G.O.A.T. Kipchoge in Vienna, NTV to show race live

World marathon record holder Eliud Kipchoge landed safely in Vienna in the early hours of Tuesday after flying for close to eight hours aboard a private jet from Eldoret.

Kipchoge will go through the final motions in the remaining days ahead of the big day, hopefully on Saturday, when he will attempt to run the 42-kilometre distance in under two hours.

The attempt, dubbed “INEOS 1:59 Challenge”, has been bankrolled by British chemical firm INEOS, owned by Sir Jim Ratcliffe (not Sir Tom as we erroneously referred to him yesterday) and Kipchoge’s shoe sponsors, USA’s Nike.

Considered the “Greatest of all Time” (G.O.A.T.) in distance running, Kipchoge was accompanied by pacemakers Gideon Kipketer and Augustine Choge along with coach Patrick Sang and physiotherapist Peter Nduhiu. With journalists from Kipchoge’s management company — Nijmegen (Netherlands) based Global Sports Communications — in tow, Sir Jim’s Gulfstream G280 jet, that transported Kipchoge, flew for three hours and 40 minutes from Nairobi to Luxor, Egypt, for a 30-minute fuelling stop before connecting for another three hours and 40 minutes hop into Vienna, arriving in the early hours of Tuesday.

“The experience of being on a private jet was great,” Choge, the 2006 Commonwealth 5,000 metres champion said. “We got here (Vienna) safely. Thanks for all the support across all sectors. It’s the informed public that values the sport and players in it,” added Kipchoge’s coach Sang, himself an Olympic steeplechase silver medallist.

Organisers of the INEOS challenge are expected to announce the exact date and time for the race against the clock on Wednesday with Saturday to Monday set as the window. NTV has, meanwhile, acquired the rights to broadcast the race with pre and post race analysis to spice up the coverage of the eagerly-awaited challenge.