Women Are Taking Over
That's at least true for the shorter races. In 2005 Austin Freescale Half Marathon, women outnumbered the men by a factor of 1.43. In 2004 it was 1.39.
However, it's almost reverse in the full marathon: men outnumbered women in 2005 by a factor of 1.52 and 1.39 in 2004.
In my previous post I mentioned how it was odd that there was more of a slowdown in 2005 half marathon than in the 2005 full marathon. The weather should have had less of an effect in the half marathon, and thus times between 05 and 04 should have been similar.
The problem was that I left out the men/women numbers in the comparison. This is important since women tend to have slower times (on average) than men.
For example, in 2005 and 2004 half marathons, women were slower than men by a factor of 1.16. This is also very similar to the full marathon: 1.12 in 2005 and 1.14 in 2004.
So comparing 2005 to 2004, the women to men ratio increased in the half marathon but decreased in the full marathon. Thus, the average time for all runners would be expected to increase in 2005 just based on the ratio changes of women to men.
So I think that explains the 2005 half marathon time mystery (probably not as exciting as a murder mystery).
Austin Is Not Alone In These Numbers
What brought this issue to my attention was this Green Bay Press-Gazette article on its city marathon. The race director for that marathon had been looking at the demographics of the 2004 race and found some very interesting trends.
Here's an excerpt from this article:
"When Ryan started looking at the demographics of last year's Cellcom marathon, he was astonished to see the number of twenty-something women who were participating, particularly in the half-marathon and 5K Family Run/Walk, the two events that have shown significant growth.
...
"Among the 4,356 individuals who participated in the three main events in 2004 -- marathon, half-marathon and 5K Family Run/Walk -- men outnumbered women 53 percent to 47 percent, thanks to a 2-1 margin among full marathon competitors.
However, there were more women than men in the half-marathon and 5K Family Run/Walk. The gender gap was especially evident among young adults."
It looks like Austin shares these similar trends. The number of women running the short races are increasing and far outnumber the men. And just like in Green Bay, most of the women are in their twenties and thirties. In this age group for the Austin Half Marathon, women outnumber men by a factor of 1.71 in 2005 and by a factor of 1.73 in 2004.
The article mentions how understanding the demographics can help to understand the motivations of the runners. Here's another excerpt:
"These are runners -- more often women than men -- whose purpose in training isn't to record some unbelievable time, qualify for the Boston Marathon, or beat their neighbor. Rather, it's to fulfill a lifelong goal of completing an endurance run."
Below are all the age stats for the Austin 2005 and 2004 full and half Marathons.
Finally, this Green Bay marathon sounds like a pretty cool race. Runners get to run through Lambeau Field. If you're a Packer fan, this could be for you.
Stats are derived from data posted at the Freescale Austin Marathon site.
However, it's almost reverse in the full marathon: men outnumbered women in 2005 by a factor of 1.52 and 1.39 in 2004.
In my previous post I mentioned how it was odd that there was more of a slowdown in 2005 half marathon than in the 2005 full marathon. The weather should have had less of an effect in the half marathon, and thus times between 05 and 04 should have been similar.
The problem was that I left out the men/women numbers in the comparison. This is important since women tend to have slower times (on average) than men.
For example, in 2005 and 2004 half marathons, women were slower than men by a factor of 1.16. This is also very similar to the full marathon: 1.12 in 2005 and 1.14 in 2004.
So comparing 2005 to 2004, the women to men ratio increased in the half marathon but decreased in the full marathon. Thus, the average time for all runners would be expected to increase in 2005 just based on the ratio changes of women to men.
So I think that explains the 2005 half marathon time mystery (probably not as exciting as a murder mystery).
Austin Is Not Alone In These Numbers
What brought this issue to my attention was this Green Bay Press-Gazette article on its city marathon. The race director for that marathon had been looking at the demographics of the 2004 race and found some very interesting trends.
Here's an excerpt from this article:
"When Ryan started looking at the demographics of last year's Cellcom marathon, he was astonished to see the number of twenty-something women who were participating, particularly in the half-marathon and 5K Family Run/Walk, the two events that have shown significant growth.
...
"Among the 4,356 individuals who participated in the three main events in 2004 -- marathon, half-marathon and 5K Family Run/Walk -- men outnumbered women 53 percent to 47 percent, thanks to a 2-1 margin among full marathon competitors.
However, there were more women than men in the half-marathon and 5K Family Run/Walk. The gender gap was especially evident among young adults."
It looks like Austin shares these similar trends. The number of women running the short races are increasing and far outnumber the men. And just like in Green Bay, most of the women are in their twenties and thirties. In this age group for the Austin Half Marathon, women outnumber men by a factor of 1.71 in 2005 and by a factor of 1.73 in 2004.
The article mentions how understanding the demographics can help to understand the motivations of the runners. Here's another excerpt:
"These are runners -- more often women than men -- whose purpose in training isn't to record some unbelievable time, qualify for the Boston Marathon, or beat their neighbor. Rather, it's to fulfill a lifelong goal of completing an endurance run."
Below are all the age stats for the Austin 2005 and 2004 full and half Marathons.
Finally, this Green Bay marathon sounds like a pretty cool race. Runners get to run through Lambeau Field. If you're a Packer fan, this could be for you.
Austin Half Marathon Number Of Runners:
2005 Number of Women/Men = 1.43
2004 Number of Women/Men = 1.39
Women:
Age Group # 05 # 04 Diff % Diff
--------- ---- ---- ---- ------
teens 61 56 5 9%
twenties 629 546 83 15%
thirties 755 588 167 28%
forties 450 368 82 22%
fifties 180 124 56 45%
sixties+ 36 18 18 100%
--------- ---- ---- ---- ------
Total 2111 1700 411 24%
Men:
Age Group # 05 # 04 Diff % Diff
--------- ---- ---- ---- ------
teens 41 27 14 52%
twenties 291 244 47 19%
thirties 516 411 105 26%
forties 356 355 1 0%
fifties 202 144 58 40%
sixties+ 68 46 22 48%
--------- ---- ---- ---- ------
Total 1474 1227 247 20%
Austin Full Marathon Number Of Runners:
2005 Number of Women/Men = 0.66
2004 Number of Women/Men = 0.72
Women:
Age Group # 05 # 04 Diff % Diff
--------- ---- ---- ---- ------
teens 19 28 -9 -31%
twenties 529 602 -73 -11%
thirties 704 726 -22 -2%
forties 461 529 -68 -12%
fifties 130 145 -15 -9%
sixties+ 18 17 1 6%
--------- ---- ---- ---- ------
Total 1861 2047 -186 -8%
Men:
Age Group # 05 # 04 Diff % Diff
--------- ---- ---- ---- ------
teens 25 31 -6 -18%
twenties 440 460 -20 -3%
thirties 970 985 -15 -1%
forties 855 871 -16 -1%
fifties 437 398 39 10%
sixties+ 92 100 -8 -7%
--------- ---- ---- ---- ------
Total 2819 2845 -26 0%
Stats are derived from data posted at the Freescale Austin Marathon site.
posted by Ken at
6:00 PM
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