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From Athens to Sparta—37 Years of Spartathlon

(1) Background: Recent studies analyzed the participation and performance trends of historic races such as the oldest ultra-marathon (Comrades) or the oldest 100-km ultra-marathon (Biel). One of the toughest and historic ultra-marathons in the world is the ‘Spartathlon’ (246-km ultra-marathon from A...

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Autores principales: Knechtle, Beat, Gomes, Margarida, Scheer, Volker, Gajda, Robert, Nikolaidis, Pantelis Theodoros, Hill, Lee, Rosemann, Thomas, Sousa, Caio Victor
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: MDPI 2021
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8124832/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/34063017
http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/ijerph18094914
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author Knechtle, Beat
Gomes, Margarida
Scheer, Volker
Gajda, Robert
Nikolaidis, Pantelis Theodoros
Hill, Lee
Rosemann, Thomas
Sousa, Caio Victor
author_facet Knechtle, Beat
Gomes, Margarida
Scheer, Volker
Gajda, Robert
Nikolaidis, Pantelis Theodoros
Hill, Lee
Rosemann, Thomas
Sousa, Caio Victor
author_sort Knechtle, Beat
collection PubMed
description (1) Background: Recent studies analyzed the participation and performance trends of historic races such as the oldest ultra-marathon (Comrades) or the oldest 100-km ultra-marathon (Biel). One of the toughest and historic ultra-marathons in the world is the ‘Spartathlon’ (246-km ultra-marathon from Athens to Sparta). The present study aimed to analyze the trends in participation and performance of this race. (2) Methods: Different general linear models were applied as follows: the first model was a two-way ANOVA (Decade × Sex), with separate models for all participants and for only the top five finishers in each race; the second model was a two-way ANOVA (Age Group × Sex); the third model was a two-way ANOVA (Nationality × Sex). (3) Results: Between 1982 and 2019, 3504 ultra-marathoners (3097 men and 407 women) officially finished the Spartathlon at least once. Athletes from Japan were the majority with 737 participants, followed by far by runners from Germany (n = 393), Greece (n = 326), and France (n = 274). The nations with the highest numbers of athletes amongst the top five performers were Japan (n = 71), followed by Germany (n = 59), and Great Britain (n = 31). Runners from the USA were the fastest in men, and runners from Great Britain were the fastest in women. Female and male runners improved performance across the decades. The annual five fastest women and men improved their performance over time. Runners achieved their best performance earlier in life (20–29 and 30–39 years) than female runners (30–39 and 40–49 years). Runners in age group 30–39 years were the fastest for all nationalities, except for Greece. (4) Conclusions: Successful finishers in the Spartathlon improved performance in the last four decades and male runners achieved their best performance ~10 years earlier in life than female runners.
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spelling pubmed-81248322021-05-17 From Athens to Sparta—37 Years of Spartathlon Knechtle, Beat Gomes, Margarida Scheer, Volker Gajda, Robert Nikolaidis, Pantelis Theodoros Hill, Lee Rosemann, Thomas Sousa, Caio Victor Int J Environ Res Public Health Article (1) Background: Recent studies analyzed the participation and performance trends of historic races such as the oldest ultra-marathon (Comrades) or the oldest 100-km ultra-marathon (Biel). One of the toughest and historic ultra-marathons in the world is the ‘Spartathlon’ (246-km ultra-marathon from Athens to Sparta). The present study aimed to analyze the trends in participation and performance of this race. (2) Methods: Different general linear models were applied as follows: the first model was a two-way ANOVA (Decade × Sex), with separate models for all participants and for only the top five finishers in each race; the second model was a two-way ANOVA (Age Group × Sex); the third model was a two-way ANOVA (Nationality × Sex). (3) Results: Between 1982 and 2019, 3504 ultra-marathoners (3097 men and 407 women) officially finished the Spartathlon at least once. Athletes from Japan were the majority with 737 participants, followed by far by runners from Germany (n = 393), Greece (n = 326), and France (n = 274). The nations with the highest numbers of athletes amongst the top five performers were Japan (n = 71), followed by Germany (n = 59), and Great Britain (n = 31). Runners from the USA were the fastest in men, and runners from Great Britain were the fastest in women. Female and male runners improved performance across the decades. The annual five fastest women and men improved their performance over time. Runners achieved their best performance earlier in life (20–29 and 30–39 years) than female runners (30–39 and 40–49 years). Runners in age group 30–39 years were the fastest for all nationalities, except for Greece. (4) Conclusions: Successful finishers in the Spartathlon improved performance in the last four decades and male runners achieved their best performance ~10 years earlier in life than female runners. MDPI 2021-05-05 /pmc/articles/PMC8124832/ /pubmed/34063017 http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/ijerph18094914 Text en © 2021 by the authors. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).
spellingShingle Article
Knechtle, Beat
Gomes, Margarida
Scheer, Volker
Gajda, Robert
Nikolaidis, Pantelis Theodoros
Hill, Lee
Rosemann, Thomas
Sousa, Caio Victor
From Athens to Sparta—37 Years of Spartathlon
title From Athens to Sparta—37 Years of Spartathlon
title_full From Athens to Sparta—37 Years of Spartathlon
title_fullStr From Athens to Sparta—37 Years of Spartathlon
title_full_unstemmed From Athens to Sparta—37 Years of Spartathlon
title_short From Athens to Sparta—37 Years of Spartathlon
title_sort from athens to sparta—37 years of spartathlon
topic Article
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8124832/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/34063017
http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/ijerph18094914
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