Doping

http://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/wiggins-to-face-no-action-over-package-qs9kmc36f?shareToken=b2d6ed5ed7294c9e81e673d9cedb059a

A good timed press release when the russian report inquest is today as well.

This can only end well

http://news.nike.com/news/2-hour-marathon

Yep, this is some foolish shit. Why do Nike always incentivise shady practises.

They might just run wearing trip socks and an aero helmet?

https://twitter.com/firsthippy/status/808448918652649473

Love that the use Bannister's mile as some sort of inspiration- lace up leather spikes were all he had.

Sub 2hr is going to be so hard without doping. You'd need the perfect combination of a perfect course, perfect weather and a race organiser who can front enough cash to entice a large number of elites who are in perfect condition.

Make the whole course on a negative gradient, easy.

True, a cleverly designed course could work - again, more money required.

Relevant Regs:
IAAF Rule 260.28a states: "The start and finish points of a course, measured along a theoretical straight line between them, shall not be further apart than 50% of the race distance."

Approved thresholds for marathons are one kilometre per metre drop, therefore a negative elevation of 42.2m is possible.

I'm taking these from an old BBC article, regs might have changed...

I think they had the guy that still holds the record for the fastest ever mile on QI the other day. Set on a downhill course just outside Huddersfield in 1993. They just need to find a 26 mile hill.

http://www.independent.co.uk/sport/maniacs-stand-out-a-mile-1251620.html

Maybe just go on a running track - 105.5 fun-filled fast laps...

Alex Hutchinson has lot of discussion about what would be considered legit:

https://twitter.com/sweatscience

http://www.runnersworld.com/marathon/nikes-audacious-plan-break-the-2-hour-marathon-barrier-in-2017

They already have three very fast guys on board. Once they've paid off the testers and given the runners enough money and drugs... job's a good'un.

If they have three guys, they could run it like a team sprint w/ team drafting

Springy track must help a lot, I'd have thought?

"It’s unclear whether the record, if achieved, will be sanctioned by the rule-bodies such as the IAAF or the Association of Road Racing Statisticians."

If it's not then it's not a record, because I've done more than 26 miles a lot faster than 2hrs already, whilst NOT following IAAF rules.

The 10k (road) record is 26:44, the 10,000m (track) record is 26:17

Which may be worth 2 and a bit minutes over 42.2k

It's the difference between the record and the fastest.

Radcliffe has the marathon world record of 2:17:18, but a fastest marathon of 2:15:25 (which was not a record as she was being paced by fellas). Also - discussing Radcliffe in the doping thread...

"But Nike is instead looking to carve a full three minutes, or about 2.5 percent, off the record—an unusual, though not entirely unprecedented, leap. Paula Radcliffe lowered the women’s marathon record twice for a total improvement of almost exactly 2.5 percent over the previous record; her record of 2:15:25, set in 2003, still stands."

Remind me again what was going on in the early 2000s?

Is being paced by dudes in a marathon against the rules when it comes to a woman setting a record? If so, it's not a record, it's a PB marathon time.

her record of 2:15:25, set in 2003, still stands.

Nike not quite getting it...

Also, if Paula ran faster by 2 minutes due to male pacers, are Nike expecting to find another gender than is faster still?

Although - they could have a staggered pacers - maybe 5 / 10k each, at points all along the course.

Which would mean that it would not be a record, but a fastest time.

Exactly that - it's a fastest time, not a record.

are Nike expecting to find another gender than is faster still?

Have you seen what steroids do to genitals?

Yep, they seem to have a significant effect on fat pricks.

PM me some pics.