What are 'good' PB's for club runners?

I was talking to an old friend at the weekend about his running. i know he's been keen on running for a good few years but when he told me his PB's i hadn't realised how quick he actually is / was. Certainly they are far away from anything i could get near to or even dream of in truth.  From memory they were something like:

5K - sun 16min

10K - sub 33min

10M - 52mins

1/2M - 69mins

He is 40 now and admits to "slowing down a bit" but it got me thinking what kind of percentage of local club runners would be at this level? Given i know very little about club running and am a novice to running, generally speaking would there be a good few at each club that could match them?

No is the answer. I would say that a good club runner in a big established club (like mine) would be slightly more than that. If he's telling the truth he would the best club runner.

I agree. Those times are about 'good local / regional' rather than club standard. 

Interesting set of PBs; he appears to favour the longer stuff.  I suppose your definition of 'good' is always going to be open to interpretation, but you're only ever likely to get a handful of runners at most in any club running those sorts of times.

I've looked up my club's rankings for this year to see how many have reached those standards: 7 for 5k/5,000m - including me , 6 for 10k - not me, but a target for next year- only 2 for HM, and none for 10 miles.  And I'd say we're in the top dozen or so clubs in the country according to things like road relays and national athletics leagues.

Another way to look at it is to see where those times would get you in the national rankings for this year - according to runbritain:

5k road - 422nd
10k - 499th
10 mile - 52:00 = 37th / 52:59 = 64th, but there aren't as many of those around
HM - 69:00 = 100th / 69:59 = 157th

And being 40 is no excuse.  I didn't run 15:55 for 5,000m till I hit 40.    I'd bloody love to be able to run his HM time though.

go on www.thepowerof10.info will bring up anyones time if they run for a club!

A lad at our club for eg

5k...............16.07

10k..............33.09

10m.............54.49

1/2...............73.28

He will be probably the best on show at our club and hes 4 mins behind your mates half marathon pace. Im sure they will be plenty fast lads around! (not me tho )

these are the fast end of club times, in my view.  there are plenty of people in my club running at a much slower pace - i would say low 40s is the average 10k time for example. COMPETING for the club is another thing. the important thing is not to be put off by people being faster than you, not least because your times will improve rapidly now that you've joined a club. and it will be fun too!!

very true baldbloke!

There is no chance i will ever be competing with the fast lads at the club but each time i cross a finish line i will have competed against myself and hopefully beat my last time! 

your friend is lying

i too detect signs of slight "exaggeration"...if he runs 33mins for 10k, he's bloody quick and should look like a whippet

hes running a better pace (min/mile) for half marathon than 10k but id didnt want to say anything I think the dude abides is less diplomatic than myself lol

rwd - I'm with you on this one, I cant see any reason to suspect hes lying. The times are good but nothing unbelievable.

Certainly if he ran those sort of times in the 80s or 90s he wouldnt have been lonely and in many clubs he wouldnt even have been an automatic A team member.

true rwd when u look at it that way I understand, Im new to the running scene so was just looking at the way i get times i know i get slower the further i run my bad 

Cougie - The comments were around where those sorts of times would put you in a typical club. Since it is entirely possible that he is talking about PBs that go back some way it is worth noting that clubs in general in the 80s and early 90s had greater strength at the faster end than they do now.

My own club certainly wasnt one of the big clubs but it still had two sub 50:00 10 milers and probably 10 more between 50 and 55 minutes, so I didnt often get near the A team with 33:xx 10K and 55:xx 10 mile times.

To give an indication based on London Marathon finishers, this is how 1985 compared to 2012:

Sub 2:30:
2012 - 55 Finishers
1985 - 264 Finishers

Sub 2:45:
2012 - 364 Finishers
1985 - 1,110 Finishers

Sub 3:00:
2012 - 1232 Finishers
1985 - 2761 Finishers

And the field in 1985 was about 12,000 smaller than in 2012 so I'm sure you'll agree there were significantly more faster end runners around to be spread amongst the various clubs.

Interesting stats parkrunfan.  Any real reason for this?  I'd never realised it before.

Is it because folk are much fatter and lazier in general these days I wonder?

Yes and yes.

A club mate of mine said that back in the 70's the only real aim was running as many miles per week as possible. Some good race times were one result.

The other was body weight. No doubt about it. Just about every other shop now is a food outlet. And food you actually want to eat. 30 years ago it was just crap, so you didn't bother.