Eliud Kipchoge converses with his teammates during a recce session at the Vienna Course ahead of the Ineos 1:59 challenge. PHOTO/Ineos/Twitter
NAIROBI, Kenya, Oct 11 – Organisers of the historic INEOS 1 Hour, 59 Seconds Challenge have confirmed the race will start at 9:15am EAT where Kenya’s Eliud Kipchoge will attempt to become the first human being to run a marathon under two hours.
The Olympic champion will be out to make amends on Saturday morning in Vienna, Austria after coming closer to achieving the Nike Breaking 2 project in Monza, Italy in 2017.
The two-time Berlin champion has a Personal Best time of 2 Hours, 1 Minute and 39 seconds set last year when he broke the world record and the world will be glued to witness if the greatest of all time in marathon will write history.
Fran Millar, CEO of TEAM INEOS, said “We took into account all the different parameters and the decision has been made that the INEOS 1:59 Challenge will start at 8:15AM CEST on Saturday 12th October”.
Eliud Kipchoge checks out the Vienna Course with some of his pacemakers ahead of the Ineos 1:59 challenge. PHOTO/Ineos/Twitter
Kipchoge arrived in Vienna on October 8, having flown from his training camp in Kaptagat in Kenya and has been acclimatising to Vienna and training on the course as part of his race-week preparations.
In a pre-event press conference held on 11th October Eliud Kipchoge said: “I’m feeling well, I’m happy with the course and I am waiting for Saturday.
“Vienna is a sporting city. The crowd loves sport in Vienna and the course is flat and fast and in a park – a natural environment.
“Berlin was about running a world record, Vienna is about running and breaking history, like the first man on the moon.”
With optimal conditions and the race not qualifying to class as a world record, Kipchoge has continuously reiterated that it is not about the sport, but his ambition at helping people break their mental barriers.
World record holder Eliud Kipchoge goes again in Vienna in October having just missed the two-hour mark by 25sec in his previous attempt at Monza race track in 2017
The 34-year old will start his historic quest on Vienna’s famous imperial bridge, the Reichsbrücke.
After approximately 1.2km he will reach the Ferris Wheel at the Praterstern roundabout where he will enter the Prater and begin 4.4 laps of the tree-lined Hauptallee, the historic avenue that runs through the heart of the Viennese Park.
An electric timing car will be used to control the pace of the race, which will be set at a consistent 2:50 minute per kilometre.
A world class line-up of 41 pacemakers will be used to help Eliud achieve his goals.
Eliud Kipchoge and his team of pace makers pose for a photo ahead of the Ineos 1:59 challenge scheduled for October 12 in Vienna, Austria. PHOTO/Ineos 1:59/Twitter
35 pacemakers will run on the day and there are 6 reserve runners. Among the top-class names include World Championship 5000m silver medallist Selemon Barega of Ethiopia, former world 1500m and 5000m champion Bernard Lagat of the USA and the Norwegian Ingebrigtsen brothers – Henrik, Filip and Jakob.
The group also has a host of athletes from his Global Sports Communication training group in Kaptagat.
The project is financially backed by British billionaire Sir Jim Ratcliffe through his biochemical company Ineos.
