The heat is on: it's 10k weekend! (and still marathon talktime)

The heat is on! After marathoning all April and (sadly) getting done with the two major 25k races (are we missing something?) last weekend, the nearing of the Northern hemisphere's summer means the distances get shorter. This weekend it's 10k time!

Not only did the Healthy Kidney 10k in NYC boost its pro field or Merga talk about running world record in Canada but we will also see Geb giving it a go at the Manchester Great Run:

Bouramdane, Carlson, Fagan, Tola, and Ed Torres added to Healthy Kidney 10K - stay tuned for mzungo.org exclusive interviews!

Meanwhile Vivian Cheruiyot is currently in the best form of her life and BUPA Manchester organisers feel she can genuinely attack the time of 30:38 Radcliffe achieved almost seven years ago in London's Richmond Park. Haile Gebrselassie the world's greatest-ever distance runner heads a star-studded men's field and on his return will be aiming to regain the British all-comers' record.








We can't help ourselves and still feel like talking marathon. The great Paul Tergat has his own opinions when it comes to the queen of distances. He turns 40 this year and someone asked if he aims for the master's world best (2:08:46). "This is not a big challenge for me." Right on, Paul!
But how about the world record? 2:02 soon? “I don’t think this will be possible in future because I believe that we are already near to the limit. To run 2:02 will be very, very hard. I think a time slightly above 2:03 is possible, but this also is getting really tough. If you run the first half faster than 61:30 minutes you will kill yourself.”

The guys at Science of Sport share this sentiment. "I think people are getting a little carried away - to take 4 minutes of the world record would be a massive reduction. Remember that in 1988, it was 2:06:36. So despite the brilliant athletes who've run the marathon, the likes of Tergat and Gebrselassie, they've knocked it down by 2:30. Where does the next four minutes come from? Only doping can do that. The other thing is that if a guy is going to run a sub-2 hour marathon, he needs to have a super fast 10km time. So you look at Gebrselassie - he has a 10km PB of sub-26:30. Then look at Wanjiru. His 10km PB is about the same, and everyone else is slower.Now, if they want to run the marathon 4 minutes faster, then the 10km must be at least 30 seconds faster. So before you see a 2 hour marathon, you'll have to see a sub 26-min 10km. And that is just not going to happen. So for the 2-hour marathon, I think we'll leave it to our grand kids. Even then, I'm not convinced!"