of October. This was to ensure all the right
conditions were good for the day.
In complete contrast too to the Monza
attempt, the organizers obliged to
Kipchoge’s request for fans to line up the
track. This would allow for the running to
bear a semblance to an actual marathon
race, with watching and cheering fans to
add some energy and punch to the run. By
race day, over 120,000 fans lined up the
streets at Prater Park!
As mentioned above on the time zone,
another consideration for it was the live
broadcasting across the globe to maximize
viewership. And maximize viewership they
did - an estimated audience of 500 million
viewers followed the run on their screens
from big screen TVs, to smartphone and
laptops. There were over 30 broadcasters
airing this race live across the world, with
YouTube enabling a live social media
channel feed.
In keeping with the audience numbers, a
study done by online and digital analytics
experts estimated the number of impressions
for the INEOS brand at over 15 billion on
the different social media platforms. It was
even more astounding that Kenyan brands
were able to milk the event for its publicity.
I lost count of the number of brands that
took advantage of the record-breaking feat
including EABL, Little Cab, Tuskys, Isuzu
to mention those that stood out.
Regional mobile telco, Safaricom was able
to enjoy slightly over 13 billion impressions
and top of mind awareness with its
subscribers. On the morning of the run, the
firm offered a free data connection bundle
of 1590MB to the Internet (YouTube
specifically) to be able to view the action as
it live-streamed. This is said to have almost
crashed its website as well over 3 million
subscribers downloaded this and at least
750,000 were live-streaming at the same
time, according to a report by Safaricom
and Google!
Still on timing, the run was held in the
middle of the World Marathon Majors with
a few marathon races being run including
the Chicago marathon on the next day to
give it leverage on its offering as alternative
running experience.
Sports Science Redefined...
Organizers of the run were able to break
down the race into an average of 2min
50secs splits per kilometre for the 42.2km
92 MAL33/19 ISSUE
marathon. When Kipchoge would fall
behind the 2’50 to 2’53, the time checks
would request for the pace to increase and
the reverse would happen if they ran under
this time to ensure a steady pace.
To make it possible to achieve this, there
were 41 pacesetters - some from his NN
Running Team, others selected thanks to
their road-racing prowess as well as his
training partners. They would adopt the
arrow-shaped accompanying the runner
to shield him from the wind resistance
as well as help keep time splits tight and
steady.
Water and energy drinks were offered to
Eliud from assistants riding along the
track. This reduced any chance of time-
wasting on the athlete’s side. There was
his manager Trouw cycling alongside
the athlete throughout the run to check
on the split times and Kipchoge’s body
conditions.
To guide the athletes was the pace car
which drove 15 metres in front of the
running athletes using a laser line guide
to keep them on track. These pacesetters
switched every 5 kilometres to ensure a
fresh pair of legs maintaining the energy
and pace to the run.
The running shoes created by Nike were
reported to improve the efficiency of
running by 4% said to offer superior
advantage to the runner. As part of
its sponsorship, Nike developed the
Vaporfly Next running shoes brand -
where it duly worked to and achieved.
Interestingly the pacemakers also wore
Nike shoes - pink in color both for
visibility and color also representing
INEOS brand colors and maybe to a
lesser extent, being the cancer awareness
month. Though Nike’s Vaporfly Next%
shoe later became controversial through
various critics, the edition was sold out
within days of release.
Enter The Tiger!
This event taught sports brands on how
to leverage their respective strengths;
timing, execution and association.
Staying with the Nike brand, it has been
known to court controversy like it did
with the running shoe brand.
In 2009/10, when Tiger Woods took an
indefinite break from the game of golf
due to marital issues, several sponsors
either suspended or ended their
association with him - for fear of facing