Words in the English language can have more than one meaning. You keep changing the subject by trying to find other flaws in what rolondo said. We all lose at some point. Some just know when to give it up
Words in the English language can have more than one meaning. You keep changing the subject by trying to find other flaws in what rolondo said. We all lose at some point. Some just know when to give it up
we have got alot of young man running marathons more than previous years. people does not have to wait for their track career to end before taking on the marathon. paul tergat and geb had to wait until their track careers end then they transition into the marathon. if you look at rotterdam 2010, you will see alot of the guys are young, they spend all their time training for marathons as a result people run faster.
This thread is doubly disappointing. First for the subject it talks about, and second for the complete lack of worthwhile discussion.
What will it take for the US to get to the point where the threads title wouldn't be true? More US only prize money? Better TV coverage? Make the marathon an NCAA championship event?
I have no proof (nor does anyone on here), but I suspect this is a situation where you have:
-A population that has a high concentration of people with the tools to be good distance runners
-An area of the world where the average GDP is quite a bit smaller than the purse from any mid-level marathon. In 2008 Kenya's GDP per person was $680 (http://www.economist.com/theworldin/forecasts/COUNTRY_PAGES_2008.pdf)
-Few other options to wealth, especially if uneducated
-Free flow of information- any aspiring runner can go to an internet cafe and learn about the sort of money to be made with running
-Plenty of options, including many well below the "elite" stage. As a for instance, our big local spring 10k gives $1,000 to the winner (i.e., 1.47 times Kenya's per capita GDP); usually some c or d team kenyan who will likely never be on the international stage, but who makes more in that 1/2 hour than he could have all year at home. Think about if local 10k's had 1st place awards that were 1.47 times the US GDP (47,330 from the same article). That'd be about $69,000 for the winner. We might see more interest in running here. Although perhaps not, since Joe Mauer can make that in 0.4 games, and most kids probably see their chances of being the next Mauer as better than being an elite distance runner.
With all of those factors, why are we surprised that they do better? They have motivation + physical tools + few other options. I'm sure you could toss PEDs in there as well, but probably that is a given no matter where you are.
dd wrote:
Think about if local 10k's had 1st place awards that were 1.47 times the US GDP (47,330 from the same article). That'd be about $69,000 for the winner. We might see more interest in running here.
...BINGO....
I think we should go closed market. White American only races.
Rolondo... how many nicknames do you use? You could use 100 more and it would not make your point any more valid.
Officer Notta Jag wrote:
Rolondo... how many nicknames do you use? You could use 100 more and it would not make your point any more valid.
Funny, I was just going to ask you the same question. Stop posting unless you intend to contribute something valuable to the thread.
I find this discussion interesting though.
Which leads me to wonder what percentage of young Kenyan or Ethiopian runners go straight to the marathon, as opposed to beginning on the track. 251 Kenyans under 2:15 is a huge number, certainly more than are active on the track it would seem.
Officer Notta Jag wrote:
Rolondo... how many nicknames do you use? You could use 100 more and it would not make your point any more valid.
Funny, I was just going to ask you the same question. Stop posting unless you intend to contribute something valuable to the thread.
I find this discussion interesting though.
Which leads me to wonder what percentage of young Kenyan or Ethiopian runners go straight to the marathon, as opposed to beginning on the track. 251 Kenyans under 2:15 is a huge number, certainly more than are active on the track it would seem.
Ok, let me break this down:
1. Why would you (Rodondo) ask me how many names I am posting under when I am the only one who has been arguing about the meaning of the word "nexus"? (Incidentally, I was wrong about the additional meaning, but I still think your original post was idiotic, ethno-centric, arrogant shite).
2. Who are you to tell someone else to stop posting?
3. What did you contribute of value?
4. There's probably only a couple of people in the world who would be more qualified to answer your question, but for some reason I don't find myself feeling inclined to.
Wow, pretty short list of Americans and only 5 currently active.
1 2:05:38 Khalid Khannouchi USA 22.12.71 1 London 14.04.2002
2 2:06:17 Ryan Hall USA 14.10.82 5 London 13.04.2008
3 2:08:47a Bob Kempainen USA 18.06.66 7 Boston 18.04.1994
4 2:08:51a Alberto Salazar USA 07.08.58 1 Boston 19.04.1982
5 2:08:53a Dick Beardsley USA 21.03.56 2 Boston 19.04.1982
6 2:08:56 Abdihakem Abdirahman USA 01.01.77 4 Chicago 22.10.2006
7 2:09:00a Greg Meyer USA 18.09.55 1 Boston 18.04.1983
8 2:09:15 Mebrahtom Keflezighi USA 05.05.75 1 New York City 01.11.2009
9 2:09:27a Bill Rodgers USA 23.12.47 1 Boston 16.04.1979
10 2:09:31a Ron Tabb USA 07.08.54 2 Boston 18.04.1983
11 2:09:32 David Morris USA 17.05.70 4 Chicago 24.10.1999
12 2:09:35 Jerry Lawson USA 02.07.66 7 Chicago 19.10.1997
13 2:09:38 Ken Martin USA 10.09.58 2 New York City 05.11.1989
14 2:09:41 Alan Culpepper USA 15.09.72 6 Chicago 13.10.2002
15 2:09:57a Benji Durden USA 28.08.51 3 Boston 18.04.1983
16 2:10:00 Dathan Ritzenhein USA 30.12.82 11 London 26.04.2009
Consider that the US population is 300 million.
Ethiopia is 80 million and Kenya just 40 million.
Off the Grid wrote:
dd wrote:Think about if local 10k's had 1st place awards that were 1.47 times the US GDP (47,330 from the same article). That'd be about $69,000 for the winner. We might see more interest in running here.
...BINGO....
Bingo what? 1.47 times the US GDP would be about $20.9 trillion based on 2009 numbers.
Who cares about Rodondo's names. Who cares about the useage of the word "nexus".
The following are previously mentioned factors in the difference between US and Kenyan/Ethopian distance runners:
1. Living at altitude
2. Genetics (short calves, light frame)
3. Society: running is transportation in E. Africa; running is seen as an accessible way to get out of poverty (a few thousand US dollars will by a nice farm in Kenya); running is a national sport
4. Very difficult for US/European runners to make a living off of competitive distance running. Most US/Euro runners get college degrees and could have well paying careers as attorneys, doctors, managers, engineers, etc.
But a recent surge in US distance running (Hall, Ritz, Teg, Gotcher) suggests that genetics are not outcome determinative and the remaining factors are not so prohibitive.
In the US, virtually every high school and college has cross country and track. It is not like Americans aren't running or trying to be competitive. I think a big reason US runners have been so far behind the E Africans is just psychological. The E African takeover of the sport in the 1990s coincided with a decline in American performances. In short, Americans just started believing that they could not compete with E Africans. Ritz and Hall came on the scene and showed that Americans can compete with the E. Africans. Next thing you know, Gotcher debuts at 2:10, Teg breaks 13, Vega runs a 61, and Hartmann wins Medtronic in 2:12. In other words, US runners really just needed a few to break through and get rid of the mentality that US runners cannot compete with E Africans. I think in the next few years we will see a major resurgence of US distance running.
I'm curious about the pool of potential athletes. How many runners in college programs in the US?
How does that compare to the East African pool?
Officer Notta Jag wrote:
Rolondo... how many nicknames do you use? You could use 100 more and it would not make your point any more valid.
Funny, I was just going to ask you the same question. Stop posting unless you intend to contribute something valuable to the thread.
I find this discussion interesting though.
Which leads me to wonder what percentage of young Kenyan or Ethiopian runners go straight to the marathon, as opposed to beginning on the track. 251 Kenyans under 2:15 is a huge number, certainly more than are active on the track it would seem.
reality check time wrote:
Sure, Meb won NY. Ryan Hall has a 2:06. Ritz has fared well at some big races against some of the best E. Africans. But, this weekend showed that the US is catching up to a train that is leaving the station.
And there are a helluva lot more East Africans running, and especially running the marathon. Hell there are probably more E. African elites training right now for the marathon than in U.S. history in terms of the elite level. In the last 5 years we've had what 4-5 top americans take the marathon seriously? How many Kenyans and Ethiopians do you think there are? 30, 40, 50? More? So it makes sense.
Think clearly my friend.