Kipchoge breaks further frontiers, this time in education

On October 12 last year, the world watched in awe as Kenya’s Olympic marathon champion Eliud Kipchoge became the first man to run a sub two-hour marathon.

The hugely popular INEOS 1:59 Challenge, bankrolled by British petrochemicals concern INEOS, elevated Kipchoge to the levels of Neil Armstrong, who on July 20, 1969, became the first man to set foot on the moon.

Kipchoge’s memorable time of one hour, 59 minutes and 40 seconds broke the final major barrier of global distance running, echoing memories of Sir Roger Bannister’s mystical, ground-breaking sub-four-minute mile (3:59.04) clocked on May 6, 1954.

After the historic, technology-aided run on a bespoke route in a Viennese park, Kipchoge philosophically said he was out to prove that no human is limited.

He further said he wanted to leave the world a rich legacy, and emphasised how important running is to humanity.

Kipchoge is at it again, this time breaking new ground in education.

On Tuesday, INEOS, in partnership with the “1851 Trust” charity, launched three free digital learning resources targeting 11 to 16-year-old, and covering physics, mathematics and biology.

Yes, Kipchoge’s achievement in the Austrian capital has inspired these educational resources that have been adopted into the British learning curriculum.

To achieve the sub two-hour run, the Olympic champion and world marathon record holder was lifted by an eloquent supporting cast of scientists, led by Team INEOS’s Sir Dave Brailsford and cushioned by Kipchoge’s long-time coach, Patrick Sang, who banked heavily on scientific knowledge to pull it off.

It is such knowledge that’s now being used in the educational resources “taking young people into the science behind Eliud Kipchoge’s history-making INEOS 1:59 Challenge,” INEOS said in a statement sent to Nation Sport.

Education officials believe that learning from the Kipchoge experience will inspire self-belief and confidence in young people.

“Without additional support, the UK’s young people are facing a shortfall in the self-belief and skills needed to enter further education or employment and thrive in today’s technology driven world,” the statement said.

“This series of three exciting STEM challenges for students covers key aspects of the challenge Eliud and his team faced; pacemakers, nutrition and course selection.

“Students will put themselves into the roles of the 1:59 Team and will investigate what it takes to run a sub-two-hour marathon by carrying out hands-on practical work in physics, biology and maths,” the INEOS explained, adding that all lessons are fully linked to the UK national curriculum and are free.

They can be accessed at: www:stemcrew.org.

STEM (science, technology, engineering and mathematics) education focuses on learning around these four areas.

“INEOS and the 1851 Trust, a charity committed to taking science beyond the textbook by engaging young people in the cutting edge technology of high performance sport,” INEOS added.

Kipchoge is thrilled at the launch which justifies his mantra that sport runs behind competition into areas that change the world.

“The INEOS 1:59 Challenge combined science and sport to prove that no human is limited.

Sport can inspire, bring positivity and unify people and I wanted to bring that message to the whole world,” the Olympic champion said.

“To help me make history I had a fantastic team behind me with a lot of expertise in science and high performance. 

“It was important to me that Challenge left a legacy for the future generation and it is great that INEOS and the 1851 Trust are now using the science behind 1:59 to educate children across the world.

“Without the scientific and technological knowledge of my team and the INEOS 1:59 team I would not have been able to make history in Vienna.”

INEOS’s strategist Brailsford described Kipchoge as a “one in a generation” athlete, adding that INEOS didn’t hesitate in providing him requisite support to break the two-hour barrier.

“A huge amount of science and high performance principles went into the project, covering everything from the pacemaker formation through to the decision to hold the event in Vienna,” he explained.

“It was always Eliud’s dream to leave a legacy and it is brilliant to see INEOS and the 1851 Trust now take the learnings from the Challenge and turn them into educational resources to inspire young people across the world.”

Meanwhile, Kipchoge will be on the panel at NTV’s Nation Leadership Forum programme from 7.30pm Thursday with Sports Cabinet Secretary Amina Mohamed the keynote speaker.

Also on the panel is Kenya’s former professional basketball player Peter Kiganya who is now based in San Antonio, Texas, where he runs basketball programmes, and Kenya Ports Authority’s Daniel Omondi Ogutu (General Manager, Human Resource and Administration at Kenya Ports Authority).

THE STEM CHALLENGE LESSONS:

Biology:

Learning Objectives:

•    Food stores energy which when eaten is transferred to the consumer.
•    Each individual requires a specific amount of food depending on their energy requirement.
•    Different food groups store different amounts of energy.

Lesson Description

Have you ever considered what it takes to fuel the human body to achieve something remarkable, to push it to the limits of human endurance?

Maths:

Learning Objectives:
•    To be able to solve problems involving bearings and use bearing notation:
•    Know what a three-figure bearing is
•    Accurately draw a point using three-figure bearing and distance data.
•    Work out the bearing of one point from another.

Lesson Description

In order to achieve the sub-two-hour marathon, in a challenge which many thought impossible, there could be no stone left unturned in the meticulous planning and preparation by the INEOS 1:59 Challenge team.

One of the major decisions that needed to be made was about the course.  What makes a good route and how do you adapt, measure and plot the best course?

Physics:
Learning Objectives
•    To understand air resistance is a force which slows things down.
•    To investigate how air resistance can be minimized.

Lesson Description

The INEOS 1:59 Challenge didn’t just write a new chapter in the history of sport, the work of the performance team also created a completely new way to run marathons, with their extraordinary innovation in formation of the pace-making team.

- Compiled from INEOS resources