Greetings, all Brian Pope, 41, smashed Tony Young's M40 American record in the 3,000-meter run Saturday (June 5, 2004) in Boston, clocking 8:16.87 -- almost seven seconds under Young's listed AR of 8:23.78, set in 2003. The world M40 record remains the otherworldly 8:05.08 by Finnish Olympian Martti Vainio back in 1991.
Rich Marion provides this eye-witness account: I had to pleasure to witness one of the best displays of disciplined running that I've seen in awhile. The venue: Boston High Performance Meets. This is the same meet that saw three women last week dip under the Olympic qualifying standards with Marla Runyan leading the charge in 14:59.20. But this week it was a master that stole the show. Running in the elite section of the men's 3000m race, Brian was running against some very talented, much younger runners (some less than half his age). After the first 800m, Brian was near the back of the pack some fifty meters behind a pack of younger runners. With the wind in his face on the backstretch, the only chance he had at running the record was to catch the pack ahead of him. This wasn't going to be an easy task considering that they were drafting off one another while he was leading a much smaller pack fifty meters back. He passed the 800m mark in 2:14.29. He maintained his pace for the next 800 meters, passing 1200m in 3:21.83 and 1600m in 4:29.02. The record was within reach but it would mean running his second mile about a second faster than the first. He must have heard my thoughts or thinking the same thing because the next 400m was covered in 66.61 and now the gap was only 20 meters to the pack. A 65.64 sixth lap put him at 6:41.27 and in contact with the pack. Over the next lap, he passed seven runners to move into third. The seventh lap, an amazing 63.87. With 200m to go at 7:45.14, the record was in serious jeopardy. He sprinted down the final stretch finishing a mere 0.07 seconds out of second with a new pending American record of 8:16.94. His record run is as follows: 67.03 67.03 67.26 2:14.29 67.54 3:21.83 67.19 4:29.02 66.61 5:35.63 65.64 6:41.27 63.87 7:45.14 31.80 8:16.94 That's 4:26.58 per mile or an 8:53 two mile equivalent. Great job, Brian. Results: Joshua McDougal Runner X 8:08.34 Paul Ryan Reebok Boston 8:16.87 Brian Pope Unattached 8:16.94 Martin Fagan Unattached 8:19.02 Steve Meinelt Unattached 8:19.58 Adam Stuhlfaut Reebok Boston 8:20.79 Patrick Moulton Unattached 8:24.87 Jordan McDougal Runner X 8:31.92 Oscar Ponce BAA 8:33.61 Francois Menard Cirrus 8:39.92 Mark Mayall Reebok Boston 8:45.22 Mark LaRosa BAA (scratch) Ken Stone http://www.masterstrack.com
