Comment by PaulDavisThe1st
18 hours ago
Better weather has, to the best of my knowledge, never been part of marathon record keeping. People do note in accounts of (e.g.) the Boston marathon that the weather was particularly atrocious in some years (hence a general slow down across the field), but weather "aided" fast times are not considered illegitimate or even worthy of note.
Obviously, barring wind, which is why some marathon courses are not eligible for world records.
Correct. Boston is a net downhill point-to-point course and not record eligible under World Athletics rules.
https://worldathletics.org/records/certified-roadevents
No point to point courses are eligible, because of the "risk" of a wind assist.
> Better weather has, to the best of my knowledge, never been part of marathon record keeping.
It should be.
Human response to temperature shows significant variation. 50F/10C may be absolutely ideal for one runner, but a little too cold for another. That's why you can't unambiguously declare a given race to be "a good weather day".
By contrast, hail/rain and wind will negatively impact almost everyone, which is why talking about "a bad weather day" makes more sense.