USATF

Minnesota Running Data Center
The Minnesota Running Data Center is the state record keeper for long distance running. It is an agent of the Road Running Information Center (formerly TACSTATS/USA) which is responsible for keeping official records and statistics for long-distance running in the United States. So doing makes running a genuine sport. Without records, no performance is outstanding.

To help Minnesota runners and races get their fair share of recognition for their performances, the Minnesota Running Data Center solicits results from directors of races on certified courses and passes on to RRIC the noteworthy performances in each age group. It also compiles the best of the performances in A Minnesota Runner's Yearbook.

The Road Running Information Center and the Minnesota Running Data Center are interested only in races that can certify that each finisher ran at least the advertised distance in a time at least as fast as that reported. Thus your performance must have been on a certified course in a race for which proper timing procedures were used.

One hundred and thirty-one races that were run on certified courses of standard distance in Minnesota in 2005 submitted results. Just two of those races failed to submit proper documentation of their procedures (a two-page form requiring just six signatures); their results are listed with either a "p" for "pending" or, if it is clear no documentation will be sent, a "u" for "unverifiable." It is sad to note this cost one Minnesota runner - Sonia Jacobsen - a Minnesota age record. It is always a shame to lose a mark because a race director doesn't bother to take the few simple steps to verify the times, but especially so when the mark could have been an age record. A runner may run faster in the future, but they will never be that young again.

For information on national records and rankings, contact the Road Running Information Center. In most years a disproportionate number of runners with large numbers of listings in their rankings book are from Minnesota.

Minnesota Age-Group Records

All-time records for men and women are available at this site.

A Minnesota Runner's Yearbook

This annual 108-page publication records the best performances on Minnesota roads during the past year. More specifically, the bulk of the Yearbook consists of lists of the top runners in open, junior (single ages under 20), and senior (5-year age groups starting at 35-39) divisions at several standard distances. These were gleaned from the results of over sixty races that were conducted according to standards set by USA Track & Field. Each performance listed also met a preset standard for the runner's age/sex group, as will be explained later.

Also listed in the Yearbook are the best performances ever on certified Minnesota courses. Since the only courses certified before 1980 were marathons and the MDRA/TAC (then Minnesota AAU) 20K and 50K, this history is regrettably all too brief, and many great performances are not recorded here. Fortunately, these days more and more race directors do certify their courses and conduct their races so that the results are credible.

The data listed are used to rank the best Minnesota performers of the year across the full range of distances. The top-ranked runners in each of the senior age/sex divisions are honored as the MRDC (Minnesota Running Data Center) Runners of the Year. Performances outside Minnesota were not considered; these are the runners who stayed home and dominated the local running scene. They were thus the "best runners in Minnesota." Current standings in this "competition" are available for men and women. The World Association of Veteran Athletes (WAVA) Age-Graded Tables were used to rank the best performances of the year over the full range of (adult) age groups and distances.

We also use the data to rank the races on which they are based; many of the runners turned in notable performances at more than one race of the same distance, allowing us to judge which was the fastest race, at least for the year in question (these rankings are of course strongly dependent on the weather).

A Minnesota Runner's Yearbook will of course appeal to the hundreds of runners whose best performances it records. It is hoped that other runners will also find it interesting, as a guide to the fastest races in Minnesota, a set of standards to which they may aspire, and a record of what happened in their sport in Minnesota in the past year. Copies may be obtained for $13.95 in running stores, or by mail for $16.95 from

This work is supported by the Minnesota Association of USA Track & Field. Members of USATF/Minnesota receive the magazine Minnesota Running & Track, which publishes at least partial results for every race whose results end up in the Yearbook (over 100 races a year).

How to Get Your Name in the Yearbook

The age groups for which records are kept are open, single-year age groups up to 19, and five-year age groups from 35 on up. In each of these age groups, a cutoff time has been established for men and women (or boys and girls) for performances that would be judged "notable" and recorded. These standards are based on those used by the RRIC; they are more generous than the national standards, of course.

For each of the standard distances, the Yearbook lists the first ten Minnesota residents who met the standard in each of the over-35 age groups, the first two in the under-20 single-age groups (to save space, they are listed all together, under the heading "Juniors", in order of age), and the first twenty in the open division. Also listed are the first ten, two, or twenty non-Minnesotans ("visitors") who ran at least as well as the last Minnesotan listed in their category.

Many runners had more than one performance better than that of the last person listed in his/her category. All such performances are listed; the lists terminate when the specified number of performers is reached or when all performances that meet the cutoff standard are listed, whichever comes first. Thus you can see when a runner truly dominated an age/sex group at one or another distance.

In the all-time section, the age-group rankings consist of the top two (junior), ten (senior) or twenty (open) performances for each age/sex group at each distance, regardless of multiple performances by the same runner. Single-age records are also listed; they include the best times for a given age by a visitor if it is better than the best by a resident. In 2004, 81 Minnesotans set 141 new Minnesota age records. Thanks to Grandma's Marathon, they receive certificates commemorating their achievement.

To summarize, in order to be listed in the annual-ranking section of the Yearbook, you must (1) have been one of the top two, ten, or twenty performers in your age/sex group at a particular distance (the number depending on your age group), and also (2) run faster than a cutoff time that was preset for your group at that distance. To make the all-time list, your performance must have met the criteria for an annual listing and also be one of the top performances ever in your age/sex group.

One way to get your name in the book is to run far enough. Few people of any age run 50 miles at a shot, so, if you can manage a 10-minute-per-km (16-minute-per-mile) pace, you should get in. To be listed in the 24-hour results, you must run at least 100K.

To comment or for further info contact Jack Moran.

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