Hero of the Year

Chris Solinsky. Why? I'm not from the US and am well and truly English so no parochial nationalism here. He could be from Bhutan for all I care.

He has broken 13mins (12:55min) for 5k and 27min for 10k (the new US NR of 26:59min and first non-African runner to break 27min). Brilliant times, world class yes, but 31 athletes (pretty much the whole of the Kenyan National Champs 2010 10k race for example, ok I'm exaggerating here they all broke 30min!) have broken 27mins as well. What makes Chris special is that he is 1.85m (6ft 1in) and 72-75kg. Now the stats for the power output and VO2 max this guy puts out certainly must be incredible (please go to sportsscientists.com for greater analysis). If you look at all the other athletes from around the world who perform at the same world class long distance levels they are all very small men. It really doesn't appear to be related to where you are from per se, altitiude, running to school each day (so did I - 2 miles each way - it made me who I am today!) blah, blah, blah and all the other cultural cliches that are trotted out by commentators at major champs - it's how big/heavy you are.

Not really rocket science when you say it matter of factly. The Science seems to indicate that your body governs the speed you can hold for a distance based on its ability to maintain the correct core temperature. The bigger you are mass-wise (height, musculature and % body fat, all in one), the harder it is for your body to release heat and cool itself down. The body adjusts itself to allow appropriate cooling to take place. Hence, Spring big city marathons are quicker than Summer championship ones. World class distance runners are around 6-8% BF so speed at the world class level almost becomes related to that dreaded insurance statistician's key nmenonic BMI.

Gathering the data seems to show that if you want to be a world class distance runner you need to be around 56kg. Haile Gebrselassie is 5ft 5in (1.65m) and 56kg for example and the numbers of similar sized athletes running at this level suggest this to be more just than a rule of thumb. Kenenisa Bekele is 54kg; the biggest athlete to break 27min I could find was Paul Tergat at 63kg. Chris Solinsky is around 15kg bigger than the norm with a similar 6-8 BF%. This means that he must have an incredible 'engine'. Next time he's running take a look at the contrast between him and the other athletes in terms of size.

Chris Solinsky, for anyone with access to the full gamut of healthy foods growing up, is an inspiration.

Sporting Hero of the Year - Chris Solinsky.

Kia Kaha

Neilly G