Gebrselassie to run as pacemaker in London Marathon

LONDON

The man regarded by many as the greatest distance runner of all time will be the lead pacemaker for the elite men’s race at the 2014 Virgin Money London Marathon on Sunday, April 13, just five days short of his 41st birthday.

Haile Gebrselassie, who won two Olympic and four World Championship gold medals at 10,000m and twice broke the marathon world record, will pace the leading men to the 30km point at world-record speed.

Among the world-class athletes following the Ethiopian’s lead will be Britain’s double Olympic and world champion Mo Farah, the current marathon world record holder Wilson Kipsang, the reigning London Marathon champion Tsegaye Kebede, the world and Olympic marathon champion Stephen Kiprotich and the London Marathon course record holder Emmanuel Mutai.

The field will also include the newest marathon star from Gebrselassie’s home nation, the 18-year-old Tsegaye Mekonnen, who’s been added to the line-up after his sensational performance at this year’s Dubai Marathon a few weeks ago.

Running his first marathon, Mekonnen beat an experienced field in 2:04:32 and smashed the unofficial world junior record by more than a minute. It was the third fastest debut marathon on a legitimate course.

After a glittering career on the track, Gebrselassie made his debut in London in 2002. He first broke the marathon world record in September 2007 at the Berlin Marathon and a year later on the same course became the first man to run quicker than two hours four minutes when he clocked 2:03.59, a record that stood for three years.

Kipsang set the current world record of 2:03.23 at the Berlin Marathon last September. To beat that time in London, the leading men will have to run faster than four minutes 43 seconds for every mile of the 26.2-mile course – that’s less than three minutes per kilometre every step of the way. — IAAF