Looking at the Brass Monkey from the point of view of the London Marathon it would appear most local runners performed well and are on course at this point. Congrats. to those achieving PBs!
I have no record of how many ran the 1986 race. I would guess about 500. Today amazingly 1550 finished and Knavesmire probably refused entries from a few more hundred. How did times compare? Well Matthew Pierson of Holmfirth was well inside my 67.55 with his time of 65.35 but 10th today clocked 74.59 to 72.55 in '86, 20th today recorded 77.00 today compared to 75.20 in '86. From 25th place however the volume of runners reflects quality and with a much sparcer field in '86 50th place shows at 83.55 compared to 79.34 today. It's really brilliant to see so many enjoying their running now and thousands so easily coping with half marathons and marathons. A much wider base to the performance pyramid but the culture required to raise the peak seems to remain elusive.
And finally.....I leave you with an image I hope we'll be seeing again in the near future....
It's great that you can compare the results from nearly 25 years ago.
ReplyDeleteIn my short running career(started 1995), I have noticed vast changes in road running, not just in performance terms, but the way that races are managed and the technology that's used in them. We now have chip timing, live results, downloadable results, results linked to rankings, photograph galleries and on-line entry. With the spread of the internet and on-line entry, this as created great opportunity for runners(or anybody)to plan and enter their races up to a year in advance. Unfortunately, this has been the death blow for the 'enter on the day runner'. Races are sometimes full in a few hours now. I also think that the competive runner has less of a presence today than before, and now there are more 'run for fun' and fitness runners. I myself don't think this is a bad thing and I personally feel comfortable with the numbers, should we ever need to protest to protect the sport of local road running in the future.
On the race management side, there have also been big changes, with the rise of blame culture and the introduction of the written risk assessment, race organisers have to be so thorough in their management and control of the risks of a race. Insurance costs have multiplied in response to the perceived and identified risks. Police presence is now chargeable at road races. I heard that the council at Dewsbury require £4500 to close the road for 90 minutes during the 10k race. So in response to all this the entry fees for races have also multiplied. A few years ago, after the unfortunate death of a competitor, a police chief inspector put the future of local road races in doubt when he made a comment about restricting road races to large organised events - like the Great North Run or London Marathon. So the future can never be 100% certain.
Speaking of technology, the chip timers at the Brass Monkey today were a square card(about half the size of a credit card) with 4 holes at the edges. This could then be tied to your laces with separate ties - so no need to untie and thread through your laces - what a great idea.
With regard to the image - I hope he's doing allright - I was never sure what he looked like from the front!
Regards.