Kipchoge undisputed king of the roads as Irish marathoners struggle in Sapporo

Kevin Seaward was the first of the Irish, clocking 2:21:45 to finish 58th in the 106-strong field, of which only 76 reached the finish.

Ireland’s Kevin Seaward at the finishing line

He must be the greatest. The best marathoner of all time? Without question. The greatest distance runner ever? Quite possibly.

On a hot, humid day on the streets of Sapporo, one that saw the Irish trio of Kevin Seaward, Paul Pollock and Stephen Scullion all well below their best (along with so many others), Eliud Kipchoge again found a way to take this most unpredictable of events and make it routine. The Kenyan marathon king has for many years brought a certainty to a distance where there that’s long been an unattainable dream, a dictatorial dominance to a realm set up for a democratic sharing of power.