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Well, you certainly find out who your friends or, more particularly, your enemies are when you write what is considered to be a contentious piece. My thanks, nevertheless, to everyone who responded on the tortured subject of Boston as a viable marathon course. But I am particularly
Globe Runner blog » Butcher’s Blog – Articles by Pat Butcher – BOSTON REVISITED, OR REVISED? This one could run and run….
Well, you certainly find out who your friends or, more particularly, your enemies are when you write what is considered to be a contentious piece.
My thanks, nevertheless, to everyone who responded on the tortured subject of Boston as a viable marathon course.
But I am particularly taken by the response from a relatively recent acquaintance, Prof. Dr. Helmut Winter, who is a member of two of the most illustrious institutions of Physics/Natural Sciences in the world, Humboldt University and Max Planck Research School, in Berlin.
Incidentally, I've always loved the acknowledgment of Alexander von Humboldt's breadth of knowledge and research – ‘The last man who knew everything'.
Von Humboldt deserves to be remembered as much as Charles Darwin, and indeed Darwin is alleged to have said of him, "I've always admired him; now I worship him".
Forgive the digression, but….. great men!
And so to Prof Winter. As well as being a scientist of repute, Helmut is a great fan of long distance running, and an even greater fan of Haile Gebrselassie, and has provided is with loads of stats on Haile's record-breaking runs, in Berlin and Dubai.
Pat Butcher (l.), Haile and Andy Edwards in Dubai ….
But like many a scientist, Helmut doesn't let his profession get in the way of his sense of fun, witness the accompanying photo of your scribe and colleague, Andy Edwards pacing the great man Geb to another fast marathon time….
Joking apart, Helmut's response to the Boston ‘problem' bears some reflection, as befits a suggestion from the serious side of Prof. Dr. Winter. Here's what he wrote to my previous blog.
Until two years ago when Boston times were in the 2:07 or slower, nobody did care about the Boston "problem". Now things have changed. There is not too much to be added. I discussed the Boston problem on the German Road Races (GRR) website:
My suggestion is a "soft" solution. Everbody should follow tradition there, except the elite. If the elite would start at the half way point in Wellesley, run against the course for a 1/4 marathon and turn around to complete the rest 3/4 as before, then you follow to a major extent tradition …. and you follow ALL RULES (the elevation difference from Wellesley to Copley Square is 41m!
Now, there's a good idea.
Unfortunately, Helmut's piece on German Road Races (link he gives above) has not yet been translated into English. But you get the gist of it from his other few lines.
OK, friends…. and enemies – over to you!
Pat Butchers BLOG
Posted on May 10, 2011 by Pat
This entry was posted in Butcher's Blog.
Bookmark the permalink. ← A BOSTON ROAD RACE
One Response to BOSTON REVISITED, OR REVISED?
- Hugh Jones says: May 10, 2011 at 9:53 am
Pat,
There is a precedent for this separation of elite start from the mass start. It is exactly what Carlo Moya did for his Lisbon Half Marathon a few years back. That used to have a common start with the mass race on the high-level roadway of the 25 Abril Bridge (drop = 69m). It was this course that Antonio Pinto ran 59:47 on in the 1990s, at the time the fastest time ever run, but not a record, or even a "world best".
To resolve this issue Carlos maintained the Bridge start for the mass (a necessary draw) and set up a new elite only start on the north side of the Tagus, so that the two courses merged after 5km. This gave a course with 2km (10%) separation and no drop at all. Haile ran the very first race on this new course, and several years later (2010) Zersenay Tadesse established the current world record of 58:23 – and this year he ran the second fastest time ever, on the same course.
Hugh
Pat,
There is a precedent for this separation of elite start from the mass start. It is exactly what Carlo Moya did for his Lisbon Half Marathon a few years back. That used to have a common start with the mass race on the high-level roadway of the 25 Abril Bridge (drop = 69m). It was this course that Antonio Pinto ran 59:47 on in the 1990s, at the time the fastest time ever run, but not a record, or even a "world best".
To resolve this issue Carlos maintained the Bridge start for the mass (a necessary draw) and set up a new elite only start on the north side of the Tagus, so that the two courses merged after 5km. This gave a course with 2km (10%) separation and no drop at all. Haile ran the very first race on this new course, and several years later (2010) Zersenay Tadesse established the current world record of 58:23 – and this year he ran the second fastest time ever, on the same course.
Hugh
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