Four-time New York City Marathon champion Mary Keitany of Kenya has been left frustrated as all athletic competition has been shut down due to the novel coronavirus pandemic.
Elite athletes, and long-distance runners, in particular, need a number of people to train together and for Keitany – and many other top marathoners – this is not possible in this new age of social distancing in the fight against COVID-19.
“As I prepare for future races, I can’t train on my own. I need other athletes for support and speed work,” said Keitany.
The Tokyo Olympics were scheduled to be held on July 24 but were postponed late last month amid growing pressure to move or cancel the quadrennial showpiece. The vast majority of athletes had their training programmes disrupted from early March, and the International Olympic Committee were left with no choice but to postpone the Olympics to next year.
In fact, the IOC were seen as dragging their feet with the announcement as almost all other international sporting events had been shut down, announced postponements or cancellations during March.
One such race – The London Marathon was scheduled for April 26, and many runners would have been busy with their final preparations for the race when it was postponed last month.
“Imagine that time when you are ready to run at a given race then you are told you can’t despite having trained for months on end. This kills the morale of all athletes,” said Keitany.
In partnership with ANA and Sports Leo
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