Five American Men in Top 10 at Boston Marathon 2006

Two Kenyans won first and second place at today's Boston Marathon, but Americans took the next 3 spots and 5 American men finished in the top 10. In last year's race, only two American men made it to the top 10. According to the Boston.com, no American man has won since Greg Meyer in 1983, and 12 times since then, there have been no Americans in the top 10.

Alan Culpepper came in fourth last year with a time of 2:13:39. This year he came in fifth, but his time improved to 2:11:02. According to his bio at usatf.org, Culpepper's PR is 2:09:41 set in 2002 at the Chicago Marathon

The top American man, Meb Keflezighi, finished today with 2:09:56. This was just 3 seconds from his PR (see bio).

Brian Sell was the second American man to finish with a time of 2:10:55. This blew away his PR of 2:13:18 (see bio).

Quick Stats

The average times for the top 10 male and female were much faster than the previous two years when the temperatures were much warmer. The averages seemed to improve more from last year than from 2005 compared to 2004. Going from 78°F in 2004 to 63°F in 2005, one would think the times would improve the most between these years. But there was more time difference going from 63°F in 2005 to 48°F today. Below is the full comparison:

2006 Top 10 Averages:
female : 2:27:19
male : 2:11:19
Temperature at 11:54am: 48°F

2005 Top 10 Averages:
female : 2:32:34
male : 2:14:39
Temperature at 11:54am: 63°F

2004 Top 10 Averages:
female : 2:30:20
male : 2:16:47
Temperature at 11:54am: 78°F

Boston Marathon 2006

The world's most famous marathon is today at Boston. The current temperature there is 48°F and partly cloudy. The high is expected to be in the mid 50s. Looks like perfect weather. Live race day coverage is available at the Boston Marathon's home page. Runner's World has a whole section of their site dedicated to the race.

Today's weather looks better than the last two years. From my post last year, the temperature during the 2005 race was around 63°F. The year before it was a very warm 78°F. In that post I looked at the top-ten averages for those two years. As expected, 2005 was faster by about 2 minutes for both genders. It'll be interesting to see how much faster the average will be today.

For all of my Boston Marathon posts from last year, refer to this post. In the sidebar of that post, links to the previous 10 posts were all on the 2005 Boston Marathon.

Cap10K 2006 Stats

If the last Sunday's Capitol 10K were to be run tomorrow, we would have had much better race conditions. A cold front moved in this morning and brought the temperatures down into the 50's. You can see from the tables below that the weather for the Cap10K often is either cool or warm. We've had two warm races and two cool races in the last 4 years. For both times it has been warm, you can see how the times have suffered. Both 2006 and 2004 were very similar in times and both had similar warm temperatures.

Men Time Comparisons for the Last 4 Cap10K Races

Year	under 40m	40 to 50m	50 to 60m	over 60m	Temp/Hum
2006	61 (2%)	562 (19%)	1085 (37%)	1213 (42%)	72/84%
2005	111 (4%)	792 (27%)	1215 (41%)	848 (29%)	55/69%
2004	92 (3%)	631 (20%)	1330 (43%)	1052 (34%)	71/83%
2003	134 (4%)	875 (28%)	1165 (38%)	906 (29%)	50/43%

Women Time Comparisons for the Last 4 Cap10K Races

Year	under 40m	40 to 50m	50 to 60m	over 60m	Temp/Hum
2006	9 (0%)	139 (6%)	559 (26%)	1472 (68%)	72/84%
2005	11 (1%)	202 (9%)	732 (34%)	1225 (56%)	55/69%
2004	3 (0%)	139 (6%)	701 (31%)	1424 (63%)	71/83%
2003	14 (1%)	226 (10%)	735 (33%)	1255 (56%)	50/43%

The full stats for last Sunday's Cap10K race are below. These are similar to the stats I posted last year. I've added averages by state. About 95% of the runners were from Texas and about 59% were from Austin.

These stats are based on 2006 results from the Statesman.

Total Runners by Times

under 40m	40 to 50m	50 to 60m	over 60m
70 (1%)	701 (14%)	1644 (32%)	2685 (53%)

Male Runners by Times - Move mouse over cells to see median times. Top 3 times also shown in left columns.

Ages	under 40m	40 to 50m	50 to 60m	over 60m
under 13	0 (0%)	2 (4%)	17 (37%)	27 (59%)
13-19	8 (5%)	44 (27%)	63 (38%)	50 (30%)
20-29	19 (4%)	124 (25%)	189 (38%)	170 (34%)
30-39	23 (3%)	184 (21%)	319 (37%)	334 (39%)
40-49	11 (2%)	138 (19%)	285 (39%)	298 (41%)
50-59	0 (0%)	52 (12%)	161 (38%)	213 (50%)
60-69	0 (0%)	13 (12%)	34 (32%)	60 (56%)
70-79	0 (0%)	0 (0%)	7 (17%)	35 (83%)
80+	0 (0%)	0 (0%)	0 (0%)	6 (100%)
unknown	0 (0%)	5 (14%)	10 (29%)	20 (57%)
Total	61 (2%)	562 (19%)	1085 (37%)	1213 (42%)

Female Runners by Times - Move mouse over cells to see median times. Top 3 times also shown in left columns.

Ages	under 40m	40 to 50m	50 to 60m	over 60m
under 13	0 (0%)	1 (7%)	3 (20%)	11 (73%)
13-19	0 (0%)	11 (9%)	27 (22%)	85 (69%)
20-29	3 (1%)	47 (8%)	177 (30%)	363 (62%)
30-39	5 (1%)	45 (6%)	206 (27%)	504 (66%)
40-49	1 (0%)	30 (6%)	108 (23%)	333 (71%)
50-59	0 (0%)	5 (3%)	30 (17%)	137 (80%)
60-69	0 (0%)	0 (0%)	7 (18%)	31 (82%)
70-79	0 (0%)	0 (0%)	0 (0%)	5 (100%)
80+	0 (0%)	0 (0%)	0 (0%)	2 (100%)
unknown	0 (0%)	0 (0%)	1 (50%)	1 (50%)
Total	9 (0%)	139 (6%)	559 (26%)	1472 (68%)

Average/Best Times By Age Groups (Male and Female)

Ages	Number	Percent	Mean Time	Best Time
under 13	61	1%	1:11:37	41:06
13-19	288	6%	1:01:58	34:31
20-29	1092	21%	1:01:43	32:02
30-39	1620	32%	1:02:40	33:58
40-49	1204	24%	1:03:01	34:18
50-59	598	12%	1:05:15	40:11
60-69	145	3%	1:07:21	44:14
70-79	47	1%	1:24:16	52:26
80+	8	0%	1:42:35	1:10:46
unknown	37	1%	1:08:42	42:35
Total	5100	100%	1:03:21	32:02
Fastest Ages (by average)
20-29	1092	21%	1:01:43	32:02

Average/Best Times By Male Age Groups

Ages	Number	Percent	Mean Time	Best Time
under 13	46	2%	1:07:57	41:06
13-19	165	6%	57:23	34:31
20-29	502	17%	57:32	32:02
30-39	860	29%	59:01	33:58
40-49	732	25%	59:31	34:18
50-59	426	15%	1:01:55	40:11
60-69	107	4%	1:04:16	44:14
70-79	42	1%	1:22:24	52:26
80+	6	0%	1:43:34	1:10:46
unknown	35	1%	1:09:14	42:35
Total	2921	100%	1:00:06	32:02
Fastest Ages (by average)
13-19	165	6%	57:23	34:31

Average/Best Times By Female Age Groups

Ages	Number	Percent	Mean Time	Best Time
under 13	15	1%	1:22:54	48:11
13-19	123	6%	1:08:06	42:54
20-29	590	27%	1:05:17	37:22
30-39	760	35%	1:06:48	36:44
40-49	472	22%	1:08:27	34:24
50-59	172	8%	1:13:33	46:33
60-69	38	2%	1:16:04	51:59
70-79	5	0%	1:39:53	1:10:24
80+	2	0%	1:39:37	1:32:48
unknown	2	0%	59:21	58:38
Total	2179	100%	1:07:43	34:24
Fastest Ages (by average)
20-29	590	27%	1:05:17	37:22

Average/Best Times By Cities (cutoff=10)

City	Number	Percent	Mean Time	Best Time
Abilene	14	0%	59:27	41:34
Arlington	15	0%	1:14:49	43:12
Austin	3001	59%	1:03:07	32:02
Austin Texas	14	0%	1:02:17	45:16
Bastrop	12	0%	59:03	47:16
Belton	11	0%	56:48	39:23
Buda	27	1%	1:10:09	45:47
Cedar Park	127	2%	1:02:39	35:18
College Station	22	0%	1:01:48	40:34
Corpus Christi	14	0%	1:04:06	46:31
Dallas	62	1%	1:01:16	38:31
Dripping Springs	30	1%	1:03:56	37:36
Elgin	11	0%	1:10:05	52:03
Fort Worth	14	0%	1:08:08	54:08
Georgetown	90	2%	1:04:07	41:28
Houston	140	3%	1:05:48	35:26
Hutto	10	0%	1:11:48	43:19
Kerrville	15	0%	1:02:44	43:44
Killeen	17	0%	1:00:20	40:09
Kyle	32	1%	1:03:03	37:00
Lakeway	12	0%	1:05:33	49:12
Leander	36	1%	1:07:25	41:07
Liberty Hill	12	0%	1:01:48	49:03
Lockhart	12	0%	54:37	34:31
Manor	12	0%	1:07:22	41:20
Marble Falls	11	0%	1:06:13	41:02
New Braunfels	13	0%	57:55	45:36
Pflugerville	102	2%	1:03:55	42:54
Plano	16	0%	1:06:13	45:01
Round Rock	221	4%	1:03:10	39:48
San Angelo	15	0%	1:06:34	55:09
San Antonio	140	3%	1:01:16	34:14
San Marcos	52	1%	1:07:03	37:02
Spicewood	21	0%	1:01:53	43:47
Spring	17	0%	1:01:13	51:35
Temple	16	0%	1:05:05	48:46
Waco	14	0%	1:03:29	48:17
Unknown	59	1%	1:05:22	42:35
Below Cutoff	641	13%	1:03:30	32:33
Total	5100	100%	1:03:21	32:02
Fastest City (by average)
Lockhart	12	0%	54:37	34:31

Average/Best Times By State (cutoff=5)

State	Number	Percent	Mean Time	Best Time
California	15	0%	55:34	40:41
Colorado	10	0%	59:37	46:26
Florida	9	0%	1:03:56	47:24
Illinois	9	0%	1:00:23	39:17
New Mexico	9	0%	1:16:18	36:16
Texas	4827	95%	1:03:20	32:02
Virginia	9	0%	1:20:45	1:01:50
Washington	5	0%	52:11	34:08
outside US	153	3%	1:03:20	37:33
Below Cutoff	54	1%	1:04:30	41:31
Total	5100	100%	1:03:21	32:02
Fastest State (by average)
Washington	5	0%	52:11	34:08

Heat Takes its Toll at 2006 Capitol 10K

Last year's men's winner, Bernard Manirakiza, was on pace to beat his last year's time (30:06) and the course record (29:49) when he collapsed from heat exhaustion at mile 6. After an hour in the medical tent, Manirakiza recovered. The men's winner yesterday was Jacob Rotich with a time of 32:03. The women's winner was a 41-year-old Russian, Albina Gallyamova, who finished with a time of 34:24. This was over a minute faster than last year's winning time of 35:27 by Cassandra Henkiel. (more at Statesman).

It was much warmer and humid this year compared to last year. Here's a detailed comparison:
April 2, 2006 at 8:51am: 72°F, 84% humidity (data)
April 3, 2005 at 8:51am: 56°F, 57% humidity (data)

Later this week, I'll post the stats. It'll be interesting to see how much effect the weather had.