Top 100 in Boston and London 2004

I wanted to see what the top 100 finish times were in both the Boston and London Marathons in 2004. Based on 2004 results from the Boston site and the London site, I gathered some basic stats of the top 100 men and women.

The weather had a big impact in Boston last year with a temperature of 83F at the start. In London the problem was the rain and wind. For a marathon, I would prefer rain and wind over 80 degree temperatures. The only problem with the rain is the slick roads. In fact the winner of the London Marathon actually slipped and fell.

Even though the weather makes it tough to do a fair comparison, the London Marathon had much faster times. The top 100 men averaged 2:23:22. This was over 14 minutes faster than the top 100 Boston men (2:38:00). Likewise, the top 100 women in London's marathon averaged 2:53:18. This was about 15 minutes faster than the top 100 Boston women (3:08:27).

Here are some more details from this comparison:

2004 London Marathon

Top 3 Male Finish Times:
2:06:18
2:06:48
2:07:02
Average time for top 100 male runners = 2:23:32

Number of Men Who Ran:
under 2:10 :   8
under 2:15 :  16
under 2:20 :  33
under 2:30 :  73
under 2:40 : 100+

Top 3 Female Finish Times:
2:22:35
2:26:02
2:26:52
Average time for top 100 female runners = 2:53:18

Number of Women Who Ran:
under 2:30 :   8
under 2:45 :  24
under 3:00 :  66
under 3:15 : 100+


2004 Boston Marathon

Top 3 Male Finish Times:
2:10:37
2:11:49
2:13:38
Average time for top 100 male runners = 2:38:00

Number of Men Who Ran:
under 2:10 :   0
under 2:15 :   4
under 2:20 :   8
under 2:30 :  19
under 2:40 :  44
under 2:50 : 100+

Top 3 Female Finish Times:
2:24:27
2:24:43
2:27:34
Average time for top 100 female runners = 3:08:27

Number of Women Who Ran:
under 2:30 :   3
under 2:45 :  11
under 3:00 :  21
under 3:15 :  52
under 3:30 : 100+