Dubai Marathon: Ready for record

Sean Hartnett, the man who provides long-distance legend Haile Gebrselassie the statistical backup to his marathon world record attempts, believes that Dubai ranks among the five fastest courses in the world.

Speaking to XPRESS, the marathon professor said: "There are many flat courses in the world but to be fast you also have to attract world-class athletes. Rotterdam, Amsterdam and Dubai are flat and fast courses that attract top athletes."

In this regard, Hartnett marvelled at the athlete-friendly nature of the Dubai course. "The Dubai route is very flat, and the road surface is soft asphalt [as compared to hard cement] and the streets are level, not ‘crowned' for drainage – all key ingredients for fast running.

"This year's new course has eliminated numerous turns and changed the direction such that the prevailing winds should be at the runners' backs over the second half of the race. All of these improvements should make it faster than the previous route, though it is hard to precisely rate it without a competition."

Hartnett also believes that if the weather holds good, Dubai will most certainly guarantee a world record this time.

"In Dubai you have the world's most capable athlete in Haile Gebrselassie. You also have a very flat, fast course on a level asphalt roadbed. The new Dubai course certainly qualifies as capable of producing world-record efforts.

Weather wise

"Weather is always the great uncertainty of any marathon. An atypical event such as the windy deluge that hit Dubai a few days before last year's race would make a record impossible. Even light rain affects Haile's high flying stride, and would make a record more difficult. Likewise very warm weather would eliminate any possibility of a record.

"I believe that the race has been moved up by half-an-hour this year, and that should make it cooler over the race period, at the start and more importantly over the final kilometres when the temperature is rising. Runners always perform better in cooler temperatures – so another half hour earlier might be better still," Hartnett said He added: "But, the big question in Dubai will be the wind direction and speed. When I get to Dubai I'll be watching the big UAE flag at Union House at the race turnaround.

"Light winds are best for a marathon, and the course is designed for prevailing winds out of the North or North-East like we had last year. If the wind blows more than 10-15km/h or blows in the opposite direction, this would compromise Haile's efforts. A light wind out of the North would be best."

Fastest five

Hartnett's five fastest courses considering the route and quality of athletes

1) Berlin

2) London, Chicago

4) Rotterdam

5) Amsterdam

Even without a race run on

the new course, Hartnett

now brackets Dubai alongside London and Chicago.