Progressive British All-Time Top Tens

These compilations are based on the simple but ingenious formula devised by the respected New Zealand statistician, the late Peter Heidenstrom. This recognised the fact that any all-time ranking list, however lengthy, inevitably favoured the most recent performers, and therefore many significant marks from earlier years were eliminated. Mr Heidenstrom's solution was to choose an appropriate starting date for his list, compile the Top Ten current at that date, and then add every new performer and improved performance which qualified for the Top Ten, while retaining all previous performances even as the 10th best performer becomes faster with the passing years. It is thus possible to construct from this progression the Top Ten at any chosen intermediary date, and also by this means the historic achievements of, for example, such British milers as Walter George, Albert Hill, Sydney Wooderson, Roger Bannister and Derek Ibbotson are retained. Furthermore, the standards reached by others much less well known and deserving of lasting recognition are recorded for posterity. How else to remember Peter Robinson, Victor Milligan, Frank Wyatt, Brian Kent-Smith?

The spreasheets given here complement the articles in Track Stats and give more information than can be fitted into the printed format. The full spreadsheets contain many calculations that would take time to run on a slow PC. Therefore a cut down-version is also provided which just re-calculates columns K to O when required.

Columns A to E are the same as in Track Stats.
Columns F, H and I are converted version of the same columns that can be used for calculations.
Column G contains notes to the performances - these can be used to exclude performances from the calculated rankings in conjunction with cells G2:H3.
Column J is the position in the all-time top-10 of the performance when it was achieved.
Columns K to O allow you to see the top-10 at any date - the dates in row 2 can be changed to suit.
Column P gives the date on which the performance left the top-10, often due to the athlete posting a better mark.
Column Q gives the time spent by the performance in the top-10, in years and days.
Column R gives the date on which the athlete left the top-10, and any date on which they rejoined and left again.
Column S gives the time spent by the athlete in the top-10, in years and days, omitting any time when they left the top-10 before rejoining.
Column T is the time span between the athlete's first entry into the top-10 and their final exit - so this is often a useful check on column S.
Column U gives the highest position achieved by the athlete.

All versions of the spreadhseets contain macros, so you will need to let Excel activate them - your virus checking software will pass them as OK.

Mile

Mile - Full Version (259 KB)     Mile - Small Version (209 KB)

These are in the members-only area - contact for access to these pages

Discus

Discus - Full Version (277 KB)     Discus - Small Version (226 KB)

Discus - Additional Version (333 KB) - contains checks on the metric conversions

The longest serving members of the top-10 up to 31/12/1971 can be determined precisely. Those in italics were Irish, those with an asterisk were "not out" as at 31/12/1971:

Further spreadsheets are likely to be provided in the members-only pages. The Discus is given as a taster.