Sub two-hour marathon Sub2hr project 2014

Five years before Eliud Kipchoge's historic 1:59:40.2 unofficial record run in the INEOS 1:59 Challenge in Vienna on October 12, 2019, there was a bid to bring international scientific research teams together to make the sub two-hour marathon a reality.

The sub2hr project formed the first dedicated international research initiative made up of specialist multidisciplinary scientists from academia, elite athletes and strategic industry partners (including Global Sports Communication, Nijmegen, The Netherlands). All partners had at least 10 years of experience working in elite sport, including breaking marathon world records, and the participating scientists were opinion leaders in their respective fields.

Led by the University of Brighton's Yannis Pitsiladis The sub2hr project was project to comprise three main project phases:

> a development phase (first 12 months) would involve setting up the global consortium, advertising the ambitious objectives and securing the necessary sponsorship to initiate the project;

> an implementation phase (years 2-5) aimed at establishing the project and achieving the 1:59:59 objective. For this phase centres were set up in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, and Eldoret, Kenya, and the first key athletes were recruited under agreements that included the WADA+ anti-doping programme.

> a legacy phase would then serve as a model for future sporting success.

The sub2hr project was launched on the 17 December 2014 to coincide with a specialist colloquium organised by Professor Ron Maughan at the International Sports and Exercise Nutrition Conference (www.isenc.org) held in Newcastle, England entitled 'What will it take to run a 2-hour marathon?' Stakeholders with potential interest in collaborating with the sub2hr project consortium were invited to attend this special event.

Vodafone added its expertise to the Sub2hr project to join the specialist scientists, the world’s best marathon runners, and other industry partners to help achieve the sub-two-hour marathon objective. Engineers from Vodafone Group’s Networks Centre of Excellence team developed an innovative SUB2 mobile application that served as a ‘hub’ to aggregate a range of data feeds to assist runners and their support team.

The research focused on various aspects of endurance performance to find incremental gains, with key areas of investigation that included:

Genetics: The project planned to sequence the genomes of elite East African runners to understand the genetic variants that contribute to their dominance.

Physiology: Researchers studied the unique physiological characteristics of elite runners, including maximum oxygen uptake and running economy (efficiency of movement).

Biomechanics: Experts explored the optimal running form to minimize energy costs and fatigue, moving beyond the traditional wisdom of the running world.

Training and Environment: University of Brighton research leader Yannis Pitsiladis challenged conventional training methods like "live high, train low," suggesting that "live high, train higher" might be more effective. 

He also tested unconventional locations, like the high-oxygen atmosphere of the Dead Sea, to push physiological boundaries.

Nutrition and Hydration: His team experimented with glucose loading and unique hydration strategies, such as rinsing the mouth with carbohydrates to trick the brain into working harder.

Technology: The project developed wearable technology to monitor athletes' biometrics in real-time, providing valuable data on heart rate, body temperature, and more. 

The Sub2hr research did not lead to the first official sub-two-hour marathon within the five year parameters it had set itself. Nor was it a direct contributor to the unofficial record set in 2019. However it did galvanise the running community and associated scientists, influencing the broader community's pursuit of the barrier and brought focus and interest from the international press coverage over a period of four years.

Pitsiladis's work preceded and influenced other high-profile attempts, notably the Nike Breaking2 project and the INEOS 1:59 Challenge. The scientific questions and research methods pioneered by Pitsiladis's group contributed to the understanding of elite marathon performance, helping confirm that a high VO2 max, excellent running economy, and a high lactate turn point are the three key physiological qualities would be required to break the two-hour barrier.

Among the many articles that flagged the research between 2014 and 2018 were:
> 'When will we see the first two-hour marathon and why can no one get near Paula Radcliffe's record?' 10 October 2014, The Telegraph, Ben Bloom
> 'Proyecto 1.59.59: Gebrselassie y el fisiólogo Pitsiladis crean un equipo para bajar de dos horas en el maratón' 12 October 2014, El País, Carlos Arribas
> Interview with Yannis Pitsiladis, BBC World Service Sat 17 Jan 2015
> Man v Marathon, 2 part article, New York Times 11,18 May 2016 
Debate also opened as to the reasons behind the international team seeking to invest in breaking the two-hour barrier, with exchanges that grew from the University of Edinburgh Academy of Sport blog,  'The Two Hour Marathon: Who is it for?' Michael Crawley 23 August 2016, with an expanded version of the article appearing in The Guardian 4 October 2016, following team responses from Sub2hr.