Mo Farah's half-marathon mark questioned

I'm only a part-time track-and-field/running writer.

I'm on loan from college football from January to August, so I come to this with an outsider's perspective.

But I think the rigid control the statisticians and numbers geeks have on the sport is one of the reasons track/competitive running doesn't resonate with the general public.

The latest example is the IAAF's refusal to recognize Mo Farah's winning time of 61 minutes 23 seconds in the New York City Half Marathon as a British record. (Fourth item in this notebook.) Why? The IAAF determined that the New York City course is slightly downhill.

Really? Really?

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