Great Scottish Run found short - Callum Hawkins record annulled

Myles Splitz

http://www.bbc.com/news/uk-scotland-38798775

Follows on from suspicions which were raised at the time.

robinph

Can't see the previous current Scottish record mentioned in the articles now, but I seem to recall from when it happened that it was quite a chunk of time he'd knocked off it. Such that he'd have broken it anyway even with the extra 150m.

Quite a bit of shoddy measuring going on in relatively high profile events lately in the UK who should be doing better.

Tombo2001

robinph wrote: »

Can't see the previous current Scottish record mentioned in the articles now, but I seem to recall from when it happened that it was quite a chunk of time he'd knocked off it. Such that he'd have broken it anyway even with the extra 150m.

Quite a bit of shoddy measuring going on in relatively high profile events lately in the UK who should be doing better.

I would give the Great Run some credit. Yes its a money making machine. But it does give the sport profile; for example those races where Mo ran against Kenenisa attracted big crows; not to mention the amount of participants; or the hugely exciting GEXC.

They have a branding issue no doubt, particularly with clubs that maybe begrudge the success they have.

And yes, very shoddy on their part to get the distance wrong.

But they bring a lot of attention to the sport. If that can be followed by TV money; then athletes would be in a much better place...

robinph

Not got much of a liking for GreatRun after they have bought out my local 10km and half marathon things have gone downhill imho for local club runners. Now only invited sub-elites can win prize money which consists of just 123 m&f and they have got rid of the various age group and local runner categories that the events previously had (not that I ever got my hands on those prizes but it was certainly motivating to be only a place or two outside of doing so).
Now the events are just a couple of very minor Kenyans and the local club runners field has depleted significantly as the prices have gone up but the product gone down. The "fun runner" masses is basically the same as before, but dumbed down such that some GreatRun events your start zone is selected based on what music you select you like on the entry form?!?!

Anyway, that's enough of my rant about Great Run. The course measuring though isn't their fault really, other than they should have insisted on closed road measuring and should be able to lay out the course correctly based on that measurement. With Manchester Marathon, plus loads of others around that area with the same error, Cardiff half a couple of years ago, Newport half and now the Scottish one there really isn't enough care being taken. Some of the errors are the measurers and some are the marshals on the day, but it's not really good enough for courses that are trying to market themselves as big events with fast courses.

Working class heroes

http://japanrunningnews.blogspot.ie/2017/02/hawkins-wins-marugame-half.html?m=1
He has it now.

El Caballo

Working class heroes wrote: »

http://japanrunningnews.blogspot.ie/2017/02/hawkins-wins-marugame-half.html?m=1
He has it now.

What are Scottish athletics doing to produce all these world class athletes? Laura Muir taking the Euro indoor 3k record last night in 8:26, Andy Butchart going second on the Scottish on the all-time scottish indoor mile list with a 3:54 last night just behind another top-notch Scottish athlete on the list, Chris O'Hare, Butchart also ran a blazing 7:42 season opener last week in the 3k. And you have Hawkins running this fast.

Jakey Rolling

Awesome! Must be gutted to miss out on sub60 by 1 second though.

He looked extremely strong in the Edinburgh X-country the other week. I'd say that mixing it up with a bit of off-road has served him well.

hillsiderunner

Jakey Rolling wrote: »

Awesome! Must be gutted to miss out on sub60 by 1 second though.

He doesn't seem too upset, looking at his twitter account.

El Caballo wrote: »

What are Scottish athletics doing to produce all these world class athletes?

Who knows , it's not just Scotland, they are mostly based around Glasgow and outskirts. Are all working with different teams I think; the two Hawkins brothers are trained by their Dad in Kilbarchan, Laura Muir's coach is at the University of Glasgow ....

ArtieFufkin

El Caballo wrote: »

What are Scottish athletics doing to produce all these world class athletes? Laura Muir taking the Euro indoor 3k record last night in 8:26, Andy Butchart going second on the Scottish on the all-time scottish indoor mile list with a 3:54 last night just behind another top-notch Scottish athlete on the list, Chris O'Hare, Butchart also ran a blazing 7:42 season opener last week in the 3k. And you have Hawkins running this fast.

IRN BRU