Belgian confident Kipchoge can run sub two-hour marathon
What you need to know:
- Verbeeck is concerned that there is too much “screen time” that is affecting human mobility, fitness and wellness.
- “These days, a lot of kids are at a certain screen, whether it’s video games, TVs, phones, for a number of hours every day.
Bob Verbeeck believes Kenya’s Olympic marathon champion and world record holder Eliud Kipchoge can break the iconic two-hour barrier in the marathon.
After falling just 25 seconds short of dipping under 2:00:00 in a Nike-engineered “Breaking2” project on the Formula One race track in Monza, Italy in 2017, Kipchoge recently announced a fresh attempt, this time bankrolled by British-based multinational chemical company, INEOS.
Dubbed “INEOS 1:59 Challenge” the attempt will be staged between September and October on a yet-to-be-disclosed circuit in England. Verbeeck argues that, with advancing technology, it will be possible for Kipchoge to dip under the two-hour mark.
“Every sport needs to embrace technology. In our company, we use technology to stimulate people to move more every day. Technology obviously is also being used to run faster, to play better football, to cycle faster… we have activity trackers everywhere.
“I call it the “quantified athlete” because everything can be measured and everything can be traced online, so training programmes are becoming more sophisticated with heart rates, rest rates and sleeping patterns analysed and this is in the strife to get more and more perfection.
“Who would have thought that Eliud would almost break the two-hour barrier in Monza?
“He can run under the two hours — he tried once and was almost there — and so I’m convinced that Eliud, who is one of the athletes that I admire most in my life, can run under two hours.
“He was very close (in Monza) and technology played a big part because they looked at where he was gonna run, the exact altitude, what carbs he was gonna take, what pacing… they were tracking him all the time, and it’s fascinating.
“It’s fascinating, but at the same time, we don’t have to dehumanize sports. Sports has to be something that we can all understand. If it becomes all technology, then it’s no fun either. Human stories stand out and inspire us.”
Veerbeck singles out nutrition as one of the most important aspects of athletics success, noting that Kenyan runners are lucky to have great food. “Nutrition is the fuel of the body. It’s like if you put bad gas into a car, the car won’t run smoothly.
“One of the success stories of Kenyan athletes is that your food – ugali, chapati and a lot of vegetables, or greens (mixture of carbohydrates and fibres) which is actually the best fuel for running.
“You can move daily, and exercise, but if you eat poorly, the physical exercise won’t help. There needs to be a combination of both.
“As a company, we are not trying to make top athletes, we are trying to create a healthier world where we have lower heart diseases, or cardio-vascular problems, lower high blood pressure problems, and fewer cases of diabetes too – we are in sports, but we are in preventive healthcare.”
Verbeeck is concerned that there is too much “screen time” that is affecting human mobility, fitness and wellness.
“These days, a lot of kids are at a certain screen, whether it’s video games, TVs, phones, for a number of hours every day.
“It’s kind of strange, and ironic, that, for example, some of the doors that opened technology into our world, like Apple, Facebook, Microsoft are pushing for limited screen time.
“But soon, I’m sure things will change. Like there’s now a movement towards healthier lifestyles, there will soon be a movement towards less screen time.”
