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Kipchoge rewards each of his 41 pacemakers with personalized trophies

By Amina Wako October 14th, 2019 1 min read

The world’s greatest marathoner, Eliud Kipchoge has rewarded each one of the 41 pacemakers who run with him during the INEOS159 Challenge on Saturday in Vienna Austria.

The INEOS 1:59 Challenge tweeted that the 34-year-old athlete gave each one of the pacemakers a signed trophy.

The trophies are in acknowledgement of the important part each of the 41 pacemakers played in helping Kipchoge to become the first man to run a sub 2 hours marathon.

Kipchoge crossed the line in a time of of 1:59:40.

“@EliudKipchoge presented each of his 41 pacemakers with a signed trophy to commemorate their efforts in the #INEOS159 Challenge last night. #NoHumanIsLimited,” INEOS 1:59 Challenge tweeted.

The all-star team of pacemakers was headlined by 44-year-old Kenyan-turned-American Bernard Lagat, a five-time Olympian, who also won double gold (1,500m and 5,000m) at the 2007 Osaka World Championships.

Also in the team was 19-year-old Ethiopian teenager Selemon Barega, a silver medalist at the just concluded 2019 World Athletics Championships in Doha, Qatar. Barega is also the fastest man in the world over 3,000m this year and the second fastest over 5,000m and 10,000m.

Other notable pacemakers in the team included the three Ingebrigtsen brothers – Henrik, Filip and Jakob (Norway) – Paul Chelimo (USA) and Matthew Centrowitz (USA), who is the reigning Olympic 1,500m champion.

Through out the INEOS159 Challenge, the pacemakers ran in groups of seven alongside Kipchoge. Five of the pacemakers ran ahead of Kipchoge in a ‘V’ formation with two flanking him on both sides from behind.