The Sub 2-hour marathon

The PhD guys at The Science of Sport out of South Africa usually have interesting topics.  Quite often they are very long reads, but typically they're very interesting.

Today, they discuss here what it would take to run a sub 2-hour marathon.  (It's kind of technical.)
Here's an interesting tidbit from that article:

The sub-2:06 barrier is now the standard for elite marathon running - 24 men have cracked this barrier, the latest being Wilson Chebet in Rotterdam (2:05.27).  Compare this to 2:07, which has been broken by 75 men, and you see that the gap between good and great now lies around 2:06!

2:08, which used to be a world-class performance, is now comparably mediocre, such has been the explosion in performance in the last decade.  The rest of the world need to pay attention, because when the standard shifts, so too much expectation, or you're in danger of being left behind.  This is partly the case in South Africa, where we haven't improved nearly to the same degree, yet celebrate 2:10 marathons as world class.  2:06 gets you to the banquet, not 2:08...

That article links to this one, which discusses how Rotterdam is the fastest marathon in the world, and goes into depth on who has run sub 2:06 in the world.