The team behind an amazing individual performance
Eliud Kipchoge and his team of pacers. Photo from Twitter @EliudKipchoge
On Saturday afternoon, I sat transfixed for 2 hours to a YouTube livestream. I watched as Eliud Kipchoge achieved something truly remarkable. He is the first human to run a marathon distance in under 2 hours (there are some technicalities about why this isn't an official marathon world record, but that's not important for our conversation). Some people have compared this achievement to landing on the moon. Others have compared it to Roger Bannister breaking the 4-minute mile barrier.
For years, as the official world record time got closer, there has been debate about whether an official sub-2 hour marathon is possible. Up until September of last year, the world record sat at almost three minutes above that. While aspects of Kipchoge's run were contrived (the course and the pacers), it is fair to say that there will be less debate about whether breaking 2 hours in an official race is possible and will shift to a matter of "when, not if."
This is what great human feats do. They set our sights higher, they help us believe that more is possible. As Nelson Mandela has been quoted as saying..." it always seems impossible until it's done."
It would be so easy to view Kipchoge's achievement as the performance of an outstanding individual. In many ways, it is - he ran at over 21km per hour for 42.2km. That is amazing. The fact is, that his individual achievement took a team. The photo above is of Kipchoge with his team of 40+ pacers! Their job was to reduce the drag that Kipchoge experienced. Yet this may only be the tip of the iceberg. There are training partners, family members, physiotherapists, shoe researchers, the car that projected lasers onto the road, sponsors and the list goes on. The whole event was orchestrated for him to run that fast.
This is my point. Even seemingly individual pursuits are the product of many people working together towards a meaningful goal. I'd be willing to bet that there are very few (if any) significant performances that don't rely on teams even if the performance is ultimately individual.
Humanity (and all of our great achievements) is built on teams.
Some questions for you to consider this week:
Who has helped you with your greatest achievements?
How can you support others to go beyond their current performance limits?