VIRGIN LONDON MARATHON RANKED #1 BY ALL-ATHLETICS.COM - ARRS DISAGREES:
By David Monti
(c) 2011 Race Results Weekly, all rights reserved. Used with permission

All-Athletics.com, the athletics results and statistics website, has ranked the Virgin London Marathon as the world's most competitive for both men and women for 2010.  Using their proprietary measurement system, the London men's field was most competitive when ranked based on both the full elite fields and just the top runners.  It was the same for the women's field.  However, a separate analysis by the Association of Road Racing Statisticians (ARRS) reached a different conclusion.  The ARRS gave the London men's field a ranking of 891 points (the ING New York City Marathon was second), but ranked the New York City women's field as the most competitive with 856 points (London was second with 801 points).  Both events are part of the World Marathon Majors series.  You can see both of these rankings at http://tinyurl.com/49dfgu9 and http://www.arrs.net/CompLevl.htm, respectively.