Month: October 2019

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THE ASH EFFECT

Ashok Nath (Photo: Shyam G Menon)

Ashok Nath has positioned himself as a mentor for runners. He brings to his mentoring, years of corporate experience, an attribute often associated with goal and focus. Yet he also says, “ there is no finite precise goal.” What he seeks is mindful running. 

In 2015, Colonel Muthukrishnan Jayaraman enrolled for a workshop on running.

He had been struggling to improve his running. For the next several months he kept the learnings from the workshop in mind and trained accordingly. At the 2016 Mumbai Marathon he lopped off 14 minutes from his previous year’s timing. That was significant. A month later, in February 2016, he decided to formally join the training program offered by Ashok Nath, who had conducted the 2015 workshop.

Ashok Nath, or Ash as he is popularly known, has been a recreational runner for most of his adult life. Long ago in Delhi, he would wake up at 5AM, read and then go for a run lasting about an hour. To him, it was an exercise to stay fit, nothing more, nothing less. “I never thought of myself as a runner,’’ he said. Years later, the marketing professional is into “mentoring’’ runners but there is a difference. He hasn’t scaled up his mentoring service; instead he has kept it small, premium and cast as “community’’. That brew is tad unusual in the Indian coaching scene, where the general trend is to scale up.  “ I call it the Run with Ash community,’’ Ashok, 56, said.

The youngest of three siblings, Ashok grew up in India, Bangladesh and Canada. His father was in the Indian Foreign Service. Although initially a student of science, Ashok commenced his career in market research. He then took his MBA in international marketing following which, he proceeded to work at a handful of well-known advertising agencies, among them – JWT, MAA Bozell, Rediffusion, Enterprise and O&M. “ My work has been mostly in advertising, public relations and consulting,’’ he said.

From one of the editions of the Mumbai Marathon (Photo: courtesy Ashok Nath)

In the early years of his career, Ashok was based in Delhi. He used to run regularly, typically loops at the Hauz Khas Rose Garden near the city’s Indian Institute of Technology (IIT). Occasionally, elite athletes who trained at the National Stadium close to city center would come to the park as part of their long run.  They saw him running in the park. They also got around to talking. It was window to a world of running beyond deer park and early morning runs. Those days major marathons in India were mainly two – there was the Rath Marathon in Delhi and the Pune International Marathon. The Rath Marathon used to pass by Ashok’s house. For two years he watched the race go by. Then notwithstanding the fact that he hadn’t formally participated in any such event before or trained for it, he registered for an edition of Rath. It was straight dive into the full marathon. “ It happened in 1984-85 and I finished the race in approximately three and a half hours. Then I went back home and slept the whole day,’’ Ashok said. By the standards of amateur runners in India, that is a decent timing, particularly for debut. Still, nothing changed in Ashok’s life. He continued to maintain the same schedules.  The following year, he again completed Rath in near similar time. For the next two years, he kept his connection with events alive, running half marathons.

By now the perspective in urban India was changing firmly. The economy had been opened up and thanks to industries like IT, the workforce was more mobile. People were spending years overseas on assignments, picking up active lifestyles there, returning to India and wanting to continue the same. In 2004, the Mumbai Marathon made its debut. Slowly but steadily it kick-started a running movement in India’s financial capital. More marathons started to come up in India. It triggered alongside an interest in running across the country.  Meanwhile, Ashok’s work took him from Delhi to the Middle East and eventually to Bengaluru. The southern city would bring him closer to running. In 2005, on a dare by an office colleague he enlisted for what was then called the Lipton Marathon. He ran the half marathon at the event in Bengaluru. Six months later, another half marathon happened. He went for that too, and clocked 1:18. In 2008, he registered for the Times Bangalore Marathon and commenced for the first time in his life, structured training with a race in view. He was originally enlisted to do the half marathon; on a week’s notice, he changed that to the full. On race day, he ran strong, staying within the top ten runners till the half way mark. At 25 kilometers, his legs felt as though laden with lead. He decided to walk the next five kilometers. Then he recommenced his running and finished like everyone else. It was a sobering experience.

Photo: courtesy Ashok Nath

Around this time, Ashok was among a small group of runners who regularly interacted with Runners for Life (RFL).  He was slowly but surely getting increasingly attracted to the world around running. “ By 2010 I was thinking: enough is enough. I wanted to leave the corporate world,’’ he said. The advertising profession is famous for extended hours put in at office and much socializing within that ecosystem and immediately related ones. According to Ashok, even as an employee, he wasn’t the sort sticking past office hours at the companies he worked for. “ I give you eight hours of quality work. After that, I need my time,’’ he said. Happening regularly in those hours reserved for self, was his running. Notwithstanding the 2008 experience at the marathon in Bengaluru, Ashok continued to run and emerge a podium finisher in his age category at major Indian marathons like the Mumbai Marathon and ADHM.

For life ahead, he contemplated a mix of writing and running, doing something for the welfare of stray dogs and becoming guest faculty somewhere or being on the lecture circuit. It didn’t work out the way he wanted. The writing proved to be financially unrewarding. It entailed effort – sometimes you sat and wrote for a couple of days – but the payment was downright little. The guest faculty idea failed to gather traction because as Ashok found out, the general expectation in such opportunities was inputs leading to a job for listener. That is boring; it lacked dream. What remained was running. With a couple of friends he set up a company called Running Buddy Sports. Ashok was full time director. There was strong response from some senior fellow runners who were ready to invest in the venture. Running Buddy was meant to offer coaching for running, have a physiology lab and represent Runners World in India. They signed a MoU with Furman Institute of Running and Training (FIRST) to bring their program – Run Less, Run Fast – to India. They also explored tours around the marathon. A proper business study was done for and Running Buddy embarked on a pilot project. Then he pulled out. “ I realized this was going to be a 12 hour plus job. For most clients the convenient time would be early morning or evening. It meant my day would end up crazy. I didn’t leave my corporate job to do this,’’ Ashok said.  The venture shut shop before formal launch. It was back to square one.

Photo: courtesy Ashok Nath

Then Boston Marathon happened. “ Fellow runners would mention of this iconic race and how they aspired someday to participate. So I thought: why not?” Ashok said. He enrolled for the 2010 Boston Marathon but could not proceed beyond Frankfurt due to cancellation of flights, courtesy volcanic eruptions in Iceland. That year the eruptions at Eyjafjallajokull caused massive disruption of air traffic and several thousand runners were stranded. The Boston organizers took note and he was invited to run the marathon’s 2011 edition. In 2011, he ran and finished the marathon in three hours, eight minutes and 27 seconds. He qualified and registered for Boston Marathon ten times and ran it eight times. This includes his run at the event in 2013 – the year of the infamous bombing incident – when Ashok, at that time past 50 years of age, covered the distance in under three hours. According to him, at one point in time he even contemplated training to win the Boston marathon in his age group but realized that there was a serious downside. “ You can’t train and put in the serious hours of mentoring others. I would have had to take a break from work with no safety net. It didn’t make sense,” he said.

Ashok went on to participate in the other five World Major Marathons – Berlin Marathon, Chicago Marathon, London Marathon, New York City Marathon and Tokyo Marathon. He has also completed Comrades Marathon, an ultramarathon of 87-89 kilometers in South Africa, run between the cities of Durban on the coast and Pietermaritzburg at an elevation of 1955 feet. On his first attempt, Ashok slashed the then existing Indian record for the Comrades by an hour. He has finished within nine hours, earning the Bill Rowan Medal at the Comrades Marathon, four times. He is thinking of running Comrades at age 60. It is a thought. “ Will decide later,’’ he said.

Somewhere in the time between shutting down Running Buddy and the marathons he accumulated, Ashok decided to try starting an enterprise in running that entailed just him. “ Why should I throw away my three decades of corporate experience?’’ he asked. In 2012 he studied the market for running again and decided to focus on running technique. “ It’s a small pie. I didn’t want to eat into others’ business. And no one was thinking technique, it was just training and training,” he said. He decided to do workshops. “ I see myself in the knowledge space. I am not an operational person, I am not a coach but a mentor,’’ he said.

Ashok with some of his mentees at Mumbai’s Marine Drive (Photo: courtesy Ashok Nath)

This was the space Ashok worked in at the time this blog spoke to him. What appears remarkable is his positioning within that domain. The runners he assists are spread around India – Bengaluru, Chennai, Hyderabad, Kolkata, Mumbai, NCR, Pune, Surat and Vadodara, and abroad. Many of them are doctors. The numbers are intentionally modest, which is a departure from the usual coaching model found in India. Ashok has positioned himself as a premium service provider. “ There is a certain level of affluence and discipline required to afford me,’’ he said.

The workshops he held helped to find people interested in improving their running. That is the intake point, along with word-of-mouth referrals. Preliminary assessment of an individual includes submission of comprehensive paperwork that asks for body composition tests, blood tests, time trials, lifestyle, goals etc.  Ashok does not market a training program or model of mentoring that fits all. He uses his knowledge of running and experience in the sport as palate to dip into for a more customized approach. Roughly 70 per cent of the knowledge he shares is common for all mentees. The rest is customized to each one’s need and ability. The periodic assessments sent to mentees are also specific to individual. He admitted that while running may seem a freewheeling form of physical recreation, he is partial to the corporate approach which sees things as a sequence of input, processing and measurable output. Goals are defined to keep things measurable. He keeps the flock together with a community-touch including get-togethers and group runs. “ I am not looking at big numbers. My approach is low volume, high value.  If your training is made for you, you will enjoy it and if you enjoy, you will persist. Most of my mentees stick around for three years. Some have been around for six years,’’ Ashok said.

From one of the editions of the Kaveri Trail Marathon (Photo: courtesy Ashok Nath)

Anuradha Chari is a Bengaluru-based amateur triathlete, runner and banker. She is also one of Ashok’s new mentees. “ His style of mentoring is different. Instead of offering a tailor-made plan, he takes the effort to understand your goals and customizes the training plan,’’ she said. Anuradha has been into triathlons since 2016. Running is her weak discipline. She attended Ashok’s workshop in May 2019 and decided to enroll.  “Ashok emphasizes learning, a lot. He inculcates not just nutrition and exercise but also compassion and such other aspects. They slowly become a practice,’’ she said.

Colonel Muthukrishnan Jayaraman started running in 2010. He heard of Ashok Nath and met him a couple of times at running events. In 2015, he enrolled for his workshop. “ I was not finding any improvement in my performance. That’s when I decided to enroll for his workshop,’’ the army doctor said. “Ashok himself is a very good runner. He has a knack of identifying areas that need improvement. A major improvement in my performance was visible after I did his workshop,’’ the officer, an endocrinologist working at Army Hospital in Delhi, said. His marathon timing improved by 14 minutes to 3:43 hours at the 2016 edition of the Mumbai Marathon compared to how he fared at the previous edition. In February 2016, he enrolled with Ashok for long-term training. His timing kept improving and by the 2019 edition of the same event, he had bettered his timing to 3:17, his best for a marathon so far and a Boston Qualifier for 2020“ Ashok’s approach is technical. He keeps upgrading and updating the training plan introducing the concept of sports psychology and nutrition among other things, to us,’’ the colonel said.

Pune-based Tanmaya Karmarkar said she is more confident and stronger after signing up with Ashok. “ It is a seven-day program incorporating core, gym and running workout apart from mentoring sessions on nutrition and psychology. He also gives us books to help with overall development,’’ she said. She qualified for Boston in six months and will be running her second Boston Marathon in 2020.

From Comrades (Photo: courtesy Ashok Nath)

At the Mumbai airport café where this blog met him a couple of times over August-September 2019, Ashok’s confidence as mentor, took time buying into. The typical coach is a mix of former elite athlete (at least some formal background in sports) and matching certification. Ashok hasn’t been an elite athlete before. He has neither been coached nor is he a certified coach; he is not a doctor who is an expert on human physiology. What he has is structured corporate thinking; years of experience as a regular recreational runner, years of listening to his body, an attentive mind and the appetite to keep abreast of developments in the field. According to him, he reads a lot. He has been steady performer as recreational runner, has the experience of marathons here and overseas, assimilates ideas and has kept his own injuries to the minimum. “ I can count on the fingers of my one hand the number of times I have been to a physiotherapist in all these years,’’ he said. Injuries stem from multiple causes, not all of them physical. Mental well-being also matters. Needless to say, there are moments in his engagement with clients when Ashok’s mentoring would appear closer to life-coaching than coaching for a physical activity called running. And, he seems to have packaged it all successfully into a well-positioned product.

Despite leaning towards the corporate attitude of being focused, Ashok also says there is “ no finite precise goal.’’ He acknowledges that everything evolves with experience; what he may have said five years ago, needn’t be what he says now. “What I want to see at the end of the day is a mindful runner,’’ he said.

(The authors, Latha Venkatraman and Shyam G Menon, are independent journalists based in Mumbai.)

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AT A GLANCE / OCTOBER 2019

Bijay Deka

Bijay Deka, Laxmi win 2019 Shriram Properties Bengaluru Marathon

Bijay Deka is overall winner of the 2019 edition of Shriram Properties Bengaluru Marathon with a timing of 2:35:27.

He was followed by Koji Tanaka in second position with finishing time of 2:40:48. In third position was Mikiyas Yemata Lemlemu, whi finished in 2:45:08.

Earlier this year, Bijay who is from Assam, had topped the amateur category at the 2019 Tata Mumbai Marathon.

In the women’s race in Bengaluru, Laxmi crossed the finish line first with timing of 3:24:10. Shreya Deepak came in second with a timing of 3:36:38. In third position was Bengaluru-based runner Shilpi Sahu with a timing of 3:40:47.

In the half marathon segment, Isaac Kembol Mhemui finished in 1:12:04 to secure the winning position. Anbu Kumar came in second in 1:13:11 and Dhanesh came in third in 1:13:23.

Among women, Preenu Yadav was the winner with a timing of 1:28:56. Aasa T.P. came in second with a 1:29:28 finish and Smitha D.R. came in third with a timing of 1:33:46.

Weather was unusually warm for Bengaluru, said Shilpi Sahu, who finished third overall among women in the marathon. According to her, many runners struggled in the full marathon category because of the humidity.

She said she was surprised with her podium position. “ I can tolerate humidity and warm weather but my training mileage and long runs were not sufficient for this race,’’ she told this blog.

A barefoot runner, she did find some stretches along the route tough.

Nike Oregon Project closed down

Shoe giant Nike has shut down the Nike Oregon Project (NOP) after its head coach Alberto Salazar was banned for four years on grounds of doping violation.

NOP’s website and social media channel have been taken down, BBC reported, October 12.

Salazar’s ban followed an investigation by the US Anti-Doping Agency as well as a court battle.

Salazar plans to appeal against the ruling and Nike has said that it will support the appeal, the report added.

According to Wikipedia, NOP was a group created by Nike in 2001 in Beaverton, Oregon to promote American long distance running.

Germans take top honors at Hawaii Ironman World Championship; Jan Frodeno sets new course record

Triathlete Jan Frodeno of Germany set a new course record at the Ironman World Championship in Hawaii on October 12, 2019.

He completed the three disciplines – swimming, cycling and running – in seven hours, 51 minutes and 13 seconds, bettering the course record by over three minutes. The previous course record was set by the 2018 champion Patrick Lange, also from Germany.

For Frodeno, it was his third win at the world championship. The 2008 Olympic champion was followed by American Tim O’Donnell, who finished the course in 7:59:41. Germany’s Sebastian Kienle came in third with at 8:02:04.

The women’s race was won by Anne Haug. She is the first German woman to win the world championships in Hawaii.

Anne Haug finished the course in 8:40:10. British triathlete Lucy Charles-Barclay claimed the second spot with finish timing of 8:46:44 and Australian Sarah Crawley came in third with 8:48:13.

The race comprises 3.8 kilometers of swimming, 180 kilometers of cycling and 42.2 kilometers of running.

The defending champion from 2018, Patrick Lange, quit during the cycling segment due to fever.

Indian men’s and women’s 4x400m relay teams fail to make it to the final

India’s 4×400 relay teams – men and women – didn’t make it past the heats at the 2019 IAAF World Athletics Championships in Doha, Qatar.

Both heats happed on Day 9 of the event.

From the men’s heats, USA, Colombia, Italy, Great Britain, Jamaica, Belgium, Trinidad & Tobago and France made it to the final. The Indian team with a timing of 3:03.09 minutes placed seventh in a field of eight in heat 2. Overall, they finished 12th from among 15 teams that finished (Botswana was disqualified).

In the women’s heat, teams from Jamaica, Poland, Canada, USA, Great Britain, Ukraine, Netherlands and Belgium made it to the final. The Indian team finishing in 3:29.42 (a season’s best) placed sixth in a field of eight in heat 1. Overall, they were 11th from 15 teams that started.

It is worth noting that coming into the heats, both Indian teams had personal bests (PB) better than some of the toppers that eventually moved to the final. In the men’s category, the PB of the Indian men’s team (3:00.91) was better than that of Colombia and Italy. In the women’s category, the PB of the Indian women’s team (3:26.89) was better than the PBs of Netherlands and Belgium. In terms of season’s best (SB – it indicates whether a team maybe in peak form or not), the Indian men’s team’s SB of 3:02.59 wasn’t as good as that of any of the finalists. Same was the story on the women’s side.

Unlike what happened to the men’s and women’s teams, earlier in the Doha world championships, India’s 4x400m mixed relay team had made it to the finals. They finished seventh in a field of eight teams in the final with a season’s best timing of 3:15.77. Interestingly in the mixed relay, India’s original SB (that is, pre-world championship) of 3:16.47 was better than that of Jamaica, Great Britain, Brazil and Belgium all of who were among the eight teams (including India) that moved into the final. In the heat, India qualified for the final with a new SB of 3:16.14.

Irfan, Devender finish 27th and 36th in Doha

India’s Irfan K. T placed 27th and Devender Singh 36th in the men’s 20km walk at the 2019 IAAF World Athletics Championships in Doha, Qatar.

Altogether 52 race-walkers commenced the event held in warm, humid conditions; 32 degrees Celsius and 73 per cent humidity going by information available on the website of IAAF. Irfan finished in 1:35:21; Devender in 1:41:48. The race was won by Japan’s Toshikazu Yamanishi who took gold in 1:26:34. He was followed to the finish line by authorized neutral athlete Vasiliy Mizinov in 1:26:49. Sweden’s Perseus Karlstrom took the bronze in 1:27:00. Five athletes were disqualified. Seven did not finish the race.

“ I used a towel around my neck, and it made the race a bit easier. When I started to speed up after 7km I expected athletes to follow me. I was surprised and lucky nobody did. I wanted to walk faster in the final 3km but it was impossible. I hope this medal will give me a lot more confidence for Tokyo,” Yamanishi was quoted as saying in IAAF’s race report.

Irfan came to the 2019 world championships having already qualified for the 2020 Tokyo Olympics in the 20km race-walk. He was the first Indian athlete to qualify for the upcoming Olympics; he did that clocking 1:20:57 at the Asian Race Walking Championships, held in Nomi, Japan, where he placed fourth.

Avinash Sable (This photo was downloaded from the Facebook page of Athletics Federation of India [AFI]. It has been cropped for use here. No copyright infringement intended)

Avinash Sable sets new national record, makes it to the final in Doha

Avinash Sable has set a new national record in the 3000m steeplechase.

Running in the third heat of the discipline at the 2019 IAAF World Athletics Championships in Doha, Qatar, he crossed the finish line in 8:25:23 minutes, an improvement on the national record of 8:28:94 he had set earlier in March 2019 at the Federation Cup in Patiala.

The new record of October 1 was despite two setbacks Sable suffered on the steeplechase course for no fault of his. The incidents were successfully appealed by the Athletics Federation of India (AFI) paving the way for the athlete’s eventual inclusion in the final. AFI has tweeted the same.

Soon after the heat commenced, Takele Nigate of Ethiopia (he is the junior world champion in 3000m steeplechase) stumbled and fell taking down a couple of other athletes as well, among them, Sable. While all of them got up and resumed racing, some laps later, Nigate stumbled and slammed into the barrier at the water jump. Once again Sable was nearby. Nigate going down broke his rhythm and he had to pause and get over the barrier.

In spite of both these reversals, Sable managed to work his way back into the lead cluster dominated by the two Kenyan athletes – Conseslus Kipruto and Benjamin Kigen – and Hillary Bor of USA. An athlete passed over quickly in the pre-race introduction during race telecast, Sable’s advance to the lead group came in for mention in the race commentary.

The third heat was won by Kipruto, the defending champion, in 8:19:20 followed by Kigen and Bor; all of them automatically moved up to the finals. Sable finished seventh clocking 8:25:23, a new national record.  As per information on the IAAF website, Sable was overall twentieth in a field of 44 finishers spread across three heats. He did not initially qualify for the finals. However the AFI successfully appealed the setbacks he faced – they amounted to his passage being blocked for no fault of his – and Sable was included in the line-up for the finals, media reports quoting AFI’s tweet on the subject, said.

Hailing from Mandwa in Beed district, Maharashtra, Sable is the first steeplechaser from India to qualify for the IAAF World Athletics Championships after Dina Ram in 1991. His qualification for Doha happened at the March 2019 Federation Cup in Patiala.

P. U. Chitra gets a PB but fails to make it to semi-finals

Running in the second heat of the women’s 1500m at the 2019 IAAF World Athletics Championships in Doha, P. U. Chitra managed a personal best (PB) but couldn’t qualify for the semi-finals.

On October 2, Chitra finished in 4:11:10 minutes, placing eighth out of 12 athletes running that second heat. Overall, the Indian runner ended up 30 in a field of 35. The second heat was topped by Rababe Arafi of Morocco, who covered the distance in 4:08:32.

Chitra’s previous personal best was 4:11:55.

Hailing from Palakkad, Kerala, she had won gold in the same discipline at the 2019 Asian Athletics Championships held in Doha in April. Before that she had secured a bronze medal at the 2018 Asian Games and gold medals at the 2017 Asian Championships and 2016 South Asian Games.

No semi-final ticket for Jinson Johnson

Jinson Johnson finished tenth in the second heat of the men’s 1500m at the 2019 IAAF World Athletics Championships in Doha.

He won’t be in the semi-final.

Johnson appeared to go strong till the last lap of the race, when he began to fade and steadily slip to the rear of the lead group of runners. The second heat was topped by Timothy Cheruiyot of Kenya who clocked 3:36:82. Johnson finished in 3:39:86. He placed tenth in a field of 14 runners in the second heat. His timing in Doha was way outside his personal best in the discipline; 3:35:24 achieved September 1, 2019 in Berlin.

There was a fair amount of pushing and jostling in the heat Johnson was part of. In the first lap itself, the race commentator said that one athlete had taken a stumble. Soon after the bell for the final lap was sounded, Ethiopia’s Teddese Lemi maneuvered past Norway’s Filip Ingebrigtsen to join Cheruiyot in the lead. The Norwegian runner was seen putting out his hand and making contact with the Ethiopian, who fell a stride or so later. The commentator pointed out that it appeared an incident worthy of appeal. The Ethiopian who got up and continued to run, eventually completed in eleventh position.

The top six athletes from the heat qualified automatically for the semi-final.

Overall, across three heats in the men’s 1500m, 43 athletes took to the track on October 4, hoping to qualify for the semi-finals. Johnson’s timing placed him 34th in that larger field.

Nominees for World Athlete of the Year – male and female – announced  

The International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF) has announced 11 male athletes and 11 female athletes as nominees for World Athlete of the Year in their respective gender category.

The award will be given at the 2019 World Athletics Awards ceremony in Monaco on November 23, separate official statements issued October 14 (for the male category) and 15 (for the female category), said.

The male nominees are: Donavan Brazier (USA): won world 800m title in a championship record of 1:42.34,won Diamond League title, won four of his five outdoor 800m races / Christian Coleman (USA): won world 100m title in a world-leading 9.76, won world 4x100m title in a world-leading 37.10, won four of his five races at 100m / Joshua Cheptegei (UGA): won world cross-country title in Aarhus, won world 10,000m title in a world-leading 26:48.36, won Diamond League 500m title / Timothy Cheruyiot (KEN): won world 1500m title, won Diamond League 1500m title, won 10 of his 11 outdoor races across all distances / Steven Gardiner (BAH): won world 400m title in 43.48, undefeated all year over 400m, ran world-leading 32.26 indoors over 300m / Sam Kendricks (USA): won world pole vault title, cleared a world-leading 6.06m to win the US title, won 12 of his 17 outdoor competitions, including the Diamond League final / Eliud Kipchoge (KEN): won London Marathon in a course record of 2:02:37, ran 1:59:40.2 for 42.195km in Vienna / Noah Lyles (USA): won world 200m and 4x100m titles, ran a world-leading 19.50 in Lausanne to move to fourth on the world all-time list, won Diamond League titles at 100m and 200m / Daniel Stahl (SWE): won the world discus title, threw a world-leading 71.86m to move to fifth on the world all-time list, won 13 of his 16 competitions, including the Diamond League final / Christian Taylor (USA): won the world triple jump title, won Diamond League title, won 10 of his 14 competitions / Karsten Warholm (NOR): won the world 400m hurdles title, undefeated indoors and outdoors at all distances, including at the Diamond League final and the European Indoor Championships, clocked world-leading 46.92, the second-fastest time in history.

The female nominees are:  Beatrice Chepkoech (KEN): won world 3000m steeplechase title in a championship record of 8:57.84, won Diamond League title, won seven of her eight steeplechase races / Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce (JAM): won world 100m and 4x100m titles in world-leading times of 10.71 and 41.44, won Pan-American 200m title, won seven of her 10 races at 100m / Katarina Johnson-Thompson (GBR): won world heptathlon title in a world-leading 6981, undefeated in all combined events competitions, indoors and outdoors, won European indoor pentathlon title with a world-leading 4983 / Sifan Hassan (NED): won world 1500m and 10,000m titles in world-leading times of 3:51.95 and 30:17.62, won Diamond League 1500m and 5000m titles, broke world mile record with 4:12.33 in Monaco / Brigid Kosgei (KEN): set a world record of 2:14:04 to win the Chicago Marathon, won the London Marathon, ran a world-leading 1:05:28 for the half marathon and 1:04:28 on a downhill course / Mariya Lasitskene (ANA): won world high jump title with 2.04m, jumped a world-leading 2.06m in Ostrava, won 21 of her 23 competitions, indoors and outdoors / Malaika Mihambo (GER): won world long jump title with a world-leading 7.30m, won Diamond League title, undefeated outdoors / Dalilah Muhammad (USA): broke world record with 52.20 at the US Championships, improved her own world record to win the world 400m hurdles title in 52.16, won world 4x400m title / Salwa Eid Naser (BRN):  won world 400m title in 48.14, the third-fastest time in history, won Diamond League title and three gold medals at the Asian Championships, undefeated at 400m outdoors / Hellen Obiri (KEN): won world cross-country title in Aarhus, won world 5000m title in a championship record of 14:26.72, ran a world-leading 14:20.36 for 5000m in London / Yulimar Rojas (VEN): won world triple jump title with 15.37m, jumped world-leading 15.41m to move to second on the world all-time list, won nine of her 12 competitions, including the Pan-American Games.

A three-way voting process will determine the finalists. The IAAF Council’s vote will count for 50 per cent of the result, while the IAAF Family’s votes and the public votes will each count for 25 per cent of the final result, the statements said.

Valary Jemeli Aiyabei sets new course record in Frankfurt

Kenya’s Valary Jemeli Aiyabei won the women’s category of the 2019 Mainova Frankfurt Marathon in a course record time of 2:19:10.

The 28-year-old Kenyan was paced by her husband Kenneth Tarus until he had to drop out at 15km because of stomach problems. Aiyabei however continued, going through halfway in 1:07:42. She eventually crossed the line in 2:19:10, improving the course record by 86 seconds, the race report available on the website of International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF), said.

In the men’s race, Ethiopia’s Fikre Tefera broke clear from his compatriot Dawit Wolde to win by just two seconds in 2:07:08.

In the women’s category, Ethiopia’s Megertu Kebede took second place in a PB of 2:21:10. Defending champion Meskerem Assefa finished third in 2:22:14 ahead of European 10,000m champion Lonah Salpeter of Israel, who came home in 2:23:11. Among men, Wolde finished second behind Fikre and two seconds ahead of Aweke Yimer of Bahrain, in what was the closest finish ever in Frankfurt, the report said.

Teferi wins Valencia Half Marathon; Sifan Hassan falls, sees record hopes slip away

Ethiopia’s Senbere Teferi won the women’s category of the Medio Maratón Valencia Trinidad Alfonso EDP, in 1:05:32, a new Ethiopian record.

There was much attention on the event given Sifan Hassan of Netherlands reported to be targeting a new world record in the half marathon. However, at exactly 22:15 on the clock, Hassan tripped and fell hard, losing ground on the leaders. Even though the pacemakers didn’t seem to notice her fall, the European record-holder soon re-joined the lead group, the race report available on the website of International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF), said. She finished second in 1:05:53. Kenya’s Joan Chelimo placed third in 1:06:09.

Ahead of the event, Hassan had sounded caution with regard to expectations of a new world record. She wasn’t sure how well her body may have recovered after the recent IAAF world championships in Doha.

In the men’s race at Valencia, Ethiopia’s Yomif Kejelcha won in 59:05. He was followed to the finish by Kenya’s Benard Ngeno who placed second in 59:07. Ethiopia’s Jemal Yimer placed third in 59:09.

(The authors, Latha Venkatraman and Shyam G Menon, are independent journalists based in Mumbai.)

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TWO WORLDS

Illustration: Shyam G Menon

“ The runners of the Berlin Marathon 2019 should expect a wet track. The forecast for Sunday sees a few hours of rain for Berlin. On Saturday it will be partly cloudy, partly sunny. However, thunderstorms are expected from Saturday afternoon on. Meteorologists therefore give the athletes in the capital little hope for a finish in dry conditions on Marathon Sunday (29 September 2019). According to Deutscher Wetterdienst (DWD), it will be wet and cloudy. At first the meteorologists expect rain only in the northern half of Brandenburg, but in the course of the day the rain will spread to the south. The maximum temperature will be 21 degrees Celsius.’’ – This was the weather forecast for the 2019 Berlin Marathon as provided on the website berlin.de two days ahead of the event.

On Marathon Sunday Ethiopian running great Keninisa Bekele created history in Berlin. He ran the second fastest marathon on record, covering the distance in two hours, one minute and 41 seconds, a timing that was off the world record by just two seconds.  Ashete Bekere of Ethiopia won the women’s race; she completed in 2:20:14. It was also occasion for the winner of the first women’s marathon at an Olympic Games (1984, Los Angeles) to rejoice afresh. Sixty two year-old Joan Benoit Samuelson of the US, completed the 2019 Berlin Marathon in 3:02:21 breaking the World Masters Association record for the 60-64 years age category, news reports said. Berlin’s weather wasn’t comfortable and supportive for all. Among the runners from India that day in Berlin was Anjali Saraogi. She texted in that the temperature was alright but the rain bothered. “ I was feeling very cold and was shivering. The rain was terrible. But the volunteers were out braving the brutal weather and supporting us. Immense respect for that. The course was easy, that’s why we could all run in that rain,” she wrote.

Almost 5000 kilometers away it was a different thermal experience for race-walkers and marathoners at the 2019 IAAF World Athletics Championships as they battled the heat and humidity of Doha, Qatar. On Wikipedia, the average high temperature in September for Qatar is 39 degrees Celsius; the average low, 29 degrees. During the 2019 world championships, outdoor endurance events like the marathon and race-walk, were scheduled for midnight to escape the weather conditions. It was a first for the world championships. Aside from training to run in warm weather, athletes have to reset their wakefulness to coincide with night hours.

Midnight, September 27-28; the women’s marathon underway in Doha (This photo was downloaded from the Facebook page of IAAF and is being used here for representation purpose. No copyright infringement intended)

In the women’s marathon held in the intervening night of September 27-28, only 40 runners from the 68 who started the race, finished. The timing was slow. Ruth Chepngetich of Kenya was the winner; she covered the distance in 2:32:43, significantly slower than her personal best of 2:17:08 or for that matter, the winning time for women at the 2019 Berlin Marathon. According to IAAF reports, the race had begun in temperatures of 31-32 degrees and humidity of 73 per cent.  From the women’s marathon, a memorable photograph was that of a bunch of elite runners who quit midway, making it to the finish line in a golf cart. Some of the others who withdrew were stretchered off and at least one athlete spent some time under medical observation. “ Amid the havoc, Kenya’s Ruth Chepngetich emerged triumphant, claiming gold in two hours, 32 minutes and 43 seconds – the slowest ever World Championships winning time and more than 15 minutes slower than her personal best. The winner then collapsed some time after the race while talking to the media,” a report in UK-based publication The Telegraph, said. While deciding to proceed with the marathon, the authorities had backed it up with precautionary measures and support services matching the weather conditions. They followed the book. In January 2019, the IAAF itself had highlighted the issue of thermal stress, hosting on their website information about a study done ahead of the 2020 Tokyo Olympics and discussing the need for organizers of any sport event to have suitable protocols in place (https://shyamgopan.com/2019/01/25/spotlight-on-thermal-stress-impact-on-sport-events/).

Some of Doha’s race-walks were also slated to be held the same weekend as its women’s marathon. At a media interaction ahead of the 50 km race-walk; world record holder in the discipline, Yohann Diniz of France, minced no words in describing the weather conditions. In particular, he highlighted the contrast between the ambiance within the main stadium and the warm conditions outside. Within the stadium it was 24-25 degrees Celsius. His sport as well as the marathon, is held outside. The walkers had been taken for “ idiots,’’ the 41 year-old Frenchman was quoted as saying by the website france24.com. In the early hours of Sunday – the same Sunday that was Marathon Sunday in Berlin – Diniz was among those who didn’t finish the 50 kilometer-walk. It was won by Japan’s Yusuke Suzuki (the first world title for Japan in 50km race-walking; Suzuki is the world record holder in 20km race-walk) who told the media afterwards that he “ was just desperate to finish.’’ It was a relief to get it over with. Numbers don’t lie and as in the women’s marathon, the timing from the men’s 50km race-walk speaks for itself. Suzuki crossed the finish line in 4:04:20. Diniz’s world record, established in 2014 in Zurich, is 3:23:33. In the women’s 50km race-walk, the winning time for China’s Liang Rui was 4:23:26; the world record set by Liu Hong earlier in 2019 is 3:59:15. In the women’s 20km race-walk wherein China swept the podium, Liu Hong won in 1:32:54. The current world record held by Elena Lashmanova of Russia is 1:23:39.  There were those, who reacted differently too. After winning silver in the 50km race-walk for women, China’s Mocou Li told the IAAF’s official channel (she spoke through a translator), “ I am not so tired. But I feel that I cannot speed up; maybe because of the weather. This is not the worst of conditions for me. I feel relaxed today.’’

Illustration: Shyam G Menon

Television coverage of the 2019 IAAF World Athletics Championships has been spectacular. Technology made the coverage rich in terms of data, details and camera angles. You could conclude – even if athlete in one’s living room is mere pixels on screen, it made more sense to watch the world championships on television than in the stadium, where you wouldn’t get to see the action this close. The bulk of the telecast was around disciplines taking place in the main stadium. Technology works best in contained environments; containment is also part of the emergent business architecture of sport and media properties. The IAAF had informed well ahead that the media-technology mix in Doha would set new benchmarks. There were complaints too. Some athletes found the new block cameras (cameras attached to the starting block in sprint events) intrusive and unethical. On September 30, CNN reported that the IAAF had decided to restrict the use of images from these cameras after the German Athletics Federation highlighted the issue. Amid the emphasis on telecast, media reports said that the number of spectators at the stadium fell as opening weekend gave way to working week. Plenty of empty seats showed up on TV screens worldwide. Famous athletes had only family, friends and a modest clutch of spectators applauding them in the stadium. Questions were raised in social media on why the biennial athletics championship traveled to Doha.

According to published reports, the organizers then promised to make an effort to get more people in but pointed out alongside that a made-for-television schedule of events meant few wanted to stay that late into the night in the stadium. By Day 4 as endurance disciplines like the men’s 5000 meters final and the women’s steeplechase final got underway, there was a sizable presence of East African supporters in the stadium, to cheer. The atmosphere was festive. The Ethiopians; the Kenyans, the Ugandans – they got to celebrate their victory. Daniel Stahl of Sweden broke into a run and jumped over a hurdle as he celebrated his triumph in the men’s discus throw.  Mariya Lasitskene competing as an authorized neutral athlete and crowned world champion for the third time in the women’s high jump did a victory lap. For those looking at it all as panoramic story, it was also moment to reflect about weekend gone by. The strong performances and cheering within the stadium were a contrast to the struggles and timings reported in endurance sports staged outside.

(The author, Shyam G Menon, is a freelance journalist based in Mumbai.)