Welterweight wrote:
The runners built like ectomorphs (tall and skinny) often have the upper hand.
Tall? How many world champ runners are tall? Kenyans and Ethopians are all short.
Look at World XC, Shalane looks like a damn giant in that race and she can't be taller than 5'5".
Skinny? Yes, I agree. But tall runners rarely have the upper hand. Believe me, I am 6'3".
How about lung capacity? That would give smokers a better chance.
My junior high track league had weight classes for some of the sprints (I think it was the 100m, 200m and 4x100m relay). It was kind of ridiculous seeing all these sprinters wearing 3 layers of sweats in May and spitting into cups just to make weight like it was a wrestling match. Pretty stupid, if you ask me...
Back in the 70's we had weight classes for sprints in Junior High, 7th-9th.
Under 85 lbs, under 100 lbs, under 115 lbs and Open.
I kicked some serious but in the under 85 lb class, and then it took me until 11th grade until I was competitive again.