Why was Alberto Salazar's WR at NYC marathon disallowed?

I don't remember where the NYRR added the distance. It would require some additional research on my part. Give me some time please.

This whole thread is a complete WTF Starting with....

You have my pity Woody wrote:

Firstly, I have the entire race on Beta, believe it or not. Alberto ran in the middle for almost the entire race. If they were to trace his steps based off of ABC's coverage they would agree that he ran at least 26 miles 385 yards.

It doesn't matter where you run, whether you start behind the start line or do an extra block in NYC, if the course is short it is friggin short, it was remeasured post race as required, and found to be short...move on...you cannot extrapolate a 2:08:13 into a 2:08:50, tough luck

As for Clayton et al, that is moot to the point of Salazar's 2:08:13...Clayton's times were always questioned (much later, and with better standards), and wasn't able to be remeasured with improved standards, and irrelevant anyway since it had been superceded.

The only one 'dudded' at the time was Deek, who never had the kudos for holding the world best between 81 and 85, when Jones eclipsed both their times

Rulers were only 9" in those days. Inflation has lengthened them to 12"

What part of the above, in bold, is incorrect? Because none of it is. Alberto DID run the line, in the middle, for almost the entire race (in fact, more than they do at "cut over the sidewalk on corners Berlin, home of the world record"). If they were to remeasure where he ran, they would agree that he ran at least a full marathon distance. This is NOT in doubt, it is fact.

Now, if you want to argue anything about this era, argue that Clayton's 2:08 was not correct, and four or five other guys held the WR before Salazar ran his 2:08.13. One of them was possibly Rodgers.

FFF wrote:

I Am Sam wrote:

This whole thread is a complete WTF

Starting with....

What part of the above, in bold, is incorrect? Because none of it is. Alberto DID run the line, in the middle, for almost the entire race (in fact, more than they do at "cut over the sidewalk on corners Berlin, home of the world record"). If they were to remeasure where he ran, they would agree that he ran at least a full marathon distance. This is NOT in doubt, it is fact.

Now, if you want to argue anything about this era, argue that Clayton's 2:08 was not correct, and four or five other guys held the WR before Salazar ran his 2:08.13. One of them was possibly Rodgers.

Maybe, so...maybe he did run in the middle, but that is his bad racing line. You cannot ratify a record after the fact based on measuring the line a runner took. It is absolutely silly. There is nothing wrong in stating that he ran in middle, but it is wrong to use that as an argument, so why bring it up?

What if there were multiple runners all breaking WR and running different lines...who gets it? The one that made it to 42.195 + 0.1% 'first'? Absolutely ridiculous.

There is a start line and finish line...the course is the shortest possible running route per the requirements between those points...it doesn't matter how much further you choose to run.

Now as far as Clayton is concerned, there may be consensus that the course was short, but to my knowledge, that course wasn't able to be re-measured due to physical differences.

There is absolutely no question in my mind that the NYC Marathon course that Salazaar ran the 2:08 is shorter then the NYC Marathon course of today. In fact, I highly doubt that any of the courses measured prior to 1984 are accurate compared to today's courses.....and even with today's courses are not all equally measured!

But for me, the question is if it was a World Best (world records were not recognized in road racing until years later) based on the rules and procedures that were in place at the time. The rules of our sport have been constantly changing over the past 100 + years and most of the records would not hold up against today's standards.

This is easy.

Aside from the fact that watching the video referenced below, you can see that Salazar ran much closer to the middle of the road than 1 meter from the curb, just check out the pace car late in the race.

25.4 miles at 2:04.15, putting the needed pace at 4:57.5/mile for the remaining .8 miles. Sure looks like just under 5 minute pace to me.

There was no World Record marathon recognition in 1981, only a Worlds Best. This race was a Worlds Best.

https://youtu.be/zg_eH29c7_g?t=2472