It is finally time for the Boston Marathon! Possibly the most famous event in running (though not the biggest - the NYC Marathon boasts around 53,000 finishers to Boston’s 38,000), the Boston Marathon goes down on Monday April 17th - if you’re based on the east coast of Australia you can catch it from about 11:30pm on Monday.
THEN just six days later we’ve got the London Marathon in the prime time evening slot for us Aussies, featuring friend of the show, Brett Robinson, as well as Ellie Pashley. Read on below for more from Fraser and Elise on the big marathons coming up. If you like to enjoy your couch time with some themed snacks - Dunkin’ is from Boston, and virtually nothing consumable comes from London. Maybe a cup of tea.
Also in this issue - FTK has joined Patreon and has some huge stuff on the way for subscribers, we ponder what’s next for the Aussie elites, and we watch a video on Melbourne’s fastest chef*
Let’s jump in.
*maybe
by Fraser Darcy
If you just want to skip ahead to official previews, here are some options:
Ay! The Bawston mahrathon is cawming up folks and in case yawll don’t know it, it’s very impawtant. And that’s where my effort at producing a Bostonian accented report ends, but you get the vibe, yeah? You can almost imagine Kipchoge embracing the accent with a “ay, no hooman is f**ken limited, what do you think this is. You stoopid?”
Kipchoge? Yep, the big dog is entered for his second ever USA marathon and could be in the frame to run another world best time. His last race was his World Record run in Berlin so it’s easy to extrapolate the data and say he could be on for a faster time on the downhill point-to-point course. Kip and the boys actually train on a long run loop in Kenya nicknamed ‘Boston’ for its rolling hills, so the big (little) fella won’t be going in unprepared.
Unfortunately, since 1990, times at Boston no longer count as official World Records but still, if he runs 2:00:xx everybody will lose their freakin’ minds so prepare for the questions from your non-running friends on what that actually means and why it’s not a world record.
It would be kind of nice to see a world’s best time set at Boston considering its place in the pantheon of marathon history. History lesson time! In 1896, the first official marathon race ever was organised during the first modern Olympic Games in Greece, to honour Pheidippides’s little jaunt between Marathon and Athens. The following year the Bostonians liked the concept so much they recreated their own hilly point to point course and have been doing it ever since. In 1966 Boston also became the first marathon a woman completed so it has definitely played its part in ensuring the legacy of the marathon became a famous race all around the world. Hence, it’s kind of a big deal in marathon history.
Every Major marathon has a stacked field obviously and you can read the official men’s and women’s press releases here and here. What’s interesting to point out is that Kipchoge will be up against three former winners (2013/15’s Lelisa Desisa, 2021’s Benson Kipruto and 2022’s Evans Chebet) who may all supposedly have the upper hand when it comes to course familiarity. The first time Kipchoge ran Berlin he lost that race (in 2013) so maybe he could be vulnerable on his Boston debut too? He also lost in London in 2020 on a cold and rainy day and, it’s an early forecast we know Nick Earl, but it’s meant to be cold and rainy on Monday too so let’s see what happens. But hey, if it goes well for him, 2:03:02 is the course record to beat so go get it Eliud!
Lastly, for our Aussie readers watch out for Tenille Ellis who is likely to be the highest placed finisher for us. Her PB of 2:39 from Gold Coast last year puts her in touching distance of having a crack at the fastest Aussie women in Boston ever with that honour currently going to Sue Mahony (2:33:07, 1995). Jess Stenson is listed in the official fields but is now focused on growing a human inside her (to be the next heir to the athletics throne capable of 800m to Marathons…) and will not be running.
by Elise Beacom
British athlete Phil Sesemann is into dogs, doctoring and running (in no particular order). Based in Leeds, Phil is an accident and emergency doctor, with running as his dominant focus for now. His four-legged training partners are Kipchoge, who runs 20 miles with a ball in her mouth, and notorious half-stepper Haile (“Gebrselassie” is a mouthful in the dog park). Both gobble up frankfurters after long runs. When Phil does important marathon sessions, he leaves the doggos home. “I don’t want to be stuck picking up my dog’s turd in the middle of a 10-mile tempo,” he told The Blue Line.
I met Phil in Iten, Kenya in January where he was laying down some solid altitude training ahead of his London Marathon 2023 campaign. The adidas athlete had recently outkicked 1500m world champion Jake Wightman in a dramatic 3000m indoor race in Sheffield. “For the entertainment value, it couldn’t have panned out any better, but obviously that’s the sharpest I’m ever gonna be and probably the bluntest that Jake’s ever going to be, so it means nothing… I’ll definitely blow up the photo and show it to the grandkids, it might go over the fireplace,” Phil said.
There was good logic behind adding a couple of 3000m races to Phil’s calendar. Phil did some physiological testing post-London 2022, where he came 10th and ran a PB of 2:12:10. (He’s actually run 2:12 at London twice.) Discovering that his VO2 max was relatively weak for his level of running, he and coach Andrew Henderson decided to work on his top end speed between marathons. (In terms of sessions, we’re talking 20 x 400m off a 100m jog and 15 x 600m off 75 seconds, etc.) It worked a treat – repeat testing showed a significant increase in Phil’s efficiency and turnover at pace, which laid the foundations for further aerobic training. This data-driven approach was new for Phil who usually likes to run by feel.
Phil’s build for London last year was a bit haphazard, despite running a PB. He didn’t have a heap of time to play with following on from the European Athletics Championships in August and unfortunately got covid during that period. After a subpar result at the Big Half in September (65:40), Phil remembers sitting at Gatwick Airport contemplating skipping his altitude camp and perhaps even the marathon itself:
“I was sat at the Wetherspoons with two pints of Pepsi Max, so buggered, looking at a train to go back to Leeds and just bin it off because I felt so bad and that [the race] had gone so badly. But I thought just go all in and see what happens, and it paid off.”
This year, training has gone well. Phil hopes to run 2:09 at London and secure a third successive top 10 finish. “Hopefully this is a stepping-stone to take a pop at the Olympic time at the end of the year,” he said. It’ll be the third time Phil lines up at London, where he grew up and thrives on the pulsating crowds and comfort of familiarity.
Phil brought some home artefacts with him to Iten too – porridge oats, an AeroPress and his brother Rob. During long stints away he misses his girlfriend and the dogs (though he was pleased to report a dog joined his group for six miles on the morning of our interview). But when Phil saw the real Kipchoge in Kenya, he opted to admire him from afar:
“He [Eliud] was just getting accosted by so many people wanting photos and stuff that I thought he probably didn’t want another person shoving their phone in his face and saying ‘I named my dog after you’.”
by Elise Beacom
London, baby! The London Marathon is back in its rightful calendar slot (spring in England, autumn in Australia) after covid temporarily displaced it. There have been several notable dropouts from this year’s line-up, but there are still plenty of top-notch runners (including you, Brett!) in the mix to keep things interesting on 23 April. Let’s take a gander.
In the women’s field, the favourites are current marathon world record holder Brigid Kosgei (Kenya), Tokyo Olympics marathon gold medallist, Peres Jepchirchir (Kenya) and young gun Yalemzerf Yehualaw (Ethiopia) who won London Marathon 2022. On the men’s side, we have four of the five fastest men in marathon history lining up, including Kenenisa Bekele (Ethiopia) (Kipchoge is busy). There’s also London Marathon defending champion Amos Kipruto (Kenya), last year’s marathon world champion Tamirat Tola (Ethiopia) and Sir Mo Farah (UK). A killer list to say the least!
Two marathon debutants we can’t wait to watch are 2x Olympic gold medallist and 2x world champion Sifan Hassan (Netherlands) and Commonwealth Games 10,000m gold medallist Eilish McColgan (UK) who just broke the national record in the half marathon in Berlin (1:05:43), suggesting she’s in top form. Will they prevail against the wily beast that is the marathon? Shout outs to Phil Sesemann (UK) and Ross Braden (UK) who were out training in Kenya this year – we’ll catch up with Ross post-race to find out how everything went.
Closer to home we have our reigning Australian Record Holder in the men’s marathon, Brett Robinson who’s been training really well (you listen to FTK right?!) and is primed to channel big flamingo energies. Surf coast sweetheart Ellie Pashley returns to the marathon post bub (hi Tiggy if you’re reading). London is supposed to be a stepping stone marathon for Ellie to build on later this year, but after her performance at the World Athletics Cross Country Championships in Bathurst (19th!), anything is possible, and the weather is looking good, right Ellie? Speaking of weather (twice in one edition of The Blue Line for you eagle eyes out there), Nick Earl has had a decent training block despite his attempts to derail it with incessant bouts of gardening. Sadly, Sinead Diver was forced to drop out due to injury, but if there was a prize for most improved aqua jogger, we would surely give it to her (Matthew Centrowitz will present the trophy). NB: If this paragraph makes no sense, listen to the Road to London series on Inside Running.
The race will be prime time viewing for those of you based in Australia – here’s some info on where to watch/which VPN to activate.
If you haven’t seen it on social, and haven’t heard it on the latest episode of FTK, you can now support FTK on Patreon. Patreon is a subscription platform that allows audiences to pledge financial support to their favourite creators, in exchange for limited or exclusive content.
The FTK Patreon has a long list of benefits, but the summary is this - all new series’ will live on Patreon first, and in some cases exclusively (there’s a show with Jordy Williamsz and Gen Gregson that will live only on Patreon - goes live next week). The cash generated from subscriptions will go toward funding more and more content - paying for hosts, editors, production equipment, and more. Q&A moves across to Patreon, Izzi Batt-Doyle’s new series goes to Patreon first, and more.
You can check out the Patreon here - it’s about $19 AUD per month (incl GST).
The recent track and field national championships marked the end of the domestic season for our Aussie stars, but it may have left you wondering what’s next for them. Well, let us fill in some blanks because there are plenty more opportunities to support your favourite athletes (albeit from the couch, rather than live).
Andy Buchanan runs the Hamburg Marathon next weekend (same day as London). You can go back and listen to his Q&A ep from Episode 42 a couple of weeks ago for more on Andy - one of the loveliest people in running. Tom de Canto is also lining up in Hamburg and will be worth checking out.
On the same day in Japan, we’ll have Gen Gregson getting after a 1/2 marathon 🙌🏻 More on this via FTK next week.
The team from OAC will be heading over to Los Angeles for the Sound Running ‘On Track Fest’ in the first week of May. There’s an 800, 1500, steeple, 5000m, and 10,000m there so plenty of options. I would also expect some US based Aussies like Lauren Ryan and Amelia Mazza-Downie might be in the mix too.
The cream of the crop (think Cat Bissett, Jess Hull, Linden Hall, etc) will look to the Diamond League circuit, which also kicks off on May 5th - in Doha. There are 14 DL events throughout the season, so a lot of our best athletes will be based in Europe for the Aussie winter.
The interesting long range forecast right now will be to see which road running Aussies plan their year around Sydney Marathon. Look for some deep 10k and 1/2 marathon fields at Gold Coast in July 👀
TBL is not just about elite runners (well it mostly is, but that doesn’t mean we don’t have love for the amateur runners) - we came across this short film from Salomon about Melbourne’s fastest chef (not sure if true but could be), Attica’s own George Wintle.
George has his own social running group called ‘Ate Miles’ which aims to provide a space for hospitality workers to do something positive for their health, as opposed to hooning leftovers and enjoying a well earned breakfast beer at the end of each shift on the tongs. Find Ate Miles on the ‘gram here.
Anyway suss the clip to learn more about George, it’s a good time.