I started a thread on the T&FN Message Board recently to cover all pre-meet topics surrounding the European Championships, which begin August 12th.
In my initial post, I offered my opinion as to which EC Meet Records might be broken.
Why didn't I offer it here?
No good answer.
Just decided not to, and it gave me a subject to start that new topic at T&FN.
However, to sort of even things out a bit, it was a few of the comments I received about my offering that led me to put up this "extra" post here!
Because a few people there basically ridiculed the notion of athletes going for Meet Records.
They said that, in Championship situations, Medals took precedence over records.
(Although at least one acknowledged that a few might consider an All-European record of enough importance to go for it!)
Anyway, that discussion provided the impetus for this post.
I will list EVERY category of records I have in my Book, and tell you why I include them.
And why I felt a blog devoted ENTIRELY to Records (and Top 24 list marks!) was of interest, important, and even necessary.
WORLD Records
These are obvious.
They are the very best there is in any event.
These are a MUST!
COLLEGIATE Records.
Same goes here.
Except this category includes a few caveats.
For example, no marks AFTER the NCAA Championship meet (whether Indoor or Outdoor) are eligible.
For Indoor, no OT marks are included.
Outdoors, no wind-aided marks.
HIGH SCHOOL Records
Again, there are caveats, somewhat different than for the Collegians.
For the nonce, I'm including HSR's set by Pro athletes.
(In that case, I'm speaking currently of just one person, Mary Cain. However, she MIGHT soon be joined by Alexa Efraimson!!)
I obviously thus include marks made by HS athletes competing against Collegians and Professionals!
US Records
These come under the umbrella of NATIONAL Records.
I've singled out the US for special consideration for several reasons.
Number one reason is that I'm an American.
If I were French, I'd probably have a DDD (Top 24 Performers list) for FRANCE!!
(In the case of the Men's Steeplechase and Marathon, my World DDD is ALMOST all Kenya!!)
CLASS Records.
I include all 4 years of both High School and College.
However, it's sometimes difficult to figure out a Collegian's status, because of redshirting and 5th year Seniors!
But these give a good indication of the progress some athletes make while in school.
There HAVE been cases where an athlete held all 4 Class Records in their event.
But NEVER all 8!!
PLACE Records.
I don't consider these super important.
But I DO consider them to be of great interest!!
Why?
Because, isn't it fascinating to see how great a mark is needed for "just" a 6th, or 8th, or 12th place finish in ONE race (or field event)??
Except for the most jaded, some of those "bottom" placers would amaze you!
AGE Records
Here is where I differ quite a bit from many other sources.
Most Records sources (including IAAF and T&FN) keep "Youth", "Junior", and "Masters" records.
I don't.
My Age Records go basically from 17 to 40, without those generic nebulous umbrella designations.
My only deviation from the "17 to 40" age range is that on each end, I label it "0-17" and "40 and over".
The former means that the mark for 0-17 could be set by an athlete of ANY age up to and including Age 17.
Thus, that mark could be by someone 15 or 16 years old!
And for the latter case, the "40 and over" record could be set by someone 41 or 42....or 57!!
I just felt it was too much work to include EVERY age---from 5 to 95----as some sources do.
MOST of the top marks (on ANY of my lists!) come from within that age range!
NATIONAL Records
Here, I was forced (or at least decided!!) to limit this category to really elite marks!
Until just a few months ago, I had VERY strict standards for inclusion here.
A couple of examples were "9.94" for the Men's 100 and "12:51.99" for the Men's 5000.
This limited my Nations list to a VERY few!!
So when I began my blog last December, I decided to loosen my restrictions.
But NOT completely!
I won't include Tongan Island records of 40 minutes for the 10K (if that's what it is!! LOL), or just 5-10 for the Women's HJ from Timbuktu (!!??).
So, within reason (and that designation is QUITE arbitrary!!!), I'm including many more National Records.
(See MOST of my first 76 blogs for all the NATIONAL Records that have been broken in the past 8+ months, both Indoors and Outdoors!)
COMBINED EVENTS Records
This is another category where I greatly (completely!!!) differ from T&FN!
They go by a POINTS system that's been in place for decades, similar to the Points Tables for the Multi events.
In those, points are assigned to a mark to indicate its value.
I say, Bah Humbug!!
Why use (arbitrary) points systems when you can rely solely on the MARKS??
In this category (just for outdoor marks!!), I have the following categories:
100-200
100-200-400
400-800
800-1500
1500-3000
1 Mile-2 Mile
1500-5000
3000-5000-10000
3000-3000SC
5000-10000
110H (or 100H for Women!)-400H
400-400H
I USED to have a couple of field event categories---the LJ-TJ and SP-DT---but discontinued them a few decades ago!)
What I do here is just ADD the times together!!
No points assigned!
One criticism of my method is that it's unfair to some athletes in some of the categories.
For example, in the 3000-5000-10000 category, it's said that the 10K skews the results, as you can add or deduct too many seconds from that one event, whereas in the 3000, you generally only gain a second or two.
Take the case of Daniel Komen, the 3000 WR holder.
He also has a very fast 5000.
But his best track 10K was just 28:12!!
So he doesn't even make my list!
In fact, he doesn't even come CLOSE!!
Yet in T&FN, they recognize Komen as one of the very greatest in that tri-event category!!
(In a future blog post, I'll offer some of these lists---or at least partial lists!)
MEET Records
This is the category that inspired this post!
As with National Records, I HAD very strict standards for inclusion.
And I've greatly loosened them here too!
But I still don't have every meet.
In fact, SOME meets where WORLD Records have been set are NOT included!!
Why?
Because the MEET is just too esoteric, or small!
In several cases, I have meets which are no longer being held.
Why?
Because, at the time, they were considered some of the best meets around, and the MR's are still great today!
But as with National Records, you'll find EVERY MR that's been broken during the past 8+ months---in the meets I include in my Book!!
And THAT is why I considered my opinion on which European Championships MEET Records might be broken next week to be of some import.
(In the minds of those T&FN MB posters, they obviously were NOT considered so!!)
But let me try to answer the title's question---Why did I compile a BOOK of Records??
The simplest answer is that "records are made to be broken".
Too simple!
My answer would be that WORLD Records were given TOO MUCH importance---by sports media, INCLUDING such T&F-specific media experts as T&FN---and by the general fan!
At various times during the past few decades, T&FN (and other sources) have railed against being WR-fixated, stating that they happened too rarely, and were getting rarer by the day!
I agree.
WR's ARE too rare!
As are Collegiate and HS Records!
(Tell that to Mary Cain the past 3 years!!)
So what to do, to continue to promote the sport, MINUS (for the most part!) WR's, or others of the highest significance??
My reply was (decades ago!!!), and still is, to place HIGH VALUE on so called "lesser" records.
Namely, all of the above I named in this post!!
So when a fan goes to a meet, or watches it on TV or online, and EXPECTS or HOPES for a WR, he/she doesn't go away disappointed when that WR attempt ultimately (and almost inevitably) fails!!
He/she is THRILLED when the Meet's announcer states that a MEET or NATIONAL or AGE Record has been broken!
Or "just" that a certain mark is the "8th best ever" or some such.
THAT'S why I have my DDD's!!
To HONOR those marks which make the ALL-TIME Top 24 list in a category!
(Many just list the Top TEN!!)
This allows so much more enjoyment of a meet, or a specific performance, than the "thrill of victory or the agony of defeat".
And that is why I compiled my T&F Record Book.
I just got tired of all those disappointments when a WR-attempt failed.
See you all soon!
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