Nice article.
I raced her when she ran her 3:03 marathon PR. It was in March 2003 at the Shamrock SportsFest in Virginia Beach. With about 2 miles left on the Virginia Beach boardwalk, she, then 12 years old, absolutely smoked me and put a minute on me over the last 2 miles. I looked over at her as she was going by and could not believe it - since she was clearly so young.
Good luck to her.
Jordan Hasay, from Arroyo Grande, CA (Louie Quintana's hometown) is 13 years old and has run 4:34 for 1500m, 16:54 for 5K and supposedly runs 4 days a week!
Another young talent!
She hasn't raced a marathon.
Sorry, I started a new thread on her not knowing about this one. Here's what I found about her on Marathon Guide:
2000 - age 10, 3:24
2001 - age 11, 3:13
2002 - age 12, 3:11
2003 - age 13, 3:03
Don't forget the speed training, how do this girl stimulate her fast-twitch fibers?
Several marathons by age 14 cannot be a good idea no matter how you stretch it.
She seems to be pretty well stimulated.
I've seen 14 year olds a number of times run as fast as this or faster. The key is how good puberty is to her and whether she can stay focused for 10 years or longer. And hopefully her coach isn't a wack job. I wish her well.
14 year olds run this fast a number of times? How many exactly? The first time I saw her was in a road race, it was about a half mile in and she was right next to me, I was wondering who is this girl...
Obviously she has a long way to go before she can be compared to Alan Webb (ran within 10 seconds of WR while in HS, she has 30+ seconds to go to be there), but she seems to have incredible range and potential.
I haven't seen Briana Jackucewicz in the race results any time recently. Too many of these young girls burn out really early.
If you are not impressed by this girl, you don't know very much about running.
Louise wrote:
If you are not impressed by this girl, you don't know very much about running.
If you are betting on this girl to break any sort of national (non-age) group record, you don't know very much about running. While it may be impressive, the fact remains it is not, relatively speaking, uncommon for a young girl to run well at an early age. I wouldn't say the odds are in hr favor for having a long career at the same caliber she is at now.
What's amazing in this article is Aurora Scott's own drive. She doesn't have running emphatic parents like some of these girls who later burn out. The other issue is the weight gain that occurs later on. The comparison with other girls of this age targets white girls who put on weight. From the photo, Scott has an East African-TYPE build and they don't tend to face the weight gain issue as much as white girls.
She sounds perferct, actually. I agree with Wejo, she's not an allen webb. She's not going to specialize in the mile in years to come. But, her focusing on the mile and 3k now is PERFECT for obvious marathoning ability. I think her domination of collegiate cross country and the 5k/10k double is in the bag as long as her hs coach continues to fuel her passion.
For those who think she is not wise doing the marathon right now are correct in that she should not be training specifically for the marathon, but it's obvious she's not...she's running hs cross country and stated her plans for running in college.
As for the comment about her being better than Webb... Webb is awesome, but he made a very poor tactical error in the Olympics and missed his chance to prove himself ultimately on the international level, for now. Deena Kastor brought home a Bronze. The comparison of Fourteen-year-old Aurora Scott should have been made to Kastor.
She has the ability to far succeed what Deena Kastor has done for American Marathoning in the decade and a half to come.
You can fret about burn out, but the potential is there and we should keep our eyes open because this girl is playing her cards right to dominate hs cross country, hs outdoor 2mile, collegiate cross country and outdoor 5k/10k and then onto international marathoning.
It sounds to me like this girls coach or parents or both are whack jobs. She began her marathoning career at age 10??? That is just plain stupid...
We are in agreement that she is impressive. That's my only point. Where did you come up with the lame-brain idea that I'm betting on anything?
[If you are betting on this girl to break any sort of national (non-age) group record, you don't know very much about running. While it may be impressive, the fact remains it is not, relatively speaking, uncommon for a young girl to run well at an early age. I wouldn't say the odds are in hr favor for having a long career at the same caliber she is at now.] (Quote)
You dont have to know much about running to know that marathons at 10 years old is just plain stupid!
If you want to see more articles on aurora scott check out www.milestat.com. This is the official running website for the state she runs in, virginia. enjoy!
She will become a statistic, not an exception.
Also her focus is not on the 3k or mile. She prefers the long stuff and has already ran 5 marathons before the age of 15. That is scary. Wait til puberty and you will hear nothing about her. Little girls like that do not stick around very long. Please give me an example if you can find one.
If her parents wanted her to be in it for the long run, they would have someone other than her dad coaching her. It doesn't sound like he has any running experience at all.
I didn't even address that issue, dimwit.
[You dont have to know much about running to know that marathons at 10 years old is just plain stupid!] [/quote]
The best thing for her and all young phenoms is too run easy 45 minute run every day with one day or rest and one day of light speedworkout or tempo run every once in awhile.
Throw in some pushups, and situps.
And only race about 10 times a year max with a limit of 5k.
Do this till Junior year of High School and up the tempo, this will get you a college scholarship.
The talent is there, but is being wasted too young.
"For those who think she is not wise doing the marathon right now are correct in that she should not be training specifically for the marathon, but it's obvious she's not...she's running hs cross country and stated her plans for running in college."
She said in the article that she doesn't find the marathon difficult, it's all about staying hydrated. Does this sound like an intense marathoner? Her times are holding 7min miles, nothing too intense. Ethiopian and Kenyan children run that far, usually broken up over the course of the day, at faster paces every day in the country.
If she finished the marathon completely depleted (the contrary was stated in the article) then it would be an issue. She sounds very smart, not stupid at all.
and 'whack jobs' for parents? her parents forced her OUT of homeschooling back into mainstream american teenage life. 'Whack job' are the ones who do the opposite and keep their kids from having friends other than other homeschool kids.