We aimed to analyze sex differences in time-limited ultramarathon participation, while also identifying trends in participation, age, and performance across different formats of events, from 1990 to 2020. This is an exploratory study, using data obtained from the official event web pages. We downloaded information regarding the year of the event, athletes' year of birth, sex, race event, ranking, and mean running speed (km/h).
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground: Antarctic expeditions, although supported by scientific knowledge, face various challenges, with little research conducted to explore the physical demands that explorers experience.
Objective: To summarise physiological, psychological, body composition and nutritional changes faced during trek expeditions in the Antarctic's continental portion.
Design: Systematic review.
Objective: Ultra-marathon running races are held as distance-limited or time-limited events, ranging from 6 h to 10 days. Only a few runners compete in 10-day events, and so far, we have little knowledge about the athletes' origins, performance, and event characteristics. The aim of the present study was to investigate the origin and performance of these runners and the fastest race locations.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFDepression is an important public health issue. In the general adult population about 6.7% are affected.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFExtensive research has delved into the impact of environmental circumstances on the pacing and performance of professional marathon runners. However, the effects of environmental conditions on the pacing strategies employed by marathon participants in general remain relatively unexplored. This study aimed to examine the potential associations between various environmental factors, encompassing temperature, barometric pressure, humidity, precipitation, sunshine, cloud cover, wind speed, and dew point, and the pacing behavior of men and women.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFInt J Sports Physiol Perform
November 2024
The present study intended to determine the nationality of the fastest 100-mile ultra-marathoners and the country/events where the fastest 100-mile races are held. A machine learning model based on the XG Boost algorithm was built to predict the running speed from the athlete's age (Age group), gender (Gender), country of origin (Athlete country) and where the race occurred (Event country). Model explainability tools were then used to investigate how each independent variable influenced the predicted running speed.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFIntroduction: Antarctic expeditions present exceptional physiological and mental challenges. Research data are lacking on psychological aspects of such endeavours. The aim of our study is to provide data on changes in mood, well-being, personality traits and personal experiences during an Antarctica crossing.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFParticipation in marathons has dramatically increased over the last few years. Marathon running has many proven beneficial effects, especially on cardiovascular health and fitness. Most research has focused on physiologic and pathophysiologic adaptations in connection with endurance exercise.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFThe 50-km ultra-marathon is a popular race distance, slightly longer than the classic marathon distance. However, little is known about the country of affiliation and age of the fastest 50-km ultra-marathon runners and where the fastest races are typically held. Therefore, this study aimed to investigate a large dataset of race records for the 50-km distance race to identify the country of affiliation and the age of the fastest runners as well as the locations of the fastest races.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFThis study aimed to investigate the trends of finishers in the São Silvestre race in Brazil, taking into account sex, age, and performance levels. A total of 31 775 runners (women, = 13 847; men, = 17 928), aged (45.2 ± 16.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground: Ultramarathon running is the most popular ultraendurance competition in terms of the number of races and runners competing annually worldwide; however, no study has compared pacing and performance over a long period.
Objective: This study analyzes the pacing of successful finishers and nonfinishers in multistage ultramarathons worldwide.
Methods: A total of 4079 athletes (men=3288; women=791) competing in 99 multistage ultramarathon events from 1983 to 2021 were analyzed, including the number of participants, age, gender, rank, and running speed of successful finishers.
Background: Among ultra-endurance runners (UER), the mental, behavioral, and physical demands of training/competition can result in maladaptive outcomes. Mental health issues are common in athletes and can impact psychology, physical health, and performance.
Objective: To synthesize information regarding the incidence/prevalence and factors associated with mental health issues among UER.
Recent studies showed that female runners reduced the performance gap to male runners in endurance running with increasing age and race distance. However, the investigated samples were generally small. To investigate this further, the present study examined sex differences by age across various race distances (5, 10 km, half-marathon, marathon, and ultra-marathon) using a large dataset of over 1,100,000 race records from Switzerland over two decades (1999-2019).
View Article and Find Full Text PDFSports performance is the result of a complex interaction between individual and environmental factors. The purpose of this paper is to explain the methods used in the InTrack Project, a cross-sectional and cross-cultural project developed to investigate the variance in the performance of runners from different countries and to understand whether the differences in the performance can be explained by micro-level (athletes characteristics and proximal environment), meso-level (the distal environment that plays a relevant role on the relationships established at micro-level), and the macro-level (environmental features that shape countries characteristics). The sample will be comprised of runners, of both sexes, from four countries.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground: Running participation/performance is a complex system. Understanding the variables associated with these behaviors may help to increase population physical activity and improve performance. This study aimed to investigate social and training variables important for running performance using a network approach.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFThe purposes of this study were (i) to describe differences in participation in 100-mile ultra-marathons by continent; (ii) to investigate differences in performance between continents; and (iii) to identify the fastest runners by continent and country. Data from 148,169 athletes (119,408 men), aged 18-81 years, and finishers in a 100-miles ultra-marathon during 1870-2020 were investigated. Information about age, gender, origin, performance level (top three, top 10, top 100) was obtained.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFIt is well known that weather and pacing have an influence on elite marathon performance. However, there is limited knowledge about the effect of weather on running speed in elite marathoners. The aim of the present cross-sectional study was to investigate potential associations between running speed and weather variables in elite runners competing in the 'New York City Marathon' between 1999 and 2019.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFThis study aims to investigate the fear or failure (FoF) in Brazilian runners of both sex, performance levels and age categories, as well as to verify the relationship between FoF and socioeconomic status (SES). Sample size as composed by 916. Age, sex, body height, body weight, SES, and running pace were self-reported.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFThe two aspects of the influence of environmental conditions on marathon running performance and pacing during a marathon have been separately and widely investigated. The influence of environmental conditions on the pacing of age group marathoners has, however, not been considered yet. The aim of the present study was to investigate the association between environmental conditions (i.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground: Pacing has been investigated in different kinds of ultra-marathon races, but not in one of the toughest ultra-marathons in the world, the 'Spartathlon'.
Objective: The aim of the present study was to analyse the pacing of female and male finishers competing in the 'Spartathlon' in regards to their age and performance groups.
Methods: A total of 2598 runners (2255 men and 343 women) finishing 'Spartathlon' between 2011 and 2019 were analysed.