Michael Sherman from IOL Sport, despite being a fit club runner, discovered the extreme nature of elite distance running when he attempted to maintain Sebastian Sawe's world-record marathon pace over shorter distances.
To provide context for Sawe's speed, sustaining a world-record marathon pace necessitates maintaining a rate of approximately 2 minutes and 50 seconds per kilometre. This pace equates to a sprint time of 17 seconds for 100 metres, 34 seconds for 200 metres, and 68 seconds for 400 metres.
During a recent holiday near Dullstroom, where he stayed at a cottage by a lake, Sherman decided to test his limits. Using an action camera and a drone, he aimed to see how long he could keep up with Sawe's target rhythm across increasing distances of 100, 200, and 400 metres.
Although he started the challenge feeling in good running condition and with high expectations, the difficulty became apparent almost immediately. Even during the initial 100 metres, Sherman clocked 18 seconds, which was slower than the required 17-second benchmark.
The gap widened as he progressed to the 200-metre mark, falling further behind the necessary tempo. By the time he struggled past 300 metres, his legs were exhausted, making the completion of a full 400 metres at that speed unfeasible. He quickly understood that success was unlikely.
As a club runner capable of running a kilometre in 3 minutes and 30 seconds, the experience served as a significant lesson in humility. For most people, maintaining such high speeds beyond a brief 100-metre effort is nearly impossible without specialized sprinting talent.
Sustaining that demanding and precise pace throughout an entire 42.2-kilometre marathon is not merely impressive; it represents an exceptional achievement that only a small number of individuals in history will accomplish.