The U.S. should offer a 100 grand to any American that runs under 2:10 in the marathon

In the last 10 years how many guys have run under 2:10? Rupp, Hall, Meb, Ritz, and Abdi. With the possible exception of Abdi, I'm pretty sure all of those guys made over $100K per year including prize money, appearance fees, endorsements, contracts, etc. So there is already a lot of financial incentive for a 2:12 guy to run under 2:10

And considering how much time and effort and missed opportunity is required to get to that level of fitness $100K does not seem like that much incentive. Make it 1 million and you might have more success. But from observing Jorgensen this past year, it takes real talent to be world class. It's not like there are a lot of people out there with the talent that just need to train for a year and they can run under 2:10.

Jimmy21 said: I think you missed my point, though my point may have not been clear.

thank you for taking the time to clarify your point, which I largely agree with.

except: that the incentive of a big payday might get you a Parker Stinson, agreed, but the real point is that it might give you six Parker Stinson's, whereas all NOP have is Galen Rupp. can anyone name a single American athlete other than Galen Rupp who went through NOP and did something spectacular or amazing or "improved the standard of American distance running." ? I think the answer has to be a resounding NO.

"By the early '80s, the Greater Boston Track Club had half a dozen guys who could run a 2:12 marathon. That's six guys, in one amateur club, in one city. Twenty years later, you couldn't find a single 2:12 marathoner anywhere in the country. "

Christopher McDougall Born to Run (2009) p.94

ten years after McDougall wrote that how much has changed? in each of 2010, 2011, 2012 and again in 2014 four Americans not named Rupp went under 2:12 for the marathon, but since then, not one. not a single one. this year, only two Americans have gone under 28:00 for 10,000m.

there is a saying, "if it ain't broke, don't fix it." but the opposite is also true. there comes a time when we have to recognise that it is broke and it needs fixing because the "cure" for American distance running that the NOP was supposed to represent does not work. I don't care how many Japanese records Suguru sets, NOP does not, can not and will not improve the standard of American distance running.

cheers.

That calorie by day map is way off. I just spent over 10 days all around Cuba and the average Cuban takes in less than 1800 calories a day, probably closer to 1300-1500. However, if they are counting the tourists in the hotels, then perhaps it is accurate.

Your hypothesis doesn't make sense. East African kids are better runners because they run more, not because they are semi-starved.

You might want to consider that the weather conditions in Ethiopia and Kenyan highlands are better year round than most part of the US where it is only ideal for a few month of the year? Not to mention the superior efficiency (possibly) from running with 20% less oxygen available at 2000 meters altitude.

How exactly would paying Rupp $100k to run another uncompetitive time help anything?

How about a $10,000 10K series. It would be enough to attract and support semi-professional, post-collegiate runners, but not enough to draw sponsored pros.

Ezekiel bread wrote:

Inspired by the Japanese system of offering 100 million yen to any Japanese runner that breaks the national record in the marathon. I propose the US gives one hundred grand to any American that breaks 2:10 in the marathon. If the US did this, would we see a increase of American males breaking 2:10? Would you favor this idea?

Discus.

Offer a cool $1,000,000 for a sub-2:05!!! Anything else is just BS... Come on we can do better, let Rupp for for it;)

cotton shirt wrote:

Galen Rupp took a silver medal at the London Olympics, but before that the last American to win a medal at 10,000m was Billy Mills in 1964.

Umm, Shalane Flanagan exists.

left twix wrote:

yes, give a candy bar to the sub 2:10 runners. brilliant.

Haha, well played.

How would the government raise the money to pay those who succeeded and couldn't that money be better spent elsewhere?

Some on here may be old enough to remember when New Balance offered $1M bonus for breaking the AR in the late '90s. I remember guys like David Morris and Jerry Lawson chasing it, yet it was never actually awarded when it was on offer from 1996 to 1998.

Suguru wasn't plucked from the high school ranks as a raw, unpolished kid by NOP like Rupp basically was. Suguru had already been developed significantly through the Japanese high school and college ekiden system, which has big (private) money behind it.

Also note that Suguru broke a record that was set earlier this year by Shitara, who broke a 16 year old record. So while the million yen was a powerful carrot, that record doesn't go down without a more powerful, focused development system boosting performances -- even if Suguru has been away from it for a handful of years.

NOP is a significant cog, but it's not a working system in and of itself. Groups like Hansons, NAZ Elite, Bowerman help but don't seem to have a major focus on the marathon. If we had 6+ groups around the country focused primarily on the roads and marathon like the Japanese seem to have then we'd start to see results like the below, with our 10 best performers averaging 2:07 rather than just one guy at 2:06:XY. USATF tried something like that with the Team USA centers at the turn of this century but that hasn't seen great continuity.

No. That is not an appropriate use of tax dollars.

Parkayyy wrote:

Please further define "the U.S.".

325 million muppets

When you set very specific challenges that are not completely unreasonable, people achieve them. I bet that even a 100k bonus would get that in a year (by someone other than Rupp, obviously--and surely Leonard Korir, among others, could knock that out toute suite), although I suspect that some runners in America ALREADY have such a clause in their contracts and haven't gotten it done.

Having inadequate caloric intake means you can run with less chance of injury from being overweight, but to run successfully you need the extra calories.

To the people saying how would we get the funds or it is not a good use of US tax dollars.

1. The U.S. is already way overspending when it comes to the military. Build one less tank per year and the U.S could easily fund this project.

2. Not a good use of tax dollars? Have you looked up what the US is currently doing with your tax dollars? This is a much better use of tax payers money than what the U.S. is currently doing with it.

left twix wrote:

yes, give a candy bar to the sub 2:10 runners. brilliant.

Best answer.

For any USA marathoner who runs sub-2:10, I'm buying!

Bad Wigins wrote:

Kenenisa Anorexia wrote:

Data?

This is common knowledge, but here

calories/day: Eritrea 1590, ethiopia 1950, Kenya 2030, Japan 2800, USA 3750 (!!!)

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_food_energy_intake

And here you may compare the relative results of east Africans, Japanese and Americans, if you insist that it isn't also common knowledge

http://www.alltime-athletics.com/mmaraok.htm

Never assume that I'm trolling! I lead with a bit of hype to weed out the bungholes who aren't qualified to discuss anything rationally, and then send them home devastated with obvious facts they can't counter.

The correlation is obvious and well documented, you'll have to argue there's no causation, i.e. skinny people aren't better marathoners. A weak position.

1. Correlation =/= causation.

2. You are claiming something, so you have to back it up with facts, not others looking to refute your opinion. This is how science works.

3. If your claim was true, immigrants from countries with lower eating habits/hungrier/etc who move to countries with higher eating habits would run better than those born in those higher eating habit countries. Find me this data, and I'll begin to think you have a point. Otherwise, this is merely a coincidence and not due to some pseudo-scientific epigenetic mumbo jumbo.

Only 2:10? According to the other thread 2:10 is barely more than a hobby jogger. Anything slower than 2:03 is non-elite.