Fast times are expected again in Eindhoven and the race director wants his race to be the most innovative marathon in the world

The Eindhoven Marathon is an annual marathon held in the city of Eindhoven, Netherlands.  The first race was held in 1990.  Every year since 2003 the winning time has been under 2:10.  The men's course record was set by Dickson Chumba (Ken) in 2012 when he clocked 2:05:46.  The year before Georgina Rono (Ken) set the woman's record (2:24:33).   Felix Kiptoo Kirwa (Ken)recorded a personal record of 2:06:13 hours in Eindhoven a year ago and will be back. The Ethiopian Deriba Robi will also be running.  Robi already reached 2:05:58 in 2015 on the fast Eindhoven course. That year the victory went to Kenyan Stephen Chebogut 2:05:52. In 2011 and 2016, Robi also chose Eindhoven as his fall marathon.  Belay Asefa from Ethiopia ran his best marathon time 2:07:10 four years ago in Hamburg will also be running. On a good day the course record can be broken.  Besides the elite racing up front the race director wants his race to be special.  "A marathon is a marathon, it is 42,195 km long, there are a start and a finish, a course and runners. Seems very simple but there is a lot to innovate. At least that’s what Edgar de Veer, organizer of the Eindhoven Marathon, thinks. “We have the ambition to become the most innovative marathon in the world.”  This is how the idea of Switchsprinter.com, a system that allows participants to hear voice messages from family via an earbud, came about.  Prior to the marathon, people can record messages and if the participant is having a hard time, such a recorded message will be heard.  

posted Friday October 5th