London Marathon Stats

I've put together the stats for the top 100 men and women in yesterday's London Marathon. The top 100 men averaged 2:25:23. The top 100 women averaged 2:52:30.

Also, I've compared the average times yesterday with the 2004 and 2003 London Marathon average times. The women's average times have decreased by almost a minute from last year and by almost 5 minutes from 2003. The men's average, however, went up by almost 2 minutes from last year. Compared to 2003, it was just over 1.5 minutes faster.

Once again, the weather was great. The temperature at 10:20am was 50°F with humidity of 58%. Winds were light and the skies were clear. So the temperature shouldn't be a major factor hurting the times.

One thing I found interesting about the race was that they started the elite women first. This prevented male pace runners for Radcliffe and the other top women. So Radcliffe's winning time of 2:17:42 was a world record for a women's-only race. In 2003 she set the world record of 2:15:25 when she ran with the men.

Should there be separate races for men and women? It's not like the women use the men for drafting. What's the difference in using a person to pace yourself versus using your watch? I suppose you do get some psychological lift when you're running with someone faster than you. Maybe that's the reason the men's average time was worse this year. Perhaps many had used the top women to set their pace in the previous races.

Comparisons for Last Three London Marathons

Top 100 Male Averages:
2005 : 2:25:23
2004 : 2:23:32
2003 : 2:26:59

Top 100 Female Averages:
2005 : 2:52:30
2004 : 2:53:18
2003 : 2:57:23

London Marathon, April 17, 2005

Stats for the Top 100 Male Runners

Average time : 2:25:23

Number of Male Runners Who Ran:
under 2:10 :   6
under 2:15 :  13
under 2:20 :  25
under 2:30 :  61
under 2:40 : 100+

Stats for the Top 100 Female Runners

Average time : 2:52:30

Number of Female Runners Who Ran:
under 2:30 :   8
under 2:45 :  25
under 3:00 :  65
under 3:15 : 100+

Stats are based on results from the Flora London Marathon results page.

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