Average time for a kid's mile?

Welcome, Guest

Blog Forums Calculator

Some links below may be affiliate links. BMOW may get paid if you buy something or take an action after clicking one of these.

As an Amazon Associate BMOW earns from qualifying purchases.

Return to topic list

<< New Feature: Runner's Computing Tools	Goals for 2005 >>
Average time for a kid's mile?

Rickshaw
Runworks 2005 5M Racer
San Francisco, CA
Joined: 26 Nov 2004
Posts: 1157

Average time for a kid's mile? Posted: Tue Dec 07, 2004 11:04 am

I was reading an article in the paper recently about the physical fitness test given to all 5th, 7th, and 9th graders in Californina. Those are kids about 10, 12, and 14 years old. The general theme of the article was that kids today are fat and lazy, but the bit about testing aerobic ability caught my interest. It said that the average mile time for boys was 7 minutes, and for girls it was 8:30. That actually sounded pretty darn fast to me, especially for kids that young. Does anyone have experience working with kids that age? Do those times sound right? If they are, then I'd expect to see more 11 year olds on the awards stand at races.

jab

Joined: 07 Dec 2004
Posts: 8

Re: Average time for a kid's mile? Posted: Tue Dec 07, 2004 6:19 pm

Those times sound wrong. I went to middle school in South Burlington, VT and running an 8 minute mile was definitely pushing it for a sixth grader. Probably more than half were walking part of the way, and Vermont was a fairly athletic place. I wonder if the statistics are for the average winning time.

Devil's Advocate

Joined: 07 Dec 2004
Posts: 2

Re: Average time for a kid's mile? Posted: Tue Dec 07, 2004 9:53 pm

I remember back in Grade 9/10 Our target for 1600m was 6 minutes. I never finished that quick but lots of guys did. I think 7 was my best. Maybe those are some fast kids.

OldManRunner
Runworks 2005 5M Racer
Rochester, NY
Joined: 28 Nov 2004
Posts: 262

Re: Average time for a kid's mile? Posted: Wed Dec 08, 2004 7:23 am

I'm with you jab...there's no way I believe the average 6th grade boy can run a 7-minute mile. I'd bet that's the average time among those participating in races, and not a random sample of the kids in a school. I'd bet given a random sample, close to half wouldn't be able to finish the mile without stopping to walk, because they would have started out at a sprint. A few of my daughter's 7th grade friends ran cross country this fall, and the fastest of them ran about a 6:00 pace over 1.5 miles. She was among the top 3 7th/8th grade girls in our county. The average girl on the team probably ran about 7:30 pace over that distance. Rob

Rickshaw
Runworks 2005 5M Racer
San Francisco, CA
Joined: 26 Nov 2004
Posts: 1157

Re: Average time for a kid's mile? Posted: Wed Dec 08, 2004 11:09 am

You know, I don't ever remember having to run a mile in school. We did the physical fitness test, but as I recall, the running portion was just a couple of laps around some cones in the gym, maybe 200 yards tops. No wonder I was such a crappy high school athlete. :-)

runnerswife

Joined: 08 Dec 2004
Posts: 33

Re: Average time for a kid's mile? Posted: Wed Dec 08, 2004 7:18 pm

When I was in high school, our headmaster got really into running, in fact he ran across the entire country coast to coast to raise money for the scholarship fund (try putting that one in your goals for next year!). In the process, he decided we were all a bunch of lazy slobs and ought to get into shape and we all needed to run a mile once a week (six laps around the field, as I recall). Most of us tried to cut off the corners, and run/walked it. I think the fastest girl could actually finish one sub-5 minute mile, but I may be dreaming. I have no recollection what my actual finishing time was, except that it was usually close to the end where they stopped the clock, and if you didn't make it in time you had to do a whole bunch of stomach crunches.

View posts:

		All times are GMT - 8 Hours
Page 1 of 1