3:44 MILE in Manchester, NH road race

lol at nicole blood almost beating mike rutt.

I guess one sharply downhill mile race within a short drive of the Manchester-Boston Regional Airport wasn't enough to satisfy the locals.

These races are far less interesting than their almost nonexistent counterparts. In the early 1990s, there was a race in Burlington, Vt. called (I think) "The Longest Mile." It started right beside Lake Champlain and climbed up College Street to the University of Vermont green. The vertical gain was about 250' and Eric Morse, a notably strong hill runner, covered the race in 4:48 when he was capable of about 4:00 flat on the track.

Reminds me of the glory days when elite runners actually enjoyed racing and Scott, Walker, possibly Wessinghage went to Australia and turned a low 3:30. Good times!

Congratulations Brian Gagnon and Julie Culley.

You have to love how a 9 year old girl ran it in 6:01 and a 5 year old boy pulled out a 7:12. Pretty impressive.

JAck Bauer found enough time in the day to get 19th. 4:21 not bad

... that Eric was a 4 minute miler. Your comment Kev, "when he was capable of about 4:00 flat on the track", I respect as I know you and also respect Eric. When and were was Eric running near 4 minutes? Curious, that is all.

I've heard.... wrote:

... that Eric was a 4 minute miler. Your comment Kev, "when he was capable of about 4:00 flat on the track", I respect as I know you and also respect Eric. When and were was Eric running near 4 minutes? Curious, that is all.

He ran 3:43 for 1500m back in the late 1980s or early 1990s (I forget where but recall seeing the result) and lists his mile PR on the CMS Racing Team blog as 3:59. So I can't verify those times, but Eric's not the kind of guy to embellish. I did see him run 3:51 on UVM's piece of sh*t concrete 160m indoor track in 1989 when second place was 4:07 or so. He also once got really pissed off after a subpar road race and the next day went to the dirt 440yd track at his old high school determined to bang out 70-second laps for 20 laps. he was very close, running five miles in 23:22.

Didn't this race used to be run around Christmas? Downhill miles are a blast.

Craig Wheeler, from Manchester (the original in England) still holds the 'world record' for the downhill mile at 3:24. He was 16 when he ran it! A few internationals had a go at it on the same course but couldn't beat his time. He went onto to run 8:33 for 3k s/c

Just checked and he's making a bit of a comeback after injuries

http://www.independent.co.uk/sport/maniacs-stand-out-a-mile-1251620.html

This was the Maniac mile and they had a reverse one the Murder Mile!

dean moriarty wrote:

Didn't this race used to be run around Christmas? Downhill miles are a blast.

This is a new race from the same race director of the Londonderry year end/year start mile.

Fastest mile on american soil would be Casey Batey, who ran 3:39 for downhill mile in Wheeling, WV.

Manchester mile came very close, I wonder which course drops the most out of the two?

Wicked fast mile wrote:

. Obviously the 180 ft elevation drop over 1 mile is the reason for the fast times, but...... those times are still insane.

Is there really any "but" to it? If I dropped you off a cliff and you covered 1 mile in 1:30 the air wile moving your legs, would say, "sure, the fact that I was free-falling was the reason for the fast time, BUT..... that's still an insane time for the mile." ?? Of course not.

Wicked fast mile wrote: Based off the PRs of the top runners it's reasonable to say it took off about 15 seconds from your time on a track.

Have the top two guys run 4:00 or better for the mile? I honestly don't know. If not, I guess you would need to add more than 15 seconds. And the slower you go, the more you'd add. So we are talking maybe an average add on time of more like 20 seconds?

KMB wrote:

I've heard.... wrote:

... that Eric was a 4 minute miler. Your comment Kev, "when he was capable of about 4:00 flat on the track", I respect as I know you and also respect Eric. When and were was Eric running near 4 minutes? Curious, that is all.

He ran 3:43 for 1500m back in the late 1980s or early 1990s (I forget where but recall seeing the result) and lists his mile PR on the CMS Racing Team blog as 3:59. So I can't verify those times, but Eric's not the kind of guy to embellish. I did see him run 3:51 on UVM's piece of sh*t concrete 160m indoor track in 1989 when second place was 4:07 or so. He also once got really pissed off after a subpar road race and the next day went to the dirt 440yd track at his old high school determined to bang out 70-second laps for 20 laps. he was very close, running five miles in 23:22.[/quote]

I ran with Eric a decent amount of times while in High School. He's was a really great influence. I know he ran 3:43 but he never broke 4 minutes in the mile. He probably holds some kind of record for the most consecutive 100 mile weeks without running over 10 miles in a single run. We went to the same high school and we still have a dirt track. Though I'm certain its not 440y I think its actually short of 400m.

JUST BEET IT wrote:

the slower you go, the more you'd add. So we are talking maybe an average add on time of more like 20 seconds?

Looking at the results of downhill races, it's clear that slower runners gain more than faster ones not only in absolute terms but in percentile terms as well. If the 4:00-on-a-track crew gains 15 seconds thanks to a 180' drop, the 6:00 types would gain closer to 30 seconds than 22.5 and the 8:00 crowd closer to 45 seconds than 30. (I'm making these numbers up; it's the trend that matters.) I imagine that this is because of faster runners' superior mechanics and economy -- on the flat their aerobic effort translates into a higher fraction of maximum speed than it does for someone with the right engine but a cruddy drivetrain -- your dudes with a resting HR and cardiac output as low and high as an elite's but who can't break 5:30 for the mile because they run like ducks with their asses on fire, or pigeon-toed in the extreme, etc. The downhill gives the waddlers a greater advantage because it tables their ugly biomechanics.

I believe the best track miles of the men's and women's division winners were, respectively, 4:05 and 4:34. So even in the very unlikely event that they had the best races of their lives performing in this sideshow, it's reasonable to asssume that the downhill "took off" at least 20 seconds for the fastest runners, and more for the slower runners.

And I agree with your first comment. There's no "but" to it. It's like saying, "The fact that the course was short by about 150 meters was obviously the reason for the fast times, but those are still insane times for a mile." If downhill miling ever became a serious athletic event, perhaps we'd be able to assess whether these were especially impressive or "insane" times, but at this point, they're little more than a curiosity.

Back in the '70s, there was a guy who listed, among his running accomplishments, "a three-mile downhill run in twelve minutes and thirty seconds." His best time on the track was 1500 meters in 4:40.

Avocado's Number wrote:

Back in the '70s, there was a guy who listed, among his running accomplishments, "a three-mile downhill run in twelve minutes and thirty seconds." His best time on the track was 1500 meters in 4:40.

You'd need more than a significant downhill to turn a 5:00 miler into a guy who could cover three miles under his own steam at 4:10 pace. The kind of people who list these kinds of performances as "bests," even with token demurrals -- and it's hardly the case that this habit died out when the 1970s became history -- are the kind of people who also don't mind measuring their courses with a mule or an ice-cream truck with three flat tires.

I bet the same guy ran a 100 in 10.2 seconds using the "one-one thousand, two-one thousand" method, which is really pretty accurate for practical purposes (i.e., within 20 to 40 percent).

Jeffster!!!!! wrote:

You have to love how a 9 year old girl ran it in 6:01 and a 5 year old boy pulled out a 7:12. Pretty impressive.

Yeah...that EPO's great stuff....

There is no way that is even the full mile. I know for a fact that the other road mile that Mortimer puts on (Millennium Mile) isn't even a full mile. He should gets these races certified so at least it's cool when someone runs fast.