HRE wrote:
have probably thought you were odd for wondering. Half marathons were non-existent until at least the mid-Seventies if not later and no one cared about them enough to ponder ultimates.
That's right at least in the uk people like Ron Hill used to go for the hour record but half marathon was considered what it is, a meaningless distance
In 1960 I knew it was spelled Totonno's !
bye the bye Sandystorm may have killed that family pizza joint that opened in 1924.
Any other words misspelled would have also been misspelled in 1960.
some random facts-
Going into 1960 the marathonWR was held by the russian Sergi Popov at 2:15:17.0. On sept 10th 1960 at the Rome OGs barefoot Abebe Bikila lowered it to 2:15:16.2 and then in 1963 Turu Terasawa of japan whittled another 0.4 seconds off it bringing it to 2:15.8.
But 'even numbers" quests are common in the history of T&F , 4 minure mile 7 foot HJ 60 foot snot put and same on the metrical side 8:00 3000 steeple or 6.00m pole.
Even the ladies got press the italian Paola Pigni was first under 4:15 for the 1500 and first under 4:30 for the mile was a story.
some WRs at the end of the Olympic year of 1960
400m 44.9
1500 3:35.6
steeple 8:31,4
5000 13:35.0
10,000 28:18.8
HJ 2.22-7'31/2"-RIP John Thomas
Some lunatic wrote:
no one alive today could possibly remember 1960
Are you on drugs?? Who could possibly forget Bill Maz and the Pirates, Kennedy-Nixon, etc.?
I have never heard the phrase "Half Mary" before, it makes me want to vomit.
What you could have gotten people to discuss in 1960 that is sort of related to whether or not it was possible to run a half marathon in under an hour was the record for the one hour run, an event that was sort of common then and now all but gone.
The one hour record in 1960 was comfortably beyond 12 miles. I wasn't running in 1960 but by the time I was in 1967 and that record had been broken a time or two, you did hear people wondering if the 13 mile barrier in an hour would ever be broken.
fisky wrote:
I ran in the USAF Europe championship in 1979. It was a 13 miler. I'm pretty sure the half marathon didn't exist until the 80s or later.
Nope. Even before the running boom I remember high school runners talking about a 13 mile race in 1974. I though it sounded ridiculously long. And I also witnessed local half marathons ca. 1976-77.
But nobody called it the half mary. That's a hobby jogger thing, isn't it?
Seismic Mike wrote:
The first women's world record was set by Kathy Gibbons in 1971. Incredibly, she managed to run 1 hour and 23 minutes without her uterus falling out.
No it fell out, I picked it up and gave it back to her.
The earliest half marathon I know of was run in Mechanicsburg, Pa. in the late 60s and early 70s. I ran it in 1970 but it was really just an odd event. It disappeared soon after and there were no otner races at that distance in that part of the country until the late part of the decade and even then they were thought of as an oddity.
Come on. It's not like saying "thon". I like it since it implies that anyone who runs the half is a Mary. I got the joke.
wineturtle wrote:
some random facts-
Going into 1960 the marathonWR was held by the russian Sergi Popov at 2:15:17.0. On sept 10th 1960 at the Rome OGs barefoot Abebe Bikila lowered it to 2:15:16.2 and then in 1963 Turu Terasawa of japan whittled another 0.4 seconds off it bringing it to 2:15.8.
I'm interested to know your source.
right on... wrote:
Non one cares about half marathons now.
Wake up and smell the coffee. The HM is the fastest growing road race distance. It's full marathons that hardly anyone cares about: just 3% of total events and 3% of finishers. If they stopped having full marathons, hardly anyone would notice.
letsrun di1do wrote:
Only hairdressers and necrophiles call it a "Half Mary"...
Let´s not forget the occasional bon viveur.
Randy Oldman wrote:
wineturtle wrote:some random facts-
Going into 1960 the marathonWR was held by the russian Sergi Popov at 2:15:17.0. On sept 10th 1960 at the Rome OGs barefoot Abebe Bikila lowered it to 2:15:16.2 and then in 1963 Turu Terasawa of japan whittled another 0.4 seconds off it bringing it to 2:15.8.
I'm interested to know your source.
Gladly -
Gerald Lawson MD- World Record Breakers in T&FAthletics
IBSN 0=88011-679-X
Great story. If I were ever a silly celebrity who changed their name, I'd change it to Jean Love!
ukathleticscoach wrote:
That's right at least in the uk people like Ron Hill used to go for the hour record but half marathon was considered what it is, a meaningless distance
Apparently Ron Hill thought it meant enough for him to hold the world record TWICE while never holding the world record in the hour run.
He ran everyday wrote:
ukathleticscoach wrote:That's right at least in the uk people like Ron Hill used to go for the hour record but half marathon was considered what it is, a meaningless distance
Apparently Ron Hill thought it meant enough for him to hold the world record TWICE while never holding the world record in the hour run.
I stand corrected on the 1/2 marathon although don't know if this was even recognised at the time as can't remember him mentioning that in his book
He did hold the world hour record as well:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Half_marathonwineturtle wrote:
Randy Oldman wrote:[quote]wineturtle wrote:
some random facts-
Going into 1960 the marathonWR was held by the russian Sergi Popov at 2:15:17.0. On sept 10th 1960 at the Rome OGs barefoot Abebe Bikila lowered it to 2:15:16.2 and then in 1963 Turu Terasawa of japan whittled another 0.4 seconds off it bringing it to 2:15.8.
I'm interested to know your source.
Gladly -
Gerald Lawson MD- World Record Breakers in T&FAthletics
IBSN 0=88011-679-X[/quote
Please can you update Wikipedia :)
Randy Oldman wrote:
wineturtle wrote:I'm interested to know your source.
Gladly -
Gerald Lawson MD- World Record Breakers in T&FAthletics
IBSN 0=88011-679-X[/quote
Please can you update Wikipedia :)
Looks like same info on Wiki. BTW back then the term Worlds Best not World Record was used. Course records were more the measure because it was generally recognized that each course was unique and comparing times across events/venues was inexact--- from my seat that pretty much holds true today too.
My running was in the late '60s and early '70s and I'm pretty sure I never heard of a half-marathon race during that time. We did have 20-kilometer races--my favorite racing distance: it was long enough that anybody who beat me had to have trained some; yet it was short enough that I could run "fast" the whole way, and not feel like I was just trying to survive the distance.