Run for Japan

Will you join Paula Radcliffe, Mara Yamauchi, Noel Thatcher and Chrissie Wellington to ‘Run for Japan’?

Run for Japan is bringing together the global running community and showing solidarity and support through dedicating runs around the World to the people of Japan.  For more details of Run for Japan and to make your donation please visit www.runforjapan.com.

Please help spread the word to all runners around the world by circulating this message to your club, adding it to your club website/forum or posting it to your social networking site.

A massive earthquake, the seventh largest recorded in history, struck the east coast of Japan on Friday the 11th of March 2011. The earthquake, measuring 9.0 on the Richter scale, triggered a tsunami which hit the east coast of Japan with 7-metre-high waves, leaving a trail of destruction. With a death toll in the thousands, an economic cost in the billions, and the threat of nuclear meltdown imminent, the people of Japan face their greatest disaster for decades.

Inspired by Japan’s great runners Run For Japan is about bringing together the global running community and showing solidarity and support through dedicating runs around the World to the people of Japan.

The challenge…

To cover 24,901 miles (right around the world) in 28 days with at least one run dedicated from every country in the World. To achieve this runners around the globe are being asked to dedicate just one run to the people of Japan and donate at least one unit of their home currency per mile run.

So, how can YOU Run for Japan?

• Choose which of your runs you will dedicate to the people of Japan
• Take a photo of yourself on that run (optional)
• Upload that photo (with a caption) here: http://runforjapan.com/runforjapan.php
• Donate the relevant amount via http://uk.virginmoneygiving.com/runforjapan
• Download your ‘I ran for Japan’ artwork from www.runforjapan.com/artwork.php

Spread the word

Long Distance Decline

As the curtain sags down on the distance running shambles of the noughties, it seems like a good time to reflect on how far we’ve fallen. 

Over the course of the decade international standards have continued to progress, and a revolution has swept through international marathoning, but the standard of male British distance runners has all but collapsed.

Thankfully, the picture is different for British women, with Paula Radcliffe, Kelly Holmes, Jo Pavey, Lisa Dobriskey and Mara Yamauchi and others competing at world level. 

The collapse in standards is illustrated by the following graph, showing the number of men breaking 28:50 for 10,000 metres in recent decades:

The deterioration in standards is even worse when set against the improvement in world standards over this period.  The world record has fallen from 27:39 in 1970 to 26:17 at the end of the 00s.  Relative to world standards, a 28:50 in 1970 is roughly equivalent to a 27:25 now, a time last run by a British man in 1998.

Running has changed since 1970.  Far more people are doing it, but much more slowly.  Maybe that is part of the problem:  the competitive side of the sport is being marginalised by the non-competitive recreational side.  Is there any other sport where coverage of elite competition is regularly interrupted to show ordinary people doing the same thing very badly?   

How many British men will break 28:50 for 10,000m in the next decade? Probably fewer than 19.  Does it matter?  I think so, although it’s hard to say why.