A few years ago at the London Marathon, organisers wheeled out an industrial-sized treadmill called the Tumbleator. Then they tempted curious onlookers with a simple question: can you keep up with Eliud Kipchoge? The answer was obvious. But that didn’t stop people trying. Most lasted a few seconds before comically flying off the back into crash mats.
The Tumbleator has a fresh poster-boy now: Sabastian Sawe, who on Sunday claimed track and field’s last holy grail by running a sub two-hour marathon. Imagine sprinting 17 seconds for 100 metres, and then sustaining it across 26.2 miles. Or setting your treadmill at 4min 33sec per mile pace and carrying on for 1hr 59 min 30sec. It sounds ridiculous, impossible, laugh-out-loud stupid … until you realise that is what Sawe did in London.
