Fastest in history - unofficially

ATHLETICS: BOSTON MARATHON:KENYA'S GEOFFREY Mutai ran the fastest marathon in history yesterday when he clocked an incredible two hours, three minutes and two seconds on the famed Boston course – although his time won't stand as the official world record.

Since 2004 the IAAF have ruled that, for world record purposes, marathon routes must conform to certain criteria regarding their point-to-point nature and decreases in elevation, and Boston is ruled out on both counts.

So while the previous best of 2:03.59, set by Ethiopia’s Haile Gebrselassie in Berlin in 2008, will still stand as the world record, Mutai can take some consolation in that he’s now the fastest marathon man in history.

The 29-year-old beat compatriot Moses Mosop by just four seconds, and together they smashed the course record, set in last year’s race by Kenyan Robert Kiprono Cheruiyot, by almost three minutes. He became the 19th Kenyan winner of the race in 21 years.

But under the IAAF rules, the start and finish points of a marathon course, measured along a theoretical straight line between them, shall not be farther apart than 50 per cent of the race distance – while the point-to-point Boston course also has an elevation drop that exceeds the 135ft allowed. In other words there is more downhill than uphill, and the line run is too straight.

The point-to-point rule is to help eliminate any wind advantage, such as the tailwinds of between 15 to 20mph that assisted athletes for much of yesterday. Ryan Hall was fourth in an American best of 2:04.58, although again that won’t stand as an official American record.

Mutai – not to be confused with Emmanuel Mutai who ran 2:04.40 to win in London on Sunday – was always tipped to run such a quick marathon, and recently claimed the Kenyan cross country title.

Ireland’s Alistair Cragg surprisingly went with the fast pace but soon found his wheels coming off, and having passed 20km in a fast 61:31, apparently stopped a couple of times to adjust his shoes, before dropping out around 25km.