Progress against the field
From Birmingham 2023 to London Excel 2025, Hugh Smith has moved with the field: what changed on the clock changed for everyone.
Over the same races everyone got 11:05 quicker, so 11:19 faster on the clock looks better than it was.
The longest gap between two races compared here, 405 days between Birmingham 2024 and London Excel 2025, still ended 4:15 ahead of the field.
How this is worked out ⓘ
A finish time moves for two reasons: the athlete, and the race — its course, its floor, its day. For each pair of races in a row in one category, we take everyone who raced both and use the middle of how much they moved (the median) as "the race". Whatever is left is the athlete. Doubles are compared only when the same two people raced both, and told as the pair's; relays are left out. A pair with fewer than 15 athletes in common is not shown.
Every race
7 races · 7 events
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Birmingham31 Oct 2026Doubles Pro · Men1:13:32 PB381/476Beat 20%
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Manchester21 Jan 2026Doubles Open · Men1:15:21508/794Beat 36%
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London Excel4 Dec 2025Individual Open · Men1:42:37 PB2368/2771Beat 15%
↑ 405 days after Birmingham 2024 4:15 better than the field Why ↓Close ↑
4:15 better than the field: 10:39 faster on the clock, against 6:24 faster for everyone.
The fieldCompare these two →6:24 faster This athlete10:39 faster -
Birmingham22 Oct 2025Doubles Open · Men1:13:29 PB662/1177Beat 44%
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Manchester24 Jan 2025Relay · Mixed1:10:3830/71Beat 58%
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Birmingham25 Oct 2024Individual Open · Men1:53:161785/1916Beat 7%
↑ 370 days after Birmingham 2023 4:01 worse than the field Faster on the clock, behind the field Why ↓Close ↑
0:40 faster on the clock, yet the race was 4:41 faster for everyone, so 4:01 was lost on the field.
The fieldCompare these two →4:41 faster This athlete0:40 faster -
Birmingham21 Oct 2023Individual Open · Men1:53:561074/1182Beat 9%