People who use net downhill marathons to get into Boston are cheating

Boston is a downhill marathon.

Seems only fair to allow downhill courses for qualifying.

I can't even laugh about it. There is nothing more heartbreaking to me than someone who tries to qualify for Boston and doesn't do it. They must be the most pitiful sacks in existence.

You ever run Boston? It is anything but downhill. It's just a favorable course for the first 13 miles and you pay for it if you went out to hard for the last 13. But in regards to the op, if it is USTF qualified it isn't cheating. Just because a course is downhill doesn't mean you will run fast. I'd prefer a course that is flat with a slight downhill grade.

If it bothers you that much, Derek, then you should expose and shame them on your blog.

We know you like to name names.

All marathons are easy for the first 13 miles

But anyone can run a downhill marathon. It is allowed by the baa. I do not see how this could be seen as cheating.

You mad bro?

am I blind to it? wrote:

But anyone can run a downhill marathon. It is allowed by the baa. I do not see how this could be seen as cheating.

It's not technically cheating but it should be.

A course with a net downhill of 5,000ft is ridiculous. It shouldn't be allowed as a BQ.

Boston cheaters wrote:

am I blind to it? wrote:

But anyone can run a downhill marathon. It is allowed by the baa. I do not see how this could be seen as cheating.

It's not technically cheating but it should be.

A course with a net downhill of 5,000ft is ridiculous. It shouldn't be allowed as a BQ.

Yeah, but think of the Quad damage and running form required to run that crap.You should get a 5 minute bonus for BQ for handling that.

Running a marathon with a 2000 ft drop or more in order to BQ because you can't do so on a record eligible course isn't cheating but it is pathetic.

Even worse is claiming something like that as a PR.

Boston cheaters wrote:

I just saw someone boost on Facebook how they ran this huge marathon PR at Big Cottonwood Marathon. I was like wow - that time is significantly faster than I would have expected. Then I looked at the course - it drops 5,000ft! 5,000ft! Wtf.

People who have used CIM, Light at the end of the tunnel, St George, Big Cottonwood, and similar marathons are cheating legitimate runners out of Boston. How do you guys look at yourself in the mirror? Cheaters, cheaters, cheaters, cheaters !!!

I'm with you, OP. Same thing with marathons in cooler temperatures. BAA should disallow those as well.

With Ya on This one wrote:

Boston cheaters wrote:

I just saw someone boost on Facebook how they ran this huge marathon PR at Big Cottonwood Marathon. I was like wow - that time is significantly faster than I would have expected. Then I looked at the course - it drops 5,000ft! 5,000ft! Wtf.

People who have used CIM, Light at the end of the tunnel, St George, Big Cottonwood, and similar marathons are cheating legitimate runners out of Boston. How do you guys look at yourself in the mirror? Cheaters, cheaters, cheaters, cheaters !!!

I'm with you, OP. Same thing with marathons in cooler temperatures. BAA should disallow those as well.

Also, people who age. It's so easy to run those 55-yr-old times.

Mountains to Beach has a nice marathon ring to it.

Only hobby joggers think it's cool to qualify for Boston. Real runners aim for the trials.

hobby jog wrote:

Only hobby joggers think it's cool to qualify for Boston. Real runners aim for the trials.

exactly. Most high school runners could run a Boston qualifier. In fact talking about one, unless you're over 70, signifies I should tune out anything you have to say about running.

Oh please, BQ is nothing great but most high school runners can't even handle a 10K. I watched a high school XC meet today and I'd estimate 1/3 of the girls walked at some point during the 5K. But since you are on this thread talking about BQs signifies that I should tune out anything you have to say about running. Unless you're over 70.

kvothe wrote:

hobby jog wrote:

Only hobby joggers think it's cool to qualify for Boston. Real runners aim for the trials.

exactly. Most high school runners could run a Boston qualifier. In fact talking about one, unless you're over 70, signifies I should tune out anything you have to say about running.

If the world's fastest Kenyan ran Cottonwood with the net loss of 5000 feet , would he PR and/or break 2 hours? Or is there too much sress on the quads & knees? I can see slow people, 4 hour runners setting a PR, but how about the elites? Galen?!?

Jason X wrote:

If the world's fastest Kenyan ran Cottonwood with the net loss of 5000 feet , would he PR and/or break 2 hours? Or is there too much sress on the quads & knees? I can see slow people, 4 hour runners setting a PR, but how about the elites? Galen?!?

They would easily break 2 hours with shoes that have leaf springs in the sole to provide better suspension and stride length. I don't get why people only wear slow racing flats or regular rubber runners. The technology already exists to put springs into shoes and to increase the stack height for faster speeds.

I've said before, sub 2 could be run on the St George course. It is big net downhill, but not typically with huge chunks. The profile might give that impression, but its easy and gentle down mostly.