david45 wrote:
Is it common?
In the mid 80's in my region it was pretty tough. My school had a XC team of 50+ and to be honest maybe 8-9 could break sub 5 for 1600m but many didn't run track they played soccer. but remember we were also running on cinder tracks with the occasional race on an all weather track.
Now fast forward to athletes that I coach here in Australia and I have had two 13-14 boys run 4:20 and 4:32 for 1500m which is under 5 for the mile. Both boys play Aussie Rules football and run 3-4 days a week with their footy training. They have talent but they are just very fit boys!
If you have an athlete that trains smart they often will race fast.