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Thread: Kilian bg attempt

  1. #31
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    Does the fact that the record was beaten by an hour or so and not just a few minutes mean it has been there for the taking? Or is KJ just a superb athlete at what he does, like Usain Bolt, and did the dry conditions just happen to suite him to perfection? In terms of fractional improvement isn't this like taking 9 minutes or so off the marathon record?

  2. #32
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    Quote Originally Posted by Mike T View Post
    Does the fact that the record was beaten by an hour or so and not just a few minutes mean it has been there for the taking? Or is KJ just a superb athlete at what he does, like Usain Bolt, and did the dry conditions just happen to suite him to perfection? In terms of fractional improvement isn't this like taking 9 minutes or so off the marathon record?
    Maybe it was there for the taking all along but not by even the best that the UK could throw at it.

    You only have to look at the calibre of the pacers that KJ had to see what a formidable athlete he is. Not just a great runner but a veritable mountain goat and you would have to say the conditions suited him (and probably more so than a UK based runner.
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  3. #33
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    Quote Originally Posted by Mike T View Post
    Does the fact that the record was beaten by an hour or so and not just a few minutes mean it has been there for the taking? Or is KJ just a superb athlete at what he does, like Usain Bolt, and did the dry conditions just happen to suite him to perfection? In terms of fractional improvement isn't this like taking 9 minutes or so off the marathon record?
    I think it's mainly that it's needed someone from outside the UK to do it. Billy's record was astonishing in the context of UK fell running, but less so when you look at what world class mountain runners can do nowadays i.e. the likes of KJ. At the moment I'm not sure we have anyone who can mix it with the world's best on long, rough mountain ultras

    When was the last time that an absolute top-of-tree fell runner had a go at the record? Jebby* obviously had a good go last year, but what would he have done at his peak? Did Simon Booth ever have a go? What might a fully fit Ricky L be able to do?

    *I read somewhere that he was planning an attempt on Saturday and binned it because of the forecast heat. Presumably that would have been a record attempt. I suspect KJ benefited in the form of some top notch pacers!
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  4. #34
    Senior Member elliptic's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Hank View Post
    I read somewhere that he [Jebb] was planning an attempt on Saturday and binned it because of the forecast heat. Presumably that would have been a record attempt. I suspect KJ benefited in the form of some top notch pacers!
    Shane's been quoted to that effect over on UKClimbing, he also said they were still sorting KJ's leg 5 support when he'd already started off. After all the years of anticipation it seems to have been an endearingly last-minute and slightly ramshackle affair... very much in the spirit I think.

  5. #35
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    Yep a good run by a professional runner, anybody know how many other professional runners have attempted the BGR over the last 36 years?
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  6. #36
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    Isn't KJ a professional because he is so good, rather than the other way around? Sure, mountain running is taken more seriously in some parts of Europe than here, so there is more investment and a greater chance of making a living from doing it.

  7. #37
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    Sure he is a good professional runner but IMO that puts him in an entirely different league to the average good runner that was likely to pit themselves to have a crack at another very good runners record e.g. Billy Blands BGR record and maybe have a chance of coming close or even beating Billys record
    However there is now a record set by a full time professional runner that the average good runner that needs to train , hold down a full time job , self finance etc. etc. has little or no chance of coming near to.
    IMO comparing a professionals time against an amateurs time is along way short of offering a level playing field.
    Just maybe there should be a record for professionals and another for amateurs, just to give the amateurs a realistic goal.
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  8. #38
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    Quote Originally Posted by JohnK View Post
    Sure he is a good professional runner but IMO that puts him in an entirely different league to the average good runner that was likely to pit themselves to have a crack at another very good runners record e.g. Billy Blands BGR record and maybe have a chance of coming close or even beating Billys record
    However there is now a record set by a full time professional runner that the average good runner that needs to train , hold down a full time job , self finance etc. etc. has little or no chance of coming near to.
    IMO comparing a professionals time against an amateurs time is along way short of offering a level playing field.
    Just maybe there should be a record for professionals and another for amateurs, just to give the amateurs a realistic goal.
    Killian Jornet may well be a professional runner/racer, but off the back of one record breaking run, to now suddenly call Billy Bland's record, just an "amateur record" is doing him a bit of a dis-service in my humble opinion.

    Nobody got near for 36 years. Everybody said it was unbeatable. Even Killian Jornet would likely not have had the resources to beat it without a team of highly elite pacers. He quite obviously has more speed than Billy Bland, but I'm sure a few people did... and he soundly thrashed the record, but it doesn't make the previous record any less unbelievable.... does anyone think any less of Joss Naylor's Wainwrights record now that he is no longer the record holder...?

    I think to have two records is just confusing matters. And if anyone on the planet is even remotely capable of challenging Killian Jornet's new record, then it is probably Carl Bell, Rob Jebb or Ricky Lightfoot. All "amateur" fell runners.

    Absolutely no offence meant to you, but to call the previous record setters, and today's crop of Fell runners, as not real runners, is a little harsh. There's a reason the record wasn't beaten for so long, and nobody came over to have a serious go, and that's because it was a super-human record. Killian Jornet just happened to be another super-human!

    I'd personally love to see him stick around and have a go at Wasdale or the LDMT... might be a different story? I'm sure he'd do well though...
    Last edited by Travs; 09-07-2018 at 09:01 PM.

  9. #39
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    He's no-one until he's won at Grasmere.

  10. #40
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    Quote Originally Posted by Travs View Post
    Killian Jornet may well be a professional runner/racer, but of the back off one record breaking run, to now suddenly call Billy Bland's record, just an "amateur record" is doing him a bit of a dis-service in my humble opinion.

    Nobody got near for 36 years. Everybody said it was unbeatable. Even Killian Jornet would likely not have had the resources to beat it without a team of highly elite pacers. He quite obviously has more speed than Billy Bland, but I'm sure a few people did... and he soundly thrashed the record, but it doesn't make the previous record any less unbelievable.... does anyone think any less of Joss Naylor's Wainwrights record now that he is no longer the record holder...?

    I think to have two records is just confusing matters. And if anyone on the planet is even remotely capable of challenging Killian Jornet's new record, then it is probably Carl Bell, Rob Jebb or Ricky Lightfoot. All "amateur" fell runners.

    Absolutely no offence meant to you, but to call the previous record setters, and today's crop of Fell runners, as not real runners, is a little harsh. There's a reason the record wasn't beaten for so long, and nobody came over to have a serious go, and that's because it was a super-human record. Killian Jornet just happened to be another super-human!

    I'd personally love to see him stick around and have a go at Wasdale or the LDMT... might be a different story? I'm sure he'd do well though...
    Hi Travs I have re-read my post and I fail to see where I called Billy Blands BGR record just another amateur record in fact I said Billy Blands record was set by another very good runner, this in the same sentence where I described KJ as a good professional runner, thus in my view suggesting that the two runners were on a par with one another, which is a long way short of doing Billy Bland a dis - service in fact I would like to think that it endorses my view that his record was outstanding and I still think it will be the record to beat by any amateur runner.
    ( although of course Billy Bland was an amateur runner, just imagine what his time may have been had he been a professional )

    At no point did I say todays runners were not real runners all I said was that as amateurs they do not have the same advantages as professionals.

    I make no apologies for saying that comparing a professionals time with an amateurs time is not offering a even playing field, as there is no comparison in the different lifestyles that the two different type of athletes lead.
    Last edited by JohnK; 09-07-2018 at 08:31 PM.
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