Half Marathons and the Flying Pig

After doing some research into half marathons, I found out that this may be a good week to begin looking at half marathons since the grand daddy of them will be in Indianapolis this Saturday. It's the OneAmerica 500 Festival Mini-Marathon. According to Running USA, the Indy Mini-Marathon had 22475 total finishers in 2003 which was way past its nearest rival, Rock'n' Roll Half Marathon of Virginia Beach which had 12343 finishers. The Country Music Half Marathon was third with 7228 finishers.

This Detroit Free Press article has some interesting info on half marathon trends. It mentions how the growth of half marathons are being helped by adding them to full marathon events. The Flying Pig Marathon is one good example of this. This was the first year that the Flying Pig included a half marathon. And the half had about the same number of finishers as the full (full, 3740 vs. half, 3729). In 2004, the Pig had 4348 marathon finishers. In 2003, it had 3825. So it looks like the half may be helping the overall participation. It would be interesting to see how many of this year's half marathon runners had run the full Pig Marathon last year. Do half marathons attract more former marathon runners or newbies?

2005 Flying Pig Half Marathon

Below are the basic stats on the Half Pig. Again, women outnumber the men in the half. There were 1443 male finishers vs. 2284 female finishers (female/male ratio of 1.58). The full marathon was almost opposite of this with 2270 males to 1467 females (male/female ratio of 1.55).

One other thing that I noticed was that the half didn't attract as many out-of-state runners. Only 38% of runners were outside of Ohio. The marathon had 48%. Perhaps the full marathons attract more serious runners who are more likely to travel long distances. The total average times also seem to show more recreational runners in the half. The male average for the half was 2:10:14 while for the full it was 4:17:45. The female average for the half was 2:31:51 while for the full it was 4:54:42. In both cases, the marathon runners had faster average paces.

Total Runners by Times

under 1:30	1:30 to 2:00	2:00 to 2:30	over 2:30
37 (1%)	904 (24%)	1611 (43%)	1177 (32%)

Male Runners by Times - Move mouse over cells to see median times. Top 3 times also shown in left columns.

Ages	under 1:30	1:30 to 2:00	2:00 to 2:30	over 2:30
18-29	8 (3%)	101 (43%)	94 (40%)	31 (13%)
30-39	11 (3%)	174 (48%)	144 (40%)	32 (9%)
40-49	3 (1%)	177 (47%)	154 (41%)	39 (10%)
50-59	1 (0%)	61 (30%)	90 (45%)	49 (24%)
60-69	0 (0%)	7 (15%)	25 (52%)	16 (33%)
70-79	0 (0%)	1 (25%)	2 (50%)	1 (25%)
unknown	9 (4%)	43 (19%)	92 (41%)	78 (35%)
Total	32 (2%)	564 (39%)	601 (42%)	246 (17%)

Female Runners by Times - Move mouse over cells to see median times. Top 3 times also shown in left columns.

Ages	under 1:30	1:30 to 2:00	2:00 to 2:30	over 2:30
18-29	0 (0%)	106 (19%)	344 (60%)	119 (21%)
30-39	0 (0%)	125 (20%)	314 (51%)	174 (28%)
40-49	0 (0%)	80 (17%)	229 (50%)	149 (33%)
50-59	0 (0%)	9 (6%)	63 (43%)	74 (51%)
60-69	0 (0%)	1 (4%)	7 (28%)	17 (68%)
70-79	0 (0%)	0 (0%)	1 (25%)	3 (75%)
unknown	5 (1%)	19 (4%)	50 (11%)	395 (84%)
Total	5 (0%)	340 (15%)	1008 (44%)	931 (41%)

Average/Best Times By Age Groups (Male and Female)

Ages	Number	Percent	Mean Time	Best Time
18-29	803	22%	2:14:17	1:23:09
30-39	974	26%	2:14:06	1:20:20
40-49	831	22%	2:15:44	1:26:31
50-59	347	9%	2:26:20	1:26:25
60-69	73	2%	2:32:35	1:46:42
70-79	8	0%	2:30:17	1:55:07
unknown	693	19%	2:54:04	1:15:37
Total	3729	100%	2:23:28	1:15:37
Fastest Ages (by average)
30-39	974	26%	2:14:06	1:20:20

Average/Best Times By Male Age Groups

Ages	Number	Percent	Mean Time	Best Time
18-29	234	16%	2:04:47	1:23:09
30-39	361	25%	2:03:02	1:20:20
40-49	373	26%	2:05:25	1:26:31
50-59	201	14%	2:16:38	1:26:25
60-69	48	3%	2:27:11	1:46:42
70-79	4	0%	2:18:43	1:55:07
unknown	222	15%	2:26:05	1:15:37
Total	1443	100%	2:10:14	1:15:37
Fastest Ages (by average)
30-39	361	25%	2:03:02	1:20:20

Average/Best Times By Female Age Groups

Ages	Number	Percent	Mean Time	Best Time
18-29	569	25%	2:18:11	1:35:01
30-39	613	27%	2:20:37	1:32:33
40-49	458	20%	2:24:08	1:34:57
50-59	146	6%	2:39:41	1:48:29
60-69	25	1%	2:42:55	1:54:11
70-79	4	0%	2:41:52	2:27:37
unknown	469	21%	3:07:32	1:23:02
Total	2284	100%	2:31:51	1:23:02
Fastest Ages (by average)
18-29	569	25%	2:18:11	1:35:01

Average/Best Times By Cities (cutoff=20)

City	Number	Percent	Mean Time	Best Time
BEAVERCREEK, OH	24	1%	2:39:21	1:47:42
BURLINGTON, KY	20	1%	2:25:48	1:59:31
CENTERVILLE, OH	27	1%	2:27:01	1:38:01
CHICAGO, IL	35	1%	2:10:06	1:34:38
CINCINNATI, OH	1124	30%	2:22:58	1:17:16
COLUMBUS, OH	44	1%	2:20:25	1:29:31
COVINGTON, KY	25	1%	2:21:10	1:33:19
DAYTON, OH	72	2%	2:33:14	1:32:21
DUBLIN, OH	20	1%	2:31:36	1:39:40
EDGEWOOD, KY	28	1%	2:09:44	1:40:14
FAIRFIELD, OH	26	1%	2:39:35	1:33:55
FLORENCE, KY	30	1%	2:19:45	1:36:25
HAMILTON, OH	47	1%	2:35:32	1:29:09
LEBANON, OH	23	1%	2:24:03	1:27:11
LEXINGTON, KY	30	1%	2:14:35	1:20:55
LOVELAND, OH	100	3%	2:19:12	1:30:05
MAINEVILLE, OH	37	1%	2:16:40	1:30:58
MASON, OH	112	3%	2:16:58	1:23:02
MILFORD, OH	26	1%	2:35:21	1:55:45
WEST CHESTER, OH	58	2%	2:21:19	1:22:56
Below Cutoff	1821	49%	2:23:55	1:15:37
Total	3729	100%	2:23:28	1:15:37
Fastest City (by average)
EDGEWOOD, KY	28	1%	2:09:44	1:40:14

Average/Best Times By State (cutoff=20)

State	Number	Percent	Mean Time	Best Time
FL	39	1%	2:26:50	1:38:39
GA	41	1%	2:27:09	1:42:19
IL	149	4%	2:19:38	1:29:51
IN	159	4%	2:27:36	1:25:42
KY	419	11%	2:19:41	1:20:20
MI	164	4%	2:22:10	1:26:25
MO	27	1%	2:49:40	1:38:11
NC	39	1%	2:28:23	1:38:36
NONUSA	36	1%	2:18:23	1:37:21
NY	20	1%	2:04:43	1:38:26
OH	2324	62%	2:23:20	1:15:37
PA	49	1%	2:21:10	1:32:00
TN	35	1%	2:21:48	1:30:45
TX	23	1%	2:32:05	1:35:01
Below Cutoff	205	5%	2:30:11	1:23:47
Total	3729	100%	2:23:28	1:15:37
Fastest State (by average)
NY	20	1%	2:04:43	1:38:26

The stats are based on 2005 results from the Cincinnati Flying Pig Marathon Results page.

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