title: Improved Race Times in Marathoners Older than 75 Years in the Last 25 Years in the World's Largest Marathons.
abstract: 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.
authors.affiliation: Institute of Primary Care, University of Zurich, Zurich, Switzerland.
authors.forename: Baschir
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Ahmadyar
authors.affiliation: Institute of Primary Care, University of Zurich, Zurich, Switzerland.
authors.forename: Thomas
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Rosemann
authors.affiliation: Institute of Primary Care, University of Zurich, Zurich, Switzerland.
authors.forename: Christoph Alexander
authors.initials: CA
authors.lastname: Rüst
authors.affiliation: Institute of Primary Care, University of Zurich, Zurich, Switzerland.|Gesundheitszentrum St. Gallen, St. Gallen, Switzerland.
authors.forename: Beat
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Knechtle
mesh_terms: D000367:Age Factors; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D000375:Aging / Q000502:physiology; D054874:Athletic Performance / Q000502:physiology* / Q000706:statistics & numerical data / Q000639:trends*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D010807:Physical Endurance / Q000502:physiology*; D012420:Running / Q000502:physiology* / Q000706:statistics & numerical data / Q000639:trends*; D012727:Sex Characteristics