User:Willbb234/Marathon

The Ineos 1:59 Challenge was a successful 2019 attempt by Kenyan athlete Eliud Kipchoge to break the two-hour mark for running the marathon distance. The event was specifically created for Kipchoge and held in Vienna, Austria, on 12 October 2019.

Due to rotating pacemakers, delivery of hydration by bicycle, and the lack of open competition, the achievement was not eligible to be ratified as a marathon world record, and is not recognized as such by World Athletics.

Eliud Kipchoge
Eliud Kipchoge (born 1984) is a Kenyan long-distance runner. He ran to school as a child but only began training seriously after he had graduated from high school. In 2003, at the age of 18, he won the 5000 metres event at the 2003 World Championships. Kipchoge moved to road running in 2013, when he finished second in the 2013 Berlin Marathon, later winning the 2014 Chicago Marathon, the London Marathon in 2015, 2016, 2018, and 2019, and the Berlin Marathon in 2015, 2017, and 2018, where he set a new world record. Kipchoge has also competed in the Olympic Games, where he has won a gold medal in the marathon in 2016 in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, and bronze and silver medals at the 5000-metre events at the 2004 and 2008 games.

The marathon world record had decreased by 16 minutes from the early 1950s to 2011, at which time the record was 2:03:59. A projection, by three researchers in 2011, based on an average of a roughly 20-second annual reduction in the record from 1960 to 2011, placed the 2-hour mark being broken in around 2021.

Kipchoge had previously attempted to run a sub-2 hour marathon at the Nike-organised Breaking2 project on 6 May 2017. The project involved two other runners, Lelisa Desisa and Zersenay Tadese, who attempted the feat, and 30 pacemakers. The attempt was held at the Autodromo Nazionale Monza, a Formula One track in Monza, Italy. The world record at the time was 2:02:57. During the attempt, Desisa began to fall behind the group of pacemakers around 11 mi, and, not long after, Tadese also began to fall away, leaving Kipchoge to be the only runner going through halfway in under 60 minutes. However, with about 4.5 mi left to go, Kipchoge began to drop of the pace and the pace car, driving precisely at a 1:59:59 pace, began to pull away. He managed to finish in a time of 2:00:25, thus meaning the attempt was unsuccessful, but still beating the world record by over two minutes. However, the record was not official; the pacemaking system was not compliant with standards set by World Athletics, which do not allow pacemakers to switch in-and-out of the race.

The attempt was criticised as publicity stunt and a disservice to the sport.

Summary
There were several changes from the 2017 previous attempt to break two hours. Instead of three participants, there was now only one participant, Eliud Kipchoge of Kenya, the world record holder in the men's marathon and the current defending Olympic marathon champion. Kipchoge set the marathon world record of 2:01:39 at the Berlin Marathon on 16 September 2018.

For the Ineos challenge, Kipchoge was joined by forty-one pacemakers, who rotated twice each lap and ran in a V-formation, rather than the diamond formation chosen for the previous attempt. Kipchoge was placed at the bottom of the formation with two pacemakers running behind him. Each lap of the course featured two 4.3 km out-and-back stretches of Hauptallee with the turning points coming at the Lusthaus and Praterstern roundabouts at either end of the avenue, in the Prater park. The entire route inclines only 2.4 m. Spectators were present for the attempt.

The organizers planned to run the event on Saturday, 12 October 2019, but they had a reserve window of eight days in case of poor weather conditions. The attempt was run on 12 October starting at 08:15 CET. Organizers allowed a start time between 05:00 and 09:00, but chose 08:15 to maximize viewership. The weather conditions were expected to be dry with a temperature of 9 C at the start, rising to 12 C at the finish.

Results
Kipchoge completed the challenge with an official time of 1:59:40.2, an average speed of 5.88 m/s.

The achievement was recognised by Guinness World Records with the titles "Fastest marathon distance (male)" and "First marathon distance under two hours". Note that this recognition does not equate to a marathon competition record.

Directly after finishing the run, Kipchoge stated: "I am feeling good. After Roger Bannister in 1954 it took another 63 years, I tried and I did not get it - 65 years, I am the first man - I want to inspire many people, that no human is limited."

Accessories and optimization strategies
The organizers of the attempt added many techniques during the run which cumulatively assisted Kipchoge and the pacemakers:
 * Pacing lasers guided the pacemakers and the main runner, thus allowing them to run at a precise pace and meaning energy was not lost in unwanted acceleration.
 * The route was carefully chosen to ensure that no effort would be wasted on battling the wind or on directional or incline changes. This was achieved by the fact that most of the course was lined with tall trees reducing wind, and the course was very flat.
 * The location of the race was chosen because its time zone was close to that of Kaptagat, Kenya, where Kipchoge trains. This meant Kipchoge would not be affected by jet lag or have his sleeping and eating patterns disrupted.
 * The route was picked to be at low altitude, to increase oxygen in the air and thus help performance.
 * Kipchoge wore an improved version of Nike's previously unreleased Vaporfly Next% running shoes, claimed to improve running economy by 4 percent. The shoes were not banned by the IAAF, and the top 10 men in the Chicago Marathon (held the next day) wore Vaporflys. It was reported that Kipchoge and Brigid Kosgei, who broke the women's world record in Chicago, wore bespoke versions of the shoe, with the model called AlphaFLY. The Nike Vaporfly that they wore has a carbon-fibre plate fitted in its chunky foam sole which supposedly helps propel the wearer forward. A group of athletes complained to the IAAF about the shoes, leading the governing body to create a working party to look at the issue. However, Kipchoge had set his world record wearing them a year earlier, as did Abraham Kiptum when he set the half-marathon record. In addition, the five fastest times over the distance were all set by runners wearing these shoes.
 * A V-shaped formation of pacemakers shielded the runner from wind resistance. An earlier attempt used a differently shaped diamond formation. Kipchoge was placed at the bottom of the formation with two pacemakers running behind him.
 * Hydration was provided by a team coordinator on bicycle, and not in the usual water station method, in order to save time.

The Breaking2 attempt had been held behind closed doors at Monza with just a few press and Nike employees present. Kipchoge missed the presence of a crowd there and requested that the public be allowed to attend the Ineos 1:59 Challenge.

Pacemakers
A team of forty-one runners served as Kipchoge's pacemakers in the challenge.