Posted: April 4, 2007

Athletics: A Tale of Two Marathons

The following analysis of the 1981 and 2006 Ottawa Marathons (formerly the National Capital Marathon) was done by Dave Stewart, a long-time runner and former world masters record holder. It illustrates quite clearly the difference between the "competitors" of the 70s and 80s and the "completers" of today. By Dave Stewart I did some comparisons between the 1981 National Capital Marathon results and those from the 2006 ING Ottawa Marathon. 25 years apart, the number of marathon runners each year was similar, although in 1981 the marathon was the only game in town. It was "go long, or stay home". Today, overall participation on the race weekend is way up because the philosophy is different; participating and completing the events are more important to most than racing and competing. In 1981, more runners were under 3 hours (630 - 18%) than over 4 hours (512 -14%). In 2006, 64% of the runners were slower than 4 hours; while less than 4% broke 3 hours (and many of those were invited "elite" athletes). There may be many more people running today than back in the early 80's, but the competitive Baby Boomers from the era of Frank Shorter and Bill Rodgers have been replaced by the Running Roomers! Some notable performances from 1981: Mike Dyon (winner in 2:16.07; in 2000, Mike ran 2:37.25), Ken Parker - 2:42.57(PB), Helen Cooper 2:49.59, (Coach) Ray Elrick 3:00.00 (631st!), Larry MCCloskey 3:15.50 (1984 - 2:24.28!) Men:   1981 2006 Number of finishers 3478 3110 Mean time 3:26.15 4:11.05 First Canadian 2:16.07 (1st) 2:22.12 (12th) 50th overall 2:34.24 2:48.22 100th 2:39.31 2:59.01 500th 2:56.37 3:32.53 1000th 3:09.37 3:53.25 2000th 3:31.36 4:27.22 3000th 4:01.54 5:33.53 Runners under 3 hours 630 109 Runners between 2:59.00 and 2:59.59 51 10 Runners between 3:00.00 and 3:00.59 30 5 John Stoddard 2:44.36 5:47.00 Howie Cohen 2:55.17 4:36.30 Ed Whitlock (1981 - age 50) (2006 - Toronto, age 75) 2:33.52 (48th) 3:08.34 -T (87th) I also reviewed the women's performances in 1981 (without the aid of a computer!). 367 women ran the 1981 Marathon or 10.5% of the field compared to 1204 or 37.2% in 2006. The following results from 1981 are interesting for the women - particularly the quality up front. Only 10 women broke 3 hours in 2006 - the same number as in 1981 where the field was much smaller and prize money was zilch! Women:   1981 2006 Number of finishers 367 1204 Runners under 3 hours 10 10 Runners between 3:00.00 to 3:09.59 3 7 Runners between 3:10.00 to 3:19.59 27 11 Runners between 3:20.00 to 3:29.59 37 22 Runners between 3:30.00 to 3:39.59 46 53 Runners between 3:40.00 to 3:49.59 49 67 Runners between 3:50.00 to 3:59.59 51 93 Runners between 4:00.00 to 4:29.59 93 340 Runners > 4:30.00 51 603