Father/son sub 4's

The Ryuns!

The inheritance of great running ability passed on in humans seems about as consistent as the percentage of Secretariat's sons who were also "Horse of the year". None of them. (Although one of his daughters won).

would you be willing to say that talent from genes is purely "luck" then?

I believe Bob Kennedy's father was somewhere around 4...

Keinos yes.

Ryuns no.

No American father son teams.

Within 2-3 years you will most likely see an American tandem with the Sam Bairs (hopefully both of Kent State!!)

If you want to be fast make sure your Mother has some kick ass mitochondria.

"

Mitochondrial Inheritance

In mammals, 99.99% of mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) is inherited from the mother. This is because the sperm carries its mitochondria around a portion of its tail and has only about 100 mitochondria compared to 100,000 in the oocyte. As the cells develop, more and more of the mtDNA from males is diluted out. Hence less than one part in 104 or 0.01% of the mtDNA is paternal. This means that mutations of mtDNA can be passed from mother to child. It also has implications if one does cloning of mammals with the use of somatic cells. The nuclear DNA would be from the donor cell, but the mtDNA would be from the host cell. This is how Dolly the sheep was cloned. "

So even if dad is a sub 4 miler junior's ability to make the good go juice depends alot on mommy's mito's.

You won't see anything big from him for a few years, but watch out for Mike Popejoy (son of Ken Popejoy). He's got horrible high school coaches, but has a buttload of talent. He ran 9:20 last year indoors as a soph. When he goes to college and gets in a decent college, he will do big things. Ken has a bunch of other kids too, one of which is a freshman and is running faster than Mike did as a freshman.

I can't think of any British fathers and sons sub-4 but Glen and Lachie Stewart wouldn't be far off.

Glen: 3:59.56 and also 3:38.66 1,500m, 13:37.17 5,000m

Lachie: can't find a 1mile time but 13:46.60 5,000m, 28:11.71 10,000m (Commonwealth champion 1970).

Although never close to 4mins I have run 4:22 and my father likes to remind me that he ran 4:16 in 1961.

slightly unrelated, but since we've discovered there are no American father-son milers I thought we might widen the search

the Jenkins family of Villanova is the only family, to my knowledge, to have father and son represent the US in the 400m

father Charles won the gold in the open 400 1956 and son Chip won a gold medal in the 4x400 relay in 1992. dad's PR was 45.8, son's was 44.9.

Bobby Hull played professional hockey with some of his kids.

I still haven't found any British father & sons sub-4 but one for the future may be Mike and Ryan McLeod. Mike (3:56.38) was an Olympic medalist at 10,000m (1984) and Ryan is a current British junior international.

Other interesting pairings on the British lists are

Brothers

Jack Buckner 3:51.57 and Tom Buckner 3:58.87

Andy Graffin 3:54.70 and Allen Graffin 3:59.86

Husband & wife

Sean Cahill 3:56.95 and Chris Cahill 4:00.57 (1,500m)

Peter McColgan 3:59.37 and Liz McColgan 4:01.38 (1,500m)

Gary Lough 3:55.91 and Paula Radcliffe 4:05.37 (1,500m)

Father & daughter

Andy Carter 3:59.3 and Alex Carter 4:14.44 (1,500m)

I don't know if this ranks up in there or not for American Father / Son milers, but my dad graduated from Western Kentucky in 1970 and he ran 4:09. officially, but ran 4:00. in a mile that he said was deamed unofficial because it had illegal rabbits in it or something. And my brother just ran 3:58.64 indoors he goes to Ohio State.

Darrell Myers (father)4:09 officially (4:00 unofficially)/ Rob Myers (Son) 3:58.64 officially indoors

I ran 4:31 in high school but ran 3:57.3 in a race deemed unofficial when a freight train inadvertantly derailed next to our high school, spouting toxic fumes, forcing us to run for our lives. First 440 was 47.5.

I ran 4:31 in high school but ran 3:57.3 in a race deemed unofficial when a freight train inadvertantly derailed next to our high school, spouting toxic fumes, forcing us to run for our lives. First 440 was 47.5.

I ran 4:31 in high school but ran 3:57.3 in a race deemed unofficial when a freight train inadvertantly derailed next to our high school, spouting toxic fumes, forcing us to run for our lives. First 440 was 47.5.

sorry about multiple posts. Server at work very slow.

wasnt don sage's dad a solid miler? not sure if he went sub 4 or what he really did. i just heard his dad was a runner too.

That's why I'm gonna marry me a 7 foot Rebecca Lobo-type broad. That way when we have kids one of them is bound to be over 7 feet tall and I can drill him with my b-ball knowledge from the time he's born. Then 18 years or so later he'll be an NBA lottery pick and my oaf wife and I can live off of the millions our son makes. It's a solid investment if you think about it.