Hour run

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The hour run is a long-distance discipline in athletics in which as many stadium laps as possible must be covered within an hour. Nowadays it is often held as a fun run event - modified as a half-hour run and as an hour pair run (only one has to run, changes can be made at will).

Since the hour run is held as a world record by the International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF), it is also important in high-performance sports.

In the past, the rounds were either counted by the referees, or the participants in fun runs counted them themselves on the basis of trust. In the latter method, a "pilot runner" was used who ran at a medium speed and whose laps were counted by the referees. The other runners only needed to count the (relatively small) number of laps, which reduced the risk of miscounting.

More recently, runners wear transponder chips on their shoes or in their start numbers, with which each run is automatically measured by an electronic counter, so that only the number of meters from the last, unfinished lap has to be added.

World record development

Men

Distance (m) Surname country date place
Early world bests (professional athletes)
17,703 William Jackson GBI 03/29/1852 London ( Islington )
18,023 John Levett GBI 08/28/1854 Birkenhead
18,379 Lewis "Deerfoot" Bennett United States 10/27/1862 London
18,425 Lewis "Deerfoot" Bennett United States 01/12/1863 London ( Hackney Wick )
18,507 Lewis "Deerfoot" Bennett United States 02/23/1863 London ( Brompton )
18,589 Lewis "Deerfoot" Bennett United States 04/03/1863 London ( Brompton )
18,743 Fred Bacon GBI 06/19/1897 Rochdale
18,878 Harry Watkins GBI 09/16/1899 Rochdale
Early world bests (amateur athletes)
16.093 William Fuller GBI 07/14/1873 London (LB)
17,300 George Dunning GBI 01/01/1881 London (SB)
18,555 Walter George GBI 07/28/1884 London
Official world records recognized by the IAAF
18,742 Alfred Shrubb GBI 05/11/1904 Glasgow
19,021 Jean Bouin FRA 07/06/1913 Stockholm
19,210 Paavo Nurmi FIN 07.10.1928 Berlin
19,339 Viljo Heino FIN 09/30/1945 Turku
19,558 Emil Zatopek TCH September 15, 1945 Prague
20,052 Emil Zatopek TCH 09/29/1951 Stara Boleslav
20,190 Bill Baillie NZL 08/24/1963 Auckland
20,232 Ron Clarke OUT 10/27/1965 Geelong
20,664 Gaston Roelants BEL October 28, 1966 Lions
20,784 Gaston Roelants BEL 09/20/1972 Brussels
20,907 Josephus Hermens HOL 09/28/1975 Papendal
20,944 Josephus Hermens HOL 05/01/1976 Papendal
21,101 Arturo Barrios MEX 03/30/1991 La Flèche
21,285 Haile Gebrselassie ETH 06/27/2007 Ostrava

Women

Distance (m) Surname country date place
14,141 Anne O'Brien IRL 10/03/1965 Dublin
14,438 Anne O'Brien IRL 10/10/1965 Dublin
15,955 Elsa Pasquali ITA December 29, 1965 Schio
16,872 Christa Vahlensieck FRG 05/24/1975 Bochum
16,916 Margherita Gargano ITA 11/20/1976 Milan
17.202 Christa Vahlensieck FRG 07/25/1978 Remscheid
Official world records recognized by the IAAF
18,084 Silvana Cruciata ITA 05/02/1981 Rome
18,340 Tegla Loroupe KEN 08/07/1998 Borgholzhausen
18,517 Dire Tune ETH 06/12/2008 Ostrava

German records

See also