There is a website which gives annual rankings for runners in Ontario, the province I live in. The ranking is based on times recorded on certified courses only, so some very good performances may not be included, but it gives a rough guide, and is quite interesting. (Population of Ontario is about 11 million, no idea how many are runners.) Age groups are by 10 year increments, so I am listed in men 50-59. I have been looking at how much I might hope to improve by next year... My best official half marathon this year ranked me 477th., and if I can improve by about 4 minutes I could get down to about 350th. In the 5k I am ranked 164th. in a smaller group, about 800, and could reach 117th. if I can get down to 22 minutes. Finally, I am 199th. at the 10k distance, with about 1650 runners in the category, but would have to run inside 44 minutes to get into the top 100 men. Assuming we don't all start running faster next year it would be nice to try to crack the top 100 at something. Simon.

Definitely would, Larry! I am sure there must be lists of this sort kept by sports organisations in the U.S. so I was hoping others could give their rankings. I think certain states, either because of large population, or for some other reason, are known to have a large pool of fast runners. New York and California, presumably Oregon because of its history and the corporate presence of Nike, maybe Michigan. I don't know which others. The other part that is interesting is to see how many competitors run the different distances, and to see how well you do at different distances relative to others; it looks as though the half is not my strong event, for example! Simon.