Nation related participation and performance trends in 'Ironman Hawaii' from 1985 to 2012

BACKGROUND: This study examined participation and performance trends in 'Ironman Hawaii' regarding the nationality of the finishers. METHODS: Associations between nationalities and race times of 39,706 finishers originating from 124 countries in the 'Ironman Hawaii' from 1985 to 2012 were analyzed using single and multi-level regression analysis. RESULTS: Most of the finishers originated from the United States of America (47.5%) followed by athletes from Germany (11.7%), Japan (7.9%), Australia (6.7%), Canada (5.2%), Switzerland (2.9%), France (2.3%), Great Britain (2.0%), New Zealand (1.9%), and Austria (1.5%). German women showed the fastest increase in finishers (r2=0.83, p0.05). For men, athletes from France showed the steepest increase (r2=0.85, p0.05) and New Zealand (r2=0.02, p>0.05) remained unchanged. Regarding female performance, the largest improvements were achieved by Japanese women (17.3%). The fastest race times in 2012 were achieved by US-American women. Women from Japan, Canada, Germany, Australia, and the United States of America improved race times. For men, the largest improvements were achieved by athletes originating from Brazil (20.9%) whereas the fastest race times in 2012 were achieved by athletes from Germany. Race times for athletes originating from Brazil, Austria, Great Britain, Switzerland, Germany, Australia, Canada, Japan, New Zealand and France decreased. Race times in athletes originating from Australia and the United States of America showed no significant changes. Regarding the fastest race times ever, the fastest women originated from the United States (546+/-7 min) followed by Great Britain (555+/-15 min) and Switzerland (558+/-8 min). In men, the fastest finishers originated from the United States (494+/-7 min), Germany (496+/-6 min) and Australia (497+/-5 min). CONCLUSIONS: The 'Ironman Hawaii' has been dominated by women and men from the United States of America in participation and performance

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

Matthias A Zingg,1 Beat Knechtle,1,2 Thomas Rosemann,1 Christoph A Rüst1 1Institute of Primary Care, University of Zurich, Zurich, Switzerland; 2Gesundheitszentrum St Gallen, St Gallen, Switzerland Abstract: Anecdotal reports have assumed that women would be able to outrun men in long-distance running. The aim of this study was to test this assumption by investigating the changes in performance difference between sexes in the best ultramarathoners in 50-mile, 100-mile, 200-mile, 1,000-mile, and 3,100-mile events held worldwide between 1971 and 2012. The sex differences in running speed for the fastest runners ever were analyzed using one-way analysis of variance with subsequent Tukey–Kramer posthoc analysis. Changes in sex difference in running speed of the annual fastest were analyzed using linear and nonlinear regression analyses, correlation analyses, and mixed-effects regression analyses. The fastest men ever were faster than the fastest women ever in 50-mile (17.5%), 100-mile (17.4%), 200-mile (9.7%), 1,000-mile (20.2%), and 3,100-mile (18.6%) events. For the ten fastest finishers ever, men were faster than women in 50-mile (17.1%±1.9%), 100-mile (19.2%±1.5%), and 1,000-mile (16.7%±1.6%) events. No correlation existed between sex difference and running speed for the fastest ever (r2=0.0039, P=0.91) and the ten fastest ever (r2=0.15, P=0.74) for all distances. For the annual fastest, the sex difference in running speed decreased linearly in 50-mile events from 14.6% to 8.9%, remained unchanged in 100-mile (18.0%±8.4%) and 1,000-mile (13.7%±9.1%) events, and increased in 3,100-mile events from 12.5% to 16.9%. For the annual ten fastest runners, the performance difference between sexes decreased linearly in 50-mile events from 31.6%±3.6% to 8.9%±1.8% and in 100-mile events from 26.0%±4.4% to 24.7%±0.9%. To summarize, the fastest men were ~17%–20% faster than the fastest women for all distances from 50 miles to 3,100 miles. The linear decrease in sex difference for 50-mile and 100-mile events may suggest that women are reducing the sex gap for these distances. Keywords: running, sex difference, running speed, ultraenduranc

What predicts performance in ultra-triathlon races? – a comparison between Ironman distance triathlon and ultra-triathlon

Beat Knechtle,1,2 Matthias Alexander Zingg,1 Thomas Rosemann,1 Michael Stiefel,1 Christoph Alexander Rüst11Institute of Primary Care, University of Zurich, Zurich, Switzerland; 2Gesundheitszentrum St Gallen, St Gallen, Switzerland Objective: This narrative review summarizes recent intentions to find potential predictor variables for ultra-triathlon race performance (ie, triathlon races longer than the Ironman distance covering 3.8 km swimming, 180 km cycling, and 42.195 km running). Results from studies on ultra-triathletes were compared to results on studies on Ironman triathletes. Methods: A literature search was performed in PubMed using the terms “ultra”, “triathlon”, and “performance” for the aspects of “ultra-triathlon”, and “Ironman”, “triathlon”, and “performance” for the aspects of “Ironman triathlon”. All resulting papers were searched for related citations. Results for ultra-triathlons were compared to results for Ironman-distance triathlons to find potential differences. Results: Athletes competing in Ironman and ultra-triathlon differed in anthropometric and training characteristics, where both Ironmen and ultra-triathletes profited from low body fat, but ultra-triathletes relied more on training volume, whereas speed during training was related to Ironman race time. The most important predictive variables for a fast race time in an ultra-triathlon from Double Iron (ie, 7.6 km swimming, 360 km cycling, and 84.4 km running) and longer were male sex, low body fat, age of 35–40 years, extensive previous experience, a fast time in cycling and running but not in swimming, and origins in Central Europe. Conclusion: Any athlete intending to compete in an ultra-triathlon should be aware that low body fat and high training volumes are highly predictive for overall race time. Little is known about the physiological characteristics of these athletes and about female ultra-triathletes. Future studies need to investigate anthropometric and training characteristics of female ultra-triathletes and what motivates women to compete in these races. Future studies need to correlate physiological characteristics such as maximum oxygen uptake (VO2max) with ultra-triathlon race performance in order to investigate whether these characteristics are also predictive for ultra-triathlon race performance. Keywords: swimming, cycling, running, age, experience, ultra-enduranc

Feet swelling in a multistage ultraendurance triathlete: a case study

Beat Knechtle,1 Matthias Alexander Zingg,2 Patrizia Knechtle,1 Thomas Rosemann,2 Christoph Alexander Rüst2 1Gesundheitszentrum St Gallen, St Gallen, 2Institute of Primary Care, University of Zurich, Zurich, Switzerland Abstract: Recent studies investigating ultraendurance athletes showed an association between excessive fluid intake and swelling of the lower limbs such as the feet. To date, this association has been investigated in single-stage ultraendurance races, but not in multistage ultraendurance races. In this case study, we investigated a potential association between fluid intake and feet swelling in a multistage ultraendurance race such as a Deca Iron ultratriathlon with ten Ironman triathlons within 10 consecutive days. A 49-year-old well-experienced ultratriathlete competed in autumn 2013 in the Deca Iron ultratriathlon held in Lonata del Garda, Italy, and finished the race as winner within 129:33 hours:minutes. Changes in body mass (including body fat and lean body mass), foot volume, total body water, and laboratory measurements were assessed. Food and fluid intake during rest and competing were recorded, and energy and fluid turnovers were estimated. During the ten stages, the volume of the feet increased, percentage body fat decreased, creatinine and urea levels increased, hematocrit and hemoglobin values decreased, and plasma [Na+] remained unchanged. The increase in foot volume was significantly and positively related to fluid intake during the stages. The poststage volume of the foot was related to poststage total body water, poststage creatinine, and poststage urea. This case report shows that the volume of the foot increased during the ten stages, and the increase in volume was significantly and positively related to fluid intake during the stages. Furthermore, the poststage volume of the foot was related to poststage total body water, poststage creatinine, and poststage urea. The continuous feet swelling during the race was most probably due to a combination of a high fluid intake and a progressive decline in renal function (ie, continuous increase in creatinine and urea), leading to body fluid retention (ie, increase in total body water). Keywords: swimming, cycling, running, flui