Short Stuff wrote:
Nobody has pointed out the fact that many of the courses were extremely short until the modern day certification. Greg Meyer was no better than a 2:11 guy, he just made his hay on a short Boston course. If you don't believe me, just do a little research on the finish line for the Boston Marathon, it continues to change, yet the starting line doesn't, same can be said for the NY course. Now, I am not taking away the fact that Greg won the darn thing, but he also didn't have the presence of the East Africans. If you convert all of those times from the 70's and 80's, the list isn't as impressive as you would think.
Nobody pointed it out because it's not true. What research did you do? Please read carefully below:
David Katz RE: The Boston course was long? 4/24/2007 6:36AM - in reply to ript Reply | Return to Index | Report Post
In the mid 80's I was invited by the Boston Marathon Course Director Len Luckner to measure the course. There was some questions about it's accuracy. I called Ted Corbitt to find out if the course had ever been accurately measured. He believed it was and was curious to see what my measurements would produce. I measured the course with Bill Noel of the NYRR. When we reached the marathon distance (42.195K) on my Jones Counter I looked down on the ground - I was 1 meter passed the painted Boston Marathon Finish Line, I turned around and looked at Bill. He said he hit the 42.195 and was standing 1 meter infront of the finish line! It was the most accurate course I have ever measured.
A few years later, the course was shifted to it's present finish line location - in front of the library. The course was re-measured and re-certfied.
To the well meaning runners using gps devices - try using it to measure your living room for carpeting! Different measuring devices for different applications - End of story.
David Katz RE:"Although Boston was much shorter than NY back in the day"
Interesting comment above.
For years (late 70's-early 80's) I wanted to measure Boston but Will Cloney wouldn't allow me. Something about letting a New Yorker touch his course!.
Anyway after he died, I along with Bill Noel was invited to measure Boston. We did the measurement on March 30, 1983 cutting all the tangest curb to curb.
The results: 26 miles 1151 feet & 8 inches (42193.97 meters!!). We were blown away.
I called Ted Corbitt after the measurement and he thought Boston would have measured long.
David Katz Re-Elected to the IAAF Technical Committee
Daegu, Korea August 25, 2011
David Katz was re-elected to his third four year term on the prestigious Technical Committee of the IAAF (International Association of Athletic Federation at its Congress in Daegu, Korea.
David was elected with the highest number of votes of the 28 candidates vying for 12 Committee seats. Two hundred Federations (Countries) voted.
The IAAF Technical Committee is responsible for reviewing / writing all competition rules and technical matters for track and field, road racing, and cross country running for the world.