Mini-Marathon Repeat Runners

I found 8141 repeat runners in last Saturday's Indianapolis Mini-Marathon who had also run in last year's race. That's about a third of the 25028 finishers. Out of these repeat runners, 56% ran faster.

In 2004, there were 7673 repeat runners who had also run in 2003. That was about 39% of the 19577 runners. Out of these repeat runners, only 37% ran faster. It can be seen that the high temperature and humidity in 2004 had a big impact.

Three-Peat Gainers

I also looked at the runners who ran all three races from 2003 to 2005. There were 4267 of these runners or about 17% of the 25028 finishers. Out of these 703 had run faster in each race (2004 faster than 2003 and 2005 faster than 2004). That's only about 16% of these 4267 runners.

I then looked only at the top 1000 men and top 1000 women for all three races. From these runners, there were only 34 men and 28 women who have run faster in each race. Below is a look at the top male and female.

A 16 year-old male from Martinsville Indiana went from 1:27:45 in 2003 to 1:13:41 this year which was 28th overall and just 6 seconds behind female winner. In 2004, he took almost 8 minutes off his time to finish in 1:19:57. This was an especially strong finish considering how much warmer and more humid it was in 2004 as compared to 2003. He continued this improvement this year by cutting another 6 plus minutes off his 2004 time.

For the women, this 36 year-old women from Indianapolis went from 1:43:33 in 2003 to 1:27:46 this year which was 26th place for the women. In 2004 she cut over 3 minutes from this time to finish with 1:39:50. Then she made a huge improvement this year by cutting over 12 minutes off her 2004 time.

2005 and 2004 Repeat Runners

2005 vs 2004 Change	Number	Percent
over 20 min faster	582	7.1
10 to 20 min faster	943	11.6
5 to 10 min faster	1188	14.6
0 to 5 min faster	1829	22.5
0 to 5 min slower	1420	17.4
5 to 10 min slower	765	9.4
10 to 20 min slower	703	8.6
over 20 min slower	711	8.7
Total	8141	100

2004 and 2003 Repeat Runners

2004 vs 2003 Change	Number	Percent
over 20 min faster	495	6.5
10 to 20 min faster	497	6.5
5 to 10 min faster	611	8
0 to 5 min faster	1201	15.7
0 to 5 min slower	1557	20.3
5 to 10 min slower	1241	16.2
10 to 20 min slower	1212	15.8
over 20 min slower	859	11.2
Total	7673	100

The above stats are based on results from the Indianapolis 500 Festival Mini-Marathons for 2005, 2004, and 2003.

Technorati Tags: running, half-marathons, indianapolis, indianapolis mini-marathon