Last weekend, more than 106,000 runners from around the globe laced up their running shoes to go 10.5K, or a quarter of a marathon, to participate in the MA-RA-TH-ON global relay, presented by NN Running and Maurten.
Before the race, runners either registered in teams of four, or registered individually and were placed on randomly selected teams. If they were extra lucky, solo runners were teamed up with marathon legends like Eliud Kipchoge, Geoffrey Kamworor, or Kenenisa Bekele. The pro athletes—who all train together on the NN Running elite team in Kenya—each captained their own relay teams, and sent out inspiring messages to their fellow teammates before the race.
“It’s a way of coming together in a very strange time,” Kamworor told Runner’s World before the relay. “We might not be running together in the same place, but we can still run as one.”
Kamworor, who holds the world record in the half marathon, recorded the fastest split of the global relay, finishing his 10.5K leg in 30:08 (which averages out to around 4:34 per mile). While that pace is shocking to most of us, it’s fairly moderate for the Kenyan phenom—after all, his half marathon pace is 4:26 per mile. Kamworor led a team of runners from New York City, a place he holds fondly in his heart after winning the New York City Marathon last year.
Marathon world record holder Kipchoge clocked 31:28 for his leg, averaging 4:49 per mile. For the man who slipped under the mythical Nutrition - Weight Loss last fall—throughout which he ran sub-4:34 pace—the effort was likely a walk in the park. Running fast, though, wasn’t his mission; he was excited about the community aspect of the relay, rather than the chance to race, he told Runner’s World beforehand.
When Kipchoge does race, though, the world better watch out. “Whatever I run next, I want my first race back to be a really good race,” he told Runner’s World. After winning the 2016 Olympic gold medal in the marathon, the Kenyan runner is looking forward to defending his title at the 2021 Olympics in Tokyo.
2019 Berlin Marathon champion Ashete Bekere of Ethiopia recorded the fastest women’s relay leg—running 34:15 (an average of 5:15 per mile). The second-fastest female finisher was Eilish McColgan of Great Britain, who ran about half a kilometer farther than the required distance while holding a 5:17 per mile pace. Other pros also competed in the relay, including three-time Olympic 1500-meter medallist Nick Willis (who finished in 32:29) and marathoner Molly Seidel.
The overall winner for the relay teams was ASICS Team Tempo Elite, who recorded a cumulative marathon time of 2:03:06. The mixed-gender relay team winner was team Pablo, which posted 2:05:30. And in the all-women’s relay category, the winner was ASICS Team Tempo Elite Women, which finished in 2:42:03.
Health - Injuries here.
Shoes & Gear Running Times, and now she reports on elite runners and cyclists, feel-good stories, and training pieces for Runner's World and Bicycling magazines.
