Monday, May 15, 2006

TRIVIA

I found this regional running publication at one of the most popular local running stores over the weekend. It took me about 2 seconds to spot the error. Can you tell me what's wrong with this photo?

7 comments:

Andrew said...

The time? Should be 2:09.

Duncan Larkin said...

I'm perplexed on this. The Grandmas CR is 2:09:36, set by Beardsley, but his own website lists the 2:08:37 number.

Check the differences out:

http://dickbeardsley.com/Running.htm

http://www.grandmasmarathon.com/activities/guest_speakers.php

Chad said...

Yeah, the time is wrong. Duncan, thanks for the links. What makes this even more weird is that the Grandma's Marathon website has a course record page with 2:09:37. They say 2:09:36 in their guest bio. So even they can't get it right.

From what I can tell, if Beardsley had run 2:08:37 in June of 1981 he'd have been 3 seconds off the WR.

2:08'18" Rob de Castella, AUS, 06 Dec 1981, Fukuoka
2:09'36" Derek Clayton, AUS, 03 Dec 1967, Fukuoka
2:08'34" Derek Clayton, AUS, 30 May 1969, Antwerp

Anyway, I sent a couple of emails out this morning to the editor of this magazine and to Dick's website. We'll see what happens. Maybe the average runner couldn't care less, but to me it seems like a big mistake.

Chad said...

Susan, at least he doesn't look like this.

Anonymous said...

A comment worth 1/60th of the original. Where did you get the 2:08:34 figure for Clayton? I'd always thought it was 2:08:33.

I'd guess that Midwest Events got the figure from Beardsley's website. Strange that he would allow a typo like that on his website, since his autobiography talks about 2:09:36.

Chad said...

Evan,

I googled marathon "world record progression" and that sent me here.

Anonymous said...

2:08:33.6 was the official time apparently. It's interesting because now they don't list the split seconds for marathon records. See here, for example.

"qejmdtyg" for verification!