athens.

The marathon was one of the original modern Olympic events in 1896, though the distance did not become standardized until 1921. More than 500 marathons are contested throughout the world each year, with the vast majority of competitors being recreational athletes. Larger marathons can have tens of thousands of participants.  The event is considered so masculine that long after the re-establishment of the marathon in the Olympics, distance races such as the marathon did not include female participants. Although a few women had run the marathon distance, they were not included in any official results. This long held tradition was challenged only in 1967. 

Of the very many marathons that are conducted,  World Marathon Majors is a championship-style competition that started in 2006. It comprises five annual races for the cities of Berlin, Boston, Chicago, London, and New York City. Two other races are also included in the series: the IAAF World Championships Marathon (in odd-numbered years) and the Olympic Games Marathon (in years evenly divisible by four).  

The Berlin Marathon is a major running and sporting event held annually in Berlin, Germany. First initiated in 1974, the event traditionally takes place on the last weekend in September.  With 40,827 enrolled starters from 107 countries, 35,913 official finishers and more than one million spectators for example in 2008 the Berlin marathon is one of the largest and most popular road races in the world.  World Marathon Majors series offers a $1 million prize purse to be split equally between the top male and female marathoners.  Most  marathon world records for men and women have been set at the Berlin course, which is known for its flat profile, even surface, cheering spectators, and its frequently mild autumn temperatures. This is  currently sponsored by BMW.

Patrick Makau Musyoki, a 25 year old from Kenya has created a new Rold record in marathon.  At the Berlin Marathon 2011, he set a new record by running the distance in  2:03:38, set at the 2011 Berlin Marathon. He is also notable for his half marathon performances, having won a number of prominent competitions in Europe. His time of 58:52 at the Ras Al Khaimah Half Marathon in 2009 is the sixth-fastest half marathon time ever run.

At Berlin on 25^th Sept 2011, Makau was set to duel against Haile Gebrselassie, the world record holder from Ethiopia. The Kenyan dropped his more experienced rival after the halfway point and went on to finish in a world record time of 2:03:38 (an average speed of 4:42.9 per mile), beating the existing record by 21 seconds. Prior to the race, he stated that he wanted to bring the marathon world recordback to Kenya, following on from a former record holder Paul Tergat. Speaking after the race, Makau said "In the morning my body was not good but after I started the race, it started reacting very well. I started thinking about the record and "At 32 kms I thought I could win the race and even break the world record.

In 1908 it was 2:55:18 set by Johnny Hayes of United States; the timing has dropped steadily and in Sept 2003, Paul Tergat of Kenya made it 2:04:55; which was subsequently beaten in 2007 by a timing of 2:04:26 by the Ethiopian, Haile Gebrselassie.  Gebrselassie is the winner of  two Olympic gold medals over 10,000 metres and four World Championship titles in the event.   Gebrselassie cut the time further short in 2008 by running the race in 2:03:59.  Incidentally all the recent records have occurred at Berlin Marathon in September months.

The feat of Gladys Burril who ran the marathon in 9 hours 53 minutes at 2010 Honolulu Marathon is quite laudable because the British woman is recognised as the oldest person @ 92 by the Guinness World Records.

With regards – S. Sampathkumar.