Why was NYC men's marathon 2015 so much slower than 1982?

1) The NYCM course was short between 1981 and 1987. Probably due to repaving between Statin Island and Central Park, it got almost 200 meters short after 1980. That is why Salazar's wr from '81 was taken off the books.

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Course was only short (by 150 yards) in 1981.

Could it be that Fanny packs and Fuel Belts are slowing the top marathoners down today?

BBC Now wrote:

Fentrekker wrote:

Only 1981? I have a NYCRR publication from 1988 celebrating Steve Jones victory on a "newly measured course". I am willing to be corrected, but I was going by what I considered to be a pretty reliable source.

How did you come to the conclusion that a "newly remeasured course" is the equivalent of "short"?

Was that when they switched from entering Central Park from Girls Gate to entering at Engineers Gate?

from E102 st to E 90 st wrote:Was that when they switched from entering Central Park from Girls Gate to entering at Engineers Gate?

The only time I ran NYC was 1990. I am almost positive we turned into Central Park at Girls Gate that year, not further south at Engineers Gate. So I would say that course change happened after 1990.

Smaller field but everyone was there to race in1982, nowadays it is the opposite. People train to complete the distance but no real respect for it. You could run 4:00 in 1988 at a local race and be at the far end of the pack instead of the first 40% of the field. People worked, drank and trained hard without looking for travel expenses or a shoe deal. They drove to races to run fast against others and not avoid them.

Part of the 70's boom was a cohort of runners with (lets say) +/- 2:20 potential who trained like dingbats to see if they could cash in on the emerging opps in the sport. The numbers of these runners made the endeavor all the more worthwhile. It was really only one generation (about 10 years), before it was realized that the costs outweighed the benefits unless you can get to, say, 2:12.

All the guys from that era (myself included) have stories like running 31m in a local 10k fun run to get 17th out of 50. Pre 1970 or post 1990 that time would win.

It could also be that there are more big city marathons to choose from around the world.

Also, NYRR, at least under Wittenberg, was interested in attracting a small group of choice elite and vast numbers of "participatory" marathoners. If you're a second tier elite, looking for an OTQ or a fast time to snag a shoe deal, NYC is not a good place to go for it. Much better to focus on one of the USATF national championship road races or regional marathons to put up a good time and get some exposure.

Guys, you're all missing the obvious answer.

Baby Boom.

Get ahold of results from any major road race from back then and you'll see the same pattern compared to today. Today's tenth place time would be '82s 30th or worse. Today's 100th would have been 300th.

Same with all the major sports. Check the quality and depth of the NBA, NFL, MLB and NHL superstars between the two eras. There's no comparison.