Does The Sex-gap In 100-mile Ultramarathon Performance Decrease With Age?

The sex gap in endurance performance has been reported to decrease with advancing age and race duration. However, whether this is the case for ultramarathon distances is less unclear. PURPOSE: To determine if the sex gap in 100-mile ultra-marathon performance declines with age. We also sought to determine the age of peak 100-mile ultramarathon performance. METHODS: Top 100 North American Running Performances between 2018 and 2022 were pooled and analyzed for 100-mile performances in age groups ranging from 20-29 years to >70 years old and for both males and females. Race times in 2020 were excluded because of reduced participation. Two-Way ANOVA was used to compare the race times for different age groups for each year for male and female runners. Linear regression was determined to identify the age of peak 100-mile ultramarathon performance for male and female runners. RESULTS: 4023 race times from https://ultrarunning.com (1890 women, 2133 men) were analyzed. A Two-Way ANOVA revealed a significant interaction effect between age-group and sex on average race times (p < 0.001), with the fastest age group being 30-39 yrs for women and men (1210.00 ± 129.28 min and 1013.24 ± 95.04 min, respectively) and the slowest age group being ≥70 yrs for women and men (2225.50 ± 569.58 min and 1874.14 ± 358.31, respectively). Race times for women were significantly slower than race times for men in all age groups, with the sex differences for each age group being 21.4% (20-29), 16.3% (30-39), 15.2% (40-49), 15.4% (50-59), 17.1% (60-69), and 15.8% (≥70). Age of peak performance was 39.7 years for men and 40.04 years for women. Average Race Times in minutes for Each Age Group. - 20-29 yrs (n = 800) 30-39 yrs (n = 800) 40-49 yrs (n = 800) 50-59 yrs (n = 800) 60-69 yrs (n = 671) ≥70 yrs (n = 152) Women 1500.76 ± 201.04 1210.00 ± 129.28 1259.64 ± 127.28 1454.83 ± 130.26 1829.25 ± 344.04 2225.50 ± 569.58 Men 1179.89 ± 140.88 1013.24 ± 95.04 1068.31 ± 87.48 1231.38 ± 96.90 1517.31 ± 123.88 1874.14 ± 358.31 CONCLUSION: The performance gap between men and women did not obviously decrease with increasing age. 100-mile performance peaks between 30-39 years of age for both men and women.