20 year old kid runs low 2:30s at Boston

One Keg wrote:

Alejandro Cruz of Mexico ran Chicago in 2:08 and change in 1989-90 or so at the age of 20, losing by a slim margin to Antoni Neimczak of Poland.

Actually, Cruz won Chicago in 1988. (I was there.) He was a young unknown at the time. A Kenyan and a Russian finished second and third.

You're probably confusing his victory in 1988 with the close finish between Neimczak and Martin Pitayo. My recollection is that Pitayo edged the druggie for the win.

Well-said.

what about Vinnie fleming? He ran great someting like a 2:18?

In 1983, 19 year old Jenny Spangler ran a 2:33 at Grandma's Marathon.

2:32 is tough, but come on, you can be slower than 15:30 and still do it. I hate to play numbers games, but marathon pace is about 87-88% of 5k pace according to Daniels, meaning a 15:54 guy could run about a 2:32:30. When we used to run 15 milers, we'd nail down 5:48-5:45 range and it really wasn't that tough at all. I knew a guy who PR'd in a 5k in 16:03 and then ran a 2:27 at Cleveland Marathon 3 weeks later. It can be done. Just my 2 cents of course and my opinion.

Brett

Gompers is jewish. YAhhh!.

Dan Feldman ran Boston in 2:33 in 2000 as 19 yrs old, 2:30 in 2001 and 2:23 in 2002.

Boston Marathon 2005 Results

3 Cherono, Benson 20 M Baringo KEN 2:12:48

This 20 y.o. probably has several hundred countryman his age or younger for whom 2:20 marathons are nothing more than below average performances.

mrr82, I will gracefully disagree with you. My 5k P.R. at the time of my first (and only) marathon was 15:33. I went on to run a 2:33:07 in 80+ degrees and 80% humidity. I was definitely in shape to run 2:28ish with only a 15:33 5k and a 32:29 10k to my name. In fact if you look at the rece prediction calculators, you'll find that a 15:33 is actually a bit faster than you would expect from a 2:33 marathoner (probably because of the heat). Additionally, that 5k time (though not spectacular) would translate to about a 2:30 or so for a well trained marathoner.

And to the individual who said his 10-15 teammates could have run 2:35 or faster, running a lot of miles at 5:45 pace will most certainly not assure a sub 2:35 marathon. Did you and your teammates actually run marathons? I guess it is possible but not highly likely that you had 15 guys who could run sub 2:35.

From 83 NY-I think the q time swas 2:19ish.

DAN RECHNER M19 377 0 NY 52 52 1 2:18:22 5:16

devils and dust wrote:

Boston Marathon 2005 Results

3 Cherono, Benson 20 M Baringo KEN 2:12:48

This 20 y.o. probably has several hundred countryman his age or younger for whom 2:20 marathons are nothing more than below average performances.

wrong...

bartg wrote:

You put that at the end of your sentence just waiting for someone to pounce. It really depends on who that woman is.

darkness wrote:

A 20 year old male is much better athletically than a woman.

No, I didn't. This is common sense and shouldn't need to be qualified.

Look at the typical high school's track records. Ours are 1:52.01 / 4:15 / 9:12. Those are much better than nearly all women in history. By 20 years old this level of athlete would be even better. That is comparing a Regional-level 18 year old male and the best-ever females.

If you take an average 20 year old male and an average female, who is going to be the better athlete?

Certainly there are thousands of women athletes who are better than SOME 20 year old males, but on average 20 year old males are stronger, faster, and better than females.

I ran against him in highschool, he went to my rival school and was same age as me. He went to Western Michigan University, but they cancelled the program. He looked at transferring to Eastern Michigan, but I think he had problems getting out of his current lease. Anyways, he is finishing up his schooling at Western and with no program has time to train for the Marathon. He also ran chicago to qualify in 2:33.59.

Good point made ... let's give the kid credit ... he's doing it.

We need to encourage our American youth to start marathoning earlier ... to have focus, a dedication to a long term training paradigm and create passion for personal success... not a Nike contract!

I'll tell this kid to go to the BAA Marathon when the timing is right (20-21 yrs old) and "get the fever" have a dream and work hard to accomplish your dreams! ... "go run with those Africans!"

TF

Mark Plaatjes was only 21 I think when he ran a 2:08 in SA. He managed to carry on a little longer although he was arguably never quite that good again.