No Surprise, Ed Whitlock does it again.

OK, so I forgot that he had already beaten that old time earlier in Canada a few weeks ago (42:59), but he has now lowered even further.

Perspective: For those of us who remember, in the 1980s the great Ed Benham was considered literally OFF THE CHARTS when it comes to age-graded performances, a freak of nature, et al. Unfortunatley, Ed Benham left the running scene way too young (<85) due to spousal pressure, as the story is told.

That's one of his best records yet- equals roughly a 20-mid 5K or 3:20 marathon.

GO ED!

If my memory is correct Ed Benham was a retired jockey. I think he might have been from North Carolina

Holy Crap!.... That's a 100.55% on the AG charts...

"Crap" being the critical concept

plus Ed is from England. Can we really trust those brit birth certificates from 80 years ago?

Fred Gwynne, you are correct about the jockey profession for Mr. Benham. But I believe he was from the Baltimore area. An old girlfriend of mine actually trained with him a couple times down in Maryland. Like Ed Whitlock even today, I'm convinced that Benham could have definitely run faster with any semblence of competition. Virtually every race on the track was solo after the first 50 meters- he was at least 6 minutes ahead of the next fastest guy at 10K back in the 1980s. Even in the last 25 years, no one except Whitlock has even approached Benham.

Watch for Ed's WR run tomorrow morning- M80 1500 Race at Sacramento World Masters meet. Prediction? 5:37.

5:37? Try 3:57. EW gonna shock the world in a time that would make Alan Webb jealous.

If Ed Whitlock ever took a PED it would be a cold day in hell

Great trolling, SG. Doping would significantly compromise an 80-year old's health.

Sprint Geezer wrote:

D-R-U-G-S

Ed Whitlock is a massive D-O-P-E-R

Ed Whitlock is a C-H-E-A-T

OK so he's an OLD C-H-E-A-T, but he's still a C-H-E-A-T

It's not about health, it's about character.

He chooses to enter "sanctioned" events, and to receive the accolades and recognition showered upon him, while likely concealing the details of his exploits.

While he may be strong on endurance, he is weak on candor.

So, Ed, why don't you come clean? Give us your list of "medications".

Please ban Sprint Geezer.

while it wouldn't surprise me if an octogenarian has a list of medications, i'd rather see sprint geezer give some semblance of proof to his allegations. do you have a needle with dna? a balco vial with EW on it? a picture of barry bonds injecting ed in the butt?

otherwise, the anonymous accusations are pretty cowardly, baseless, tasteless, and flat-out libelous. in other words, just another day on letsrun...

All I'm asking for is a list.

A hopped-up 80-84 runner setting "official" age-group WR's is no different to me than a hopped-up 20-24 runner setting "official" open WR's.

Does anybody here know any 80+-year-old's?

I do--in fact, I'm going to a friend's 90th birthday next week. She is in unbelievable health and sharp as a razor--but Ed Whitlock is just ridiculous, no matter what "medicaments" he is on.

Normal therapeutic doses of drugs don't enable an 80-84 yr old like Ed to put up his kinds of numbers.

Why care about Ed? Is this something to aim for in life?

How come people here are biased? Why do posters here make "anonymous" allegations about Willie Gault, when his exploits are not even as extreme as those of Ed Whitlock? Is it Gault's training group that is suspect?

As you said, where is the evidence?

What's good for the goose is good for the gander.

I know Ed is a folk hero--but so is Ben Johnson.

I thought you were just kidding at first...but, I guess not.

Really, is this just unsubstantiated slander, or do you have any evidence that would back up your claim here?

Of course I don't have any direct evidence.

Heck, I don't even think he's necessarily a bad guy--he seems a decent chap to me, although I wish he'd make some sort of statement one way or another.

How about this: if he did make a statement to the effect that he was taking nothing, I WOULD believe him.

In which case, I can't wait to turn 73 so that I can set a PR.

I need sleep, I'm working too late...ugh