New York Marathon organizers dole out 100,000 dollars to the victors. Owing to the dynamism of the event, elite marathon runners do only a maximum of two races per year, with the rest of the time spent on training and recovering.

"The two-hour barrier in the marathon seems increasingly surmountable as more and more runners with tremendous pedigree are taking to road running and slowly nudging the marathon clock downwards," Nairobi-based sports scientist Bernard Migo, remarked.

World half marathon silver medalist, Bedan Karoki, and world cross country champion Geoffrey Kamworor both from Kenya are also heading to the road after their legs can no longer let them keep pace with the nimble upcoming runners that the east African nation churns out with regular consistency.

However, race-switching is not a new found novelty. Czech Emil Zatopek won the 5,000m, 10,000m and marathon races within eight days at the 1952 Olympics.

Frank Shorter from the United States won the marathon gold medal at the 1972 Olympic Games after running the 10,000m, whereas Finland's Lasse Viren won both long distance track events and finished fifth in the marathon at the 1976 Olympic Games.

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