Gebrselassie speaks on fast Boston Marathon times

Out-back might not work, either.

I rode my bike on a 300K once, on an out-back, and the wind was howling at my back all the way out (6 hours on my bike), and while I was sitting there eating candy bars in a parking lot and trying to talk myself into riding back, the wind turned a 180. Six hours back. Tailwind all day.

Oh, and even with the tailwind, that tore me up more than the marathon I ran four months earlier. Time for that was a bit faster than half of six hours, but I don't recall the wind.

Say what you will on the race....but ANYONE who doesn't respect GEB is an IDIOT.

hello hypnotoad --

it would be so pleasant if you could make your points without resorting to anger-fueled, obscenity-laced tirades.

"under a f***ing rock" "morons" "your tiny brain".

this is a message board for a running website.

people who hate people should find another venue to spew their venom.

leave the toad alone.

this is his domain.

don't you realize our board buddy is always here.

he's got a comment for everything.

this message board is how he communicates to the world.

he's better than everyone.

he sees the solutions no one else does.

he has all the answers.

revel in his wisdom.

Ooh, an etiquette lesson on letsrun? Never thought we'd see the day.

I've got my style, you've got yours. I trust you're capable of skipping over my posts if they're so offensive to you. You might say I don't really give a fu\ck.

Even if Boston was record certified it wouldn't count because its obviously wind aided.

Next will allow 21MPH winds in the 100 meter dash.

Half the people arguing this didn't even know anyone in the top 5 other than Ryan Hall before Boston.

The vast majority of you can't even run Boston and have no place defending its difficulty.

For it to be "certified" meaning eligible for a WR, the course would (for example) have to turn around in Newton and go back to Wellesley, thus making 1/4 of the course uphill into a headwind. Under those circumstances do you think we'd have seen a 2:03?

That's the point of the IAAF rules. You can set a WR in all conditions provided the course doesn't give you an unfair advantage in certain conditions.

Everyone was OK with Boston being ineligible for records until this year... where has all that Boston indifference gone this year?

It is downhill....

It is point to point.....

This makes it unfair. The rules are very simple, and for very obvious reasons. 115 years of history makes no difference to how downhill or how point to point it is.

If you start to allow this stuff, it doesn't matter what you do for training or how gifted you are, its all about who was the biggest wind.

If Scotty Bauhs ran a downhill tail wind 26:55 10km and was claiming the AR 10km.. you'd all lose your mind.

The only way to satisfy World Record purists is to make the criteria "loop only".

If you don't finish where you start then it ain't a record buddy, sorry.

No problems then with fall/rise of the course, would also allow a WR to stand under any wind conditions, as a tail wind would trade off as a headwind elsewhere on the course.

The problem is that the marathon majors don't satisfy this criteria, need to adjust the Chicago finish along Columbus Drive somehow, Berlin too. Completely new courses required for the other three!

You want official world records, then say good bye to 100 years plus of history on some of these courses.

Needs to be an open debate and resolution of htis.

Imagine the bitching out there if Mutai had just gone Sub-2 in Boston!

I guess since he has countless world and Olympic titles already it won't tarnish him. Wonder if Hall and Mutai will still be running at 39....

hypnotoad wrote:

Good for you. And it saves me the trouble of calling attention to your low IQ.

Good one.

A high IQ is obviously necessary for a response like that.

the answer my friend wrote:

Why don't we include parachute times for the 1 mile record? Drop someone out of a plane and let him "run" a 59 second mile. It's a world record!

That's not parachuting, that's freefalling. Parachutes don't descend at 1 mile/minute. It would be somewhere around 35 seconds of so for a mile at standard belly speeds from exit but faster if you were sitflying or head down or something.

I don't know about that, but apparently below a certain IQ you can't post a reply without exposing yourself as a retarded homophobe.

hypnotoad wrote:

I don't know about that, but apparently below a certain IQ you can't post a reply without exposing yourself as a retarded homophobe.

Well I don't know about the retarded part, but I do hate gays.

IAAF Rule 260.

28. For World Records in Road Running Events:

(a) The course must be measured by an “A” or “B” grade

IAAF/AIMS approved measurer as defined in Rule 117.

(b) The start and finish points of a course, measured along a

theoretical straight line between them, shall not be further apart

than 50% of the race distance.

(c) The overall decrease in elevation between the start and finish

shall not exceed 1:1000, i.e. 1m per km.

(d) Either the course measurer who measured the course or another

“A” or “B” grade measurer in possession of the complete

measurement data and maps must validate that the course

measured was the course run, normally by riding in the lead

vehicle.

(e) The course must be verified (i.e. re-measured) as late as possible

before the race, on the day of the race or as soon as practical

after the race, preferably by a different “A” or “B” grade

measurer from the one that did the original measurement.

(f) World Records in Road Running Events set at intermediate

distances within a race must comply with the conditions set

under Rule 260. The intermediate distances must have been

measured and marked during the course measurement and must

have been verified in accordance with Rule 260.28(e).

(g) For the Road Relay, the race shall be run in stages of 5km,

10km, 5km, 10km, 5km, 7.195km. The stages must have been

measured and marked during the course measurement with a

RULE 260 234

IAAF COMPETITION RULES 2010-2011

tolerance of ±1% of the stage distance and must have been

verified in accordance with Rule 260.28(e).

29. For World Records in Road Race Walking Events:

(a) The course must be measured by an “A” or “B” grade

IAAF/AIMS approved measurer as defined in Rule 117.

(b) The circuit shall be no shorter than 1km and no longer than

2.5km with a possible start and finish in a stadium.

(c) Either the course measurer who measured the course or another

“A” or “B” grade measurer in possession of the complete

measurement data and maps must validate that the course

measured was the course covered.

(d) The course must be verified (i.e. re-measured) within two weeks

preceding the race, on the day of the race or as soon as practical

after the race, preferably by a different “A” or “B” grade

measurer from the one that did the original measurement.

USATF Rule 265

5. For all road records:

(a) The course must not have a net decrease in elevation from start to finish exceeding 1 part per thousand (i.e., 1m per km).

2004 USATF Competition Rules • 146(b)

The start and finish of the race must lie no more than 30% of the race distance apart as measured along the straight line between them, except when it can be shown that the average component of the wind direction at the head of the race (the lead runner) ****did not constitute a significant tailwind.****

NOTE: A tailwind shall be deemed to be significant if it prevails consistently

throughout more than 50% of the course during the race.

This is why there may be confusion.

IAAF rules do not mention a tailwind.

USATF rules do.