Tactics the future of the marathon: How Kiptum, Chebet beat their foes
This year’s men’s Boston and London marathons will be analysed and talked about for years to come, not only for their results but more for the tactical prowess of the Kenyan winners.
At the much-hyped Boston Marathon, the elite field of Evans Chebet, Gabriel Geay, Benson Kipruto, Albert Korir and Eliud Kipchoge ran one of the most tactical marathons in recent history.
Looking at each of the top athletes’ splits, one easily notices a mixture of positive and negative splits with each one trying to out-maneuver the other one.
It was not a race for amateurs, and neither was it for the faint-hearted, with the rain not making it any easier.
The lead pack ran the race in mixed splits which is usually very disorienting for those not orchestrating it.
As far as this tactic goes, the athlete with the best finishing power usually breaks off at the 40-kilometre mark, hoping the rest will not catch up.
That is what Chebet did, putting on a killer pace that Gaey could not match, with the Kenyan winning the race in two hours, five minutes and 54 seconds.
At the London Marathon, the story was different.
Riding on the momentum of winning and setting the course record of the Valencia Marathon at 2:01:53 and in good shape, Kelvin Kiptum was a man on a mission.
He started the race at a fast pace and thanks to that, by the half-marathon point, big names like Kenenisa Bekele were struggling.
As if that was not enough, Kiptum increased his pace in the second half of the race, a concept known as negative splitting.
So fast was Kiptum that by the 35th kilometre, he was running a pace of 2.46-minutes-a-kilometre, crossing the 40-kilometre mark at a blistering one hour and 55 minutes.
This pace was faster than the famous 2019 INEOS 1:59 Challenge averages of between 2:48 minutes per kilometre and Geoffrey Kamworor’s 2:52 minutes per kilometre.
By this point in time, Kiptum was threatening both the London Marathon course record and the world record too!
He missed the world record by 16 seconds when he won in 2:01:25., a situation brought about by the slower time on the last two kilometres thanks to the negative splitting he did in the second half of the race that was now taking its toll on him too.
The Boston Marathon is one of the oldest annual competitive marathons with this year’s race being the 127th edition.
The course heads downhill for the first 25 kilometres with the next eight kilometres being downhill and flat towards the finish line.
This could explain Chebet’s faster splits compared to Kiptum’s.
DNation bodytext: Despite the increased likelihood of a sprint finish at the Boston Marathon, the race has historically been shrouded by challenges.
This last event marked the 10th anniversary of the 2013 bombing that happened at the finish line.
This is not the only challenge elite athletes have faced.
In 2011, Geoffrey Mutai set the course record and a then world best time of 2:03:02.
However, he was denied the world record because of a high speed of the tailwind that the event organizers argued propelled him faster than athletes competing on alternative marathon courses.
Because the course of the Boston Marathon heads to the east from Hopkinton towards Boston, easterly winds could mess up athletes and deny them a win.
Similarly, in 2018, the event experienced the worst weather conditions in its history.
These elements were excessive driving rain, cold weather and very strong headwinds.
So bad was it that the athletes were forced to run a slower race than their anticipated time that the tactical Yuki Kawauchi and Desiree Linden won.
Kawauchi was the first Japanese men’s champion since 1987 while Linden was the first U.S. woman in 33 years to win the open division.
It is against this backdrop that Chebet learnt the need to use a mixed-splitting tactic to face and beat a formidable team of competitors including a world record holder.
Similarly, at London Marathon, Kiptum was facing three former London marathon champions who had great chances of success.
However, his younger age and the pedigree of being a fast half marathon runner with a personal best time of 58 minutes and 42 seconds (a minute slower than the existing world record – 57:31) influenced his decision to burn out all competitors by the 40-kilometre mark, enabling him to run a slower final two kilometres but still create a gap of more than three minutes with his closest competitor.
The marathon running technique remains the same. However, the tactics have evolved greatly since 2003 when Paul Tergat broke the world record in Berlin (2:04:55).
Over the ensuing 20-year period, the record had been broken eight times - six times by Kenyans and twice by Ethiopians.
So far, only three humans have run a sub 2:02:00 time in the marathon - Eliud Kipchoge, Kenenisa Bekele and now Kelvin Kiptum, and on different courses.
Does this mean that soon, thanks to tactics, race-course advantage will be a thing of the past?
Is the 2:01:09 world record under threat? Only time will tell, but it is clear, that if the data from the last 20 years is anything to go by, Kenyan marathon tactics are the best. BY DAILY NATION
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