By Paul Snyder
December 4, 2024
How about that Valencia Marathon?
For starters, Sabastian Sawe of Kenya totally delivered on the potential many Sabastianiacs saw in him. The reigning World Half Marathon champ and 58:05 runner doubled down in distance and comfortably won over a star-studded field. His 2:02:05 clocking makes him the fifth fastest marathoner of all time, behind only Kelvin Kiptum, Eliud Kipchoge, Kenenisa Bekele, and Sisay Lemma – who Sawe beat by almost three minutes on Sunday. Behind Sawe, nine other men dipped under 2:05… a time that was, at one point in the not-so-distant past, Really Good.
Just on the other side of the 2:05 barrier finished NCAA legend Edward Cheserek (2:05:24) – yep, King Ches is still out here, still representing Kenya, and still hacking away at it, and seems to have found his footing over 26.2. U.S. road circuit mainstay Biya Simbassa knocked nearly four minutes off his PB, going 2:06:53, good for a solid 17th place finish. There are now only three names ahead of Simbassa on the U.S. all-time list: Ryan Hall, Khalid Khannouchi, and Galen Rupp.
Ethiopia’s Megertu Alemu won the women’s race in commanding fashion. After she crossed the line in 2:16:49, about 90 seconds would pass before second place – Ugandan Stella Chesang – came through. It’s nuts, but it’s the world we live in now, that a 2:16 victory barely makes a ripple in the marathoning scene, but alas.
Courtesy Maratón Valencia
And in more good news for our American readership, rounding out the top-ten finishers was Sara Hall, who smashed her own American masters record, going 2:23:45. Molly Grabill carved three minutes off her former PB, finishing in 2:26:46. Sofia Comacho – who won the non-binary division at the New York City Marathon last month – executed one hell of a quick turnaround, and dipped under 2:30 for the first time in their career. And the 46-year-old Roberta Groner also ran under 2:30 to set a new American 45-49 age group record.
takes a big drag of a metaphorical cigarette But does any of this really matter anyway?
It’s not that the races were inherently boring, or that the Spanish city’s streets failed to propel runners to blazing fast times. It’s just that we feel like we’ve been here before… repeatedly.
It was another marathon that reshuffled the all-time lists, where the winners prevailed thanks to a deep field, good pace job, and favorable weather. After giving the victors their flowers and plucking out a handful of notable, further-back performances we’re left looking at a wicked fast results page that makes us feel nothing.
This wasn’t a time trial and it didn't necessarily play out like one – there was actual racing afoot! But it still feels like the stakes aren’t that high for an event that routinely attracts the top marathoners on the planet. (Even Sawe’s incredible 2:02:05 debut feels defined by what it’s not — the world record.)
As we’ve belabored weekly for years now in this newsletter, racing is what makes the sport special, not marks. Marathon results, and our discussion of them, need to focus more on place and time differential, rather than solely on time. Sisay Lemma ran 2:04:59 for 10th place. For just about every runner on earth that’s a solid day’s work. But Lemma is the defending champ and has been in the conversation for best marathoner of 2024. “Sisay Lemma - 10th - [+2:54]” tells a much more complete story. This was not a good race for Lemma! It was his lowest finish in a marathon in five years. If was probably a really good one for Sawe, but until he shows up and performs like this a few more times, it’s a stretch to call him the fifth best marathoner ever.
Pivoting now to giving World Athletics a gentle, affirmative nod. The move toward championship qualification via World rankings and away from time is still a bit wonky for just about every in-stadium event. But for the marathon, it’s great. We want to see a starting line made up of fantastic racers. People who win often, and do so by intimidating margins. Why not do away with automatic standards entirely in this one event and see how it goes?
All of this is not Valencia’s fault. It’s a well-produced race meeting a demonstrated demand. But maybe— maybe! If we change the way we talk about races like Valencia, we can change what fans and athletes value in a race, and ultimately change the sport itself.
Paul Snyder
Meme-disparager, avid jogger, MS Paint artist, friend of Scott Olberding, Citius Mag staff writer based in Flagstaff. Supplying baseless opinions, lukewarm takes, and vaguely running-related content. Once witnessed televison's Michael Rapaport cut a line of 30 people to get a slice of pizza at John's on Bleeker at 4am. You can follow Paul on Twitter at @DanielDingus.
