Keith Anderson (runner)
{{short description|British runner}}
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Keith Anderson (born 10 August 1957[https://more.arrs.run/runner/23 Association of Road Racing Statisticians: Keith Anderson.]) is a male British former runner who was the national fell running champion and competed in the marathon at the Commonwealth Games.
Athletics career
Anderson did not take up running until he was thirty, at which time he was overweight and had an unhealthy lifestyle.[https://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/othersports/athletics/2428109/Changing-lifestyles-can-be-a-marathon-experience.html Tom Knight, “Changing Lifestyles can be a Marathon Experience”, The Telegraph, 6 Jan 2002.] He made rapid progress and in 1989 won the Edale Skyline, Sedbergh Hills and Three Shires fell races.Graham Breeze, “Equi ad Circos (Classic Fell Races Part 3)”, The Fellrunner Magazine, Feb 2003, 24-26. Also that year, he won the Ben Nevis Race, noting that losing three stones in weight had contributed greatly to his victory.Hugh Dan MacLennan, The Ben Race (Fort William, 1994), 172.
In 1991, Anderson won the British Fell Running Championships.Steve Chilton, It's a Hill, Get Over It (Dingwall, 2013), 329-30. He is popularly considered one of the best descenders in the history of the sport[http://www.ukclimbing.com/forums/t.php?t=563314 UKClimbing forum]; [http://forum.fellrunner.org.uk/showthread.php?6794-best-fell-runner-ever&p=301919&viewfull=1#post301919 FRA forum.] and an investigation of downhill running speeds found his sustained descent rate of 1.365 m/s in the 1990 Pen y Fan Race, when he descended 580m vertically in 7:05, to be the fastest recorded in any race for which relevant information was available.[http://www.irunfar.com/2012/04/the-30-minute-kilometer-a-look-at-the-vertical-kilometer-record.html iRunFar: Anthony Kay, “The 30-Minute Kilometer? A Look at the Vertical Kilometer Record”.]
He made more use of science and technology in his running than many of his contemporaries, basing his training around heart rate and often having his blood lactate levels tested. He also did many of his speed sessions on a treadmill in order to be able to complete them in a controlled environment.[https://web.archive.org/web/20050409095929/http://www.pponline.co.uk/encyc/scientific-training.html Keith Anderson, "Scientific Training", Peak Performance.]
Anderson’s focus later shifted to cross country and road running. In 1994, he finished fourth in the English National Cross Country Championships[https://more.arrs.run/runner/23 Association of Road Racing Statisticians: Keith Anderson.] and he won the Scottish National Cross Country Championships in 1995, his father being Scots.[http://www.heraldscotland.com/news/12541558.Keith_ready_to_serve_a_surprise/ “Keith Ready to Serve a Surprise”, The Herald, 4 Mar 1995.]
In one of his 5k road races in 1994, Anderson placed second to the future 3000m world record holder Daniel Komen.[https://more.arrs.run/race/2334 Association of Road Racing Statisticians: Reebok Grand Prix Series, Manchester, 8 May 1994.] Anderson ran the 1998 Boston Marathon in 2:17:08[http://www.thepowerof10.info/athletes/profile.aspx?athleteid=26 Power of 10: Keith Anderson.] and was selected to represent England in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, in the marathon at the 1998 Commonwealth Games where he finished in tenth place at the age of forty-one.Graham Groom, The Complete Book of the Commonwealth Games (2013), 47.{{cite web|url=https://teamengland.org/commonwealth-games-history/kuala-lumpur-1998/athletes|title=1998 Athletes|website=Team England}}{{cite web|url=https://thecgf.com/results/games/3044/19/all|title=England team in 1998|website=Commonwealth Games Federation|access-date=18 January 2020|archive-date=30 March 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190330125318/https://thecgf.com/results/games/3044/19/all|url-status=dead}}{{cite web|url=https://thecgf.com/results/athletes/39258|title=Athletes and results|website=Commonwealth Games Federation}}{{Dead link|date=April 2025 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}
After his retirement from high-level running, Anderson became involved in coaching the sport.{{Cite web |url=http://www.fullpotential.co.uk/go/team |title=Full Potential team. |access-date=2015-12-30 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151204102520/http://www.fullpotential.co.uk/go/team |archive-date=2015-12-04 |url-status=dead }} He still holds the course records for the fell races at Pen y Fan,[http://www.breconfans.org.uk/pen-y-fan-race Pen y Fan Race.] Sedbergh Hills,[http://www.fellrunner.org.uk/races.php?id=4590 Sedbergh Hills Race.] Dunnerdale[https://fellrace.org.uk/races/dunnerdale/ Dunnerdale Fell Race.] and the Black Mountains,[http://www.mynydd-du.org.uk/black-mountains-race Black Mountains Race.] all set in the early 1990s.
References
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Category:British male long-distance runners
Category:Athletes (track and field) at the 1998 Commonwealth Games
Category:Commonwealth Games athletes for England