Women pace marathons better than men

“Although men are faster marathon runners than women (due to genetics) they are not the smartest. Women are 18.63% better at pacing.”

This was a conclusion drawn from a new study that explored sex differences in marathon performances.

Danish researcher and founder of runrepeat.com, Jens Jakob Andersen conducted one of the most exhaustive studies of marathon results in history. In total more than 1.8 million results from 131 events were analyzed. Of those, 1.4 million and 420,000 provided specific sex and age information.

Findings of the study included that some 68.5 per cent of all marathon finishers were men while only 31.5 per cent were women. However, when looking at a five year distribution of growth, men’s participation has grown by 21 per cent while women’s had increased by a whopping 33 per cent. This growth is particularly prominent for women 50+ years of age, whose growth is 89.7 per cent, compared to 54.6 per cent among men of the same age. If this trend continues, there may soon be as many women as men on marathon starting lines.

When it came to pacing differences, women were found to be 18.6 per cent better at maintaining an even pace (i.e. running the first and second half of the marathon in the same amount of time). When looking at the results of more frequent 5K and 10K intervals (where available), it was found that men slow down between 17 and 27 per cent more than women. The best age group pacers were those in the 35-39 and 40-44 year age groups, while the worst pacers were those 0-19 and 70+ years.

Interestingly, of all the results analyzed, the fastest age of men’s marathoners was 38. For women, it was 24. The average finish times were 4:21 and 4:41 for men and women respectively, meaning that overall, men are about seven per cent faster than women.

The study concludes with some excellent advice on how to improve your marathon result (and experience).

• Start slow/run slower than what feels easy/natural.
• Don’t get too excited (by the crowds).
• Run your own race/pace and don’t compete with others.
• If you aren’t hitting your goal pace, slow down immediately and re-adjust to a pace you can maintain.
• Some of your training should consist of running at goal marathon pace to learn what it feels like.