Where do we begin with that London Marathon? Sifan Hassan’s performance was simply stunning - she looked completely out of the race multiple times, but her win now puts her in serious consideration for the greatest women’s distance athlete of all time due to her range from 1500m all the way to the marathon.
The men’s side was just as thrilling a spectacle with Kelvin Kiptum nearly breaking the sport by almost eclipsing Eliud Kipchoge’s world record. It made me think - what would the reaction be had Kiptum broken it? Would we worship a new king?
Solid races for Brett and Ellie - for Brett to improve his placing to 7th is a great result, and for Ellie to get her first marathon back will be a great feeling. We’ll definitely see her target something fast in the back half of the year.
Locally, Jells Park Relays. No, we’re kidding, but it was great to have XC back in Victoria with some great racing from Ben Buckingham and the like.
Let’s jump into another big issue.
by Elise Beacom
London Marathon was packed with drama on Sunday. Here are some special moments in case you missed it (or your live stream shat itself).
It wasn’t a great week for Eliud Kipchoge who didn’t meet expectations at Boston and then had his course record (and almost world record) taken in London (and he was there to witness it). In his second marathon ever, Kenya’s Kelvin Kiptum won the race in 2:01:25, defying the conditions of the day to run a massive negative split. His second half (59:45) was the fastest half marathon ever run within a marathon. Kelvin destroyed the field with a massive injection of pace after 30km (we’re talking a 13:49 5-km split). The 23-year-old could be knocking on the door of Eliud’s world record very soon.
Sifan Hassan looked every bit a first-time marathoner on the London Marathon course, until she won the thing. The highly accomplished Dutch track runner was so nervous before the race (see this very relatable pre-marathon clip here) and looked uncomfortable in the first half. She was chilling at the back of the lead pack – normal behaviour for Sifan during track races – but she appeared to be just holding on. Here are the major plot points:
Sifan had fasted during the month of Ramadan (no eating or drinking in daylight hours) which only ended last Friday, meaning she hadn’t had much practice with drinks. The inexperience showed – she was jaunty around the drink stations, running into motorbikes, wasting energy and needing to surge to join the group again.
At 19km, Sifan grabbed her hip and stopped to do some stretches, before continuing with a grimace (the commentators suggested she consider dropping out and saving it for another day.) If you ever have a rough patch in a marathon, channel Sifan.
Somehow Sifan clawed back onto the lead pack with about 6km to go and was looking better and better. In a tell-tale gesture at 40km, Sifan offered her bottle to one of her competitors. Last year’s London winner Yehualaw Yalemzerf (Ethiopia) gave her a “WTF?” look and spat something out of her mouth that looked suspiciously like vomit.
With 200m to go, Sifan burned off Alemu Megertu (Ethiopia) and Tokyo Olympics marathon gold medallist Peres Jepchirchir (Kenya) to take the win in 2:18:33. Wow.
What about our Aussies? In the women’s wheelchair division, Madison de Rozario won her second London Marathon in a sprint finish that also saw her break the course record. Our mate Brett Robinson finished 7th in 2:10:19. He went through halfway in 63:38, but battled through a windy second half. Running much of the race with Sir Mo Farah (UK), Brett got some decent screen time, and the BBC commentary team gave For the Kudos a shout out, which was cool (listen to his full race recap on this week’s ep). Mo eventually ran out of steam and finished 9th in his final competitive marathon (fellow Brit Phil Sesemann outkicked Mo in the finish chute for 8th in a PB of 2:10:23). Ellie Pashley came 13th, running 2:29:37 and seemed to go through halfway (73:18) without much company. Ellie had been nursing sickness and a niggle in the weeks before the race, but it was great to see her get a marathon on the board post-pregnancy. We know she’ll be unstoppable in the next one.
Marathon world record holder Brigid Kosgei (Kenya) stepped off the course hobbling within 3 minutes and 30 seconds of the race starting. (Wonder if she got paid for at least starting the race?) And Kenenisa Bekele (Ethiopia) also dropped out sometime after 25km. Okay, that’s a wrap. Time for a cuppa.
by Fraser Darcy
Two cents on (Billy) Eilish’s - bad guy act.
Over 48,000 people finished the London Marathon. One who wasn’t there, even after being included in Elise’s profile in the last issue, was Eilish McColgan, the current British record holder for the 5km, 5000m, 10 000m and half-marathon. British running fans were hoping she’d hoover up Paula Radcliffe’s 21 year old marathon record on debut. But alas, Eilish couldn’t get her shit together enough to have a go at her first marathon.
Is that harsh? Well maybe… but maybe not too…
First, here are the facts. Eilish self-reported a hamstring tear from her Berlin half performance a few weeks ago that affected her preparation and led to some knee swelling. Fair enough excuse yes, but also, if you’re focusing on a marathon what are you doing pushing it into the red so close? Eilish also shared that ‘life has swallowed me up’ in dealing with the stress of injury and also a sponsor clash debacle. Again, in her words she was told she wouldn’t be allowed to race due to a clash between her sponsor Science in Sport and the London Marathon sponsor Lucozade. In a time where the cost of living crisis is hitting Britain hard, crying poor me about sponsor issues precluding your own personal financial gain is a little bit of ‘turn it up’ as Andrew Gaze might say. But hey, on the face of it, leaving judgement aside, that’s three things that will make any person stress out a bit in their preparation for the Marathon, let alone their first.
BUT THATS WHAT MAKES THE MARATHON SPECIAL. It isn’t an easy race to prepare and execute well. Of the 48,000 people who finished on Sunday, a large majority would’ve had to deal with shit in their lives just to get to the start line. They get through it all, and the actual race itself because they want it badly enough. So does Eilish appreciate that aspect of the marathon, or is she hoping to have everything go her own way whenever she chooses to debut? If she was just being ‘professional’ and respecting her injury she didn’t have to divulge the sponsor issue as another factor in her decision so was she clutching at straws to defend her decision? Her final comment, and this is nitpicking territory, that she is ready to run a ‘fast marathon’ leads to the impression that she doesn’t respect the marathon enough too. Forget about a fast marathon, just get one finished first please Eilish and then maybe you can start dictating what sponsor logos you can wear…
In closing, and with some unsolicited advice, perhaps Eilish should listen to the latest Q&A episode (out for Patreon members, I’m sure she's subscribed) where Davey boy spoke to some physio experts about the connection between health, society and culture in the development of injuries before registering for her next marathon. If that fails, a look and listen to Sifan Hassan’s approach to her debut wouldn’t go astray either…
by Elise Beacom
When British athlete Ross Braden hits a rough patch in a marathon, he thinks of Brett Robinson. Brett thinks about flamingos. I’m not sure what flamingos think about.
Ross had hoped to run a big PB at London Marathon on Sunday, but finished in 2:15:47 after battling quad cramps for most of the second half. Though it marked his second fastest marathon ever, Ross was disappointed. (It turns out even elites struggle to resist signing up for another marathon within 48 hours of a disappointing performance.)
“I considered dropping out because it was quite painful, but the pain wasn’t getting any worse so I thought I’d just carry on and see if it went at all, but I was just losing time,” he told me on the phone after the race.
Ross first shared his back story with me in Iten, Kenya in January, where he was training the house down. Though not a sporty kid, Ross discovered he was “not terrible” at cross-country and has run ever since. He steadily improved as a club runner until he was struck down with chronic fatigue and glandular fever, which left him bedbound for six months in 2016. The time off made him reassess his running and make a conscious shift to take things more seriously. Ross had a breakthrough year in 2022 when coach Phil Kissi helped him progress from a 2:21 marathon PB (Pulford, 2021) to 2:16 (Seville, 2022) and then 2:14 (London, 2022). He signed with Mizuno in late 2022.
Another seismic leap was planned for London this year, which Ross acknowledged carries a level of risk in a marathon. “2:10 was going to be a big swing for me… but I don’t regret going out at that pace, because you’ve got to have a go at these things otherwise you’re not going to make these big jumps,” he said.
To state the obvious, marathons are hard, and sometimes they go wrong despite a near perfect training block (stitches, cramps, bleeding nipples, projectile bowels – oh let us count the ways). One of Ross’ biggest strengths is his resilience and positive self-talk in races, having spent a lot of time working with sports psychologists and honing his mental techniques. His top strategies to push through a marathon include:
Focus on enjoying marathon day. “You run your best when you’re enjoying yourself.” Ross looked very relaxed soaking up the cheers aimed at Kenenisa Bekele on the start line at London.
Don’t panic if you lose the group you’re running with. “Stay calm, be in the moment, you’re going through a bad patch, let’s just keep working on leg turnover and you’ll get back to them.”
Pass the time in the middle of the marathon by singing all the words to a song in your head over and over. Ross chose Non-Stop from the Hamilton soundtrack for London: “Because it’s quite a long song, it can take up quite a bit of time.” Another fave is Super Freaky Girl by Nicki Minaj.
Practice your ABCs and stop focusing on how tired your legs are. Make a list in your head of names starting with each letter of the alphabet.
Make the most of the atmosphere. “Use the crowd support from all the people who’ve come out to watch and will be happy for you regardless of what you run.”
Think of Brett. “I’ve gotten a stitch in every marathon, and Brett Robinson talks about suffering from the same thing and he ran 2:07, so I had that in my mind ‘If he can get a stitch and run 2:07, you can get a stitch and keep going.”
Avoid catastrophising. “Don’t write the story before it finishes.”
Get a race day hairdo for that fresh fast feeling (okay, this last one is a stitch up –“Braids” Braden’s hairstyle didn’t make the distance to London).
Ross also had some great advice for people trying to hit big marathon goals and bouncing back from disappointment: “You’ve got to look at it as a journey, not just that big one day. You get fitness from the whole training block, so whatever happens on the day, it’s about looking at the long-term picture.”
We hope you take your own advice Ross, because the big-picture looks very promising.
by Fraser Darcy
At one of our regular hourly briefings here at Grattan House we threw up the Sydney Marathon Course for a quick course dissection. With Andrew and Jolie being announced as the winners behind the Train with FTK competition, it's time we got serious about what they’re actually training for come September.
The initial comments were:
Wow, look at all the epic photo vantage points!
Hey it passes near five different record stores, cool!
There’ll be course markings right, like they have in trail races? Or do we download the GPX???
It’s got a lot of turns in it, doesn’t it?
Yes there’ll be course markings and even road closures, of course I know that, it’s called being a trail running smart-ass. Even if there wasn’t, just following the stampede of runners is how most will experience the race (except for maybe Joel who’ll be bopping away in a record store somewhere maybe). But the turns, yes, there are a lot of turns. At least 30 in fact that are greater than 90 degrees when using the ‘eyeballing it’ method. At first glance that indicates it could be a slow course for the fast runners among us. At a stretch, Australia’s gold standard of fast courses, Gold Coast, has less than 15 similar turns. Using the same method, Berlin has around 20 turns and Valencia has about 25 turns, both the global gold standard when it comes to ‘fast courses’. And these turns slow you down obviously. But turns also break up your focus and allow you to reset. This is a positive for the hopefully 30,000 plus runners for whom the 2-3 seconds a turn slows you down is barely noticeable in their end time.
And with all those turns you get value for your money! Try visiting the Sydney Harbour Bridge, a bunch of other famous places and of course, the SYDNEY OPERA HOUSE all in one day. You’d have to find at least ten different parking spots or catch five buses and that is terrifying on a weekend if you’re a tourist. Then, consider that not only will people be running the event, but there will also be thousands spectating too! Having a course with so many turns back on itself will make it very achievable for your family and friends to repeatedly encourage you on course.
Turns are one thing when it comes to looking at a marathon course. Elevation is the other. The profile doesn’t look too nasty in this image and knowing Sydney like I do the only hill to concern yourself with is the gradual rise after 20km from The Rocks to Flinders St. Apart from that, a total elevation gain of 365m with 405m descent (net downhill!) isn’t too bad in the scheme of things but if it enters the Major’s it will become the course with the hilliest profile. And for those concerned with World Records, the 40m overall decrease is only 2m under the mark required according to World Athletics Rule. But hey Phil Maffetone (a demi-god for Aerobic training and using fats as fuel) wrote a cool paper on how elevation doesn’t really matter in a race too where he makes the case for weather being a much bigger factor than elevation profiles.
Taking a step back at the end of our meeting, it was clear that this marathon may not be the fastest course possible through Sydney. But, by tipping our fast runner heads on the side and approaching it from the perspective of the general population (both here and internationally), of which Wayne Larden and the organising crew are aiming for, all that exposure to fans and iconic Sydney sites, and with the throng of hopefully 30,000 plus runners bopping along mind you and this course looks worth the entry fee and the experience of being part of potentially Australia’s first Major. So well played Wayne, the course gets my tick of approval, if it’s worth anything (maybe a free entry pls…).
ICYMI, The Gold Coast Diaries limited podcast series has launched on the FTK Patreon feed (you can listen to the first episode free on your normal FTK feed), featuring Jordy Williamsz and Gen Gregson as they both prepare for their debut marathons. The second ep just dropped and features some great insights from Gen about her recent half marathon in Gifu, as well as Jordy’s reaction to his first big marathon sesh.
If you want to check it out, hit the FTK Patreon here.
by Fraser Darcy
You can take the boy out of Bendigo but you can’t take Bendigo out of the boy (many have tried).
The focus may have been on London for the majority of Aussie marathon fans but for Bendigonians and listeners to FTK Q&A Session Forty-Two (ft. Andy ‘The Batman’ Buchanan) their attention was also on the Hamburg Marathon last Sunday night. Twelve months ago The Batman debuted there with a great run with 2:12:23. This year, shifting the focus more on to himself as described on FTK, Andy skipped the opener of the Victorian XCR season with the Bendigo Bats to once again toe the line in Hamburg. Don’t worry, he still wore a Bendigo singlet in the race on Sunday.
And he got to work in it early. On pace for a 2:08:high time at one stage, one hates to think how many Bendigonians were screaming at the German commentary and livestream for more shots of Andy. He was through the half at 1:04:48. Would Andy be the 7th person in the sub 2:10 WhatsApp Group? Familiarity with where he was going this year seemed to be helping in his favour as he continued at the 2:09:pace through the 30-35km mark. The last time split shows he lost a few biccies in the last five km’s (maybe he needed a Hash Brown?) as everyone but Kelvin Kiptum seems to do. Crossing the line in 2:10:20, a two-minute PB and equal 9th all-time Australian though, shows Andy is playing the Marathon game right by just taking a little bit of a chunk off each time. Speculation abounds now, if Andy lines up for a second marathon this year will the Olympic Qualifying Standard (2:08) be his next two-minute PB improvement aim? Or will the local council install a bat symbol light to welcome him home?
That’s it for this week. Thanks for reading The Blue Line and we’ll see you in two weeks 😎