We Were Faster In My Day - Part 2 John Peters – Blue Cat Technical Ltd – 17th April 2018 In my first blog we saw how the virtual all time men’s UK marathon championships team race was dominated by the 80’s with 1980 just pipping 1985. Firstly, I need to address a steward’s enquiry (well I noticed a mistake in my maths, but its Ok I only do this for a living!), Team 1980 actually won by a massive 2 points from 1985 rather than the 1 point as originally stated. However, this only answers half the question of which lustrum is best (there’s that term again, it means 5 year period for those not fortunate enough to have read my first blog). In true Night of the 10K PBs style, it’s now time for the main event, the women’s race. To solve a current athletics debate, at these fictional championships there is only one possible distance for the women’s race, the same as the men, 26.2 miles. The Teams Teams are created in the same way as for the men, that is the lustrum in which you set your PB. The downside to this is that “women were too fragile to run a marathon before 1980” (that’s a completely made up quote). Based on the UK all time women marathon rankings on Power of 10, no British female ran a marathon before 15th March 1981 (Suzan Morris ran 2:42:12 in Essonne, France). This is not a criticism of Power of 10, who do an outstanding job, I know as a data analyst you can only work with the information available (that reminds me, I must email them my performances as an U17 in the early 90’s). The upshot is that the men’s 60, 65, 70 and 75 teams are excluded from the overall team competition, but more on that later. The only minor silver lining is that all 8 teams from 1980 to 2015 are fully represented (8 runners each) making a field of 64 athletes. Team Athletes 1980 Joyce Gillian Julie Margaret Kathryn Glynis Carol Julie Smith Castka Coleby Lockley Dickinson Penny Gould Asgill 1985 Veronique Priscilla Sarah Sally-Ann Paula Ann Ford Angie Susan Marot Welch Rowell Hales Fudge Hulley Tooby 1990 Sally Andrea Nicky Karen Debbie Hayley Danielle Teresa Eastall Wallace McCracken Macleod Noy Nash Sanderson Dyer 1995 Liz Nuttall Marian Yvonne Sally Suzanne Catherine Trudi Alison Sutton Danson Goldsmith Rigg Mijovic Thomson Wyeth 2000 Paula Sue Jo Lodge Beth Birhan Debra Michelle Bev Radcliffe Reinsford Allott Dagne Mason Lee Hartigan 2005 Mara Liz Kathy Hayley Tracey Alice Michelle Jenny Yamauchi Yelling Butler Haining Morris Braham Ross-Cope Clague 2010 Claire Freya Jo Pavey Louise Susan Emma Amy Helen Hallissey Ross Damen Partridge Stepto Whitehead Davies 2015 Sonia Alyson Charlotte Tracy Lily Tish Caryl Jenny Samuels Dixon Purdue Barlow Partridge Jones Jones Spink The Individual Race There’s no surprise that Paula Radcliffe takes the individual gold with a gun-to-tape performance that blows the rest of the field away by over 7 minutes (and even has time for a picnic wee, I know, different race). Mara Yamauchi takes a comfortable silver with Veronique Marot likewise being able to relax down the home straight to collect the bronze. Priscilla Welch takes 4th, just under a minute off the podium, and just 1 second ahead of Liz Nuttall (at this point I thought there must be some mistake, what happened to Liz McColgan, and then the penny dropped). That’s two athletes from the 1985 team in the first 4, are we seeing a repeat of the men’s race? Maybe not given 6 teams are represented in the first 7 positions, so every point needs fighting for in the all-important team competition. The Team Results That 55 seconds gap between 3rd and 4th is the biggest gap for the remainder of the race, with a constant stream of athletes right to the end, but a familiar pattern starts to emerge. The 1985 team, just like their male counterparts, packs them in with all 6 scorers in the top 22, and their 8th runner being fast enough to score in any other team (Susan Tooby in 2:31:33). Things look a bit different after that though with most of the contemporary teams (21st Century) holding their own, and 2010 taking the silver team prize ahead of 2005. The one exception being 2000; no matter how fast Paula runs she can get away from the fact that no other athlete in her team breaks 2:33. Team Individual Points Team Points 1985 3 4 8 12 20 22 25 27 69 2010 6 9 10 21 24 30 36 38 100 2005 2 11 13 16 33 46 52 55 121 2015 7 15 17 23 29 37 40 51 128 1995 5 14 26 38 42 60 62 63 185 1990 18 27 32 34 45 47 58 59 203 2000 1 35 41 43 44 48 49 52 212 1980 19 31 50 54 56 57 61 64 267 A Quick Mention No Maldwyn Harriers (past or present) feature in the women’s race, but there are four athletes from west of Offa’s Dyke, the aforementioned Susan Tooby (1985), Tracy Morris (2005), Caryl Jones (2015) and Hayley Nash (1990). Plus, Elinor Kirk (2015) was first reserve on the team bus just in case. Special mention also needs to go to Caryl Jones (again) Sonia Samuels and Alyson Dixon, who less than a week after the tortuous heat of the Gold Coast have recovered to run PBs. More Races That Never Were Again, you could spend all day looking at the results at the bottom of this blog imagining races that never were, but here’s a couple. Freya Ross and Jo Pavey working as a team and sharing the miles to hold off a charging Liz Yelling. A three-way scrap down the home straight with Sally Goldsmith and Helen Davies dead-heating, Caryl Jones just 1 second behind. Bringing It All Together In the men’s race it was clear that the 80’s (1980 and 85) were faster, but it’s not so obvious here. Although 1980 won the men’s race the 1980 women’s team came a solid last, meaning overall 1980 misses the podium by 7 points. However, 1985 is a different story, 2nd in the men’s race and 1st in the women’s race means a resounding victory for the era of mullets, shell suits and perms. Solid running by the 1995 teams, 5th in the women’s race and 3rd in the men’s, results in a combined silver, and outstanding runs by the 2010 women’s team drag the men up to a combined bronze. Further down, only 1 point separates 1990 from 2015, but with London only 5 days away and the forecast looking a bit better than Boston! All this could change. Team Women Men Combined 1985 69 87 156 1995 185 144 329 2010 100 245 345 1980 267 85 352 1990 203 172 375 2015 128 248 376 2005 121 269 390 2000 212 339 551 Complete Results The complete men’s results can be found at the bottom of my previous blog here. The table below shows the complete women’s results. Time Name Venue Date Team Team Pos Points 02:15:25 Paula Radcliffe London 13-Apr-03 2000 1 1 02:23:12 Mara Yamauchi London 26-Apr-09 2005 1 2 02:25:56 Veronique Marot London 23-Apr-89 1985 1 3 02:26:51 Priscilla Welch London 10-May-87 1985 2 4 02:26:52 Liz Nuttall London 13-Apr-97 1995 1 5 02:27:44 Claire Hallissey London 22-Apr-12 2010 1 6 02:28:04 Sonia Samuels Berlin, GER 27-Sep-15 2015 1 7 02:28:06 Sarah Rowell London 21-Apr-85 1985 3 8 02:28:10 Freya Ross London 22-Apr-12 2010 2 9 02:28:24 Jo Pavey London 17-Apr-11 2010 3 10 02:28:33 Liz Yelling London 13-Apr-08 2005 2 11 02:28:38 Sally-Ann Hales London 21-Apr-85 1985 4 12 02:28:39 Kathy Butler Chicago IL, USA 22-Oct-06 2005 3 13 02:28:42 Marian Sutton Chicago IL, USA 24-Oct-99 1995 2 14 Time Name Venue Date Team Team Pos Points 02:29:06 Alyson Dixon London 23-Apr-17 2015 2 15 02:29:18 Hayley Haining London 13-Apr-08 2005 4 16 02:29:23 Charlotte Purdue London 23-Apr-17 2015 3 17 02:29:29 Sally Eastall Folsom-Sacramento CA, USA 08-Dec-91 1990 1 18 02:29:43 Joyce Smith London 09-May-82 1980 1 19 02:29:47 Paula Fudge Chicago IL, USA 30-Oct-88 1985 5 20 02:30:00 Louise Damen London 17-Apr-11 2010 4 21 02:30:38 Ann Ford London 17-Apr-88 1985 6 22 02:30:42 Tracy Barlow London 23-Apr-17 2015 4 23 02:30:46 Susan Partridge London 21-Apr-13 2010 5 24 02:30:51 Angie Hulley Seoul, KOR 23-Sep-88 1985 7 25 02:30:53 Yvonne Danson Boston MA, USA 17-Apr-95 1995 3 26 02:31:33 Susan Tooby (now Wightman) Seoul, KOR 17-Sep-88 1985 8 27 02:31:33 Andrea Wallace (now Everett) London 12-Apr-92 1990 2 27 02:32:09 Lily Partridge Seville, ESP 19-Feb-17 2015 5 29 02:32:40 Emma Stepto Frankfurt, GER 26-Oct-14 2010 6 30 02:32:53 Gillian Castka Florence, ITA 02-Dec-84 1980 2 31 02:33:07 Nicky McCracken London 22-Apr-90 1990 3 32 02:33:13 Tracey Morris Melbourne, AUS 19-Mar-06 2005 5 33 02:33:16 Karen Macleod Victoria, CAN 27-Aug-94 1990 4 34 02:33:41 Sue Reinsford Rotterdam, NED 16-Apr-00 2000 2 35 02:33:44 Amy Whitehead London 22-Apr-12 2010 7 36 02:33:56 Tish Jones London 23-Apr-17 2015 6 37 02:34:11 Sally Goldsmith Vigarano Mainarda, ITA 03-Mar-96 1995 4 38 02:34:11 Helen Davies London 22-Apr-12 2010 8 38 02:34:12 Caryl Jones Amsterdam, NED 15-Oct-17 2015 7 40 02:34:17 Jo Lodge Berlin, GER 29-Sep-02 2000 3 41 02:34:21 Suzanne Rigg Berlin, GER 24-Sep-95 1995 5 42 02:34:43 Beth Allott Lisbon, POR 02-Dec-01 2000 4 43 02:34:45 Birhan Dagne London 18-Apr-04 2000 5 44 02:35:18 Debbie Noy Beijing, CHN 13-Oct-91 1990 5 45 02:35:20 Alice Braham Florence, ITA 30-Nov-08 2005 6 46 02:35:39 Hayley Nash Victoria, CAN 27-Aug-94 1990 6 47 02:35:40 Debra Mason Dublin, IRL 29-Oct-01 2000 6 48 02:35:51 Michelle Lee London 18-Apr-04 2000 7 49 02:35:53 Julie Coleby London 13-May-84 1980 3 50 02:35:57 Jenny Spink Toronto, CAN 18-Oct-15 2015 8 51 02:36:02 Bev Hartigan Berlin, GER 30-Sep-01 2000 8 52 02:36:02 Michelle Ross-Cope London 26-Apr-09 2005 7 52 02:36:06 Margaret Lockley London 13-May-84 1980 4 54 02:36:10 Jenny Clague London 23-Apr-06 2005 8 55 02:36:12 Kathryn Dickinson Windsor 12-Jun-82 1980 5 56 02:36:21 Glynis Penny London 17-Apr-83 1980 6 57 Time Name Venue Date Team Team Pos Points 02:36:29 Danielle Sanderson Helsinki, FIN 07-Aug-94 1990 7 58 02:36:40 Teresa Dyer Rotterdam, NED 17-Apr-94 1990 8 59 02:37:14 Catherine Mijovic Reims, FRA 22-Oct-95 1995 6 60 02:37:53 Carol Gould Windsor 12-Jun-82 1980 7 61 02:38:23 Trudi Thomson Dublin, IRL 30-Oct-95 1995 7 62 02:38:26 Alison Wyeth Dunfermline-Edinburgh 26-Sep-99 1995 8 63 02:38:52 Julie Asgill Sydney, AUS 12-Jun-83 1980 8 64 .