Dubai Marathon: Time to end this one-man show

Dubai - Can the Standard Chartered Dubai Marathon become one of the world's best road running events?

London Marathon race director David Bedford fails to see why not. But the former long-distance runner who flew in from England just to watch his first Dubai Marathon said the event would be better off if it didn't just revolve around one man – Haile Gebrselassie.

Speaking to XPRESS shortly after the finish, Bedford said: “I think when you go for a record, the problem is there is always disappointment when you don't get a record. But when you have a race and you're going for a record, you still have a race. “So for me, I think it would have been better if there had been another quality athlete there. So as well as going for the record, when they came off the pace, it did still matter who won.

“Whereas in this, there was not enough competition for him. But it was a great effort and if the weather had stayed solid you would have got a record.''

Bedford, who once held the world record for the 10,000m was however impressed with the fervour which surrounded the Dubai Marathon.

“It's clear that there was a massive enthusiasm for the marathon here. And I think the art now is to build on that and create stronger fields and more competition. “The women had a good race – that was a race. “

In the men's, it was just for one person and it has to be wider than that. But this is early days for Dubai. The London Marathon will be 30 next year so these things don't happen overnight.'' Come 2012, Bedford and his team will have their hands full organising the Olympic Marathon in addition to the annual London Marathon.

While Gebrselassie has revealed his dream of adding another Olympic gold to his bulging kitty, how delighted would Bedford be at seeing the Ethiopian set yet another world record? “I don't think the Olympic course is a world-record breaking course. And that's a long time to go.

“There are a lot of younger people coming through [like] Martin Lel and Samuel Wanjiru, both from Kenya. So he'll have a lot more competition in London 2012 than he had here,'' said Bedford.