Quote:
Originally Posted by OzPunter
Dear Kenchar, I am in hot pursuit of more information I can learn from those who use Speed Rating sucessfully.... Can you guide me to where I can find out more reliable information and research. Kind Regards OzPunter
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As I mentioned in my response to your query on sectional times, osulldj (Daniel O'Sullivan) now provides a service for a commercial operator at a cost. As he mentioned in the posting of his above that you reproduced, speed needs to be used in conjunction with pace - Tom Brohamer explains pace better than anyone else, but his is not an easy read but well worthwhile.
Sectionals will tell you only so much, but coupled with an understanding of pace and fitness they can give you a very good edge indeed over other punters.
The internal sectional times will tell you where in the race the pace was 'on' and when it wasn't, not only by comparing the individual 200m sectionals but the moving 400m and 600m ones as well, i.e. the 400 split between the 1200m and the 800m, followed by the 400 split between 1000m and 600m and so on, likewise for the 600m splits.
Two sectional splits very rarely vary - the first and the last. The first is always the slowest, while the last is nearly always the second slowest, more so in sprint races than in the distance races where the pace may have been 'off' a a greater part of the trip and the race turns into a sprint to the line from the turn.
One or two journalists in Australia do have a good understanding of sectional times & pace - Andre Kassey from the Sportsman is probably the best.