Setting the scene

4
min OCT 2019

NO EVENT in athletics holds quite the same mystic or iconic status as the marathon.

The very first marathon commemorated the run of Pheidippides, who ran from a battlefield near Marathon in Greece to Athens in 490BC to announce the defeat of the Persians before promptly collapsing and dying.

Around 2,500 years later the idea of recreating a long-distance test was revived by Baron Pierre de Coubertin – the founder of the Modern Olympics.

Keen to retain the spirit of Pheidippides, a 40km marathon was held at the first Modern Games in Athens in 1896 as Greek water-carrier Spyridon Louis struck gold in a time of 2:58:50 to launch the marathon phenomenon.

The inaugural marathon proved so popular that one year later the Boston Marathon – the oldest annual marathon – was created.

Yet it was perhaps the marathon race at the 1908 London Olympics, which most significantly defined the marathon we know today.

The length of the 1908 London Marathon – from Windsor Castle to the White City Stadium – was initially fixed at 26 miles.

But, a late request from The Queen to move the start back to the East Lawn of Windsor Castle, from where the race could be seen by the royal children in their nursery, added a further 385 yards (352 metres) and so the official marathon distance was born.

The 1908 Olympic marathon is also remembered as one of the most iconic in history.

Italian Dorando Pietri entered the stadium first only to collapse near the finish.

He was helped over the finish line by a British official, but disqualified for achieving assistance.

The gold was awarded to American runner-up Johnny Hayes.

However, such was the public’s outpouring of sympathy for Pietri that he was awarded a special medal from the Queen.

NO ONE should underestimate just what it will take for Eliud Kipchoge to run 26 miles and 385 yards in 1:59:59.

Anyone, who has ever run a marathon, knows that.

British journalist Ed Caesar said that included professional athletes.

“Geoffrey Mutai’s prayer at the start line was not to win the race, but to finish it,” he said.

The body of a marathoner is believed to be burning so much fuel that it becomes a furnace on the move. Nothing but your own body will sustain you and there’s no charging station.

But that doesn’t stop the hordes of ordinary people who are drawn to test themselves to the limit every year by running a marathon alongside the world’s elite.

And every year the world’s best have been getting faster.

In 1988 Ethiopian Belayneh Densamo set a world record by running the Rotterdam marathon in 2:06:50.

Today Eliud holds the record as the fastest marathon runner, having completed the Berlin marathon in 2:01:39.

In his book, Two Hours: The Quest to Run the Impossible Marathon, Ed describes the sub-two hour marathon as ‘running’s Everest’.

“It is a feat once seen as impossible for the human body, but now we can glimpse the mountain top,” he wrote.

He believes it will require an exceptional feat of speed, mental strength and endurance.

“The pioneer will have to endure more, live braver, plan better, and be luckier than his forbearers,” he said. “So who is he?”

The team behind the INEOS 1:59 Challenge believe ‘he’ is Eliud Kipchoge. A 34-year-old Kenyan farmer who started running on a dirt track at 16.

And it’s with good reason. For Eliud believes he can do it too.

Tim Noakes, a retired South African professor who has run more than 70 marathons and ultra-marathons, said studies had shown that the brain controlled the muscles and the mind would be the greatest hurdle to breaking the two-hour barrier.

“You have to convince the brain it is possible‚” he said.

Eliud – and the team around him – have already cleared that hurdle.

“I have visualised it,” said Eliud. “I have put it in my heart and my mind that I will break the two-hour barrier.”

IT is human nature to push boundaries. To continue to learn, develop and achieve more. But it’s also human nature to put limits on yourself – and others. It is that attitude, that state of mind, which Eliud hopes to change by breaking through the two-hour barrier. His legacy may be one for the history books, but this is his chance to inspire people to do great things, even beyond sport, to challenge themselves in a way they may never have dared. “Any human being can go beyond their limits,” he said. “Any human being can go beyond their thoughts. But self-belief is crucial.” “I totally believe in myself and believe in my teammates and my training.” It is this philosophy that is shared by INEOS and an exceptional group of men and women involved in sport, which has inspired the launch of No Human is Limited. Named after Eliud’s personal mantra, the campaign aims to encourage people from across the world to embrace this philosophy and believe that no one is limited in their lives. The campaign is supported by a team of high-profile ambassadors including four-time Tour de France winner Chris Froome. “To see Eliud break the two-hour record would show that limits can be defied and actually that limits should never be set in sport,” he said. “Who sets the limits anyway?”

3 min read

Ambassadors

ELIUD KIPCHOGE Any human being can go beyond their limits. No human being should be limited in their thoughts, in what he or she should be doing. Self-belief is crucial. CHRIS FROOME I don’t like to think in terms of limits. HERMANN MAIER It should never enter your head that something is impossible but tell yourself that it is possible instead. SIR BEN AINSLIE I think in terms of what your aspirations are, what your goals are, there really shouldn’t be any limits. ABDI NAGEEYE Why would you put a limit on yourself when you don’t even know what your limit is? ELAINE WYLLIE It’s our job to make children feel unlimited, to feel that they can do whatever they want to do, and achieve what they want to achieve. PATRICK VIEIRA You have to go beyond the limit - there should be no limits. There are no limits to what is possible.

1 min read

The Daily Mile Foundation

THIS will not be the end of the road for Eliud Kipchoge. Far from it. As a global ambassador for The Daily Mile, he plans to continue spreading the word about the importance of running – and inspire children around the world to be more active. “A running world is a peaceful world and a happy world,” he said. Earlier this year, the Kenyan father-of-three visited a school in Britain to run The Daily Mile with the children. It is a simple initiative which involves every child going outside for just 15 minutes to run or jog, at their own pace, with their classmates. Afterwards, the children asked Eliud about footwear, nutrition, sleep, his passion for running – and why he could run so fast. The Daily Mile was founded in 2012 by Scottish headteacher Elaine Wyllie, who was worried about her unfit pupils. Today about 1.8 million children from more than 8,600 schools in 65 countries now regularly run or walk for 15 minutes every day. A number of research studies have shown that children, who do The Daily Mile, are fitter, leaner, healthier and happier and more eager to learn when they return to their desks. It comes as no surprise to Eliud – and that’s why he is keen to use the legacy from the INEOS 1:59 Challenge to encourage every child around the world to think about their health and wellbeing – and start running. The Daily Mile Foundation is backed by INEOS.

2 min read