Eliud Kichoge, widely regarded as the greatest marathon runner in history, has been confirmed to run the Cape Town Marathon this year.
Image: Supplied
THE PROSPECTS of being on the same start line as the GOAT of marathon running has changed my approach to this year’s Sanlam Cape Town Marathon. I am going to race now. How can I not when there is the possibility of seeing Eliud Kipchoge on the road.
Having initially ‘retired’ from long distance running to focus solely on the 10km and half marathons, I was lured into this year’s marathon by an invitation from the sponsors Sanlam to be part of the full distance as Cape Town Marathon undergoes final assessment in their bid to become an Abbot’s World Major.
That is a good enough reason to change one’s mind, right? And so it was that I decided I’d go jog the marathon, take in the scenery for the first time in a race I’ve completed four times before – twice finishing the 42.195km distance in sub three hours.
The plan was to just dip under 3:20, a time good enough to earn me an age-appropriate qualification for the Majors (Boston, Chicago, New York, London, Berlin and Tokyo).
And then on Monday the organisers dangled a carrot that has seen me change my training programme, ramping it up to a sub-three hours schedule. It is crazy, I know. But it is worth a try.
I already qualify to start in the A-batch already thanks to my half marathon times. So I am sure to be very close to the elites and will catch a glimpse of the great Kenyan at the start line. And who knows, I could well run a few of the initial metres with him.
Kipchoge is going to run the Cape Town Marathon as part of his World Tour that will see him run a marathon on each of the world’s seven continents this and next year. I suspect he will probably not be going for victory as he seeks to inspire the world into taking up healthy living through running.
His presence has sent the social running scene abuzz, with many runners who chose to skip the May 24th Cape Town Marathon in favour of the Comrades Marathon in early June, kicking themselves for their decision.
And for good reason too, for any runner worth their salt would love to say I ran the same race as the multiple Olympic champion who was for many years the standard bearer of marathons. The Greatest Of All Time (GOAT) tag is not given willy-nilly. Kipchoge is worth it and more.
This, after all, is the man who held the world marathon record for a good six years, from 2018 to 2023. Kipchoge has won the Abbotts’ Majors a record 11 times – Berlin Marathon five times; London Marathon four times; Chicago and Tokyo once each.
The only two he has not won are the Boston and New York Marathons, though he has a sixth-place finish at the former.
Perhaps most special about the Kenyan is his willingness to break barriers through his two attempts to run a sub two hour marathon.
He failed in the initial one – Breaking 2 – in 2017 by just 25 seconds although the time was faster than the then world record, it was not ratified as such by the IAAF (now World Athletics) because he’d run aided by pacers in a non-competitive event.
Two years later Kipchoge ran a sub two hour marathon when he clocked a 1:59:40 during the Ineos 1:59 Challenge in Vienna Austria.
That record was also not ratified given that Kipchoge did not only run unchallenged on an airstrip but was also assisted by technology as well as a group of pacers who took turns in laps and protected him from the elements.
Still, that run elevated Kipchoge into superstardom, his willingness to put himself to the test an inspiration to many of us runners and the fact he later won his second Olympic Marathon title in Tokyo having also reigned supreme in Brazil in 2016 confirmed his status as THE GOAT of marathon running.
And in May I could well stand close to him at the start of the Sanlam Cape Town Marathon. Hopefully his greatness rubs off on me. Meantime let me go for that training run.