Marathon Times by Age

In this month's Freescale Marathon, I wanted to find the average finish times by age. And then I wanted to compare these average time to last year's. What are the average finish times? And how did they change?

As previous results show, this year's marathon was tough due to the high temperature and humidity. 39 age groups ran slower than last year while only 20 ran faster.

If your marathon time is between 4 and 5 hours, you're pretty average, unless you're over 60. I'm amazed at the average times of the 50+ runners. There are many 50 to 70 year olds who ran the marathon in under 5 hours.

I'm not sure if you can take as fact the finish times of some of the very old runners. I suppose runners may put down old ages for the fun of it. But if these times are real, they would be impressive. For example, in 2004, two 70 year olds averaged 3:34:35 finish times. I checked the stats and confirmed this. One finished at 3:22:42 and the other finished at 3:46:28. In 2005, the most impressive old-age result is a 79 year old runner who finished in 5:31:18.

And here are the numbers:

Year: 2004
               Average
    Number At  Finish
Age That Age   Times
--- ---------  -------
13     1       4:06:05          
14     1       5:48:18          
15     3       5:42:44          
16     3       4:50:44          
17     8       4:02:09          
18    15       4:35:56          
19    28       4:08:57          
20    54       4:30:26          
21    52       4:34:02          
22    69       4:32:56          
23    81       4:38:15          
24   112       4:24:27          
25   119       4:32:14          
26   119       4:32:40          
27   138       4:26:15          
28   143       4:35:50          
29   175       4:27:19          
30   142       4:31:51          
31   143       4:27:18          
32   163       4:27:27          
33   198       4:25:02          
34   185       4:19:53          
35   180       4:21:58          
36   173       4:19:56          
37   162       4:17:55          
38   195       4:14:27          
39   168       4:19:54          
40   207       4:21:06          
41   188       4:24:08          
42   153       4:14:44          
43   133       4:21:46          
44   133       4:19:27          
45   134       4:25:10          
46   142       4:28:28          
47   121       4:29:58          
48    86       4:32:54          
49   102       4:49:38          
50    93       4:42:07          
51    88       4:37:06          
52    60       4:34:39          
53    55       5:02:14          
54    67       4:32:41          
55    51       4:53:30          
56    48       4:39:14          
57    40       4:50:57          
58    14       4:53:35          
59    28       5:19:17          
60    25       4:55:30          
61    14       5:14:47          
62    12       5:08:43          
63    11       4:49:16          
64     8       4:53:32          
65    13       4:49:59          
66     5       4:36:30          
67     5       5:03:21          
68     4       4:53:13          
69     7       5:48:18          
70     2       3:34:35          
71     2       5:41:13          
72     4       4:41:08          
74     1       6:48:19          
75     2       5:59:02          
79     1       7:34:39          
83     1       8:05:44          

Year: 2005
               Average   Changes
    Number At  Finish    From Last
Age That Age   Times     Year
--- ---------  -------   -------
15     2       4:57:28    -45:16
16     6       4:44:51    -05:53
17     4       4:13:03     10:54
18     7       4:23:54    -12:02
19    22       4:27:47     18:50
20    35       4:33:12     02:46
21    49       4:30:12    -03:50
22    57       4:30:21    -02:35
23    59       4:41:00     02:45
24    92       4:40:18     15:51
25   117       4:34:49     02:35
26   130       4:30:32    -02:08
27   126       4:42:53     16:38
28   143       4:38:32     02:42
29   129       4:42:41     15:22
30   130       4:35:49     03:58
31   150       4:32:48     05:30
32   149       4:30:07     02:40
33   162       4:36:02     11:00
34   183       4:30:21     10:28
35   180       4:35:50     13:52
36   161       4:26:45     06:49
37   172       4:30:43     12:48
38   159       4:31:40     17:13
39   181       4:31:18     11:24
40   162       4:17:54    -03:12
41   153       4:32:24     08:16
42   156       4:26:37     11:53
43   132       4:27:38     05:52
44   136       4:24:30     05:03
45   122       4:34:20     09:10
46   103       4:30:59     02:31
47   124       4:37:30     07:32
48    93       4:31:06    -01:48
49    84       4:33:53    -15:45
50   110       4:39:30    -02:37
51    86       4:38:07     01:01
52    66       4:37:29     02:50
53    55       4:52:16    -09:58
54    60       4:54:23     21:42
55    43       4:29:58    -23:32
56    40       4:48:17     09:03
57    44       5:01:50     10:53
58    27       4:52:46    -00:49
59    20       4:46:09    -33:08
60    24       4:51:00    -04:30
61    10       5:19:01     04:14
62    12       5:37:36     28:53
63    16       5:37:47     48:31
64     3       4:50:51    -02:41
65     7       5:23:24     33:25
66    13       5:30:12     53:42
67     3       4:34:12    -29:09
68     2       6:05:29   1:12:16
69     4       5:02:20    -45:58
70     3       5:51:28   2:16:53
72     3       6:04:32   1:23:24
73     2       4:16:26          
74     1       6:28:27    -19:52
79     1       5:31:18  -2:03:21
80     1       7:49:40          

Number of age groups finishing faster in 2005 = 20
Number of age groups finishing slower in 2005 = 39

Note 1: Negative "Changes From Last Year" mean the
runners ran faster in 2005.
Note 2: Finish times were used instead of chip times.