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News ID: 78900
Publish Date : 25 May 2020 - 21:46

Kipchoge Likens Global Pandemic to Running Marathon Uphill

NAIROBI (Reuters) - World marathon record holder Eliud Kipchoge has likened the struggle athletes are enduring during the COVID-19 pandemic to running a marathon on an uphill course.
Kipchoge, who plans to run a course record in the London Marathon in October, said he has maintained a strict training program despite doing it alone at home.
The Olympic marathon champion, who has not lost a single race since 2013, when he was beaten by then-world record holder Wilson Kipsang in Berlin, said he is keen to defend his titles in London and at the Tokyo Olympics.
However, he said athletes must become innovative to overcome the challenges caused by the coronavirus.
"I’m a marathoner, and the marathon is like life,” Kipchoge said on Sunday from Eldoret. "We have many courses in the world: flat courses, uphill and downhill, and this period of COVID-19 is like an uphill course, where we need to live in a slow way, in a positive way, in order to finish the race well.”
Kipchoge said while he misses group training, he has adjusted his program to focus more on strength work and long runs rather than speed and tactics.