Bob Sullivan <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: >The bunch I've shown is in the 12th mile of a 26 mile race. Two in >the group have PACER printed above their numbers. I presume they are >there to provide a good pace for teammates. (I can see several team >uniforms in my pictures.)
Yep. The pacers are often known as "rabbits" and are usually hired by the race organizers. Their job is to run the first 20 miles at a specified pace to insure a fast overall winning time: Sometimes runners with strong finishing kicks will play so many tactical games during the race that the winner's time, even if he's world class, isn't very impressive. Race directors like to have fast winning times to promote their races. The rabbits are usually national calibre runners who can maintain the 26-mile-pace of the favorites for just 20 miles :) But things don't always work out that way. Once, at the Chicago Marathon, in fact, the rabbit decided that he felt so good at 20 miles that he'd continue. (To anyone who's never run a marathon I can tell you that most marathoners regard 20 miles as the "half way point" in terms of effort: Those last 6.2 miles are indescribable.) Anyway, the rabbit ended up winning the race! A lot of the elite contenders complained but the race directors quite rightly told them to get stuffed! :-) -- Mark Roberts Photography and writing www.robertstech.com
