Would an Elimination 5k be the most exciting race in Track? Eliminate last place and award lap leader...

One other idea for a small variation: instead of awarding the extra $900 to the race winner, you give the extra $900 to whoever wins the most total laps. More incentive for a 800/mile specialist to really take it out hard, even if they know they can't hang for the entire race...

In a perfect world, what would it take to entice a truly world-class field to participate in an event like this?

How about no distance, just go until there is one man left.

how about this ???? wrote:

How about no distance, just go until there is one man left.

That... may take a while... I can't imagine it would make for interesting TV...

theJeff wrote:

how about this ???? wrote:

How about no distance, just go until there is one man left.

That... may take a while... I can't imagine it would make for interesting TV...

It would end when the last man crosses the finish line first. If you started at the 5000m start line with 13 runners then come by the finish line (200m) who ever is in last place is out. (would suck to only run 200m and be kicked out of the race) Then each 400m another man is out. On the final lap of the 5000 there will only be two people left.

Ya, can certainly do it that way... I figure if you have at least a small handful of runners on the final lap - rather than two - you have a better chance for a crazy finish. Of course, reasonable people can disagree on this :-)

PS- that wouldn't be "no distance"; that would be a 5k, lol. I thought you just meant "have a bunch of runners run until all but one quit". (Although, that WOULD be a cool idea if you had a cutoff for each lap... The Negative Split Elimination Challenge: first lap, anyone over a :65 gets eliminated... second lap, anyone over a :64 gets eliminated... and so on... I wonder how far they could make it? That may be worthy of its own thread...)

theJeff wrote:

Ya, can certainly do it that way... I figure if you have at least a small handful of runners on the final lap - rather than two - you have a better chance for a crazy finish. Of course, reasonable people can disagree on this :-)

PS- that wouldn't be "no distance"; that would be a 5k, lol. I thought you just meant "have a bunch of runners run until all but one quit". (Although, that WOULD be a cool idea if you had a cutoff for each lap... The Negative Split Elimination Challenge: first lap, anyone over a :65 gets eliminated... second lap, anyone over a :64 gets eliminated... and so on... I wonder how far they could make it? That may be worthy of its own thread...)

A couple of scenarios:

1) At the start of the 5000 the first 200m you get a bye so no one is eliminated but at the 600m the person in last is out. Then every 400m after that another runner is out.

2) Could run with 20 entrants so the last lap still has a number of people left.

The Negative Split Elimination Challenge might be interesting. At the World Class level this could go on for maybe 10 laps but most likely would end around 8-9.

At 12 laps (just under 5k), they would be just under 12 minutes needing a :53 to continue (and needing to make it halfway around the track at that pace to break 12:30 for the 5k). Anyone wanna weigh in on whether this format would help or hurt the chances of a 5k World Record? Let's assume there is a mechanical rabbit out there keeping perfect pace...

Anyhoo, with that - and a world class field - in mind, I will take the Over on 10 laps. :-)

On problem I can see is with a lot of runners there could be a big bunch trying to avoid being the last to cross at the lap marker. It might not be obvious to the naked eye who was in last place. In that scenario I could see all kinds of issues trying to pull someone out of the race.

What about last one eliminated, first one gets one lap rest? I think that would have some potential. Especially trying to get to rest the 2nd last lap..

I have been saying this for years: innovative races like this are what track and field needs to become popular again.

You are correct. We run this midsummer for the HS team and it is very difficult in the early laps. You would need photo finish but you have no time to review and make a decision. The race never goes as fast as you would think so it would be even more frustrating to watch world class guys run 15 minutes just sprinting 50 meters per lap.

Already happened a few years ago.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rirBSmIdA00

However, definitely would love to see this happen again.

Interesting, like in cycling?

hohey wrote:

What about last one eliminated, first one gets one lap rest? I think that would have some potential. Especially trying to get to rest the 2nd last lap..

Hmm... maybe... a full lap rest seems like a ton... plus, what if they run a good time? They won't have run a 5k and it won't count...

I think think it was done in a UK race a few years ago. Maybe that was the mile but thought it was longer distance.

I remember hearing about a Two-Mile elimination race that worked like this: The main runners start out like a normal race, but something like 10 to 15 seconds later an eliminator starts. If he passes you, you are out of the race. It makes the race crazy, because the eliminator doesn't have to run two miles, he just has to catch the leader to win, so he goes balls out, and everyone has to run way faster than they want to in the early race to keep from being eliminated.

Yep, that was at Henderson High School in PA, where they now do the West Chester Mile. They did another one too that Aaron Braun won. I just did a quick YouTube search and I can’t find it. I’ll poke around later.

Here ya go.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wQOwPORhHMk