This archive report was first published on 3 September 2019.
With just 39 days to go before the highly anticipated INEOS 1:59 Challenge, pacemakers and organizers are increasingly optimistic that Eliud Kipchoge will break the two-hour marathon barrier in Vienna on October 12.
On September 1, the team conducted a major dress rehearsal at Vienna's The Prater, where the attempt will take place. The event aimed to test various elements, including race management operations, athlete facilities, pacing plans, broadcast plans, and timing systems.
According to a statement from British firm INEOS, the organizers of the challenge, the team tested the operational readiness of the event, ensuring that nothing was left to chance in their bid to give Kipchoge the best possible conditions to achieve the historic feat.
Team INEOS' CEO Fran Miller added that around 150 people from various teams, including operational, broadcast, performance, timing, and pacemakers, came together for the series of tests.
Valentijn Trouw, athletes manager at Kipchoge's management company Global Sports Communication, who coordinated the pacemaker tests, expressed his excitement and gratitude towards the pacemakers involved in the challenge.
One of the pacemakers, former world junior champion and Commonwealth 5,000 meters gold medallist Augustine Choge, who is Kipchoge's long-time friend and training partner at Kaptagat, was also delighted after the tests.
"The rehearsal went well. The course is great, the team excited about the event, and co-operation was excellent," Choge told Nation Sport from Vienna. "The locals were also really supportive. Come October 12, history will be made."
"The rehearsal went well. The course is great, the team excited about the event, and co-operation was excellent," Augustine Choge told Nation Sport from Vienna.
