Has there ever been a male late bloomer equivalent to Sara Hall, Keira D’Amato, etc?

Jaouad Gharib was 36 when he dueled with Wanjiru to get silver at the 2008 Olympics and then got his marathon PR at 37 with 2:05 in London. Although Gharib was pretty consistent, running 2 marathons a year for most of his marathon career. But he certainly did peak late. Men do decline faster than women due to loss of testosterone with age, but can hold up relatively well in endurance events where your ability to run a crazy fast 400 at the end of a 5k or 10k doesn't matter as much.

Can’t help but think of Eddie Helleybuck (sp?).

What a douche turkey.

Ever heard of Jack Foster?

Maybe not the most extreme example, but I think Carlos lopes’ greatest accomplishments came at age 37 and 38

Yes, my Grandfather! He sang "O Christmas Tree, O Christmas Tree" backwards and within the song he inserted the phrase "bird stools" in the place of "branches". He did this at the ripe old age of 76!

Meb ran his marathon PR a couple weeks before his 39th birthday.

Pretty sure he won World XC for the first time at about 29. Then had some injuries before his successes late in his career.

Late Bloomer? Wasn't Sara Hall A National High School champion? I believe her name was Sara Bei back then.

Bill Rodgers was a 9:36 Two Miler in High School, Got down to 8:58 for 2 Miles in College (he considered that his greatest achievement up until then, after College he quit running and smoked, then his car broke down so he decided to run back and forth to the school he taught at, then he set a goal of 20 Miles a Day then he got back into racing, Won New York and Boston Marathons 4 times each and Fukuoka and lots of other races.

Mark Kiptoo started in his late 20's ran 12:53 for 5000, 26:54 for 10000 and 2:06.00 for the Marathon and has the Masters over 40 Record of 2:07.50

My Favorite though is Elijah Lagat in his mid 20's a Doctor told him he was too fat and would likely get a heart attack unless he started exercising and get the weight off, so he walked a lot, then he ran, then he entered a race, he would up winning Boston and ran a 2:07 in a differen t Marathon.

douglas burke wrote:

Late Bloomer? Wasn't Sara Hall A National High School champion? I believe her name was Sara Bei back then.

Yeah, more than a little silly to act like she came out of nowhere.

Steve Way comes to mind as a true late bloomer. Went from hobby jogger to a 2:15 marathoner, 3rd at Comrades, 100k UK record over the course of his late 30s.

Your question is idiotic. She was national champion in HS. She was All American at Stanford. She did not come out of nowhere while men do it quite often. How bout Droddy? He beat her by 11 minutes but they have similar HS PRs. How about Tyler Day? How about Ian Lemere? How about Reed Fischer?

oldschoollrc wrote:

Pretty sure he won World XC for the first time at about 29. Then had some injuries before his successes late in his career.

Yes, that’s why I said not the strongest case, late comeback though, and an Olympic gold and world record, pretty solid

Also 5000 and 10000 Prs in 84, age 37.

Wonder what his 8:39 steeple ranked on world list in 1973.

Yiannis Kouros didn't start ultrarunning until his late 1920s and many of his records were set in his 30s or even 40s. I believe he was 40 or 41 when he set his famous 24-hour record.

I wouldn't call Keira's 6th place NCAA XC finish anything but a solid start to a later career that had a major hiccup or two. Both she and Sara qualify as "Big comebacks", similar to Lopes.

Ho Hum wrote:

douglas burke wrote:

Late Bloomer? Wasn't Sara Hall A National High School champion? I believe her name was Sara Bei back then.

Yeah, more than a little silly to act like she came out of nowhere.

Steve Way comes to mind as a true late bloomer. Went from hobby jogger to a 2:15 marathoner, 3rd at Comrades, 100k UK record over the course of his late 30s.

"Hobby Jogger" gives old Steve too much credit. He weighed @230 and smoked 20 cigarettes a day before he took up running in his thirties. He posted here a couple times as "Marigold". Also, the 2:15 Marathon and Comrades podium occurred in his 40s.

Tommie Hughes is a good example of a guy that was a decent runner when he was younger and made a remarkable comeback in his late 50s after battling a rare illness and alcohol abuse.

Hall has been near the top for 20+ years. Its' not strange she is running these times. But it is at age 37. D'Amato is just plan fishy. Marginal years ago and now she is on of the top runners in the world at age 37? I can't think of anyone who has done that.

Steve Jones did okay.

Not exactly the same age, he was a smoking runner drop-out, as I recall, then set the poop marathon record at London at about the same time he was breaking the world marathon record a time or two.

He ran a 2:10 at 36 or 37 or 28 or something.

And Jack Foster, as said before.

Paul Evans won Chicago in '96 when he was 35.

Started taking running seriously when he was 25 and ended up going to two Olympic Games & had a pretty decent record on the road.

Not bad.