Brigid Kosgei Marathon Records Eliud Kipchoge A marathon is a long distance race (42.2 km or 26.2 miles) Think about it…it’s running 100m, just over 422 times that’s 105.5 laps of the stadium! The marathon race gets its name from the legend of the Greek messenger, Pheidippides, who, in 490 BC, ran from the city of Marathon all the way to Athens to deliver the message that the Greeks were victorious against the Persians in the Battle of Marathon. What is a Marathon? Women were not allowed to compete in any sports for many years. However, in 1967, Kathrine Switzer (United States of America) became Kathrine Switzer the first official woman to run a Marathon . During her run, a race official attempted to stop her from running by grabbing her official bib. However, he was shoved to the ground by Switzer’s boyfriend, Thomas Miller, who was running with her and she completed the race. Marathons around the World Marathons are run all around the World. The most famous ones are in London (April), Boston (April), Berlin (September) and Chicago (October). Many people including celebrities take part in marathons to raise money for different charities. Some people even dress up in fancy dress! Brigid Kosgei Brigid is the fastest female marathon runner. She holds the World record for women with a time of 2:14:04s. She broke this record on 13th October 2019 in the Chicago marathon. Brigid is 25 years old and comes from Kenya. Before she broke this record, the fastest female marathon runner was Paula Radcliffe (Great Britain) and her time was 2:17:18s. Eliud Kipchoge Eliud is 34 years old and also from Kenya. He is the fastest man ever to run a marathon with a time of 1:59:40s. No one in the world has ever run a marathon in less than 2 hours until Eliud managed to accomplish this on 12th October 2019 in Vienna. He had 14 “pacemakers” helping him to keep a steady pace throughout the marathon. However, because of specific IAAF rules, Eliud’s marathon time will not count as a World Record due to having used pacemakers in his race..