The three elite runners chosen for what Nike christened the Breaking2 project — Kipchoge of Kenya, Zersenay Tadese of Eritrea, and Lelisa Desisa of Ethiopia — were set to race 26.2 miles around 17.5 laps of the junior circuit at Monza, all wearing Nike’s controversial and undeniably fast new shoe, the Vaporfly Elite. The race began at 5:45 am local time, in darkness, in front of around 700 spectators and with the runners attended by a pace car, which shot out a green laser line to guide a retinue of all-star pacemakers including Bernard Lagat.
Eliud Kipchoge, the world’s best marathon runner, missed breaking the 2 hour barrier by just 25 seconds.
One of the key innovations of the Breaking2 initiative has been its pacing structure, a blockading diamond of six pacers to shield the runner from wind, which has been tested in wind tunnels to be the most advantageous to a following runner. A total of 30 pacers were split into teams of three runners, who each were instructed to run 4.8 km at two-hour pace, three times. (There were also pacers held back to help contenders who dropped behind.) These teams of three flowed in and out of a diamond formation in a transition area at the top of the home straightaway.
see the race starting at 29.40 in vid below
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