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Trends in Participation, Sex Differences and Age of Peak Performance in Time-Limited Ultramarathon Events: A Secular Analysis

Background and Objectives: Increases in the number of participants in time-limited ultra-marathons have been reported. However, no information is available regarding the trends in participation, performance and age in 12 h and 24 h time-limited events. The aim of the study was to describe the trends...

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Autores principales: Thuany, Mabliny, Gomes, Thayse Natacha, Villiger, Elias, Weiss, Katja, Scheer, Volker, Nikolaidis, Pantelis T., Knechtle, Beat
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: MDPI 2022
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8952003/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/35334541
http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/medicina58030366
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author Thuany, Mabliny
Gomes, Thayse Natacha
Villiger, Elias
Weiss, Katja
Scheer, Volker
Nikolaidis, Pantelis T.
Knechtle, Beat
author_facet Thuany, Mabliny
Gomes, Thayse Natacha
Villiger, Elias
Weiss, Katja
Scheer, Volker
Nikolaidis, Pantelis T.
Knechtle, Beat
author_sort Thuany, Mabliny
collection PubMed
description Background and Objectives: Increases in the number of participants in time-limited ultra-marathons have been reported. However, no information is available regarding the trends in participation, performance and age in 12 h and 24 h time-limited events. The aim of the study was to describe the trends in runners’ participation, performance and age in 12 h and 24 h ultra-marathons for both sexes and to identify the age of peak performance, taking into account the ranking position and age categories. Materials and Methods: The sample comprised 210,455 runners in time-limited ultra-marathons (female 12 h = 23,706; female 24 h = 28,585; male 12 h = 61,594; male 24 h = 96,570) competing between 1876 and 2020 and aged 18 to 86 years. The age of peak performance was tested according to their ranking position (first–third; fourth–tenth and >tenth position) and taking into account their running speed in different age categories (<30 years; 31–40 years; 41–50 years; 51–60 years; >60 years), using the Kruskal–Wallis test, followed by the Bonferroni adjustment. Results: An increase in the number of participants and a decrease in running speed were observed across the years. For both events, the sex differences in performance decreased over time. The sex differences showed that male runners performed better than female runners, but the lowest differences in recent years were observed in the 24 h ultra-marathons. A positive trend in age across the years was found with an increase in mean age (“before 1989” = 40.33 ± 10.07 years; “1990–1999” = 44.16 ± 10.37 years; “2000–2009” = 45.99 ± 10.33 years; “2010–2020” = 45.62 ± 10.80 years). Male runners in 24 h races were the oldest (46.13 ± 10.83 years), while female runners in 12 h races were the youngest (43.46 ± 10.16 years). Athletes ranked first–third position were the youngest (female 12 h = 41.19 ± 8.87 years; female 24 h = 42.19 ± 8.50 years; male 12 h = 42.03 ± 9.40 years; male 24 h = 43.55 ± 9.03 years). When age categories were considered, the best performance was found for athletes aged between 41 and 50 years (female 12 h 6.48 ± 1.74 km/h; female 24 h 5.64 ± 1.68 km/h; male 12 h 7.19 ± 1.90 km/h; male 24 h 6.03 ± 1.78 km/h). Conclusion: A positive trend in participation in 12 h and 24 h ultra-marathons was shown across the years; however, athletes were becoming slower and older. The fastest athletes were the youngest ones, but when age intervals were considered, the age of peak performance was between 41 and 50 years.
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spelling pubmed-89520032022-03-26 Trends in Participation, Sex Differences and Age of Peak Performance in Time-Limited Ultramarathon Events: A Secular Analysis Thuany, Mabliny Gomes, Thayse Natacha Villiger, Elias Weiss, Katja Scheer, Volker Nikolaidis, Pantelis T. Knechtle, Beat Medicina (Kaunas) Article Background and Objectives: Increases in the number of participants in time-limited ultra-marathons have been reported. However, no information is available regarding the trends in participation, performance and age in 12 h and 24 h time-limited events. The aim of the study was to describe the trends in runners’ participation, performance and age in 12 h and 24 h ultra-marathons for both sexes and to identify the age of peak performance, taking into account the ranking position and age categories. Materials and Methods: The sample comprised 210,455 runners in time-limited ultra-marathons (female 12 h = 23,706; female 24 h = 28,585; male 12 h = 61,594; male 24 h = 96,570) competing between 1876 and 2020 and aged 18 to 86 years. The age of peak performance was tested according to their ranking position (first–third; fourth–tenth and >tenth position) and taking into account their running speed in different age categories (<30 years; 31–40 years; 41–50 years; 51–60 years; >60 years), using the Kruskal–Wallis test, followed by the Bonferroni adjustment. Results: An increase in the number of participants and a decrease in running speed were observed across the years. For both events, the sex differences in performance decreased over time. The sex differences showed that male runners performed better than female runners, but the lowest differences in recent years were observed in the 24 h ultra-marathons. A positive trend in age across the years was found with an increase in mean age (“before 1989” = 40.33 ± 10.07 years; “1990–1999” = 44.16 ± 10.37 years; “2000–2009” = 45.99 ± 10.33 years; “2010–2020” = 45.62 ± 10.80 years). Male runners in 24 h races were the oldest (46.13 ± 10.83 years), while female runners in 12 h races were the youngest (43.46 ± 10.16 years). Athletes ranked first–third position were the youngest (female 12 h = 41.19 ± 8.87 years; female 24 h = 42.19 ± 8.50 years; male 12 h = 42.03 ± 9.40 years; male 24 h = 43.55 ± 9.03 years). When age categories were considered, the best performance was found for athletes aged between 41 and 50 years (female 12 h 6.48 ± 1.74 km/h; female 24 h 5.64 ± 1.68 km/h; male 12 h 7.19 ± 1.90 km/h; male 24 h 6.03 ± 1.78 km/h). Conclusion: A positive trend in participation in 12 h and 24 h ultra-marathons was shown across the years; however, athletes were becoming slower and older. The fastest athletes were the youngest ones, but when age intervals were considered, the age of peak performance was between 41 and 50 years. MDPI 2022-03-01 /pmc/articles/PMC8952003/ /pubmed/35334541 http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/medicina58030366 Text en © 2022 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
Thuany, Mabliny
Gomes, Thayse Natacha
Villiger, Elias
Weiss, Katja
Scheer, Volker
Nikolaidis, Pantelis T.
Knechtle, Beat
Trends in Participation, Sex Differences and Age of Peak Performance in Time-Limited Ultramarathon Events: A Secular Analysis
title Trends in Participation, Sex Differences and Age of Peak Performance in Time-Limited Ultramarathon Events: A Secular Analysis
title_full Trends in Participation, Sex Differences and Age of Peak Performance in Time-Limited Ultramarathon Events: A Secular Analysis
title_fullStr Trends in Participation, Sex Differences and Age of Peak Performance in Time-Limited Ultramarathon Events: A Secular Analysis
title_full_unstemmed Trends in Participation, Sex Differences and Age of Peak Performance in Time-Limited Ultramarathon Events: A Secular Analysis
title_short Trends in Participation, Sex Differences and Age of Peak Performance in Time-Limited Ultramarathon Events: A Secular Analysis
title_sort trends in participation, sex differences and age of peak performance in time-limited ultramarathon events: a secular analysis
topic Article
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8952003/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/35334541
http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/medicina58030366
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