African Runners Versus Caucasians By Danny Mackey M.S.

September 17, 2009

African Runners Versus Caucasians

By Danny Mackey M.S.

Other than a few meets outside of Europe, the track season is over. Between Flotrack and my cable network getting the Universal Sports channel, I have lost interest of my losing Chicago Cubs and been able to watch the best athletes in the world fight it out on a regular basis. Unlike past track seasons, U.S. distance running fans were excited to cheer on top finishes in major Golden League IAAF meets and championships. America had a number of finalists and top 8 finishes in the Men’s and Women’s 800, 1500, 5k and 10k in both the World Championships and World Athletics Final. Just 10 years ago the US was lucky to have one athlete in either of these events. But even with the improvement, watch any Golden League 5,000 and it is evident there is a strong dominance from one part of the globe. This is why one of the questions I heard from my buddies while watching these meets is “why do the Africans still just dominant”?

One argument is East Africans are tougher, train harder and are more disciplined. Does that mean that Bekele can handle more pain and trains harder the Ritz? Maybe. Another argument is environment. Growing up at an altitude of 7,000 feet and running 10km to school everyday versus growing up in Chicago and driving everywhere is very good point. Studies have shown that even short-term exposure at altitude can affect aerobic energy metabolism and fat oxidization activity. This ties in closely with the last argument, genetics. What we are born with regardless of toughness and environment. (The reason I say “closely” is because genetic expression levels can be directly influenced by your environment). Though, why is it that despite comparable VO2 max levels, slow-twitch/fast-twitch fiber proportions, fiber cross sectional area (predictor of maximum force production) and capillarization (more capillaries help oxygen transfer within muscles) the East Africians have raced substantially faster then Caucasians?

I am more curious about the genetic differences, if there are any. (Or maybe I want to make an excuse for my weak minded, lazy self that even though I’m trying to qualify again for the US marathon Olympic trials that I would not even make a middle school team in Kenya). In Kenny Moore’s Best Efforts: The Long Green Line, he talks about traveling to Kenya after finishing 4^th in the Olympics. While on a run one day, Kenny writes about thinking that only 3 guys are better than him in the world, yet he is not able to keep up with the Kenyan kids as they run to school.

A study by Dr. Coetzer talks about traits that African runners have over Caucasians that can directly improve performance. A common genetic indicator that can be measured in a lab is VO2 max because it provides a quantitative measure of an athlete’s capacity for aerobic ATP resynthesis. Note the word capacity here, as it just provides a ceiling. In a distance race, our goal is to increase our time to fatigue. We can achieve this by having a lower accumulation of metabolites for a given pace or tempo. Furthermore, if our plasma lactate concentration is lower at a similar percentage of VO2 max utilization, this should infer greater time to fatigue. Plasma lactate can be lowered by a few methods. First, simply a decreased rate of lactate formation during hard effort running. Second could be an increased rate of lactate clearance. The last possibility is a combination of the two. African distance runners with a similar VO2 max to Caucasians have shown a lower accumulation of metabolites and plasma lactate levels.

In this study, trained 32 min 10,000 meter Caucasian and African runners with equal VO2 max levels were run in a lab to maximum intensity. They found, African runners ran 21% longer then the Caucasian runners. Yet RER (respiratory exchange ratio which looks at substrate utilization, a decent indicator of relative effort), VO2, and max heart rate were the same. Though plasma lactate was significantly lower in the Africans and citrate synthase activity was significantly higher (aerobic enzyme that begins the Krebs cycle). This supports the thought that having a high skeletal muscle oxidative capacity is important for optimizing an athlete’s performance. In a 10,000 meter race Africans can nearly run 1,200 meters longer at 98% of their max heart rate. Applying these numbers.....remember the fast sustained effort Bekele and Tadesse used to close the last 5,000 meters of the 10,000M in the world championships? That was Tadesse’s season best in the 5,000M and only 12 seconds off Bekele’s season best, thing about that for a minute!

I am sure there are other possible factors, and half the fun of watching a great race is talking about it and “why” with your friends. But, the Africans simply being tougher may not be the case.

Post a Comment

#68	WarLord October 5 at 9:58pm Guys, I think you forget one important factor: What about if white runners left track in mid 80's and Africans now compete with each other? Didn't this idea occur to you? Did you compare stats of "white" times with the same passion like you study works of Mr. Saltin? Think about it! "While on a run one day, Kenny writes about thinking that only 3 guys are better than him in the world, yet he is not able to keep up with the Kenyan kids as they run to school." Sure, almost every high school kid in Kenya can run 2:10 in the marathon. We just knew it! I really trust you, Mr. Moore, and I am willing to be brainwashed by whatever garbage you write every day! reply
#67	Michael Oaks September 21 at 2:29pm I think Steve has hit it out of the park with his commentary. I agree whole heartedly with his factual argument that the author of this blog is talking about distance runners (elite one's) that happen to be Kenyan and other's within Africa. He didn't mention testing max VO2 against any but distance runners from both caucasion and Africa. Distance runners and why their times are so much better when the chips are down (Olympic's) Why do we believe we are so close, yet we have not proven it for the world to see. Ans: They do have the heart of a Lion while we have the heart of a chicken. Ans: Money is so much more important to them. They fail, and how do they support their families? Training at altitude does help, although I don't know of anyone from Colorado that can kick ass in the 10,000 meters on the world stage. Alberto Salazar is doing his best to overcome the perceived training obstacles, but I just don't know if we are going to be ready to kick butt anytime soon, when we have just barely broken 13 minutes in the 5k. It's a measurement, but getting to the real elite level will really test the body. Perhaps the real test would be to have a caucasion (with a good gene pool) born and raised in Kenya, make him run to school barefooted, eat the gruel they eat for their meals, and when he is 15 or so start to train him in long distance running. Make sure his family is dirt poor so that when he does unleash this great gene pool on mankind, he will believe that $5,000 first prize for a distance race is like finding the rainbow and it's proverbial pot. When he is entered in a race with fellow Kenyan's his huge heart will carry him that last 300 meters. Kind of simple, but you get my drift. reply
#66	A Fan Of Smart People September 20 at 3:25pm The personwho wrote his.her comment as "Still Not Getting It..." really gets at the heart of this debate. Thank you to Danny Mackey, M.S. for giving us something to contemplate and "Still" for helping us to realize that this is not an issue of race or geography but rather more something more complicated and complex. What? I do not know. But others may, and I like to hear their ideas/research. reply
#65	Michael Oaks September 20 at 10:14am All other phisiological things being equal, are all successful African distance runners from middle class families? or are there many who are lured because of the money and benefits from the state? It seems to me that American's for the most part are not willing to sacrifice to achieve what the African runners need in their lives. If an American fails or is not able to compete, chances are he doesn't have to worry about perhaps supporting his family back home, brothers, sisters, etc. So I guess I am saying that perhaps the African's are motivated more so than American Athlete's, although, I can see some definite improvements with people like Galen Rupp, Ritz, and a small handful of women. reply
#64	Anthony Nuccio September 20 at 8:00am This is a very good blog post. I have to agree with you about the Cubs, I'm a Chicago native myself and grow weary of losing seasons, but I am a dedicated Cubs fan to the end. I think that African runners work a lot harder than a lot of Caucasian runners. They also train in a different environment compared to a lot of Caucasian runners. reply
#63	Nathan September 20 at 1:17am I think the genetic disposition for running/endurance sport cannot be ignored when comparing individuals to each other. However, native country and genetics are not inextricably linked. There is much more genetic difference between members of the same race than there are between races. What I mean by this is that the number of genes that dictate skin/hair color, facial features, etc. are very few compared to the number of genes for everything else (including athletic ability). In other words, there are millions of Africans who cannot run worth crap and there are millions of people of European descent who have a natural talent for running. So what makes the best from Africa (specifically kenya/ethiopia) slightly better than the best Caucasians? I think the difference is culture. According to wiki, the combined population of Kenya and Ethiopia is about 125 million people. That's about 40 percent of the U.S. population. If 40% percent of our population considered Ryan Hall, Ritz, or Rupp as national heroes the same way Ethiopians and Kenyans idolize Haili, Kenenesia, and Wanjiru, then we would have athletes running neck and neck with the Kenyans/Ethiopians. reply
#62	John September 20 at 12:19am it is not training in Africa that makes these men so great how about the same 5 or 6 runners from Kenya who win the races in the New York central park area in blistering times and beat alot of pros and i know for a fact these Kenyan men train through the streets of the Bronx with no fancy training advantages like the athletes of Nike get just the need to win these races and support there family so i do believe these African men want it more check the times out for yourself nyrr.org reply
#61	Man X 2... September 19 at 10:44pm you don't have enough stuff in your head. Genes are real, and they do mean that some individuals are better equipped for some activities than others. But, as Steve has missed, those gene groupings do not coincide with national or continental boundaries, but are instead much more localized. Train hard, but genetic preparation (including among tall high jumpers and fat sumo wrestlers) won't disappear. reply
#60	Man... September 19 at 9:14pm You have too much cra!p in your heads that's why u don't run fast. Go train and do some high mileage and appropriate speed work in high altitude (real altitude) and do specific training for a specific distance ( don't train for a 10k and then race a marathon, or train for a marathon to finally race a 10k!) . Y'all have even better facilities than kenyans you should be beating them The japs are performing in marathons, it's not a coincidence! These guys work their butts off and some are evening training in Us!! Results will surely show up it's a matter of time, hard work and patience, Good luck y'all. reply
#59	Yoming September 19 at 8:50pm if American distance runners want to run with the elite of the world then they will need to change their mindset and not think they are at some biological disadvantage. reply
#58	Still Not Getting It... September 19 at 3:27pm Steve, you're still missing the point that genetic pools do not coincide with continents or countries or races, so it doesn't make sense to use the category of 'African' to refer to a a genetic grouping. This is an issue that has loooong been discussed and researched, but lots of this research is actually unhelpful because it falsely assumes that social categories, like race, have biological saliency and, by using them as real biological categories actually 'proves' that they have biological saliency. A good example are the historical studies of cranium size done by early colonial researchers that 'found' different size craniums for different racial groupings. The researchers used this as 'evidence' that the races were real and biological, and this research helped justify the racial hierarchy that dominated at that point in time, not to mention the slave trade and colonial domination. The point here is that many studies on race and genes conducted by natural scientists are misleading because they fail to understand the social and historical nature of race and its relationship to DNA. reply
#57	Steve Magness September 19 at 12:37pm I don't think he is saying Genetic differences of the entire race is the reason for their success. He's looking at genetic differences of Kenyan/Ethiopian/whoever RUNNERS within those races. Are there genetic differences in African runners compared to non-african runners? That's the question. And the answer is, we have no idea. Check out some studies, there's nothing conclusive, but there have been some on DNA differences. Of course we need many more studies of this kind before we can make any sort of conclusions/inferences. mtDNA haplogroup L0 in elite Kenyan distance runners Med Sci Sports Exerc. 2008 Dec 11. I'll point you in the right direction: Conclusions:International athletes differed in their mtDNA haplogroup distribution relative to the general Kenyan population. They displayed an excess of L0 haplogroups and a dearth of L3* haplogroups. These findings suggest that mtDNA haplogroups are influential in elite Kenyan distance running, although population stratification cannot be ruled out. Onywera VO: East African Runners: Their Genetics, Lifestyle and Athletic Prowess. Collins M (ed): Genetics and Sports. Med Sport Sci. Basel, Karger, 2009, vol 54, pp 102-109 reply
#56	Yoming September 19 at 12:23pm Steve, it is not a matter of PC. It is a matter of misleading scientific conclusions reached in Danny's article, namely that genetic difference among racial groups account for disparity in distance running results from athletes of different countries. That explaination does not hold up to scientific scrutiny. Sorry reply
#55	Steve Magness September 19 at 10:35am My point is that PC is getting in the way of the whole freaking point of Danny's article. It doesn't matter what you call the groups, we all know what he is talking about because we are on a running website. How specific would you like Danny to get? Does East African's suffice? Nope, because not all east africans are good at running. Does Rift Valley African's suffice? Nope, because there are groups who are in the rift valley who aren't good at running. Does Kalenjin tribe members suffice? No, because there are others outside of the tribe who excel, and not all Kalenjin tribe members are good at running. People are focusing on the labels and missing the message...It's kind of rediculous. reply
#54	A Point September 19 at 8:42am Steve Magness seems to be awfully confused. He criticizes people for insisting on political correctness, when really these people are making valid points. The label 'Africans' refers to people who live in Africa, from Senegal to South Africa to Ethiopia. Africa is a continent that has groups with all sorts of historically derived characteristics - from very tall, thin peoples to very short peoples. It is true that both long distance running and very short sprints have been dominated in recent years by people with some sort of ancestry on the continent of Africa, but the groups that tend to dominate those two kinds of events are very different. This is because, over the course of history, for all sorts of reasons (trade flows, wars, socially enforced rules of reproduction and marriage), groups in different parts of the world (and different parts of the continent) have developed slightly different gene pools, with variation within those pools, but also some measure of coherence compared to their neighbor groups. So, it makes no sense to talk about 'Africans' as good at distance running, nor to talk about 'black runners' as dominant at distance running, because these categories include all sorts of people who have shown no great talent for distance running at all. Runners with a certain sort of genetic make-up do produce bodies that lend themselves to doing well at certain events (muscle and bone structure good for sprinting or distance running, tall height good for high jumping, etc), continents and socially constructed categories of race do not have anything to do with genetic pools. reply
#53	Jesse Johnson September 19 at 12:38am I know you're past this so I'll just request to be a little more conscious of labels here. We have "light-skinned" folks against people from a specific continent. Comparing pigmentation versus geography makes this come off really oblivious to the words being used to categorize. Being that the point of the article is to compare physiological characteristics, I only hope to serve you in your journalistic pursuits. I couldn't get past the title. reply
#52	Another East African September 18 at 10:13am Steve Magness, I am with you man, you just figured it that out! it's sad man that I got no money, coz I would send you in Kenya to just look and see what's going on on those so called magic hills (regions it's not only Eldoret). Their lifstyles say it all, as James said Kazi mingi and I shall add mushahara kidogo but it's a combination of a lot of things tho'! If there would be more opportunities u would see even more from Tanzania, Uganda even Rwanda! reply
#51	Steve Magness September 18 at 9:15am Can we cut the PC crap? Give me a break, it's all about context. Since we are on a RUNNING website, we all know that Danny means certain groups of Africans. Similarly, if the article was about sprinting and it was titled "Black vs. White sprinters" we all know he's talking about a certain group of sprinters. It's called context and using your brain. Anyways, the PC crap is getting in the way of the actual point of the article. Why is it that a certain group of runners is dominant over the rest of the world. There are differences. I don't care what Jay Gould says about race being a social construct. The gene thing is kind of pointless. We used to think there were genes for every little thing. We know that's not true. There are certain differences in each "group" of people. There are going to be variations within that group. These differences are what we are trying to get at in this current debate. Back to the relevant topic. Here's some relevant information. And I'm going to be non PC and refer to the good group of distance runners as Africans. Why? Because it's easy, everyone knows what I mean, and the studies to find this out were carried out on various nationalities that have the best African runners. -Running Economy- Tends to be much better in Africans -Body Type- Tends to be more efficient with less mass at the extremes. -Lactate- Tend to have lower lactate levels at faster speeds. Can Create a MAXLass at faster speeds than whites. -Altitude- May be a factor, or may be clouding other factors. -VO2max, aerobic enzyme concentration, etc.- Pretty much the same as whites -Motivation for Running- In a large study on elites,MONEY is the biggest factor for elite Africans (33%), followed by tradition (18%) and Talent (18%). I'd venture to say this is vastly different than whites reasons. -Childhood background- Many Run to school. Yes, there are exceptions to the rule. But the thing to remember is even those who don't run to school have a much more active lifestyle than the rest of the world. This may be very very important. Because it takes years to have certain adaptations, such as fiber type conversions. I hate when people just dismiss this as a myth. Think of it as an active lifestyle and it applies to almost everyone. Maybe that's why white runners in the 60's were soo good? (think of the NZ guys...or Jim Ryun in Kansas...I bet they were pretty dang active). Some stats for those who say it's a myth: In a large study on Kenyan runners (I think a couple hundred were surveyed), here's what they found: Control or "normal" Kenyans-~60% walked to school, 18% ran, 12% had transportation National level kenyan runners-~20% walked,~75% ran, ~5% transport International level kenyan runners- 10% walked, 85% ran, a couple percent transport. Those are some striking differences. And of those 85% who ran, over half of them ran greater than 5km to school, with 20% traveling more than 10km. The mistake everyone makes is to try and single it out to one factor. It's not. It's a combination of many many factors. reply
#50	4sstar September 18 at 12:38am purely a physiological gap. Fast/slow twitch muscle fibers, VO2 delivery systems, lives lived at higher altitudes, different lifestyles in general (younger age at beginning of running), different nutritional intakes. Not even stopping there...It's the small things. Rest, nutrition, training. If you are a runner...realize that you are less than 1% of the entire population of the world. Realize that you've been given a gift. Use it, hone it, but don't complain about it. You can lose your ability to run in a second. Hard work beats talent, when talent doesn't work hard. They used to believe it was "cheating" to train more than an hour a day...see where we've come? I'd suggest that if you aren't naturally talented (Keninisa, Haile), just work your butt off to achieve all you can with what you've been given (Brian Sell). Attempt to reach your full potential. No need to start an argument over it. =/ -4SStar reply
#49	James Donahue September 18 at 12:10am Dan, criticism is criticism. I don't hate anyone, and I may get carried away sometimes, but I will be sharp with my criticism. 1. You just can't dust off Stephen Jay Gould as if he were a philosopher. He's a without a doubt one of the most celebrated Evolutionary biologists of our time, and his "theories" are not actually mere theories, but widely accepted, factual science. This statement is widely accepted throughout the science community (punctuated equilibrium, sociobiology, etc.) Dan, thank you for pointing that out about #2. There's a big difference between 20th century eugenics (used by Nazis), and modern eugenics. I don't want to get the two confused. From now on let it be known that when I say eugenics I mean modern eugenics. So what's the difference? Modern Eugenics ignores the mammoth endeavor of genetic mapping known as HGP (human genome project). This project alone provides evidence that the human race is one single race of people, and that race is in fact a social construct. reply
#48	Yoming September 17 at 11:50pm I would like to amend my previous statement. Besides proper trainning, there also has to be some genetic predisposition. Not everyone has the potential to break 13 minutes in the 5K. reply
#47	Dan Knewitz September 17 at 11:50pm Yoming said: “I am only pointing out what the world learned through the human genome project; that there is no genetic difference throughout humanity.” That is univeral finding though. Every single person is not created equal. Different people are genetically inclined to different endeavors. It has to do with your ancestors, that includes their genes, environment, and culture. That IS data that you have to consider. reply
#46	Yoming September 17 at 11:44pm Guys, I am only pointing out what the world learned through the human genome project; that there is no genetic difference throughout humanity. The scientific method demands that we based our conclusion solely upon the data. Well ? Ritz and Rupp showed what it takes to run with anyone. It takes proper trainning. reply
#45	Dan Knewitz September 17 at 11:28pm James Donahue said: “This is bad science. Sweet Jesus, this really is bad science. Your arguments are half-a$$ed at best and unscholarly at worst. The latter should be a slap in the face, since you've a masters in science. I won't even go into the vagueness of the whole thing with "caucasians" and "Africans," since so many people have already done that. Bones to pick--- 1. Stephen Jay Gould, one of the greatest evolutionary theorists of our time, wrote essay after essay arguing AGAINST racial theory, arguing that race, as "Yoming" put it before i could, is NOTHING MORE THAN a social construct. Therefore you're chasing windmills if you think you are going to find legitimate sources (especially more than two measly sources that appear to be missing some important elements, i.e. ethnicity) to prove your theory that Africans are the master race of running (yes, this absolutely is the underlying theme of your study). 2. THIS IS EUGENICS. Plain and absurdly simple. This is Eugenics simply because you are pitting one "race" against another "race" to show how one is more dominant than the other, specifically in running. Problem: This is PSUEDO-SCIENCE! There's no possible WAY you can prove genetic superiority in athleticism! Another Problem: HOW DOES EITHER SOURCE COME UP WITH CONCRETE EVIDENCE THAT KENYAN DISTANCE RUNNERS ARE DOMINANT DUE TO GENETICS? They DON'T! From those two (TWO!) sources, it can only be ASSUMED that "African" runners are better runners than "caucasion" runners. You don't have to do an entire dissertation to figure out the true secret to success to distance running. the answer is this, spoken in Swahili: Kazi Mingi. If you're going to publish this garbage on flotrack expect to get feedback for it. Good luck trying to find a master race of runners.” James, Again, I'm shocked at the hateful tone, but anyway... Bones to pick with your bones to pick-- 1. Gould's theory is just that: a theory. There are several theories on the matter. The thing about scientific research, James, is that it cannot PROVE anything. It can simply support it. Therefore, someone can discuss the issue in a very in depth way without citing every theory. The existence of such a large discrepancy between the East Africans and Caucasians would suggest that race is more than a social construct. 2. The Eugenics Movement of the early 20th Century looked at the discrepancy in intelligence measures between Caucasians and other minorities. In fact, the Caucasians were scoring vastly better because of the test material. The fact that they were scoring better is not Eugenics. Eugenics is suggesting that we hault reproduction of individuals with lesser genotypes. Scientists and psychologists to this day DISCUSS why minorities test significantly lower on intelligence tests (which they still do). It is not suggesting they are less intelligent. It is trying to figure out the roots of the phenomenon. Likewise, discussing why East Africans are better at long distance running, which they clearly are, is not Eugenics at all. If Danny's article said, "In conclusion, all Caucasians should have their tubes tied so that they do not produce any less than perfect offspring," then it WOULD be Eugenics. I suggest, yet again, that if you are going to attack an article so readily that you think through what you are going to say before trying to spit out the first big words you know. Having heard a theory once upon a time does not give you the right to act like an expert. reply
#44	James Donahue September 17 at 11:06pm This is bad science. Sweet Jesus, this really is bad science. Your arguments are half-a$$ed at best and unscholarly at worst. The latter should be a slap in the face, since you've a masters in science. I won't even go into the vagueness of the whole thing with "caucasians" and "Africans," since so many people have already done that. Bones to pick--- 1. Stephen Jay Gould, one of the greatest evolutionary theorists of our time, wrote essay after essay arguing AGAINST racial theory, arguing that race, as "Yoming" put it before i could, is NOTHING MORE THAN a social construct. Therefore you're chasing windmills if you think you are going to find legitimate sources (especially more than two measly sources that appear to be missing some important elements, i.e. ethnicity) to prove your theory that Africans are the master race of running (yes, this absolutely is the underlying theme of your study). 2. THIS IS EUGENICS. Plain and absurdly simple. This is Eugenics simply because you are pitting one "race" against another "race" to show how one is more dominant than the other, specifically in running. Problem: This is PSUEDO-SCIENCE! There's no possible WAY you can prove genetic superiority in athleticism! Another Problem: HOW DOES EITHER SOURCE COME UP WITH CONCRETE EVIDENCE THAT KENYAN DISTANCE RUNNERS ARE DOMINANT DUE TO GENETICS? They DON'T! From those two (TWO!) sources, it can only be ASSUMED that "African" runners are better runners than "caucasion" runners. You don't have to do an entire dissertation to figure out the true secret to success to distance running. the answer is this, spoken in Swahili: Kazi Mingi. If you're going to publish this garbage on flotrack expect to get feedback for it. Good luck trying to find a master race of runners. reply
#43	Dan Knewitz September 17 at 10:58pm White Man said: “Yoming, If race is a social construct, then how do you explain such things as skin pigmentation? By your logic I could be born blonde and fair skinned and somehow magically turn black if I just grew up in Africa. Ridiculous.” White Man, Not offense, but your interpretation of his comment is ridiculous. I don't at all see how what Yoming said in any way implies your interpretation. That being said, discrepancies in ability between countries or regions can not purely be accounted for by culture. As I stated below, there is something to be said about generations of East Africans living the entirety of their lives at high altitudes. It is very possible that this would account for a lot of the extraordinary talent we see out of East Africa. reply
#42	Dan Knewitz September 17 at 10:54pm Pseudo Science said: “This is a work so polemic, so egregious, fallible, and irresponsible that it should not count for journalism or any accurate accounting, but instead shameless propaganda. It is an insult to all runners, and a travesty of ignorance.” Pseudo Science, You use big words, but you haven't supported your point with any facts or hypotheses. If you're going to make such a bold (not to mention hateful) comment, then at least give yourself some substance. Next time put down the dictionary and pick up some scientific literature. reply
#41	White Man September 17 at 10:44pm Yoming, If race is a social construct, then how do you explain such things as skin pigmentation? By your logic I could be born blonde and fair skinned and somehow magically turn black if I just grew up in Africa. Ridiculous. reply
#40	Another Steve September 17 at 10:24pm Yoming, to debate that would quickly devolve into a debate over semantics. You can not deny that there are certain physical characteristics that are statistically more prevalent in Eldoret than in Springfield, Missouri, and vice versa. And to '-', You could probably find a few caucasions who train that much, and loads more who are willing to. The ones who do it, unfortunately have no talent to run fast and do stupid ultra races. And the ones who have the talent to run fast can't train that much. Their bodies would break. I'm not going to claim that Geb, or your average elite Kenyan doesn't work awfully hard. They do. Whether they work harder than Brian Sell or Matt Tegenkamp, I have no idea how to quantify, nor do I care. Once again, you'd quickly get into issues over semantics. But you can't deny that part of Geb's undeniable talent for running is his ability to train 3-4 hours a day without frequently getting hurt. reply
#39	Pseudo Science September 17 at 10:21pm This is a work so polemic, so egregious, fallible, and irresponsible that it should not count for journalism or any accurate accounting, but instead shameless propaganda. It is an insult to all runners, and a travesty of ignorance. reply
#38	Yoming September 17 at 10:06pm The human genome project established that race is merely a social construct and not a scientific or genetic one. Any disparity in distance running results between countries can be assigned to culture and trainning. reply
#37	- September 17 at 9:35pm The level of jelousy from some people is ridicolous, east africans are better for one reason and one reason only. They work Harder! Geb does a 3h run in the morning at altitude and another hour in the afternoon, while balancing his busines in Bole during the day. Let me know of any caucasions that do. Ill wait cause there is none.simple as that. reply
#36	Oh September 17 at 8:51pm Hey Rrc, You just proved how an intelligent person can sound dumb! Your conclusion is somehow driven by madness and jealousy! Instead, you shoud congratulate these people (the east africans) who obvisouly worked hard and proved themselves time after time even with the lack of facilities and western privileges (good coaching, money, physiotherapist, LHTL rooms, scholarships...). Seriously how much do you think Matt Tegenkamp is making a year comparing to Patrick Komon or Edwin Soi? All these years, world records after world records, cr after cr, pb after pb, world leading times, medals and medals.Bekele has been training himself for three god da!mn years! Who are you to state that these guys don't why they train? Don't how to play with paces? Man, either u're really du!mb or u don't know what u're talking about! I remember the british commentators in beijing stating like yourself that Wanjiru was way too fast to run like that, that it was not the way to run a marathon, to push from the gun, etc (he then went on to break the olympic record). Obvisouly, he would check on his watch to see his splits and would make sure the pace wouldn't drop too much. Sammy Kitwara said he knew he was able to run 58 high the half marathon, he said in training he can do 2:25-2:30/km on his sets so 2:45's wouldn't be too much a big problem. I guess they don't know much about physiology but obviously, they sure know how to train and mostly win. My conclusion is the only lesson I get from you du!mb mzungu is that you are too arrogant and the only one thing u should learn above all is humbleness. reply
#35	Aidan Goltra September 17 at 8:14pm I think one of the largest contributing factors is form. The africans run barefoot until they are about 17 (when they go to college). Because of this, their feet are stronger, and they, frankly have better form than we do, because of running shoeless. Look at any African male or female, and you see a very graceful stride, something the USA, is still getting down. reply
#34	Rrc September 17 at 7:57pm -Less muscle mass for calves (400gr is like changing from lightweight to racers) -Huge motivation (money or schoolarship) (not like most caucasian athletes have) -Belief they can do it (if a friend, a neighbor, a brother did it.) (more and more american athlete are beginning to think they can do it too, but not as much as Rift Valley african runners believe it since Abebe Bikila) -Altitude training and effect from living over 2000 feet (like other in the world, ex: Ryan Hall...) -Group mental drive (not much training alone, just like japanese runner also do).(americans are more and more aware of that factor. Ex. McMillan Elite, Mammoth Lakes club, Hudson-Brooks...) -Organic food coming directly from garden with a good proportion of every health need) (difficult to find in most caucasian countries) -Lot of runners taking a chance with themselves (how many local races in Kenya ?) (not as much runner in schools in caucasion countries) -Some ambiguous factors: Vo2max, stride efficiency, running economy (may be, as said in initial post, more effect of training than cause). -A "suffer in silence, be patient, shut up and run" mentality. Educated with values such as effort, work, effort and more work to achieve something (if anything). (is that what we see in our caucasian child around here ?) That said, I don't buy too arguments. First, not all african runners go to school running. Paul Tergat once said he never ran to school when he was young. Second, I don't believe african train harder than caucasian. In fact, most kenyan sometimes train hard, but most part of their weekly mileage is done at a very slow pace (I mean slower than causasian runners). Finaly, I would like to say that I watched everything on http://www.chasingkimbia.com, I read "Train hard, win easy" and "More Fire" by Toby Tanser, I listend to all kind of interviews with african elite runners and read a lot of unconvencing scientific studies. After all that, I conclude at leat one thing: they are not trained better than caucasian runner can be. They don't really know why they train why they train and thier coaches cannot ask them to do certain things (like playing with precise paces). They don't really understand basic physiology behind their success. They have success, so they seems to think they are right. I would like to say they are not. They have real advantages on most caucasians (altitude, food, culture, motivation), but they lack good coaching (they have some real good coaches, but do most african athletes have what it takes to get the best of a good coach ? I am not sure...). My conclusion is that they will sooner or later be beaten. If caucasian takes some lessons from them, africans runners will be long to react before taking lessons from mazungo. reply
#33	Alexander Hagler September 17 at 7:51pm i must be honest n say i do not know half the things u just mentioned lol but in my opinion african runners seem to have great natural body mechanics. i mean in a continent where more people probably run then drive, it doesn't seem to strange that maybe africans over time have developed certain traits in their genes that cause their bodies to develop in a way that will suit the lifestyle (running to school n everywhere else) they live. the word i am thinking of now is "evolution" (humans adapting to their environment). like the broadening of ones nose who lives in a jungle where the air is thick, compared to ones thin nose who lives in a area where the air is thinner. this is just an example of how humans adapt to their environment. and maybe it can apply to the distance running situation reply
#32	Nolan Petersen September 17 at 7:45pm Anxious to see what the next generation has to bring. reply
#31	Dan September 17 at 7:17pm Why would we want to take a group of caucasians and africans that are at the SAME performance level and compare physiological variables, when we are in fact trying to find a reason why the africans are better performers? Why wouldn't we compare the africans that can finish a 10k race 1200m ahead of caucasians, with the caucasians who are losing by 1200m? reply
#30	Anonymous Coward September 17 at 7:00pm So how do you actually lower your rate of lactate formation during hard effort running and increase rate of lactate clearance? reply
#29	Dan Knewitz September 17 at 5:51pm Anon said: “ All in all, this is sloppy research. I get the point of the title, but, c'mon dude, the poor syntax, ty spelling, and lack of a cogent argument makes this a steaming turd hot dog of an article.” "ty spelling" ??? Chill. Read it or don't. I didn't realize so many people were ENTITLED to the most in depth, ideal, FREE material. Crazy. I love the article. reply
#28	Danny Mackey September 17 at 5:00pm Thanks for the posts so far, this is a good discussion Steve, Thank you for the link. I found the anthropometrics and the negative energy balance parts really interesting. reply
#27	Anon September 17 at 4:51pm Still, wouldn't it be as interesting to look at Rift Valley athletes versus those born/raised on the Coast or in Nairobi. I mean, even saying East Africans is a stretch. All in all, this is sloppy research. I get the point of the title, but, c'mon dude, the poor syntax, ty spelling, and lack of a cogent argument makes this a steaming turd hot dog of an article. reply
#26	Dan Knewitz September 17 at 4:34pm sad said: “sad sad sad. look within your own soul for the answers. not out at others.” HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA ...what?! Alright, back on to the topic please. East Africans and caucasians...discuss. reply
#25	Sad September 17 at 4:28pm sad sad sad. look within your own soul for the answers. not out at others. reply
#24	Anonymous Coward September 17 at 4:02pm title is still bad said: “When you say Africans it is too broad. North Africa, such as Algeria, are full of caucasoid people. They are African and they are caucasian, many of them. My friend from India is a very dark brown but is caucasian and her genetics test showed that she is over 99% caucasoid. I am an American Indian and White European mixed blood American and claim to be 50%-50% just as my genetics test showed that I am. My skin is white and I don't like people calling me a white perosn or a caucasion based on my skin color because I am not that, I am mixed. Jim Thorpe and Billy Mills were also half American Indian, or so I am taught. Chuck Norris is half Cherokee and is light skinned too. The title needs to be clearer and state what you are wanting to really say. I see and hear too much race references on flotrack, like hearing things such as you were the only white guy in the race. I've even seen racist things on flotrack too, but flotrack probably doesn't realize it when it happens.” dude we all know what he means, it's commonly understood we're talking about the east africans so chill out. there's no reason to go on a rant over the word caucasian. dont get your panties all in a bundle nobody's being racist, you're just taking political correctness to an over extreme level reply
#23	MikeyB September 17 at 3:48pm "TITLE IS STILL BAD" please get over yourself! Nothing wrong with this paper..... thanks for the research and following up a nice article to read. People are interested on why things are. Always playing it safe...boring. reply
#22	Title Is Still Bad September 17 at 3:24pm When you say Africans it is too broad. North Africa, such as Algeria, are full of caucasoid people. They are African and they are caucasian, many of them. My friend from India is a very dark brown but is caucasian and her genetics test showed that she is over 99% caucasoid. I am an American Indian and White European mixed blood American and claim to be 50%-50% just as my genetics test showed that I am. My skin is white and I don't like people calling me a white perosn or a caucasion based on my skin color because I am not that, I am mixed. Jim Thorpe and Billy Mills were also half American Indian, or so I am taught. Chuck Norris is half Cherokee and is light skinned too. The title needs to be clearer and state what you are wanting to really say. I see and hear too much race references on flotrack, like hearing things such as you were the only white guy in the race. I've even seen racist things on flotrack too, but flotrack probably doesn't realize it when it happens. reply
#21	Dan Knewitz September 17 at 3:16pm I also recall a point in The Big Manzungo, a film that focuses on Craig Mottram, where he talks about his conversations with East Africans. According to him, the fact that they walk or run to and from school and where ever else they are going all of their life is a misconception. Check out the 2:43 mark... The Big Mazungo - Part 2 reply
#20	Dan Knewitz September 17 at 3:06pm I am a psychology graduate student at Northern Illinois Universit and I have a few classes right now that look at the issue of development. There is a substantial body of research supporting the fact that how you take care of your body effects the genes that you pass on. If you smoke, the quality of your genes diminishes. It would, therefore, seem plausible that generations of East Africans growing up at altitude in addition to the training would give them a significant advantage that could not be attained simply through training and diet. It might have to come from an American child who has had generations of ancestors living at one of the highest altitudes we have in the U.S. Speaking of... what's the altitude in German Fernandez's home town? reply
#19	Steve Magness September 17 at 2:45pm Ya, that was my first "rough" copy of my presentation for a class so it's got some errors in the times as those were a last minute addition. The meat of the presentation is all correct info, so sorry if you can't get by some simple errors that are really just establishing dominance. The purpose of the presentation wasn't to establish the differences but to explain the differences. That's where I focused the research. reply
#18	Another Steve September 17 at 2:36pm Steve Magness, I skimmed the first few slides of your presentation, and I have to say it appears to be rife with errors. You list the fastest non-African time in the 800 as 1:42.23 with a difference of 1.11% (percentage is wrong even with the supplied figures), but Sebastian Coe ran 1:41.73, which would be a difference of only 0.61 percent. Joaquim Cruz also ran 1:41.77, so your 1:42.23 isn't even very close. As far as I can tell, no one in history has ever run that time. Also, you list Renaldo da Costa as the top non-African time in the marathon(which I believe is correct), then in the next slide, you say the top non-African time is 2:06:16 (did you perhaps get that figure from Takaoka?), although da Costa ran 2:06:05. Your presentation, however, also suffers from the same problem that Mr. Mackey's accused of. You seem to focus on East Africans, namely Rift Valley and Arsi region athletes, as the subject of your study, but use them to represent all of Africa. If your subject focuses on the effects of these regions, shouldn't you be more specific and call it East Africans vs. the rest of the world. In which case athletes from Morocco (which is more closely likened to Spain in many ways than to Kenya or Ethiopia) would skew the numbers greatly with athletes such as El Guerrouj, Hissou, Saidi Saif, Lahlafi and Khalid Khannouchi, among others (and later,possibly after the presentation was prepared, Abderrahim Goumri). I'll leave Boulami off of that list, though Morceli should be mentioned along with the Moroccans. Having spotted all those errors immediately in the first 4-5 slides, I can't really continue any further as I can't trust anything in there. The next slide counts back the number of sub 2:20 marathoners by years, and if you got the easier stuff wrong, I really have to wonder if those numbers are anywhere close to accurate. reply
#17	Another East African September 17 at 2:35pm Yea man, most of it is mental and hard working u know! I used to do an average of 100kms of running and walking per week in elementary school ( from home to school and school to home). I am not even counting the amount time we would spend, visiting other friends' villages or playing soccer at school or on the village soccer field in the evening or week ends. Secondary school, u would do more mileage as the high school was even farther than elementary school! It's funny when I was young, I used to travel 10km to get to see a kartoon movie in town! Yea we didn't have them tv's! At home,you would go bring clean water countless times (20 to 25liters each time) , help in cooking, wash your clothes (no washing machines), there were no postal services so whenever your parents need something, they would send u and most of the time, they wanted u to come back fast. But now things are starting to change, people have cell phones, tv but in some areas people still live the same way we did. So I guess this was a fine aerobic endurance base as u call it for a young kid. But for those who want to compete at high level, things start getting interesting in high school, when they start training properly even tho' there is a serious lack of facilities and apparels (as far as that some have to run barefoot: all the time not just for cool downs!). Most of the athletes who could make it had to serve in the army or the police in order to get some support. I bet if you would give me a 200,000$ and two years, I can give you easily twenty 13:20 (5k) athletes anywhere from Sudan, Kenya, Ethiopia, Erithrea, Somalia, Djibouti, Uganda, Burundi, Rwanda and Tanzania. But with 13:20, u can't go too far these days. I myself know people who used to run easily 13:30's and quit just because it was not good enough. They found some other and assured jobs to nourish their families. Here is the secret tho' if u want to fully understand. My grand father used to tell me if u want to be the best, go and live with the best, learn from the best, train with the best, compete with the best and then beat the best. reply
#16	Read A Book September 17 at 1:48pm P.S. the title does get attention. reply
#15	Read A Book September 17 at 1:33pm Good article, but you have to include the psychology of running along with physics. For a lot of the best African runners, "running" may change their livelihood. A chance for running water, working commodes, electricity, etc. After coming to the U.S., Lopez Lomong, stated in his video, in thought, he believed one day all of that (shower, own room, electricity) would be taken away, instantly. Maybe, that motivated him to run even faster. We don't run with that same notion. For us, Americans, we already have those everyday essentials. By no means are we spoiled. But, "running", and being one of the best here in the U.S. makes you famous, bigger houses, more cars, endorsements, etc. Achieve that early in you're career, life, and then what? It becomes a struggle to find that great effort to actually break records. So much of running with goals, depends on the "psyche". I really admire how this article was presented. It targets, the ability, not race, and was very impressive. Congrats to Ryan, and the Flotrack members, for keeping videos and articles focused on abilities. Also, you're interviews, showing the emotions of well known runners, after an event. Really exposes how difficult it is for them to run at that level. It gives us insight on how hard they train to run at world class pace. Best wishes to Kara Goucher and Anna Williard. They really have some high goals, and they (along with flotrack) are showing us, they're working hard. But when you watch the races, they look so relaxed, they make it "look" easy. This article really sparks a lot of thoughts. reply
#14	Steve Magness September 17 at 12:56pm http://www.slideshare.net/sjm1368/african-runner-domination-nature-or-nurture?type=powerpoint might find this interesting Danny. A summary of some stuff you've talked about. reply
#13	Anon September 17 at 11:54am Danny- Thank you for noting your sources. Lazy shouldn't be in scare quotes since it is, in fact, lazy. You could have said East Africans or Africans born at altitude. So, yes, sources aside, that's still called lazy. Insight into human physiology - especially endurance athletes - has advanced a great deal since 1993 and, accordingly, so has the literature on the topic. The wtenty-year-old studies cited do not, I imagine, compare, say, Stefano Baldini and a Ghanian marathoner...because the latter doesn't f'ing exist. And I'd bet my ass he's more genetically predisposed to running a faster marathon than some random dude from Dakar or Monrovia. My point here is the following: be very careful, because it's an easy drop from lazy research to latent rascism. reply
#12	East African September 17 at 11:41am Its the enviroment not genetics. kids just like to run around when they are playing. You wouldn't see african kids sitting in the living room just watching tv. I remember when me and my brothers and friends would go play soccer all the time just outside playing instead of sitting down is one of the main thing that keep african runners above. I remember being sent to a store to go buy some salt and my mom spit on the ground and said "if you come back when this spit is dry you are in trouble" so the only choice is to run fast. reply
#11	Danny Mackey September 17 at 11:33am Mark, here are 2 articles: Coetzer et al; "Superior fatigue resistance of elite black South African distance runners" J. Appl. Physiology. 75: 1822-1827, 1993. Bosch et al; "Physiological differences between black and white runners during a treadmill marathon" Eur J Appl Physiology. 61: 68-72, 1990. Anon, I intentially used a "lazy" title. If you look at the titles of the research articles I cited, it might make it more clear as to why. I wanted to keep it simple and focus on the science. I'm Not Going To Read This, I have not found an study on mixed Caucasion and African distance runners. Though this is interesting to see if there would be similar results to what we have now. Qsuriname, you bring up a very good point with the motivation and financial differences, thanks for posting. reply
#10	Richard Stoliker September 17 at 11:17am Oblivously it's more in African's genetics to be good runners. Europeans spent the last 1000 years riding on horses and carriages in the snow while for the past multiple 1000s of years, Africans have used running as thier main form of transportation (and over larger areas of land). They have simply evolved over thier thousands of years of sepperation from caucasians to be better runners. Running on a regular basis is relatively much newer to caucasians than it is to Africans. reply
#9	I'm Not Going To Read This September 17 at 10:36am because of the title. One can be caucasion and African. There are many caucasion Africans. Know the difference between races and colours ETC. reply
#8	Anonymous Coward September 17 at 10:26am interesting article but use spell check and take grammar lessons... please reply
#7	Cool September 17 at 10:19am Great/informative article, and some great/informative comments thus far too! Very interesting subject, to be sure. No matter what the real answer is to "why?", it won't stop me from staring jaw-dropped & eyes wide open at the TV marveling at the Kenyan/Ethiopian speed, fluidity, grace and ease during their races. They make me feel so clunky & inefficient in comparison... reply
#6	qsuriname September 17 at 9:48am Great article Danny. I'm from Suriname, South America and the south side is just like Kenya and Ethiopia. We are on the same Geographic parallel. I know what the environment in Kenya and Ethiopia looks like. I do believe that in addition to the genetic makeup, the African environment is the main driver to better times: 1) like you mentioned, kids growing up having to run to school and to the store on dirt roads in the heat, 2) Their diet consists of Ugali (a thick, polenta-style cornmeal porridge. Made from water and maize (corn)) with Tea and a hard boiled egg in the morning and with Vegetables and Beef/Chicken at night. They only eat twice a day and have only fruit during the day if they're craving a snack. No sweets or high fatty foods are kept in the house. 3) The X factor in all of this is that Africans see running as their way out of the village and being able to provide for their family. Think about it, Kenya has a 30% unemployment rate, so it's not like you're just going to find a job if you can't run. You either do well and provide for your family or you work on a farm. These athletes are literally running to survive. If they win $5000 that takes care of their entire family of 4 for a year. Avg per capita income is about $1200. If an athlete finishes in the top 10 at a major marathon, he can feed his family for an entire year. If he wins a major marathon, he can send his family to school and out of the village by buying them a house. Bottomline is that the depth of the desire to run well is different than for American runners. Americans take up running as an extra curricular sport in middle school or highschool, whereas Africans run because it's their mode of transportation. reply
#5	Ed Ablan September 17 at 9:26am i'm with anon reply
#4	Anon September 17 at 9:19am It's very lazy science to use "Africans" as a catch-all for specific subsets of the population. Hell, even "Kenyans" would not hold up to any rigorous examination since only a very small portion of a regionally-specific group of the population make up the majority of the most successful distant athletes. What of the differences between someone who grew up in the Rift Valley versus the Coastal area? Or, as another example, of an Ethiopian from Arsi Province (Addis Ababa) versus elsewhere? It would be like noting the recurring emergence of highly successful point guards from Coney Island and concluding that African-American males from NYC are all genetically predisposed to playing the point as compared with all white dudes. It's not very thoughtful science. Seriously, Danny, I understand the aims of the project, but the lack of intellectual rigor and poor construction of the argument defeats the conclusions drawn. reply
#3	Sam September 17 at 9:17am Wow, this makes so much sense. Thank you. reply
#2	Anonymous Coward September 17 at 9:11am a wonderful article, but too short. Any chance you can make this a weekly or monthly ongoing research article? reply
#1	Mark Krueger September 17 at 7:57am Nice article Danny. Can you provide the link (if there is one) to the study you talk about? reply