well, willie gault ran 10.72 in 2006 in the 45-50 age bracket and the 40-45 record is 10.4, you can take your voodoo math and grass track guesstimations a long way, but when it comes to the fastest old guy in the world, willie gault wrecks everyone.
the extra 10 meters in top speed form skews your conversion slightly, imo.
Over 100m on synthetic, I would think Willie G has the edge.
But both off scratch, on 120m on grass - peg to peg, I’d back Ballard to win comfortably. Ballard is a genuine ‘sheffield runner’ and unless you have trained for the sheffield distance on grass, you would be surprised how different it is.
And if it was at Colley Reserve, on the kikuya grass, Ballard would be a certainty. That stuff takes some getting use to.
Ballard should have won the 1986 Stawell Gift but tried to win the 70m and the Bill Howard 100m Novice event as well. He was attempting 9 races in 3 days. It was sheer lunacy to ask a novice to attempt to win all three. The SG winner, Glen Chapman was running off the same mark as Ballard (7.00m) but only concentrated on the one race - the Gift. It cost Ballard the Stawell Gift because in the ensuing years, Ballard proved conclusively he was the better runner than Chapman. But for one moment in time, Chapman had the better prep and won the day.
How can you say that when Gault runs .4 faster over 100m?
Except that’s awful math. Look, in a race, you start at 0m/s and you then accelerate. At 100m, you are running far faster than you were at 10m, at 20m, and probably 30m as well. The conversion really isn’t that each or else MJ is the fastest man to have ever lived with his 200m since the average speed is faster than the 100m.
Youngy it’s clear you are the expert on the pro handicapping front.
Do they record wind readings at the pro meets? Because if not, then comparisons are odious because Gault has run with a “legal” tailwind and who would know what the wind was unless the anamometre (whatever they’re called) was properly set up and properly operated at the grass track. And was the grass track a true measurement? Was any part of it downhill???
I just find such comparisons problematic. And the time conversions are the least of it. (No offense Youngy:) )
You have to also ask yourself “is Willie actually trying?” at this point in his life. 11 NFL seasons, 10.10 in 1981…pretty sure he’s not overly concerned about his masters 100m times.
i think in an interview i read somewhere(possibly here), he said that for 2007 he was going to start training fulltime with HSI.
a quick google search says that he’s an aspiring actor.
also, gault ran 10.49 in 2005 at the age of 44… looks like the aussie has another year to best that. :rolleyes:
edit: 13.87 wind aided hurdles time in 2005 over the 39 inch hurdles which would have won him probably 40 out of 50 high school state titles.
I’m SHOCKED, :eek: SHOCKED i TELL YOU:p
it’s 2:30 in the morning, i’m not really using too much grey matter(not that i have much to use), did i do something wrong?
Not at all–fuckin money. I wasn’t being sarcastic (I know that is hard to believe).
i’ll take your word for it.
I completely disagree with the above, a guy like Gault will want to win every time he stands on the line, while speed may diminish competitiveness doesn’t go away. You don’t run 10.88 at his age without trying. As I said he had the 3 best times in that age group and the third was 0.25 faster than the next best guy.
Will keep an eye on http://www.williegault.com/
KK & Others,
Obviously the whole issue of how Gault would run on grass over 120m is pure conjecture and open to theories, so there is no right or wrong answer.
My belief is that racing over 120m on grass takes a little getting use to. Ballard has been doing it for 22 years and is far more suited to the surface (than he is on synthetic). There are plenty of athletes who are more accustomed and better performers on a different surface - look at tennis players who struggle to convert their clay form to the the grass at Wimbledon.
It was my contention that in 1993, when Dean Capobianco ran 5th in the 200m world championship that (at the time) he could well have been the best runner in the world on grass over 120m, such was his technique. He was uniquely suited to the surface with his clawing action and the impressive way he evoked a response from the turf, particularly over the last 40m. He ran 12.18 off scratch that year when 4th in the Stawell Gift final.
It’s only a hunch anyway, I’m not really fussed about it.
rumour has it that one of youngy’s actually won the gift on the weekend!!! come on youngy give us a report from your eyes.
We missed out at Bay Sheff with Tippins breaking in the final but made up for it in spades at Burnie yesterday. See Burnie Gift report in another thread.
I think you refer to Tippins. He won the Burnie Gift, not the Bay Sheffield. Tippins was also in the Bay Sheffield final, but unfortunately broke in the final and his handicap was reduced 1m. Tippins was a deserved winner at Burnie.
I’m not sure about the clawing action being better suited for grass, however DC’s speed endurance, like Brimacombe, has come from their adaptation and ability in a 200m. Ballard was a noted 400m runner, therefore the speed endurance comes through.
Traditionally, it has been the amauter 400m runners that have done well over this 120m distance on grass. Rarely has a genuine 60m-100m runner had such easy success.
Your thoughts Youngy?
I tend to agree Ballard would have the advantage over Willie G over 120 on grass. I remember back in 1998 when John Drummond ran at the Botany Bay Gift. He got well and truly beaten in the heat by Shem Hollands who had run 10.74 one week later. Given Shem only gave 4.5m start to Drummond, you would think by comparing 100m pbs that JD should clearly win. But he didn’t handle the grass very well & couldn’t ran down someone who was in 10.7s shape.