Thursday, May 13, 2010

Amputee Running Distance Records - Can you help?

I am looking for the official sites for amputee distance running records, both world and US times. I am NOT looking for what people are claiming as records, rather, official organizations like the IPC who verify and maintain distance records for amputees.

Case in point: Richard Whitehead claims several World Records, and based on his time I know of no one running faster, certainly not on IPC verified measured limb height. Limb length is a place where a bilateral amputee can have a real and substantial advantage over a unilateral amputee and may actually be able to run faster than an able-bodied person; not because of his carbon fiber feet, but because he can cover more ground with each stride.

Anyhow...if you can find any official site that would list this information for amputee distance runners please send the URL in a comment to this post. I started working on a blog post in December 2009 about this subject and want to have the facts as best I can find them before jumping to any conclusions. I have searched for the records/facts extensively, asked some of the athletes themselves, but no one can point me where the official records are located.

Thanks!

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Note: Here is my followup post. Hard to believe, but you apparently only need to claim a record to have it, no official organization need verify. Amazing.

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