“The little guys who dominate long distance running ALL come from highland areas that abut Kilamanjaro Volcano ~ during the last Ice Age that mountain was covered with glaciers. Those highlands were well watered with melting ice, and had a temperate climate.
People lived there.
They had to develop the characteristics needed to survive in an alpine climate. Those are the little guys.
If you follow cross country skiing, that’s dominated by Sa’ami, all well adapted to subarctic climate conditions! They have a high incidence of dwarfism albeit not that you’d notice, and there are people who will beat you up for saying anything about it!”
Might have a trace of laplander blood myself (via Sweden). Compact body, short libs (to avoid heat loss, etc).
I ran several marathons, some under 3 hours with a wrestler’s build—good long distance endurance.
Last winter olympics there were three kinds of skiers in the cross country ~ Laps(Sa'ami), Norse, and Others.
One of the "Others", a German guy, kept up pretty well with the Sa'ami until he overheated toward the end. They crushed him.
I watched guys going UPHILL 55 MPH in that race ~ at the end.
That's how humans were able to hunt the Arctic/subarctic regions' fastest animal ~ the Reindeer.
They could ski up hill, then come downhill at the animals MUCH faster than they could escape. You do that for a few hundred years and you can undercut the biological support system for the big cats, bears and wolves.