The Myth of the Mark Allen Sub 2:20?

Around the time of the urban legend, Allen was in really good shape. I recall seeing him at the Kickoff Classic in Boulder ... I thought to myself "I'm going to get to kick Mark Allen's triathlete ass" he ran ~14:50 ... I didn't. heehee ;-)

My memory is that Mark broke 2:22 somewhere along the line trying to qualify for the '88 marathon O trials, but didn't ever break 2:20.

In "Road Racers and Their Training" (1995), Allen lists his "best times" as follows:

"5-K, 14:37; 10-K, 29:59; marathon, 2:40:04 (in Ironman); Ironman triathlon, 8:07:45."

I doubt very much that he would have omitted a sub-2:20 from his list of "best times." I do recall taking the trouble to look this up a while ago, but I don't recall if I found any marathon PRs other than the Ironman one.

I agree. 2:22 to 2:24.

I'm not certain but I think I saw him on one of the later "Superstars" competitons where he dusted all the football and baseball players in the dreaded 800 meters. I think he ran 2:05. Solo of course.

He wanted to uncork a good marathon in Berlin one year but that faltered.

That's what I was remembering - a DNF at Berlin. I think the 2:20 never happened; I'm not sure a sub 2:30 ever happened.

If I remember correctly he wanted to qualify for the Trials and made an honest effort. I think he ended up running 2:27-8 or around there.

I remember reading an article where he gave credit to the sub 2:22 guys, He thought he would be able to do it, based on his 2:40 off the bike, but after trying he realized it was more difficult then he first thought.

I have ran 2:23 (so close!) so I remember feeling good about an indirect compliment from Mark for my time (not a qualifier but faster than him).

That may well be. And whether he ran such-and-such a time doesn't detract from his superb triathlon resume. It's just that I'd seen that 2:20 thing relatively often, and it never rang a bell. Of course, someone might provide a link or results still.

hmmmm i know it wasn't mark allen....but did a top Ironman triathlet compete in the 1996 Tials.....he led for like the first half of the marathon....i think he qualified with a 2:18....does anyone else remimber this....i remimber watching the race and them talking about him being a coverted marathoner from Ironmans...he was doing the trials just to have chance to compete in the olympics....

Swofford11 wrote:

hmmmm i know it wasn't mark allen....but did a top Ironman triathlet compete in the 1996 Tials.....he led for like the first half of the marathon....i think he qualified with a 2:18....does anyone else remimber this....i remimber watching the race and them talking about him being a coverted marathoner from Ironmans...he was doing the trials just to have chance to compete in the olympics....

I remember a guy with the last name Zimmerman leading for about 10 miles.

Must be some other race you're thinking of. Paul Zimmerman led for the first 16 miles of the '96 Trials and he wasn't a triathlete as far as I know; the announcers certainly didn't mention it because I have the tape and have watched/listened to it many times.

About Allen: he ran 29:59 for 10K and, I believe, 49:xx at Cherry Blossom. Those times would predict a marathon around 2:20, and certainly a whole lot faster than 2:30.

1994 CU Kickoff Classic 5K

Mark Allen 15:36

Me 16:31

CO-Runner 16:34

He kicked both our asses but didn't run any 14:50. Barrios' course record was about 14:46 or so.

But Barrios was on drugs... was Allen?

Basically I can answere all these questions. First of all I have been so far up MArk Allen's ass for 15 years I know more about him than he knows about himself. Secondly I was in Charlotte for the 96 trials.

Mark wanted to race the Oly Trials mara and was coming off a year of not racing triathlon after his son was born. He trained pure running. He went to Berlin but dropped at 18 miles after being on goal pace through 16 but then turning in a couple of 7;00 min miles. He said after the race the diff b/w a mara in a tri and an open mara with a time target was the intensity of the latter. He simply was not prepared for the difficulty of running 2;20 or under. For Mark,2;40 was almost a high aerobic effort but he was dialed in for that. He otherwise ran no straight mara.

96 trials, no IM athlete of note led the event for any length of time. the guy PAul Zimmerman (wore a singlet with the "intel inside" logo) led thru 15-16 and then gave way to Kempainen. there may have been triathletes in the race but none of any note.

Jus the facts.

Barrios was never on drugs. He broke down after had races and had to go through the recovery process like a normal human being.

oldguy wrote:

In "Road Racers and Their Training" (1995), Allen lists his "best times" as follows:

"5-K, 14:37; 10-K, 29:59; marathon, 2:40:04 (in Ironman); Ironman triathlon, 8:07:45."

I doubt very much that he would have omitted a sub-2:20 from his list of "best times." I do recall taking the trouble to look this up a while ago, but I don't recall if I found any marathon PRs other than the Ironman one.

Yep. I remember while watching AN Ironman that they said his marathon PR was 2:40 DURING an Ironman - that's sick.

Ahhh ... thanks for the info, with my advancing age my memory is a bit fuzzy ;-) ... although the a$$ whoopin' is still quite vivid. =)

Key fitting wrote:

1994 CU Kickoff Classic 5K

Mark Allen 15:36

Me 16:31

CO-Runner 16:34

He kicked both our asses but didn't run any 14:50. Barrios' course record was about 14:46 or so.

[quote]Benji Durden wrote:

Barrios was never on drugs.quote]

"Neither was I!" Eddy H.

The only top-level triathlete I remember really excelling in a marathon was Benjamin Paredes of Mexico, who finished 2nd at NYC in 1994 or 1995 (I believe German Silva won). That was the year the leaders went off course in the last mile on Central Park South and started following the motorcycle down the wrong street. Benjamin was more of a duathlon guy but had some decent success on the World Cup level in triathlons for a few years. I think he might have won the duathlon world championship one year.

There may be others who have run sub 2:30 but if so it has not been widely publicized. I've been following running and triathlons for 20+ years as a statistics nut and would remember that kind of performance if it were publicized.

As for Mark Allen, I too followed his career very closely for a long time. The duel between him and Dave Scott at the 1989 Ironman where Allen ran 2:40 and finally shook off the disappointments of the 1980's in Hawaii was the definition of epic. Unless he's hiding a fast marathon time that he doesn't want anyone to know about, 2:40 is his pr. Those of us who were into triathlon 10-15 years ago always wondered what Mark could have done in an open marathon. He's the only guy that we thought could run 2:15-2:20 if he did a couple years of run training. When he was on he was the best pure long-distance runner in the sport. Some of his performances at Nice were legendary. It seemed that he had the will to run 15+ seconds a mile faster than the other top triathletes back in those days, and when they faded he'd take minutes out of them in no time. The year he committed to Berlin we were expecting big things, but moreso we thought it would be a chance to really see what a top triathlete could do for a marathon. See, with Mark you knew he was 100% committed to training properly for, and racing Berlin to his fullest potential in an attempt to make the Marathon OT's. As written above, he just couldn't handle the pace he wanted on race day, so he dnf'd.

Anyone else have any verifiable marathon times for people from other sports?