On Sunday, the game of marathoning witnessed one thing past perception—a lady breaking the two:10 barrier. Simply two years in the past, this is able to have appeared like a wild fantasy, but Ruth Chepngetich did precisely that on the 2024 Chicago Marathon, breaking the tape in a jaw-dropping 2:09:56.
To place her time in perspective, it will have certified her for the boys’s Olympic marathon at Tokyo 2020, and it’s a mark solely 4 Canadian males have (ever) crushed. When Tigst Assefa ran 2:11:53 in Berlin final yr, I believed we wouldn’t see that mark challenged for years, however Chepngetich firmly put Assefa’s file previously.
Whereas many within the operating neighborhood have raised eyebrows at Chepngetich’s outcome, citing Kenya’s present doping issues and the truth that she set private bests for almost each cut up in the course of the race, I’m inclined to present her the good thing about the doubt. She has been among the many world’s prime marathoners for the final 5 years, and she or he has dominated the Chicago Marathon not too long ago, profitable three of the final 4 editions, solely lacking out in 2023 when she was runner-up to perhaps essentially the most dominant distant runner in historical past–Olympic champion Sifan Hassan. With supreme climate on Sunday, an apparently flawless coaching build-up and years of expertise, Chepngetich had the proper circumstances for this breakthrough.
However there’s one issue I feel deserves scrutiny, and it’s one which casts a shadow over this historic achievement: pacing. Pacing in ladies’s marathons has reached some extent the place I consider it undermines the spirit of the game. Let’s be clear—this isn’t to take something away from Chepngetich’s unimaginable efficiency, and to be honest Assefa had the identical factor when she set her mark in Berlin. Pacing makes up a small a part of the race, however its influence might be profound. It creates an surroundings the place some athletes are given a transparent benefit over others.
In my opinion, it’s time for World Athletics to implement a rule that limits pacers in skilled fields to a particular distance. This might stop feminine athletes from being guided all the way in which to record-breaking outcomes—one thing we’ve seen occur twice within the final twelve months. World Athletics at present has no guidelines relating to how far a pacer can run in a marathon. Nonetheless, there’s a acknowledged ladies’s-only marathon file of two:16:16, the place no male pacing help is allowed—now greater than six minutes slower than Chepngetich’s new world file.
Early within the Chicago Marathon, it appeared like Ruth Chepngetich was operating up on her pacers, however now it seems a bit extra like she’s being dragged. However she’s nonetheless transferring at an unimaginable tempo by way of mile 18. If she retains this up, she’s going to destroy the world file. pic.twitter.com/9AoCBr0hZU
— Quick Girls (@fast_women) October 13, 2024
In Sunday’s race, Chepngetich and Ethiopia’s Sutume Kebede had three pacers who have been alleged to convey them by way of the midway mark (21.1 km) in 65 minutes. The tempo from Chepngetich was so aggressive early on that they reached the midway level in 64:18–the quickest half-marathon cut up ever recorded in a ladies’s marathon (solely 12 seconds behind Chepngetich’s Kenyan file). As Kebede fell again after midway, one pacer peeled away, however Chepngetich nonetheless had two male pacers blocking the wind and taking her to 42 km. With out Chepngetich’s pacers taking her to the top, there isn’t any approach she would have damaged 2:10.
Sure, followers crave quick occasions. However this race felt predetermined from the beginning. Chepngetich was the clear favorite heading into Sunday’s occasion, and, to me, there was by no means any query whether or not she’d win. But each time the digital camera centered on her, I couldn’t assist however marvel, when are these pacers going to drop off? What makes many monitor occasions so thrilling is their unpredictability. Each time an athlete traces up, there’s a real query of who will win, with out anybody having a aggressive benefit or (on this case) blocking the wind for them whereas they draft behind. If I knew the end result of a sports activities recreation earlier than it began, I wouldn’t hassle tuning in, and that’s how Chepngetich’s world file felt. The joy comes from watching the sport unfold, realizing that even the perfect groups should earn a win with out shortcuts.
World Athletics is aware of that data drive curiosity and enhance viewership, which is why I feel they’re hesitant to vary any guidelines round pacing. But it surely’s price contemplating that extra restrictive pacing guidelines may make every marathon really feel extra like a real race and fewer like a time trial. My argument isn’t to remove pacers fully, however to implement a rule the place they can’t run previous the 30 or 35 km mark in a marathon. This rule may imply that not each occasion ends in a brand new nationwide or world file, however it will restore a way of competitors to races just like the Chicago Marathon. It’s time to make sure equity and produce again a few of that unpredictability. In spite of everything, a marathon needs to be concerning the race, not simply the clock.
