It's Wednesday,  August 10th, 2016   User not logged in!       Mad City 100K      Title: "Mathematician's Corner" : Lesson 1 Date: Wednesday March 16th, 2011 Author: Dave Sarocka Usain Bolt’s world record time of 9.58 seconds for the 100 meter dash corresponds to a speed of approximately 23.35 miles per hour, calculated as follows: 100 meters 9.58 seconds x 60 seconds 1 minute x 60 minutes 1 hour x 1 mile 1609.344 meters = 23.3500656791 miles/hour Another simple calculation reveals that a “superhuman” who could maintain this speed indefinitely would finish the Mad City 100k in slightly over 2 ½ hours: 9.58 seconds 100 meters x 1000 meters 1 kilometer x 100 kilometers = 9,580 seconds This is equivalent to 2 hours, 39 minutes, 40 seconds. Our race director, Tim Yanacheck, has informed me of a recent study by researchers in biomechanics at the University of Wyoming who, by analyzing human muscle fibers, concluded that it is physically possible for humans to reach a speed of 40 mph. How fast could a person run the Mad City 100k at this speed? Since distance = rate*time, if speed is increased to 40 mph from 23.3500656791 mph, the time would be decreased to 23.3500656791/40 of the aforementioned time: 9580 seconds x 23.3500656791 40 = 5,592 seconds This would correspond to a finish time of 1 hour, 33 minutes, 12 seconds, and the institution of a mandatory steroid testing policy for the 2012 race. Happily, you would only need to run approximately 22% of this speed in order to beat the course record of 6 hours, 56 minutes, 57 seconds. Click any thumbnail below for its larger image. Posted: March 16th, 2011 1:24 pm Last Update: March 16th, 2011 2:44 pm Viewed: 8192 Last View: August 10th, 2016 3:40 am ©2006-2016 : All rights reserved