Bob Hayes the fastest Human Being to ever run on Cinder and maybe of all time.

Bob Hayes the fastest man to ever run on a cinder Track. 

Bob Hayes of USA
100m Olympic Gold medallist

When we think about think of legends and fastest men of all time, we think about Usain Bolt, Carl Lewis, Yohan Blake,Jesse Owens etc.  It's Seldom you'll hear people in the track and field circles talking about this sprinting legend.

Bob Hayes was an american sprinter who competed for the united states in the 1960s. He was record holder in the 100 meters in a time of 10.06 seconds. This time he ran on a cinder track. Now before we go any further it is important to point out what a cinder track is. A cinder track is a track used from the mid 1800's, it is made from cinder rocks, which are igneous in nature. they are bi-products  of volcanic eruptions, cinder rocks are formed when the lava cool and depressurize. These were rocks were then crushed and used for the surfacing of the running track.

  

courtesy: www.picclick.com

Bob Hayes ran 10.06 seconds at the 1964 Olympic games held in Tokyo, on a red cinder Track, and still remains the fastest man ever on that surface.Standing at 5 foot 11, Hayes became the first man ever to clock a sub 10 in the history of the 100 meters, but due to to lack of understanding the time was converted from 9.9 seconds to 10.00 then eventually 10.06 seconds. In that run he hit what is still the fastest human sprint speeds ever, going as fast as 27.8 MPH, which was eventually equaled by Usain bolt in 2009 in Berlin. This run was on a track that was in bad condition after being used for a 20 km race earlier. He has proven himself to be the fastest man ever on cinder despite his world record being broken four years later by Jim Hines. however that was on a synthetic track therefore Hines never actually proved he was better than Bob "bullet" Hayes, as every one that has some sort of knowledge of tracks, know there is a big difference between a grass track, a cinder track and and all weather synthetic track.

Hayes was next to an insurmountable challenge in his short track career, winning every race from 1963 upon his retirement to start his football career. This decision was made due to the lack of financial compensation in track and field at the time. He hit some unreal times and that is why as someone who has been studying the sport since childhood, have to highlight this man's level of talent. He still is the second fastest man ever over the 60 yard dash with a time of 5.90 behind Herb Washington's 5.80, in just one race. There are rumors mostly in the football and baseball circles that he clocked 5.28 seconds in the 60 yard dash, however that was just a rumor. If that was true, he was born in the wrong era.
      It is not certain whether or not there are any other cinder tracks anywhere in the world for education purposes, but if there is, it would be interesting to see a top class sub 10 sprinter try to break this man's world record.