Celebrate Eliud Kipchoge without attacking Paul Tergat

What you need to know:

  • Kipchoge ran 1:59:40 to become the first man to run the distance in under two hours while Kosgei posted a new record of 2:14:04 to erase Radcliffe’s previous 2:15:25 record.

Congratulations are in order for Eliud Kipchoge and Brigid Kosgei for making history and re-affirming the country’s supremacy in the 42km race.
Kipchoge broke the two-hour barrier in the 42-2km race in Vienna while Kosgei did it in Chicago by breaking the 16-year-old record held by Briton Paula Radcliffe by more than a minute.

Kipchoge ran 1:59:40 to become the first man to run the distance in under two hours while Kosgei posted a new record of 2:14:04 to erase Radcliffe’s previous 2:15:25 record.

For us in Athletics Kenya, this was early Christmas, coming hot on the heels of our feat at the World Championships in Doha, Qatar, where we finished second behind the United States with five gold medals, two silver and four bronze. I believe this trend will continue to the end of the year considering the other athletes are inspired by Kipchoge’s trademark mantra of ‘No Man is Limited’.

CHERONO DID WELL

Lawrence Cherono equally displayed a lot of maturity in winning the Chicago Marathon and congratulations are in order too.

Meanwhile, I would also like to come in defence of our other legend Paul Tergat in the wake of the social media attacks over remarks he made when he was still an active runner. Claims that he had said there is no man who will run Under 2 hours is not really true. What Tergat said was no one will post that kind of performance within his generation and I think he was right.

In a competitive marathon, we have had three generations behind Tergat and 2:01.39 held by Kipchoge is still the world record. This shows as the first man to run Under 2:05, he knew what he was talking about. The attacks are very unnecessary because just like you and me, Tergat believes that records are set to be broken.

We have had this Under-two hours conversation before especially after Denis Kimetto brought it to 2:02. The debate was even more intense when Kipchoge ran a 2:01 and as they say, the marathon is a journey and we are not there yet.

We are all waiting with bated breath for that day the competitive marathon will come down to under 2 hours even as we celebrate Kipchoge’s historical feat.

Who knows it could be the same Kipchoge repeating history. But as Kenyans, it makes no sense to celebrate one legend by vilifying the other. We are one Kenya and we should remain as such.

Korir is the chairman of Athletics Kenya’s Nairobi branch. [email protected]