Gene Dykes' over-70 marathon record goes down by seconds

2:54:19 converts to 98.5% for 71 years old.

One of the things that made Ed Whitlock so incredible, was that not only was he fast, but he looked every bit his age and then some. Image being chased down, hearing the footsteps behind you as you struggle to finish what you think is your great race accomplishment. Surely it’s some fitter, younger specimen.

Then, to your shock, past you flows the gaunt, skeletal Whitlock with flowing hair as white as arctic snow. You put the accelerator down to catch him and he just keeps pulling away. You have no idea he’s breaking a world record while breaking you. Is he real, or is he a ghost?

Whitlock didn’t look like 40-years-younger than his age. But he ran like it anyways.

I was just thinking about Ed on my run this morning and how someone once started a thread about his old appearance and then sure enough Ed replied to it. It was a great moment and he handled it in stride. He was a great contributor to this site.

The website would need to correct for carbon spring shoes by adding 4% to those aided times

Being exceptionally creaky in the heels these past couple of years, not to mention repeated calf injuries over the previous decade, I am seeing the virtues as well as the necessity of doing mostly very slow paces so as to be able to build the base that allows you to go faster on occasions such as a race where you get the additional advantage of tapering beforehand. It often takes me three to four miles to have the ankle flexibility to push off and even get down to seven minute miles or below. But even then I might be running 9, 10, 11, or even 12-13 minute miles early on, especially on early mornings after a quicker run home from work, such as 10M in 7:05 (probably the latter half in more like 6:40s) the other day after running 8M into work at more like 8:10 pace average. Jo and Ed were really onto something. You just need the miles and the occasional touching base with your marathon pace or a bit better and you can run good times for your age. But getting back to what you did pre-50 is another matter, because that requires enough health to do a lot of interval training and tempo running. I am doing leg weights and upper body, as well as the erg, but it's not putting me in the position of getting that push off needed to do my old paces. So, running pr's again is out of the question as long as that is the case.

Agree. And to make it clear: My above post was meant in every way as a compliment. There's nothing wrong with, and every thing right with, looking your age but living and performing like you're decades younger. Ed Whitlock = G.O.A.T.!

Tell your brother to stop obsessing over Shelby, and create it.

I was in the JAX marathon with Gene. Less than ideal race conditions (humid)

Was tracking that Ed didn’t get the record in that race. This was due to the race not being sanctioned. It was a certified course but lacked the additional requirements to enable it to be a world record. Sounds like a moot point now but whose record was just broken?

Correction. 2nd paragraph meant to say Gene didn’t have the record.