5 things we learned from the elite men’s London Marathon news conference
Ahead of the London Marathon this Sunday, the best in the world and the best of British took to the stage to answer questions from the global media. The Ethiopian trio of Kenenisa Bekele, Tamirat Tola and Leul Gebresilase were followed by Britons Emile Cairess, Marc Scott and Calum Hawkins. Here some of the five big talking points.
Can Bekele win aged 41?
Ethiopian distance great Kenenisa Bekele may be approaching his 42nd birthday, but he remains as competitive as ever, revealing he’d been running 200km a week in training. Having set the men’s masters (over-40s) record of 2:04:19 in Valencia last year, he’ll be hoping to roll back the years once more in London. ‘Twenty-five years is a long time in any sport. I’ve been here since 1999 and am still enjoying it a lot?’ What’s his secret? ‘Hard work.’
Kelvin Kiptum’s absence looms large
The news in February this year that marathon world record holder Kelvin Kiptum had been killed in a car accident shook the running world to its core. So much had been expected of the 24-year-old, who won the London Marathon last year and seemed destined to become the first person to run a sub-2hr marathon in an official race. ‘I’m very sorry [about] what happened to him,’ said Bekele. ‘Even in his short time, he set an amazing history. The [London] course record is under his name, and we are all remembering him.’
Cairess on confident form
Having already run an Olympic qualifying time, Emil Cairess doesn’t need to run on Sunday. That he’s decided to do so speaks of an athlete full of confidence. ‘Training’s gone well,’ he said. ‘I’ve done everything I wanted to do. I’ve progressed a long way and am hoping to show that on the weekend.’
No GPS, no problem
Wrist-based running tech is all the rage, with new devices offering more and more metrics for data-hungry runners to pore over. But two of Britain’s fastest ever marathoners expressed a fondness for a more back-to-basics approach during the London Marathon’s elite men’s press conference. Cairess, the first Briton home at last year’s London Marathon, where he ran a time of 2:08:07, confirmed he’ll be running with the same orange Casio as last time. ‘There are kilometre markers every kilometre, so all you need is a stopwatch. It will be more accurate than a GPS that around Canary Wharf might lose signal.’ Scotland’s Calum Hawkins went further: ‘On my first few marathons, I didn’t even bother with a watch. There are pacemakers there and mile markers. If it were up to my, I’d pick a race where I don’t have to worry about time. Just go out and race, throw the watch out the window.’
British record not a goal (yet)
The British marathon record of 2:05:11 was set by Sir Mo Farah at the 2018 Chicago Marathon. Asked if it was a realistic target on Sunday, Cairess replied: ‘I’ll be trying to run 3min/kms, something like that [2:06:35 marathon pace]. Mo’s British record is something I definitely want to beat in the near future, but I’m not looking at that this weekend.’
For marathon debutant Marc Scott, the aim is simple: ‘For me, the main goal is to knock out that Olympic standard [2:08:10],’ he said. ‘But marathon running is improving in this country and there’s no reason why people on this stage can’t be looking to get near that record in the near future.’
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