HS Marathon recrord

you mention one marathon victory at a marathon that probably had no competition in it(and does it still exist), a second place finish as well at Boston( without looking it up can you tell me who finished 2nd at Boston in '76- point who cares who finished 2nd). Remember the lyrics of Nelli's "I am #1" when he says: two is not a winner and three nobody remembers. Pfeffer never won ANYTHING of significance so at best he was a marginal talent. finishing in the top 10 in something, im sorry to say is quite MARGINAL! But your support for him is admirable.

If your pride yourself on ignorance of running history, there isn't much I or anyone can do to correct that. The only thing "marginal" in this entire thread are your observations. Sucks to be you.

Avocados Number wrote:

Thom Hunt

8:42.30 in 1976 Arcadia HS 2-Mile

That time for Arcadia is not for 2miles, but converted for 3200 meters. Thom Hunts best high school 2mile is 8:45.2

Avocados Number wrote:

Thom Hunt

8:42.30 in 1976 Arcadia HS 2-Mile

That time for Arcadia is not for 2miles, but converted for 3200 meters. Thom Hunts best high school 2mile is 8:45.2

allknowingpeeps wrote:

you mention one marathon victory at a marathon that probably had no competition in it(and does it still exist), a second place finish as well at Boston( without looking it up can you tell me who finished 2nd at Boston in '76- point who cares who finished 2nd). Remember the lyrics of Nelli's "I am #1" when he says: two is not a winner and three nobody remembers. Pfeffer never won ANYTHING of significance so at best he was a marginal talent. finishing in the top 10 in something, im sorry to say is quite MARGINAL! But your support for him is admirable.

This joke has run its course.

Some all-knowing punk who thinks since he has never heard of Pfeffer, he must not have been very good. Ah well, hardly an internet first.

Ghost of Ashenfelter wrote:

allknowingpeeps wrote:

very very sad!!! with the exception of Hunt(decent pro career but nothing spectacular),Pferrer(did ok on the roads as a pro), Gompers(ran at Harvard, made a junior xc world team in '83 finished fourth at the '88 marathon trials and his time was a world jr record). "their candles burned out long before they ever did anything"

So three of the five had strong post-collegiate careers? I'd say that's pretty damn good. Compare it to the list of Footlocker winners, for example; I suspect that group is well below a 60% "success" rate.

I've studied this. If "your defintion of "success" is limited to becoming Olympic and World Championship finalists, and or setting American Records, of the 25 Footlocker between 1979 and 2003 champions you're looking at 8, so roughly 32 %. I'm speaking of Matt Guisto, Rueben Reina, Marc Davis, Jorge Torres, Adam Goucher, Bob Kennedy, and Dathan Ritzenhein.

If you want to define success as Top 5 NCAA competitor, mutiple collegiate American and mutiple conerence champion, and Olympic Trials qualifier then you are up to 60%.

Hunt was in probably the finest High School class ever - 1976. Hulst, Salazar, Chapa, Hunt. to name a few.

At least 15 guys under 9:00 for 2 mile.

In so. cal guys broke 9 and didn't make it to state meet.

I am sure some of you remember hs Cathy Schiro from Dover NH in third place of the '84 Women's trials before fading to 9th.

Sorry for the double post. She remains the only 2 time female Olympic Marathon qualifier in '88 and '92.

give me proof that he was above marginal, then ill leave it at that but until you do, you can discount me with generalities all you want thats ok but you havent defended whatever argument you have.

I took about a 5 minute google search on Pfeffer. Decide for yourself if this is above marginal.

U.S. Marathon rankings

1975 10th

1976 8th

1979 2nd

1980 3rd

Personal best of 2:10:30

World Ranked 14th in 1979 in the marathon

Won Americas Finest City Half-Marathon in 1:02:55

Was second in Philadelphia Half-Marathon in 1981 in 1:02:14

which was an American Record.

Wow you proved my point for me , thank you. The guy never won anything of importance. Victories and #1 rankings my dear boy seperates the good guys from the marginal guys. And wow it only took you a 5 min google to prove yourself to be in left field on this.

I'm surprised that no one has mentioned tha Kirk also set a world record in the half-marathon in 1979.

who cares about the half marathon world record, its significance is really nothing cuz it doesnt carry over into having marathon success. Steve Jones and Paul Tergat are the only former world record holders in the 1/2 that also held the full marathon record as well. Your point was?

I'm pretty sure being ranked in the top 10 in the world for the marathon for four years makes him more than a marginal runner. That makes him a pretty damn good runner actually.

excuse me, in the US. Regardless, being in the top 10 makes him more than a marginal runner.

knownothingpeeps is an idiot, plain and simple. He made a ridiculously stupid statement, and instead of admitting he's wrong, he's retreating while wildly spraying the room with shotgun pellets, desperately hoping to hit anything he can while he flees.

If the guy set the world record in the half-marathon in 1979 , and was ranked 2nd in the U.S. and 14th in the world in the marathon in THE SAME YEAR, it's absurd to claim the man was a marginal runner. He was an elite, world class runner. Heck, if we want to use peeps' standard of what is or isn't marginal, then there currently isn't a single U.S. marathoner who could be considered better than marginal.

allknowingpeeps wrote:

who cares about the half marathon world record, its significance is really nothing cuz it doesnt carry over into having marathon success. Steve Jones and Paul Tergat are the only former world record holders in the 1/2 that also held the full marathon record as well. Your point was?

Actually, there's a little Ethiopian guy who's a former world record holder in the 1/2 and who subsequently obtained the full marathon record as well. I won't mention his name; you probably haven't heard of him, either.

Regarding Wesley Paul, who hasn't been discussed much here: He was a Korean-American kid, and was a HUGE celebrity in South Korea based on his youth marathon records. Less-than-knowledgeable observers and journalists were speculating that he would crush the adult world records eventually. I remember when Bill Rodgers was asked about that. Rodgers, a nice guy, diplomatically suggested that perhaps Paul's impressive times as a kid might not translate quite so readily into world-class times as an adult.

I don't recall what happened to Paul. Obviously, the running thing didn't continue unabated for him, but I don't recall any negative fallout. I'm guessing that, like many young distance stars, he simply redirected his energies to other pursuits.