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Improved Race Times in Marathoners Older than 75 Years in the Last 25 Years in the World's Largest Marathons.

  • Ahmadyar B Institute of Primary Care, University of Zurich, Zurich, Switzerland.
  • Rosemann T Institute of Primary Care, University of Zurich, Zurich, Switzerland.
  • Rüst CA Institute of Primary Care, University of Zurich, Zurich, Switzerland.
  • Knechtle B Institute of Primary Care, University of Zurich, Zurich, Switzerland.
  • 2016-05-19
Published in:
  • The Chinese journal of physiology. - 2016
Age Factors
Aged
Aged, 80 and over
Aging
Athletic Performance
Female
Humans
Male
Physical Endurance
Running
Sex Characteristics
English Performance trends of elite marathoners are well investigated. However, performance of elderly marathoners (> 75 years) competing in the world's largest city marathons is not well-known. We examined marathon race data of 1,691 marathon finishes (i.e. 218 women and 1,473 men) competing between 1990 and 2014 in 5-year age groups 75-79, 80-84, 85-89, and 95-99 years in four races (Berlin, New York, Chicago and Boston) of the 'World Marathon Majors'. The number of female (r² = 0.50, P < 0.0001) and male (r² = 0.88, P < 0.0001) finishers increased significantly across years. The number of women (r² = 0.36, P = 0.0019) and men (r² = 0.88, P < 0.0001) in age group 75-79 years increased. In age group 80-84 years, the number of women (r² = 0.36, P = 0.0111) and men (r² = 0.54, P < 0.0001) also increased. In age groups 85-89 to 95-99 years, however, the number of female and male finishers remained unchanged. Across years, women (r² = 0.26, P = 0.0090) and men (r² = 0.31, P = 0.0035) reduced their race times. Women and men in age group 75-79 years improved race times. In age groups 80-84 to 90-94 years, women and men were not able to reduce race times. In summary, participation increased and performance improved in female and male marathoners competing in age groups 75-79 to 95-99 years where the largest increases in participation and the largest improvements in performance were found in women and men in age group 75-79 years.
Language
  • English
Open access status
green
Identifiers
Persistent URL
https://sonar.ch/global/documents/252217
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