January 2012

[Bierzo Baggie]

One more interesting piece and I'll let you have your thread back (sorry Dan!!)...

Not so fast....

Those times are truly astonishing.

But away from the world class athletes and going back to the marathon boom in the 80s, how do you explain that there were probably fewer people into running and so many more getting under 3 hours?

My uncle used to run the Wolverhampton marathon between 2:50 and 3 hours. Now this was a city marathon with a field of a few hundred and I remember plenty of people used to finish ahead of him (perhaps 100 or so?)
A couple of years ago they staged the race again for the first time since the 90s. His best mid-1980s time would have given him third place!

In the western countries over the gruelling marathon distance I'd say that everybody (except Paula Ratcliffe) is running slower than they were 25 years ago (elite athletes, club runners, fun runners...) I've got the same build as my uncle but no way would I ever push myself to the limits that he did!