Performance differences between sexes in 50-mile to 3,100-mile ultramarathons

Figures & data

Table 1 Number of events held during the period 1971–2012

Distance	Year when the first event was held	Number of events held in the first year	Number of events held in 2012
50 miles	1971	2	52
100 miles	1974	1	111
200 miles	2012	1	3
1,000 miles	1984	1	1
3,100 miles	2003	1	1
Overall		6	168

Table 2 Total number of female, male, and overall finishers up to and including 2012, by sex and distance

Finishers per distance	Women	Men	Overall
50 miles	18,688 (22.3%)	65,216 (77.7%)	83,904
100 miles	8,108 (18.2%)	36,519 (81.8%)	44,627
200 miles	3 (12.0%)	22 (88.0%)	25
1,000 miles	31 (33.3%)	62 (66.7%)	93
3,100 miles	7 (10.0%)	63 (90.0%)	70
Overall	26,837 (20.8%)	101,882 (79.2%)	128,719

Table 3 Male and female finishers for each distance from 1971–2012

Distance (miles)	50	100	200	1,000	3,100
Number of races	1,129	860	5	29	10
Number of finishers	83,904	44,627	25	92	70
Number of male finishers	65,216	36,519	22	61	63
Number of female finishers	18,688	8,108	3	31	7
Number of male finishers per race	57.76	42.46	4.40	2.10	6.30
Number of female finishers per race	16.55	9.43	0.60	1.07	0.70

Table 4 The number of women, men, and the men-to-women ratio for each distance across calendar years

Year	50 miles			100 miles			200 miles			1,000 miles			3,100 miles
	W	M	M/W	W	M	M/W	W	M	M/W	W	M	M/W	W	M	M/W
1971		16
1972		4
1973		28
1974		32			1
1975		27
1976		34			1
1977	4	36	9		3
1978		70		1	29	29
1979	6	64	11	6	112	19
1980	2	58	29	15	129	9
1981	13	159	12	18	128	7
1982	28	379	14	17	159	9
1983	25	366	15	35	175	5
1984	25	382	15	31	227	7
1985	33	408	12	25	161	6
1986	48	378	8	34	279	8					5
1987	42	317	8	23	238	10
1988	58	372	6	40	345	9				1	5	5
1989	61	458	8	62	370	6				3	6	2
1990	75	444	6	65	359	6
1991	67	473	7	62	289	5
1992	79	534	7	35	278	8
1993	67	482	7	68	351	5				4	4	1
1994	79	591	7	56	341	6				4	2	1
1995	143	814	6	66	355	5					1
1996	178	964	5	133	837	6				2	9	5
1997	289	1,408	5	145	1,040	7				3	3	1
1998	319	1,621	5	242	1,180	5				1	6	6
1999	354	1,809	5	220	1,097	5				1	1	1
2000	342	1,642	5	241	1,247	5				3	2	1
2001	419	1,692	4	284	1,245	4				2	2	1
2002	478	1,777	4	260	1,188	5				1	1	1
2003	581	1,985	3	322	1,398	4				3	1			4
2004	523	1,859	4	361	1,474	4								8
2005	700	2,321	3	360	1,557	4							1	1	1
2006	964	3,051	3	401	1,776	4					6			14
2007	1,166	3,599	3	480	1,980	4							1	1	1
2008	1,349	4,108	3	469	1,991	4								11
2009	1,915	5,853	3	660	2,613	4								11
2010	2,452	7,537	3	809	3,331	4		2		3	5	2		6
2011	2,859	8,964	3	926	3,760	4		1						8
2012	3,524	10,275	3	1,193	4,857	4	3	19	6		1			6
Mean			7			7			6			2			1

Abbreviations: M, men; M/W, men-to-women ratio; W, women.

Figure 1 Running speed across calendar years from 50-mile to 3,100-mile events for the annual fastest runners.

Notes: (A–D) Women. (E–H) Men.

Table 5 Coefficients and standard errors from multivariate regression models for running speed of the annual fastest runners for each calendar year

	C	SE	P-value
Intercept	−44.47	9.77	<0.001
Sex (female)	−1.51	0.15	<0.001
Year	0.026	0.0048	<0.001
Distance
3,100 miles	−6.38	0.35	<0.001
1,000 miles	−5.55	0.25	<0.001
100 miles	−1.60	0.16	<0.001
Age
Linear	0.019	0.015	0.193
Squared	0.002	0.001	0.193
Interaction sex × distance
Female × 3,100 miles	0.698	0.660	0.292
Female × 1,000 miles	0.993	0.311	0.002
Female × 100 miles	0.148	0.022	0.460
Interaction distance × age linear
3,100 miles × age	0.057	0.167	0.734
1,000 miles × age	−0.009	0.020	0.633
100 miles × age	0.006	0.017	0.702
Interaction distance × age^2
3,100 miles × age^2	−0.006	0.010	0.535
1,000 miles × age^2	−0.003	0.002	0.067
100 miles × age^2	−0.002	0.002	0.352
Interaction sex × age
Female × age	−0.014	0.015	0.325
Interaction sex × age^2
Female × age^2	0.0007	0.0012	0.560

Abbreviations: C, coefficient; SE, standard error.

Figure 2 Running speed across calendar years from 50-mile and 100-mile events for the annual ten fastest runners.

Notes: (A and B) Women. (C and D) Men.

Table 6 Coefficients and standard errors from multivariate regression models for running speed of the annual ten fastest runners for each calendar year

	C	SE	P-value
Intercept	−62.31	4.14	<0.0001
Sex (female)	−1.51	0.059	<0.0001
Year	0.035	0.0020	<0.0001
Distance
100 miles	−1.82	0.051	<0.0001
Age
Linear	−0.0036	0.0048	0.451
Squared	−0.00017	0.00051	0.734
Interaction sex × distance
Female × 100 miles	0.196	0.650	0.003
Interaction distance × age linear
100 miles × age	0.015	0.0050	0.002
Interaction distance × age^2
100 miles × age^2	−0.00053	0.00053	0.316
Interaction sex × age
Female × age	−0.0022	0.0054	0.688
Interaction sex × age^2
Female × age^2	0.00069	0.00055	0.213

Abbreviations: C, coefficient; SE, standard error.

Figure 3 Sex differences across calendar years from 50-mile (A), 100-mile (B), 1,000-mile (C), and 3,100-mile (D) events for the annual fastest runners.

Figure 4 Sex differences across calendar years in 50-mile and 100-mile events for the annual ten fastest runners.

Table 7 Coefficients and standard errors from multivariate regression models for sex differences of the annual fastest runners for each calendar year

	C	SE	P-value
Intercept	669.81	179.87	<0.001
Year	−0.32	0.90	0.001
Distance
3,100 miles	−45.55	20.33	0.001
1,000 miles	−4.57	3.22	0.159
100 miles	1.43	1.92	0.458
Age
Linear	0.12	0.35	0.973
Squared	−0.15	0.64	0.811
Interaction distance × age linear
3,100 miles × age	12.00	4.70	0.018
1,000 miles × age	−0.56	0.54	0.299
100 miles × age	0.20	0.45	0.653
Interaction distance × age^2
3,100 miles × age^2	−0.57	0.26	0.045
1,000 miles × age^2	0.08	0.72	0.222
100 miles × age^2	0.01	0.75	0.792

Abbreviations: C, coefficient; SE, standard error.

Table 8 Coefficients and standard errors from multivariate regression models for sex differences of the annual ten fastest runners for each calendar year

	C	SE	P-value
Intercept	638.63	48.71	<0.0001
Year	−0.31	0.024	<0.0001
Distance
100 miles	0.960	0.500	0.0056
Age
Linear	−0.0190	0.0620	0.750
Squared	−0.0042	0.0092	0.642
Interaction distance × age linear
100 miles × age	0.0027	0.083	0.974
Interaction distance × age^2
100 miles × age^2	0.0092	0.011	0.427

Abbreviations: C, coefficient; SE, standard error.

Figure 5 Running speeds from 50-mile to 3,100-mile events.

Notes: (A) Fastest runner ever. (B) Ten fastest runners ever. (C) All finishers. ****P<0.0001.
Abbreviation: NS, nonsignificant.

Figure 6 Sex difference in running speed from 50-mile to 3,100-mile events.

Notes: (A) Fastest runner ever. (B) Ten fastest runners ever. *P<0.05; **P<0.01.
Abbreviation: NS, nonsignificant.

Figure 7 Sex differences in relation to running speed from 50-mile to 3,100-mile events.

Notes: (A) Fastest runners ever. (B) Ten fastest runners ever.