Geoffrey Mutai - The True Ascendant of Patrick Makau
At the 2010 Berlin Marathon held last Sunday, Geoffrey Mutai has proven to be rightly taken as the ascendant of Patrick Makau, the fourth fastest ever in the history of marathon runners. Hailing from Kenya, both Makau and Mutai had earlier been declared
as the favorites for the event. They made it to the finishing line in just two hours, four minutes and forty eight seconds and two hours, four minutes, and fifty five seconds respectively. They had maintained somewhat similar record at the Rotterdam Marathon
during summer this year.
Makau and Mutai are currently being considered as the fastest marathoners in the world on the basis of their lowest PBs which go as two hours, four minutes and forty eight seconds and two hours, four minutes and fifty seconds respectively. These PBs, which
have been the best ever from both the players, were depicted in the Berlin Marathon. It is worth mentioning here that the athletes at Berlin Marathon had to face some heavy, humid and cold weather to which they were not much accustomed to. Had the weather
been a little better, spectators could have observed more exciting results and a depiction of much lower PB.
Worku, another young and dynamic marathoner also seems to be in line following suit of Makau and Mutai. The 20-year-old first attracted attention at the 2009 marathon in Paris, making it to the finish line in just two hours, six minutes and fifteen seconds.
The comparison of Worku’s PB with Makau and Mutai shows that he has already made it to the legends of the field. With a bit of more concentrated effort, he wouldn’t take long before surpassing the apparently unbeatable, Makau and Mutai.
While listing the hurdles that can possibly affect the performance of a marathoner, it is said that extreme weather conditions stand at the top. In the case of African athletes, low temperatures pose greater difficulty than hot weather as they are usually
trained to perform under moderate or rising temperatures. But an interesting point about the above mentioned athletes is that all three have given their best performances during considerably low temperatures. In fact, by the time Makau and Mutai made it to
the finishing line at Berlin Marathon, they had been completely drenched by the rain.
Enduring 11 Degree Celsius throughout the race while rain falling steadily with little or no wind on the field is perhaps something we can expect from someone as professional and well trained as Makau and Mutai. At the point where many of the favorites had
practically given up for the title, they gave some of their best performances ever.
Later, while addressing a press conference, Makau said that the real race actually begins at 30k when most of the runners are exhausted and more likely tend to give up. He revealed that his coach had trained him while keeping this fact in mind. Makau added
that the way Worku and Mutai remained close to him throughout the race speaks of their professional commitment.
At the Rotterdam Marathon, Mutai couldn’t make it to the finishing line with same spirit and hence dropped during the final kilometers. But at Berlin, he did not step back even an inch from his commitment. He remained close to Makau throughout the race till
the moment they had to compete for final four hundred meters.
Analyzing the performance of the fastest running trio, experts say that no matter which one of them attains and then retains the title of being the fastest, spectators would still have some exciting races to watch.
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