I was surprised to discover that he only ran 4:09 and 9:08 in HS. Granted that those are very good times but I expected to see 4:06-8:55 type times. His cross country results were not great in HS.
I was surprised to discover that he only ran 4:09 and 9:08 in HS. Granted that those are very good times but I expected to see 4:06-8:55 type times. His cross country results were not great in HS.
Here are the results from the loaded 2007 MN state meet 1600 race where Ben repeated as champion. If he truly is over 30 now then he had to have been 19 or older at the time. Currently, athletes in Minnesota can compete up to the age of 20 as long as they remain in school full time from the start of 7th grade. The rules were probably similar in 2007.
1 Benjamin Blankenship 12 Stillwater Area 4:09.10 12
2 Robert Finnerty 11 Burnsville 4:10.39 10
3 Andy Richardson 11 Irondale 4:10.78 8
4 Elliott Heath 12 Winona 4:10.88 6
5 Paul Hillsen 12 LakevilleSouth 4:11.85 5
6 Hassan Mead 12 South 4:14.17 4
2017-2018 MSHSL OFFICIAL HANDBOOK
100.00 Bylaws: General Eligibility
100.00 BYLAWS:
GENERAL ELIGIBILITY
BYLAW 101.00 AGE
Cross Reference: Bylaw 109 (Seasons of Participation) and Bylaw 110 (Semesters Enrolled)
A student who turns 20 during the 11th or 12th semester since first entering the 7th grade shall be allowed to
participate through the completion of the 12th semester.
Who really cares
Tim Broe ran 9:08 in high school and he was a better runner than Blankenship
I put Ken Stone on the case ;)
Locally, one of the guys I raced every year for a while was similar. He was supposedly 31 in 2004, 33 in 2005, 34 in 2006, 36 in 2007, and 40 in 2008. Ageing 9 years in 4 years? I only noticed when he beat me for first master's one year. Maybe he was just pretending to be younger to the ladies until he had a chance at an award. I have no idea his real age.
zzzz wrote:
Locally, one of the guys I raced every year for a while was similar. He was supposedly 31 in 2004, 33 in 2005, 34 in 2006, 36 in 2007, and 40 in 2008. Ageing 9 years in 4 years? I only noticed when he beat me for first master's one year. Maybe he was just pretending to be younger to the ladies until he had a chance at an award. I have no idea his real age.
So you are saying he has already Lagat's master records in the back of his mind?
IAAF lists his DOB as 15 December 1988
They pull that info from passports, which require a birth certificate to procure in the U.S.
/end
Ask the IAAF wrote:
IAAF lists his DOB as 15 December 1988
They pull that info from passports, which require a birth certificate to procure in the U.S.
/end
I figured the IAAF or Olympic page had to have something official.
But who says he didn’t produce a fake birth certificate to compete as a junior....
Ask the IAAF wrote:
IAAF lists his DOB as 15 December 1988
They pull that info from passports, which require a birth certificate to procure in the U.S.
/end
Do they though? I would think they just get the information from the Federations, and there isn't any verification unless they are attempting to compete in an age group meet like World Juniors.
USATF goes by whatever date the athlete entered, no one has to be age verified unless competing in youth or masters events. IDK if he has made any teams before, but even if he had, I doubt anyone checks the elite athletes' DOBs on their passport against the USATF membership database.
polevaultpower wrote:
IDK if he has made any teams before
He was 8th in the 2016 Olympic Games 1500.
They pull the DOBs from athlete passports.
Lol, I was looking for an update on Ben Blankenship on Google and this Citius Mag article about this thread popped up:
Ben is 49. He began competing as a Kenyan junior at the age of 33.
Listed as 29 at the USATF club XC championships. Birthday is coming up on December 15. That would make a birth year of 1988. Is the mystery solved?
no
Not showering might have some age benefits
Isnt this the lame guy who jumped a fence to avoid giving an interview when he bombed?
Who cares how old he is.
Its egun wrote:
Isnt this the lame guy who jumped a fence to avoid giving an interview when he bombed?
Who cares how old he is.
Is avoiding an interview a big deal?
Bump?
Its egun wrote:
Isnt this the lame guy who jumped a fence to avoid giving an interview when he bombed?
Who cares how old he is.
Maybe the interviewer did