Just having a think with the olympics coming up, there will likely be some new world records achieved. Then I started thinking, what is the longest standing running record?
First port of call was to check out Yiannis Kouros as he holds so many records, in fact everything from 100 - 1000 miles and 12 hours - 6 days is his! His earliest still standing record I could see is 1984 (in fact he holds 3 from that year). The only one I know of being earlier is Billy Bland's Bob Graham Round in 1982. There must be some older than that... any ideas?
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Wouldnt imagine there are that many old ones, as the sheer numbers of participants in many events means that records will tumble. Bob Beamons long jump stood for ages as I recall though.
Fell running is a declining sport from its heyday, although BGR numbers are increasing.
The WR for the mile has been around for a while I think - mainly because it isnt run very often now.
I think the record for 300 miles indoors has stood for about 130 years.
the longest standing fell race record dates from 1977 (Ricky Wilde - Lantern Pike)
Andy Styan's record for Langdale Horseshoe also dates from 1977
Kenny Stuart's Snowdon record from 1985 is worth a mention, as that is a high profile international race that has had loads of top runners have a go it, but all have come up short
fell running is not in decline btw - membership of the FRA and the number per year/total participation therein of fell races is currently at an all time high
Yeah but a lot of those are sheep
Actually, when the current 'trend' in ultras has died as it did with tri when all the weekend triathletes moved over to ultras, I can see fell running being the next 'race for life' so to speak. So it would then be attracting sheep of the human variety
Well as my old dad used to say, "if you want to belong then wait for a woman to get ready!"