It’s unofficial, but his time beat the existing unofficial record by
more than four minutes.
By Andrew Dawson
Oct 28, 2020

daniel romanchuk
Kim Romanchuk
* Daniel Romanchuk unofficially broke the wheelchair marathon world
record during his virtual New York City Marathon, covering 26.2
miles in 1:13:57.
* The 22-year-old was using the virtual race as a training run, but
he unexpectedly went record pace on a straight, flat course.
* The official world record is 1:20:14, set by Swiss Heinz Frei in
1999. Marcel Hug went 1:18:04 at the 2017 Boston Marathon, which
isn’t a record-eligible course.
__________________________________________________________________

In his last major training workout of the year, Daniel Romanchuk was
hoping to get a marathon distance in one more time—something that would
count for his virtual New York City Marathon.

Romanchuk wanted a clear day, and October 22 was the clearest day just
outside of Champaign, Illinois. With his Polar and Garmin GPS
trackers set, he was off on the farm roads—a mostly-straight,
north-south course he had completed a couple of times before—with his
mother in the car behind him, providing protection from passing
vehicles.

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When he looked at his watch during his race, he saw that he was moving
at what would be a world-record pace.

“No, I was not expecting this in any way, shape, or form,” Romanchuk
told Runner’s World. “I was just recording the run for my TCS New York
City Marathon results. I didn’t expect it to be picked up as a world
best.”

When he finished, he knew what he had done. He had just set the fastest
wheelchair marathon time in history with a 1:13:57.
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At first, Romanchuk was hesitant to share the time. It was a
virtual race without any competitors on a flat, straight course
with a tailwind. The record time would be unofficial by racing
standards, but so was the actual unofficial record time of 1:18:04 set
at the 2017 Boston Marathon by Switzerland’s Marcel Hug. (The
Boston Marathon course is point-to-point and net downhill, making
it record-ineligible.) The official wheelchair marathon world record is
1:20:14, set by Swiss Heinz Frei in 1999 in Oita, Japan.

Despite having no competitions this year because of the coronavirus
pandemic, he’s happy with he’s at heading into a Paralympic year.

“Looking forward to next fall, I think this certainly means summer
training has gone well,” he said. “I think when my coaches and I
restructured when the pandemic hit, our focus has shifted. I think this
just shows that it’s going well. I’m just really thankful to God and
for the health to do this and the opportunity to train.”
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Romanchuk said his training has been different, with he and his coaches
restructuring his normal training into more of a data-collection
approach. And his training will continue to be adjusted as he gets
ready for another odd, and potentially very busy, year of racing.

This is what prompted his fourth marathon-distance workout in eight
weeks.

It isn’t abnormal for elite wheelchair marathoners to compete in races
close together; in a normal fall season, they can hit three marathon
majors in a span of about six weeks. But this will make 2021 even more
hectic. In addition to the postponed Paralympic Games in August, all
marathon majors except for Boston, which could also still move, will
take place in the second half of the year. This means potentially seven
races for Romanchuk and others in a very short time span.

The 2021 Runner's World Calendar features gorgeous photos, monthly
motivation, and tips to inspire your running all year long.]

Even though the record was a cool number to hit, Romanchuk still has
his sights setting on pushing his limits even farther.

“Honestly, this goes down to my general view on records and things like
that,” he said. “I view records as limits to be pushed, not as
something to be owned. At the end of the day, someone else is going to
come along and they’re going to be faster, and that’s great because it
means the sport is progressing.”
Andrew Dawson Gear & News Editor Drew covers a variety of subjects
for Runner’s World and Bicycling, and he specializes in writing and
editing human interest pieces while also covering health, wellness,
gear, and fitness for the brand.
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