Gender Slowdown Comparisons and Green Bay

I received some good input on my last post about my observation that women seem to slow down more than men as they get older. One important factor is the number of walkers who may participate. If there are more older women walkers, this could explain the larger female slowdown. Another comment suggested looking at the top 10 in each age category. That seemed like a good way to reduce the effects of the walkers. So I added two additional times to my Times-by-Age tables: overall median and top-10 mean. The top-10 mean is the mean of the top 10 finishers for the particular age group.

Also, it should be noted that much more race data is needed. So I've also included the stats from last Sunday's Green Bay Marathon (I'll be posting the full Green Bay stats soon). This is still a small sample, but at least it helps.

Top-10 Mean Similar to Overall Mean for Cleveland

Below are the new tables for both marathons. For the Cleveland Marathon, the top-10 means for 20s through 40s age groups have similar slowdowns as the total means. In fact, this slowdown is similar for all four times (mean, median, top-10 mean, and best time). For all cases, women in their 40s are much slower than those in their 20s (around 20 minutes). However, for the men the times between the 20s, 30s, and 40s age groups are much closer. In fact, the top-10 mean times actually decrease with age.

Top-10 Mean Makes a Difference for Green Bay

The Green Bay results seem to complicate the picture. The stats are similar to Cleveland when only looking at the means. Men slow down about 6 minutes from 20s to 40s. Women slow down about 27 minutes from 20s to 40s.

However, things get more complicated when looking at the top-10 means. The men's top-10 mean slowed by about 15 minutes from 20s to 40s. The women, on the other hand, slowed by only about 3 minutes. The 30s age group complicated things even more. For the men the 30s top-10 mean was the fastest. For the women it was the slowest.

Perhaps with more data, there will be a clearer picture. I suppose these stats may be helping to prove Mark Twain's old adage "There are three types of lies: lies, damn lies, and statistics"....

Cleveland Marathon (5/22/05)

Times By Male Age Groups

Ages	#	%	Mean	Median	Top10 Mean	Best
teens	9	1%	4:03:57	3:30:50	4:03:57	2:57:03
twenties	167	15%	4:00:45	3:52:15	2:54:11	2:40:00
thirties	361	32%	3:59:55	3:56:44	2:37:54	2:22:00
forties	341	31%	4:02:12	3:56:44	2:50:27	2:44:50
fifties	194	17%	4:17:21	4:10:18	3:20:18	2:58:02
sixties	35	3%	4:46:28	4:37:18	3:44:33	3:30:43
seventies	6	1%	5:33:15	5:28:26	5:33:15	4:43:54
unknown	1	0%	4:48:01	4:48:01	4:48:01	4:48:01
Total	1114	100%	4:05:49	3:58:37	2:36:54	2:22:00
Fastest Ages (by overall mean)
thirties	361	32%	3:59:55	3:56:44	2:37:54	2:22:00

Times By Female Age Groups

Ages	#	%	Mean	Median	Top10 Mean	Best
teens	8	2%	4:32:32	4:31:43	4:32:32	3:40:11
twenties	171	35%	4:16:55	4:14:27	3:12:42	2:54:53
thirties	157	32%	4:32:40	4:22:37	3:20:16	3:03:54
forties	113	23%	4:34:12	4:26:53	3:32:35	3:09:22
fifties	33	7%	4:53:25	4:52:14	4:01:36	3:25:46
sixties	3	1%	5:43:04	6:16:35	5:43:04	4:34:53
unknown	1	0%	4:12:57	4:12:57	4:12:57	4:12:57
Total	486	100%	4:29:17	4:22:25	3:07:07	2:54:53
Fastest Ages (by overall mean)
twenties	171	35%	4:16:55	4:14:27	3:12:42	2:54:53

The above stats are based on 5/22/05 results from the Rite Aid Cleveland Marathon and 10K results page.

Green Bay Marathon (5/22/05)

Times By Male Age Groups

Ages	#	%	Mean	Median	Top10 Mean	Best
teens	10	2%	4:28:12	4:40:01	4:28:12	3:17:01
twenties	79	13%	3:55:17	3:56:38	2:45:54	2:17:30
thirties	171	28%	3:59:51	3:54:17	2:37:29	2:19:34
forties	205	33%	4:01:09	3:53:55	3:01:00	2:37:45
fifties	101	16%	4:26:24	4:21:14	3:29:30	3:12:31
sixties	23	4%	5:05:03	4:54:59	4:24:39	3:44:06
seventies	2	0%	5:59:09	5:59:09	5:59:09	4:46:27
unknown	24	4%	4:55:30	4:37:16	3:51:35	2:56:09
Total	615	100%	4:09:31	4:03:26	2:28:10	2:17:30
Fastest Ages (by overall mean)
twenties	79	13%	3:55:17	3:56:38	2:45:54	2:17:30

Times By Female Age Groups

Ages	#	%	Mean	Median	Top10 Mean	Best
teens	5	2%	4:29:44	4:42:14	4:29:44	4:06:35
twenties	73	26%	4:16:24	4:18:41	3:17:29	2:52:37
thirties	92	32%	4:23:14	4:16:28	3:24:03	2:40:57
forties	94	33%	4:43:39	4:36:36	3:20:25	2:53:22
fifties	15	5%	5:28:02	5:03:53	4:56:48	3:50:29
sixties	2	1%	4:52:02	4:52:02	4:52:02	4:29:36
seventies	1	0%	6:27:27	6:27:27	6:27:27	6:27:27
unknown	3	1%	4:10:34	4:08:41	4:10:34	4:05:49
Total	285	100%	4:32:15	4:22:26	2:57:56	2:40:57
Fastest Ages (by overall mean)
twenties	73	26%	4:16:24	4:18:41	3:17:29	2:52:37

The above stats are based on 5/22/05 results from the Cellcom Green Bay Marathon results page.