Thanks to 'you are lost' for inspiring this thread.
On another thread I made the following claim: "The depth of races was definitely better in the past. In the '83 Cal Ten (A TEN MILE race in Stockton) a 59:28 was only good for 375th place (actually 307th) out of 800 runners. A sub 6 min pace for ten miles barely made the top 50%."
'you are lost' replied: "I don't believe you at all. Absolutely no way 375 runners ran under 60. It would've either been a PRO race or collegiate race for that to happen."
I've read similar comments in the past. A lot of younger runners seem to think that us old guys exaggerate when talking about 'the old days.'
I don't know what it was like in the rest of the country, but I do know the racing scene in Northern California in the 70's and 80's.
I have all my race results beginning in '76. We were sent the race results in the mail way back then. No chip timing or on-line results.
I found the following race results:
'81 Cal Ten (Won by Dennis Rinde in 49:04)
# of Sub 50 min. runners....3
# of Sub 55 min. runners...45
# of Sub 60 min. runners...200
# of finishers.............627
'82 Cal Ten (Won by Dan Buntman in 49:26)
# of Sub 50 min. runners....5
# of Sub 55 min. runners...74
# of Sub 60 min. runners..258
'83 Cal Ten (Won by Carmelo Rios in 48:11)
# of Sub 50 min. runners....15
# of Sub 55 min. runners...119 (119 under 5:30 pace!!)
# of Sub 60 min. runners...341 (not 375 as I thought)
# of finishers.............820
I looked up the last three years on-line:
2010 Cal Ten (Won by Chris Houde in 51:35
# of Sub 50 min. runners....0
# of Sub 60 min. runners....9
2011 Cal Ten (Won by Kevin Pool in 50:52)
# of Sub 50 min. runners....0
# of Sub 60 min. runners...10
2012 Cal Ten (Won by Albert Boyce in 57:54)
# of Sub 50 min. runners....0
# of Sub 60 min. runners....3
The Cal Ten was a flat, fast, certified course in the 80's. (It served as The Pacific Assoc. 10 Mile Championship Race in 1983) I don't know if they've changed the course since, but the fact is 341 runners broke a 6 min. pace for ten miles in '83.
Granted, the Cal Ten attracted some of the best non-pro, non-collegiate runners of the day. But, the point for all of you young runners is: YES, we were faster BACK THEN and the quality of today's races pale in comparison.