There are years that come along and redefine certain arenas; 2019 was one for the running books. Here is a look back at a handful of the utterly memorable moments, plot twists, triumphs and tragedies that redefined our sport.
April
Three time Comrades Marathon winner, Bongmusa Mthembu won the 2019 Two Oceans Marathon in a thrilling 50th edition of this iconic road race. With just 1km to go, the leaderboard was still changing, but Mthembu found another gear and finished in 3:08:40, less than 2 minutes ahead of fellow South African, David Gatebe. In the same race, Gerda Steyn had pundits glued to the trackers as she successfully defended her Two Oceans title, coming in less than a minute outside of Frith van der Merwe’s course record.
May
New IAAF rule came into effect banning female athletes with unnaturally high testosterone levels. Athletes competing in 400m to 1500m events would be forced to maintain testosterone levels below five nanomoles per litre. This took South African Olympian, Caster Semenya, out of competitive track racing for the year.
July
Caster lost appeal against the IAAF, and in a surprise move, joined the JVW Football club.
June
Love or hate the cowboy, you have to hand it to US ultra runner Jim Walmsley. When he lines up, it’s all in and he simply isn’t satisfied with anything less of himself. Jim maintained his Western States champion position by obliterating his own course record over the 100 mile distance. 14:09:00 was enough of an effort to shave more than 20 minutes off his previous record. Jim went on to set a new 50-mile world record at the Hoka One One 100k Challenge.
September
Geoffrey Kamworor of Kenya took down the half marathon world record in Copenhagen, running an eye-popping 58:01, 17 seconds faster than the previous record.
October
Brigid Kosgei rewrote the record books at the Chicago Marathon, taking Paula Radcliffe’s 2003 record of 2:15:25 down to 2:14:04. October was owned by the Kenyans, as Eliud Kipchoge achieved the unfathomable in his second attempt at breaking the 2-hour marathon barrier. 1:59:40 has become the time to beat, with Kipchoge quoted as saying, “I wanted to send a message to the world; no human is limited”.
Maggie Guterl changed the game at the Big’s Backyard Ultra. She became the first woman to win it outright, as she was last runner standing after 250miles (more than 400km) of the 4.2-mile loop of trail. “When I finished, a woman came up to me and said, ‘I didn’t want to tell you this, but you were running for all of the women, and an entire gender.’ That was in my head the whole race and it was surreal when I was the last one standing”.
December
Closing out the year with a bang, Joshua Cheptegei of Uganda set a new 10km world record of 26:38 at the Valencia Trinidad Alfonso in Spain.
And if the highlights reel of 2019 does not leave you inspired to make 2020 count, there isn’t much that will.
Words Kim Stephens
Image: REUTERS / Lisi Niesner