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millar1987
217 Posts |
 Posted - June 17 2024 : 08:06:41
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I hope the St. Greg's race met JF's high standards - https://buffalorunners.com/results/2024/StGregsGreatRace24.htm
Men's winner - 14:52
Women's winner - 18:30 (as a Masters runner)
Age grade winner at 88.56%.
Top 31 runners under 20 minutes, and I won JF's age group with an 18:39.
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jimnyc75
71 Posts |
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JF
3091 Posts |
Posted - June 21 2024 : 11:35:42
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Great job winning that age group and that's a fine time---
The 2024 winning time distorts things a bit---he obliterated the field.
But, in 1997, 105 runners broke 20 minutes.
It just doesn't compare
https://www.buffalorunners.com/results/1997/stgregs97.htm
John Furgele |
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JF
3091 Posts |
Posted - June 21 2024 : 11:38:22
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I used to love that race---it was a "mark on your calendar," and train for race. I used to start speedwork in April and by that race, you were ready to go hard.
My goal was to break 16 there and I think I did so three times. The course was fast, the competition was excellent and many others had the same training plan as me and were ready to fire on that Friday evening.
It was a must-do race!
John Furgele |
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millar1987
217 Posts |
Posted - June 21 2024 : 15:05:13
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| The main difference I see is 1,073 finishers then vs. 569 this year. Of course, the Corporate Challenge had 2,600 finishers on the night before this time. |
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JF
3091 Posts |
Posted - June 24 2024 : 11:24:15
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That (number of finishers) doesn't matter that much. It's always been about quality.
But numbers are way down in running. Maybe this is for another post, but why is that? Corporate Challenge used to get 10,000, now only 2,600.
Americans are slowly morphing into one-off people. They like one-off events, but not things that are prolonged.
Americans will run the Turkey Trot, but not a race before or race after.
The Super Bowl gets 110 million viewers, but the Conference Championship Games get 50 million.
We will watch the Kentucky Derby (16 million), but not the Preakness (5.3 million) and the Belmont (3.66 million).
We watched Caitlin Clark (18 million) and the NCAA Men's Final (14.5 million), but the NBA Finals only averaged 11.53 million viewers.
Back to race numbers, the argument that there are too many races doesn't hold water because that's always been the case. back when JR and I were racing in WNY, there were always three to five races to choose from on the prime weekends.
I do think cost is a factor. Everything is more expensive and cutting out $70 to $80 per month for two road races is much easier to do than not buying chicken at the store.
I know the cost of scoring and insurance is high, but people see 5k at $35 and say no thanks. Plus, often, the course is not accurate. I think race directors raised the prices too much and too quickly thinking that addicted runners would pay no matter what the price is
I'm not saying 5ks should cost $15, but they shouldn't be $35 or $40. There has to be a settling point.
Lastly, young people. I have three and none of them have any true and real passions. They just get up, do their thing and when the day is done and boredom kicks in, they get on their phone.
You have to have a passion---walking, running, gardening, photography, hiking, reading; something. Maybe I just don't see it, but I work two jobs and I in fact, see it.
When I ask co-workers what they did on the day off and their weekend off, most say nothing or can't remember what they did.
That's sad.
John Furgele |
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I don't get it
