The use of rabbits and the inflow of corporate money are ruining running. A record isn’t a record these days.
Records? There was a time when a record in any sport meant a great deal. Think of Ripken’s streak, for example. And let’s always remember the win by a barefoot African runner in the 1960 Rome Olympic marathon–the incomparable Abebe Bikila.
There are many honest records by many athletes. But the “records” by some are, in my view, tainted. Let’s focus on running.
Technology has always helped runners. The sprinters of Jesse Owens’ era carried small mason trowels to dig starting holes in the cinder tracks. Think of what they could have done with starting blocks and synthetic tracks. Today, runners have the very fast Nike prototypes, which helped (I’m sure) Eliud Kipchoge ran a marathon in under two hours, or Brigid Kosgei run her fast race a day later in Chicago. I read that those shoes gave runners a 4-5% improvement in economy.
I accept the advantages that new technology gives athletes, especially runners. But I draw the line at rabbits or pacers–or whatever you call the ones who do the hard work for a runner after a “record.”
In a 1980 study published in the Journal of Applied Physiology, Griffith Pugh reported that “at 4:30 mile pace, drafting one meter behind another runner on a still day saves about 80 percent of the energy you’d otherwise spend fighting air resistance which corresponds to about 1 second per 400 meters at that pace, and more on windy days.”
Rabbits Abel Kirui, Elijah Keitani, and Wilson Kigen pacing Haile Gebrselassie and Charles Kamathi at the Berlin Marathon 2008 (source: Wikipedia)
Bless those rabbits! Kosgei had two rabbits in front of her in Chicago, leading the way, not trying to beat her. Where is the “record” in that?
You don’t need to be a runner to understand the advantage of a rabbit. Think of any activity done with another person. By their presence, the task is made easier–if he or she knows and understands the assigned task.
Just look at a busy commercial kitchen to grasp the importance of each person doing his or her job. A rabbit is the same—one who leads and does the difficult mental work of pacing or leading.
Rabbits are a part of running’s history. Roger Bannister had two on the Iffley Track in 1954. In breaking the four-minute barrier, he “beat” Chris Brasher and Chris Chataway by about 80 yards on the final straightaway of that cinder track. Yes, he ran the time. However, could he have done it without the other two taking the lead for over three laps? It would have been a hard and lonely battle for him to have been out in front, battling both the physical and mental strain.
But a month later, Australia’s John Landy ran a 3:57.9 in a race in Turku, Finland. Landy had no rabbits as Bannister had. He only had runners trying to beat him, like Chris Chataway, who placed second.
In the late 1970s, I ran the Cherry Blossom Ten-Miler in Washington, DC. I paid my 50-cent entry fee at the Headquarters of the National Park Service on Haines Point, where the race began and ended. Dr. Gabe Merkin gave a talk about running health and, then, we few hundred began the race where the turn-around was the tree on Ohio Drive with a mark of white lime on it.
I mention it to make a point. Money has changed road racing, and I worry that it will adversely affect track and field, which still maintains standards.
The rush to be a record holder has gone beyond runners and invaded the corporate world. It seems that many large companies want to “hold” a road racing record in any sponsored race. How long will the integrity hold in track and field because it has been wiped out in road racing?
Whenn I coached cross country, I once asked an English runner from St. Albans how his cross-country season was going. He said, “I’ve gotten two thirds and a second.” There was no mention of times, as we do here. I like the lack of timing on cross country courses, which are as varied as road courses.
All courses are different, so times on them are, honestly, not relevant. So why have a world record set at Chicago, which is as flat and fast as the Marine Corps course? It’s not point-to-point like Boston or the hilly laps at the old George Washington Birthday course in Maryland?
Course records, fine. But a world record NOT!
What about those “scwewy wabbits” to quote Elmer J. Fudd? They have no place in any racing in my view. They do most of the lonely and hard work of being out front, making racing easier for a follower.
