Sunday, April 24, was cold and windy though the weather held out, providing yet another reason for cheer and celebration to 40,000 runners (including “the world’s fastest lobster”, one of the many fundraisers in fancy dress) and the huge throngs of enthusiastic spectators of this much-loved event. “The best crowds in the world,” as winners Eliud Kipchoge and Jemima Sumgong called them after the race. From Blackheath and Greenwich Park to The Mall – except for the Blackfriar tunnel, where runners could only hear the pounding of their feet on tarmac –, London’s eager onlookers never stopped shouting out their favorites’ names, giving them “great support” from the word go… From space.
That’s right: 250 kilometers above them, British astronaut Tim Peake had launched the Marathon from the International Space Station – classic 10-second countdown included. Nor was Major Peake just sitting pretty up there! Strapped to his spaceborne treadmill, he completed the exact equivalent of the race course, getting that crucial crowd cheer factor via his iPad, in real time. (He didn’t need that much convincing either: the straps were there so he could actually tread on the mill at zero gravity.)
Human Tecar founder Mario Scerri didn’t get to see it from outer space but the race was thrilling enough on London soil, he commented, all smiles, volunteering his snapshots of numerous elite runners who’d chilled out, restored their energy and jump-started their systems before and after their 26.2 miles, thanks to the Human Tecar technology and our specialized physios on location, Cristian Martinelli and Stefano Punzo. “The most prestigious groups were all supported by physiotherapists who’d been trained in the Human Tecar method. It’s taken over two decades for the culture of prevention and ‘gain without pain’ to get into marathons: today, it is also thanks to this integration of physiotherapy and power training that course records have reached times that would have been unthinkable a few years ago.”
Congratulations to all runners and champions, and an especially heartfelt “bravo!” to our longtime friend, the legendary Kenenisa Bekele, holder of the World and Olympic records for the 5,000 and 10,000 meters, whose marathon debut in Paris 2014 dazzled at 2:05:04. In London, after two years of forced semi-inactivity for an injury to his right Achilles’ tendon and after a mere six weeks of specific training (the Ethiopian declared he was only 90% fit!), Kenenisa came in third in 2:06:36. Talk about 90%...
Arrivederci along the Thames on April 23rd, 2017 then, with Human Tecar. (And make sure it is Human Tecar; the real one. No fancy dress here.)
