Geb is laughing all the way to the bank...
A $million is a lot of cash by almost any sporting standard. The super-rich Gulf states seem to be happy fritter their money about these days and I am sure that the great Haile Gebrselassie will be more than happy to add that little lot to the small-fry $250,000 for the win at tomorrow morning’s Dubai Marathon…
Is it that time again when the little Ethiopian gets on the long and lonely road to marathon greatness and attempts to break his own world record of 2:03:59 – he crashed and burned in last year’s event, after running into some unexpected rain in the second half of the race.
I’ve made sure I’m in perfect shape,” said the 36 year old Ethiopian, who will be running in Dubai for the third year in succession. “But everything has to be perfect, the weather, the pacemakers. If everything is perfect, I can run 2:03:30. I don’t promise, if I promise and fail, we’ll all be disappointed. Two years ago, it was a little bit warm at the end (he ran 2:04:53, then second fastest in history), last year, it was raining (he ‘only’ ran 2:05:29, eighth fastest)”. IAAF
It’s not normal for this site to cover road or marathon running, but Haile is not normal and his appearances at races such as the Dubai race with the sole aim of chasing records (we doubt he will be actually beaten by anyone!) are extraordinary running spectacles.
Full preview over at the IAAF, you can also follow up to date news and live text coverage of the race at the Dubai Marathon site.
