Is Kipchoge jogging or joking ahead of INEOS 159?

by Enock Bett · October 11, 2019

Is Kipchoge jogging or joking? A cloud of mixed hopes and doubts has swept the World and Kenya in particular as Eliud Kipchoge jogs ahead of the INEOS challenge this Saturday. Is it possible to run a 42 KM race in less than two hours? Is it really humanly possible? Is it even mathematically valid? Or is the world pressuring the global athlete to do the unthinkable? What an interesting time to be alive.

This Saturday Eliud Kipchoge hits the streets of Vienna, the capital city of Austria to attempt the greatest feats in the history of athleticism in the world that nobody has ever done. Dubbed INEOS 159 Challenge, the Sub-2 Hour Marathon is financed by Britain’s richest man Jim Ratcliffe who sent his private jet to fly Eliud Kipchoge from his home in Kaptagat, Eldoret all the way to Austria. Jim owns INEOS, one of the world’s largest manufacturing companies operating in 24 countries in the world.

The highly publicized event will take place in Vienna’s park, the Prater Hauptallee, which stretches to around 4.3KM. Kipchoge will need to run 4.4 laps to complete the 42KM marathon race. The organizers said they chose Vienna after conducting a wide survey across the globe and analyzing Kipchoge’s past performance and his training camp time zone in order to minimize interference of the athlete’s routine patterns.

Pressure.

Back in Kenya, a chilling atmosphere of fear varied with optimism has swept the country. Social Media for the last four days has been filled with abuzz of activities about the Eliud 159 challenge, from citizens, politicians to corporates that have never supported any sports activities in this country, everyone pledging their support for Eliud Kipchoge.

Kenya’s Telco giant Safaricom changed its MPESA logo for the first time since it was founded in support of Kipchoge, therefore, making him the brand’s ambassador. The CEO Michael Joseph said the company will provide free YouTube data bundles for its customers to catch the Austria event live. KCB and Isuzu are among other multi-billion companies that have pledged their support for Eliud.

Well, I guess this kind of global pressure might affect the performance of the athlete positively or negatively. This is what he had to say regarding the pressure exerted on him, “Pressure is everywhere, and I’m trying to stay as calm as possible.” The devil’s advocates have not been left out of this cloud. One of them noted down a calculation that has scared me and many others. According to the math, Kipchoge would need to run at a speed of 5.4M/Second in order to beat the 1:59:59 hour race, something which is insanely so fast for a human being.

In his scholarly article, titled; ‘Optimal Marathon Performance on the Basis of Physiological Factors’, Dr. Michael Joyner predicted that the fastest and absolute limit a human being could run a 42KM marathon is 1:57:58.

No human is limited.

However, according to Eliud, no human is limited and everyone can take the brakes off their heads and believe the impossible is possible, who sets the limits anyway? “This race means a lot. I just have to make that click in people’s minds that no human is limited.” He said.

Only 26 seconds.

In May 2017, Eliud Kipchoge was only 26 seconds away from making a world history when he participated in a Monza motor racing marathon in Italy. Kipchoge who ran a 42KM Breakings2 project, finished the marathon in 2:00:25, therefore proving the possibility that one could run a 42KM marathon in less than 2-hours.

Why it would not be a world record.

About 2 years on, the international athlete Eliud Kipchoge is set to break this barrier to set a new historic record despite contravening some of the IAAF rules which guide on world records settings and would not be therefore eligible for world records if he breaks it. IAAF requires that a valid World Record does not have the pacemakers rejoining the race. Kipchoge selected 41 pacemakers who would be rejoining the race in an attempt to shield and encourage him from the start to the very last step of the race.

“I feel more prepared, more ready and more confident. I have been running with that (sub-two-hour) speed for the past two years, so it is not a case of wondering how I am going to do it.

“Nothing is 100 percent certain but I can assure you I am calm and looking forward to Saturday,” he explains. “Saturday is about making history that no human is limited and about giving positivity to the world and making sure every human being, smiles.” He said.

The event will be live-streamed on various major news outlets and INEOS official channels.