Boston Marathon Three-Peat Gainers
When comparing the Boston Marathon repeat runners, I thought up an interesting category of runners. I call it the three-peat gainers. Here's how I define it:
Perhaps something like this may be useful for races to reward the non-elite runners. Here are my thoughts:
The first criteria rewards those who are in it for the long haul. It encourages runners to think about races as part of a journey rather than an end game.
The second criteria rewards steady improvements. Each year there's a new goal to attain.
Finally, the third criteria helps reduce sandbaggers who may run very slowly for the first race so they can easily run faster for the next two. Other races could decide on a percentage or factor in age.
Boston Marathon Three-Peat Gainers
From my previous post, I had already found the runners who had run 2003, 2004, and 2005 (and had been in the top 1000 in all three years). There were a total of 97 men and 48 women who did this. I then looked for the runners who gained in both 2004 and 2005 (2005 faster than 2004 and 2004 faster than 2003). There weren't many who accomplished this. The heat in 2004 made this very difficult. But I did find a few: 16 men and 5 women. Here are samples of these runners:
The above times are based on results from marathonguide.com. Note that some repeat runners may have been missed if they didn't finish in the top 1000 in one of the years or if their names weren't exactly the same in all years.
Technorati Tags: running, marathons, boston marathon
- Finish the same race in 3 consecutive years
- Negative chiptimes (second race is faster than the first, third is faster than the second)
- Finish in the top 1000 men and women for all three races
Perhaps something like this may be useful for races to reward the non-elite runners. Here are my thoughts:
The first criteria rewards those who are in it for the long haul. It encourages runners to think about races as part of a journey rather than an end game.
The second criteria rewards steady improvements. Each year there's a new goal to attain.
Finally, the third criteria helps reduce sandbaggers who may run very slowly for the first race so they can easily run faster for the next two. Other races could decide on a percentage or factor in age.
Boston Marathon Three-Peat Gainers
From my previous post, I had already found the runners who had run 2003, 2004, and 2005 (and had been in the top 1000 in all three years). There were a total of 97 men and 48 women who did this. I then looked for the runners who gained in both 2004 and 2005 (2005 faster than 2004 and 2004 faster than 2003). There weren't many who accomplished this. The heat in 2004 made this very difficult. But I did find a few: 16 men and 5 women. Here are samples of these runners:
3 of the 5 Women Three-Peat Gainers (year, chiptime, age)
Hometown: Boston, MA , USA
2003 : 3:25:27 : 31
2004 : 3:22:15 : 32
2005 : 3:17:41 : 33
Hometown: Seattle, WA , USA
2003 : 3:30:04 : 40
2004 : 3:24:40 : 41
2005 : 3:19:05 : 42
Hometown: Sapporo, Japan
2003 : 3:39:07 : 42
2004 : 3:31:20 : 43
2005 : 3:25:32 : 44
3 of the 16 Men Three-Peat Gainers (year, chiptime, age)
Hometown: Halifax, NS , Canada
2003 : 2:55:46 : 34
2004 : 2:53:39 : 35
2005 : 2:51:08 : 36
Hometown: Stockton, CA , USA
2003 : 2:55:08 : 38
2004 : 2:48:11 : 39
2005 : 2:44:22 : 40
Hometown: Denver, CO , USA
2003 : 2:44:38 : 36
2004 : 2:44:29 : 37
2005 : 2:37:22 : 38
The above times are based on results from marathonguide.com. Note that some repeat runners may have been missed if they didn't finish in the top 1000 in one of the years or if their names weren't exactly the same in all years.
Technorati Tags: running, marathons, boston marathon
posted by Ken at
6:30 AM
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