Hail Haile

Haile Gebrsellasie, the world record holder for the marathon has done it again. He broke the world record for the marathon in the Berlin marathon today, with a record time of 2:03:59. He was the holder of the previous world record of 2:04:26 both set at the Berlin Marathon.

I was surprised to catch this live on TV on ESPN sports on Astro this Sunday afternoon, one of the first few times I've actually watched a live telecast of a marathon. Watching races on TV can sometimes be boring (this is why we go run it ourselves!!!) - but this race was a surprise as I was at that very point in time reading the Pacesetters magazine, and for the last few editions has had Haile's picture in the PowerBar sponsor ad page with the huge "world record holder for the marathon" declaration!!

As it turns out, I did not managed to catch the entire race - this would mean watching a man run for 2hrs (!) - but about at least 2/3 of it - and the interesting thing was that they have pacers hired for the race (I think by the organiser?) - Haile was surrounded by 4 pacers - these guys paced him up to at least between 20-30km - they were fast! It was like running a race with body guards. There were pacers for nearly most of the top guys - and this was interesting - imagine running at world record pace up to 30kms - why would you not go for the full thing with a PB (Personal Best)? Well, then I realised that they get paid for pacing, and were *not* supposed to win the race.

Well, I must apologise for the obsession with racing in the last few blogs... (always the amateur sportsperson!)