Alan. Of course, you make great points. But don't expect a person of West
African ancestry to ever win a marathon -- they have such small, genetically
determined lung capacity and huge percentage of fast twitch muscles and
other anatomical and physiological characteristics that it would be a long
shot at best. On the other hand, East Asians have a great phenotype for the
marathon and particularly the ultra-marathon, as I explain in Taboo. It is
not just happenstance or culture that East Asians and their descendants such
as the Tarahumara Indians are among the world's dominant ultra-endurance
runners.
On 4/12/01 11:42 AM, "alan tobin" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
> Well, it's old news that Kenyans, mainly Kalenjin's, dominate distance
> running today. Their evolution has made them superb distance runners. They
> have lived at altitude for millions of years. They have lived a harder
> existance than say the American silver platter life. I would like to make
> one point though about Boston: 2000 winner Elija Lagat, 2:09:47....1979
> winner Bill Rodgers, 2:09:27....1981 winner Toshihiko Seko, 2:09:26....1986
> winner Robert de Castella, 2:07:51....1990 winner Gerlindo Bordin, 2:08:19.
> Kenyans win this race, but so do Americans, Japanese, Australians, and
> Italians. They also win it in about the same time. Kenyans have seemed to
> dominate this race as of late, but not to the point where non-Kenyans can no
> longer win. They aren't winning this race any faster than it was won 20
> years ago. Genetics and their way of life give the Kalenjin's a better
> starting point, but the finish line is the same for every runner. If the
> Japanese marathoners ran Boston then I'd think they would give the
> Kalenjin's a run for their money. In a few years I can see a handful of US
> runners under 2:10, maybe even under 2:08:00. Of course the US's best
> marathoners are running 10ks right now. Tick, tock, tick, tock....
>
> Alan
>
>
>
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--
Jon Entine
RuffRun
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