NY Marathon changes 1982-2004

Triathlon Forum
1

The New York Marathon and marathon running in general has changed much in the last 20 years.

The following stats highlight the changes

1982

Number of starters - 14,308

runners under 3 hours - 1,597

runners under 4 hours - 9,574

2004

Number of starters - 35,000

runners under 3 hours - 481

runners under 4 hours - 7,756

In 1982 a 4 hour marathon put you in the bottom 30%

This year a 4 hour marathon put you in the top 20%.

I’m not saying this is bad. It can be a great experience walking 26 miles through NYC, but it doesn’t even pretend to be sport anymore.

The price of admission which used to be 40 miles a week is no longer being paid.

But the $25 entry fee (I really don’t remember, including TAC card it was probably more) has become $200+ for many of the foreign runners.

2

Must have been a bunch of triathletes clogging up the start of the race and holding the “pure” runners back from their full potential.

3

It mirrors the relative decline in elite American marathoning. Sure there are some great guys and gals (hats off to Meb and Deena!), but as a whole, the depth just isn’t there like it used to be.

4

I was only 12 in 1982, but runners definitely used to be far faster on average. Now everybody runs and most people think running 30 minutes 3x/week is a fair amount. Enough said. Very,very few people are running 40-50+ miles per week which for many people still won’t get them under 3 hrs. Can anybody run under 3 hours with 20 miles/week (without a bigger mileage history?)?

Runners also used to be considered a strange breed - and in many places you’d get weird looks if you were seen running…(or so I hear from my parents - who each ran 100+ marathons, multiple ultra’s…). Only people who ran, ran seriously. Now everybody runs and almost anybody will “run” a marathon (not necessarily a bad thing). Add in the “30 min of aerobic activity is enough” talk and the talk against “mega-mileage”.

The era of American running mediocrity? Why run when you can watch TV/play video games/internet (write on triathlon forums)…

I’d love to see a faster running scene. I’ve seen people discuss this and talk about the lack/decline of serious running clubs, too.

With triathlons - runners can only run 1/3 of the time as they have to swim/bike…

Around here - there are only about 8000 people - 2 of them got olympic medals in the marathon and 1 took 2nd at NYC!

Dave