Roger Bannister invented the thing to hold up the hand rail on stairs while in medical school.
Roger Bannister invented the thing to hold up the hand rail on stairs while in medical school.
Almost funny, but the bannister is the handrail. You're thinking baluster.
Here's the thing. Most top distance runners in America run on the track and then go to the marathon when they start to get old and lose their speed (unlike the glory days with Shorter, Rodgers, and Salazar who started running the marathon early in their careers). If a runner wants to be a great marathon champion then he/she really needs to focus on the event as so much experience is needed (just think Stefano Baldini who has track PRs of about 13:25 and 27:30 but outran all the Africans in Athens). That said I am glad to see Ryan Hall and other guys like Ritz and Fernando Cabada running marathons just out of college. If this trend continues I guarantee we will see many more sub 2:09 guys and American marathoning will return to its former prominence.
Darn since 1994...Why?