Well, I play it.

"What is the coldest place you've ever been? And the hottest?"

The coldest would be, I think, Lillehammer – or to be more precise, Hamar, the venue for short track and figure skating at the 1994 Winter Olympics in Norway. It was around minus 22 degrees, I was reliably informed. But there was not a scrap of wind so, weirdly, it did not feel all that cold.

And the hottest place? That's easy. Doha.

My first brief experience of Qatar's capital was when I stepped off a plane on a stop-over while bound for the Sydney 2000 Olympics. It really was like stepping into a warm oven.

Since then I have covered a number of International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF) Diamond League meetings in Doha – very good meetings, I would add – and later in the evening, as the temperature finally drops, it becomes okay, sometimes pleasant. 

But you still wouldn't want to do anything too energetic.

Anyway, bring on the IAAF World Athletics Championships Doha 2019, to give them their official moniker, which start this Friday (September 27). And of course, three years down the line, bring on the FIFA World Cup finals.

I have just been double checking temperatures in Doha, and read an interesting piece from a senior weather presenter on Al Jazeera who recalls wryly how some people in the capital take to ear-muffs and coats when the temperature drops to...around 22 degrees.

I also read this about Doha: "Basically, there are two main seasons. A cooler season from December to February, and a hot season from April to October, within which we can distinguish a very hot period from May to mid-October."

Okay. I'm not finding that very helpful right now as I contemplate packing for the athletics.

The other day a friend at the IAAF warned me to take some jumpers to Doha. I laughed at what I took to be a mild joke, until I realised they were serious. "It gets very cold in the stadium."

The temperature outside the expensively refurbished Championships venue of the Khalifa Stadium may be in the 30s or even 40s, but inside what has been converted into one huge air conditioning unit, it is always cool. Or so I'm informed.

It should be fine for the athletes. Those in the stadium, that is. As for those competing outside the stadium – the word is probably "challenging".

In order to mitigate the effects of high daytime temperatures, the Doha organisers have organised the men's and women's marathons in the night-time. Simples.

Thus at midnight on day one of the Championships, a field of around 70 female runners will set off under floodlighting on a looped course along the waterfront of Doha's famous Corniche, connecting Doha Bay and Doha City Centre, set against the capital city's towering skyline.

The temperature by that time is expected to have dropped from the predicted daytime range of 35 degrees and above. But it is not going to be what you would call chilly. Even Doha's wealth and ingenuity has not found a way to air condition the Corniche.

Many of the runners will be used to running in hot conditions, but none will have run a Championship marathon at such a time, finishing in the early hours of the morning. Mentally, physically and physiologically it is going to be a new test for all.

There have been a couple of other occasions when a global marathon has taken place at least partly in darkness. At the IAAF World Championships in Edmonton, Canada, in 2001, the men's marathon took place in the evening – but that was to co-ordinate it with the Opening Ceremony so the crowd had some live action to witness at the end of the ceremonials.

Famously, Abebe Bikila of Ethiopia made his way, barefoot, to victory at the Rome 1960 Olympics in darkness lit at intervals by military torchbearers along the route. He himself was picked up by lights for tracking TV cameras.

The race had started in the late afternoon in order to avoid the worst of the capital's searing summer heat, and the runners set off from the foot of the Capitoline Hill with attenuated shadows.

But he was still in his bed by midnight – or at least could have been.

Those taking part in the marathon and race walking events in Doha will only be setting out at that time.

In terms of logistics, the event will no doubt go off perfectly as the Doha 2019 organisers draw on the city's experience of having hosted the world's first night-time MotoGP race at Losail International Circuit.

For spectators it is also going to be a discombobulating experience – a cross between late night cinema and a first experience of a floodlit football match.

But as to the effect on the participants – we wait to see.

ABC recently did an interesting piece with Australia's sole entrant for the men's marathon in Doha, Julian Spence, who has a personal best of 2 hours 14min 42sec.

"No-one's done this before, no-one really races at midnight, there's going to be 80 blokes on the starting line all in the same position," Spence told them.

"The marathon is a very intuitive type of event where you need to be aware of how much you have left to give at any given time.

"Even just the perception of running in the dark, it can change how you feel, so there'll be some practising going on."

Athletics Australia's physiologist Ned Brophy-Williams said the final weeks of preparation before the event would be crucial.

"There are a whole range of different ways of attacking this challenge, whether that's using heat tents, hot spas, steam rooms, or saunas," he said.

"[But] we're not going to see any world records broken in Doha."

 Let's just hope we are not going to see any athletes broken, either.