Stats for 2005 Pikes Peak Ascent

The weather added another challenge to the 7,815-foot climb of last Saturday's Pikes Peak Ascent. There's a first hand description of the weather at this RunTX forum thread. A strong storm with lightning, hail, and snow struck the mountain in the late morning. Fortunately, it was late enough that it didn't seem to affect most of the runners during the race. However, the runners were stuck in the snow for hours after the finish waiting for the snow to be cleared from the road.

The Vail Daily News has an interview with Anita Ortiz, one of the top women runners who ran the Ascent. She has won the women's division in the Ascent for the last 4 years. Last Saturday wasn't her day. She finished about 20 minutes over her target and ended up with fourth place.

The Stats

In many half marathons, I've noticed women making up larger and larger percentages of the total. I suppose this isn't your typical half marathon. In the Ascent, women only made up about 34% of the runners.

There are not too many young runners with only 11% under 30. For the men the 30s and 40s age group each had about 31% of the runners. For the women, the 40s age group was the largest at 38%.

The fastest age group for the men were the 20s. Their average finish time 4:13:46, just about 1 minute slower than the 30s group average. For the women, the 30s age group was the fastest with an average time of 4:43:04.

The fastest city goes to Boulder Colorado. Its 51 runners had an average time of 3:52:24. The fastest state was New Mexico which had 48 runners with an average time of 4:23:17. 68% of the runners came from Colorado.

Here are the details. These stats are based on the results at the 2005 Pikes Peak Ascent Page.

Later in the week, I'll put together the stats for the marathon.

Total Runners by Times

under 3:00h	3:00 to 4:00h	4:00 to 5:00h	over 5:00h
43 (2%)	493 (27%)	740 (40%)	584 (31%)

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

Ages	under 3:00h	3:00 to 4:00h	4:00 to 5:00h	over 5:00h
15-19	1 (6%)	4 (24%)	9 (53%)	3 (18%)
20-29	9 (8%)	34 (29%)	51 (44%)	23 (20%)
30-39	19 (5%)	157 (41%)	136 (36%)	71 (19%)
40-49	10 (3%)	123 (32%)	153 (40%)	95 (25%)
50-59	2 (1%)	67 (28%)	94 (39%)	79 (33%)
60-69	0 (0%)	10 (13%)	31 (40%)	36 (47%)
70-79	0 (0%)	0 (0%)	3 (33%)	6 (67%)
Total	41 (3%)	395 (32%)	477 (39%)	313 (26%)

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

Ages	under 3:00h	3:00 to 4:00h	4:00 to 5:00h	over 5:00h
15-19	0 (0%)	1 (10%)	4 (40%)	5 (50%)
20-29	0 (0%)	17 (23%)	26 (35%)	32 (43%)
30-39	0 (0%)	38 (20%)	80 (43%)	68 (37%)
40-49	2 (1%)	36 (15%)	108 (45%)	96 (40%)
50-59	0 (0%)	6 (6%)	40 (39%)	57 (55%)
60-69	0 (0%)	0 (0%)	5 (29%)	12 (71%)
70-79	0 (0%)	0 (0%)	0 (0%)	1 (100%)
Total	2 (0%)	98 (15%)	263 (41%)	271 (43%)

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

Ages	Number	Percent	Mean Time	Best Time
15-19	27	1%	4:30:49	2:21:30
20-29	192	10%	4:26:46	2:25:02
30-39	569	31%	4:24:00	2:25:26
40-49	623	33%	4:32:56	2:25:39
50-59	345	19%	4:44:25	2:49:22
60-69	94	5%	4:57:37	3:26:19
70-79	10	1%	5:17:07	4:01:29
Total	1860	100%	4:33:09	2:21:30
Fastest Ages (by average)
30-39	569	31%	4:24:00	2:25:26

Average/Best Times By Male Age Groups

Ages	Number	Percent	Mean Time	Best Time
15-19	17	1%	4:19:43	2:21:30
20-29	117	10%	4:13:46	2:25:02
30-39	383	31%	4:14:45	2:25:26
40-49	381	31%	4:24:13	2:25:39
50-59	242	20%	4:34:44	2:49:22
60-69	77	6%	4:52:34	3:26:19
70-79	9	1%	5:16:41	4:01:29
Total	1226	100%	4:24:26	2:21:30
Fastest Ages (by average)
20-29	117	10%	4:13:46	2:25:02

Average/Best Times By Female Age Groups

Ages	Number	Percent	Mean Time	Best Time
15-19	10	2%	4:49:41	3:31:01
20-29	75	12%	4:47:02	3:10:19
30-39	186	29%	4:43:04	3:03:21
40-49	242	38%	4:46:40	2:50:02
50-59	103	16%	5:07:10	3:28:00
60-69	17	3%	5:20:28	4:14:43
70-79	1	0%	5:21:00	5:21:00
Total	634	100%	4:50:00	2:50:02
Fastest Ages (by average)
30-39	186	29%	4:43:04	3:03:21

Average/Best Times By Cities (cutoff=20)

City	Number	Percent	Mean Time	Best Time
Albuquerque, NM	20	1%	4:11:14	2:50:31
Austin, TX	24	1%	5:04:11	3:29:24
Boulder, CO	51	3%	3:52:24	2:40:04
Colo Springs, CO	672	36%	4:29:42	2:21:30
Denver, CO	70	4%	4:28:24	2:33:51
Fort Collins, CO	25	1%	4:13:13	3:03:58
Littleton, CO	34	2%	4:32:15	2:57:24
Manitou Spgs, CO	39	2%	4:29:41	2:50:40
Monument, CO	36	2%	4:41:38	2:56:43
Wichita, KS	56	3%	4:39:50	2:53:20
Woodland Park, CO	20	1%	4:28:10	3:30:44
Below Cutoff	813	44%	4:38:42	2:25:02
Total	1860	100%	4:33:09	2:21:30
Fastest City (by average)
Boulder, CO	51	3%	3:52:24	2:40:04

Average/Best Times By State (cutoff=20)

State	Number	Percent	Mean Time	Best Time
AR	39	2%	5:01:45	3:15:06
CA	20	1%	5:06:48	3:32:19
CO	1273	68%	4:26:40	2:21:30
KS	98	5%	4:48:35	2:31:08
MN	27	1%	4:47:08	2:58:19
MO	24	1%	4:51:23	3:22:55
NE	20	1%	4:57:40	3:33:49
NM	48	3%	4:23:17	2:50:31
OK	40	2%	4:38:14	3:20:47
TX	56	3%	4:55:11	3:11:49
Below Cutoff	215	12%	4:45:36	2:50:11
Total	1860	100%	4:33:09	2:21:30
Fastest State (by average)
NM	48	3%	4:23:17	2:50:31

Largest Net Elevation Gain Races

The 13.32 mile Pikes Peak Ascent is this Saturday and the Pikes Peak Marathon is Sunday. The Pikes Peak Ascent starts at an elevation of 6,295 feet. At the end, the elevation is 14,110 feet on top of Pikes Peak. That's a net elevation gain of 7,815 feet. According to Wikipedia the mountain is one of the 54 peaks in Colorado with a summit over 14,000 feet (known as Fourteener). California has 12 fourteeners and Washington State has 2. No peaks in the continental US are over 15,000 feet. The Pikes Peak Marathon on Sunday reaches the summit and then goes back down to a final elevation of 6,345 feet. The official site has more info, plus there's a good personal account of the race here.

Last year's winning Pikes Peak Ascent time for the men was 2:23:31. The winning women's time was 2:44:58. As a crude form of comparison, at the Indy half marathon last May, 42% of the finishers had times of over 2:30.

This had me wondering about other net elevation gain races. The Badwater Ultramarathon has a net elevation gain of 8640 feet (starts 280 feet below sealevel and ends at Mt. Whitney at 8360 feet above sealevel).

I found one that's even larger than both of these. It's the Mount Fuji Ascent in Japan. It's 13 miles with a net elevation gain of 9770 feet. I haven't found any English race results of this race. However, there are some race accounts and details here and here.

This Mt. Fuji race seems to be king of net elevation gains. I'm surprised there doesn't seem to be one on the Big Island of Hawaii. If you know of one that beats Mt. Fuji, please leave a comment.

Are Too Many People Running Marathons?

This STLtoday.com article looks into the growing popularity of marathons. It used to be only the super fit would consider running a marathon. Now it seems like everybody wants to take the challenge. It's now attracting a lot of running newbies who would probably be better off with shorter races.

Some interesting stats from this article:

Someone training for a marathon has a 40 percent to 60 percent chance of getting a musculo-skeletal injury like a stress fracture, knee pain or foot pain.

....

Statistics compiled by the association show that 25,000 people ran a marathon in 1976. Last year, nearly 425,000 went the distance. And the four biggest marathons this fall - including the Chicago Marathon - are already sold out.

....

The phenomenon includes a surge of women. Twenty-five years ago, only 10 percent of marathon finishers were women. Now 40 percent cross the line.

SBLI Falmouth Road Race Stats

Gilbert Okari and Lornah Kiplagat did it again. One week after winning the Beach to Beacon 10K in Maine, they won yesterday's Falmouth 7-mile race. Okari finished with a time of 31:59 and Lornah finished with 36:09. Both received $11K in prize money for the win (more, boston.com).

Average low temperatures are in the mid 60s. But yesterday, it was way above average. The temperature at 9:55am was 79°F with 83% humidity (weatherunderground).

Fastest Runner Over 80?

One thing that stood out in the stats was the men's over-80 category. There were 2 runners and one had a time of 47:08. I thought this might be a mistake so I checked the database to confirm it. Sure enough, an 84-year-old man did have a finish time of 47:08. This is a pace of 6:44 min/mile. It's the fastest time for anyone 60 or over in the race.

Could this be correct? Perhaps a mistake in the age or something. From the database, I got the name and searched the web. I found a web page profiling this amazing runner. The profile is of Rev. John Malecki who was 80 in 2001 (so that would make him 84 now). At 80 he was still running marathons. He didn't start distance running until age 65 when he ran his very first race, The New York City Marathon.

Although the results aren't yet official, it looks like it could very well be valid, and if it is, I would wager that it might be a world record 7-mile time for anyone over 80.

Stats Overview

Overall the stats seem to confirm the hot and humid weather. 69% of the men and 84% of the women finished over one hour. That's just over a 8.5min/mile pace. One thing, however, to note is that the result times weren't broken down into chip and gun times. So these times are likely gun times which would make the times longer than they should be with such a big race.

I was surprised to see many more men than women, 4260 men (57%) to 3265 women. Other short races have shown a trend towards more equity in the numbers. But I do see one trend in this race regarding the numbers of young women runners. For the 20 year olds, women outnumbered men 740 to 585. Men had the most in all other age categories.

The fastest male age group was the 15-19 year olds. 233 of them averaged 1:00:30. The fastest female age group was the 20-29 year olds. 740 of them averaged 1:07:54. The fastest city was Cambridge Massachusetts which had 62 runners who averaged 1:04:50. The fastest state was Colorado. It had 22 runners who averaged 1:00:58.

Below are the detailed stats for 7525 finishers based on the results at the 2005 Falmouth Road Race results page.

Total Runners by Times

under 40m	40 to 50m	50 to 60m	over 60m
70 (1%)	293 (4%)	1466 (19%)	5696 (76%)

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

Ages	under 40m	40 to 50m	50 to 60m	over 60m
under 15	0 (0%)	4 (4%)	19 (18%)	80 (78%)
15-19	4 (2%)	38 (16%)	77 (33%)	114 (49%)
20-29	23 (4%)	59 (10%)	163 (28%)	340 (58%)
30-39	16 (1%)	58 (5%)	272 (25%)	761 (69%)
40-49	9 (1%)	67 (5%)	326 (26%)	856 (68%)
50-59	1 (0%)	19 (3%)	124 (17%)	571 (80%)
60-69	0 (0%)	1 (0%)	22 (9%)	211 (90%)
70-79	0 (0%)	0 (0%)	2 (9%)	21 (91%)
over 80	0 (0%)	1 (50%)	0 (0%)	1 (50%)
Total	53 (1%)	247 (6%)	1005 (24%)	2955 (69%)

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

Ages	under 40m	40 to 50m	50 to 60m	over 60m
under 15	0 (0%)	0 (0%)	7 (9%)	72 (91%)
15-19	0 (0%)	5 (3%)	34 (17%)	160 (80%)
20-29	8 (1%)	15 (2%)	137 (19%)	580 (78%)
30-39	8 (1%)	13 (1%)	168 (16%)	886 (82%)
40-49	1 (0%)	10 (1%)	100 (13%)	683 (86%)
50-59	0 (0%)	3 (1%)	14 (5%)	294 (95%)
60-69	0 (0%)	0 (0%)	1 (2%)	58 (98%)
70-79	0 (0%)	0 (0%)	0 (0%)	6 (100%)
over 80	0 (0%)	0 (0%)	0 (0%)	2 (100%)
Total	17 (1%)	46 (1%)	461 (14%)	2741 (84%)

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

Ages	Number	Percent	Mean Time	Best Time
under 15	182	2%	1:11:09	48:28
15-19	432	6%	1:05:12	33:33
20-29	1325	18%	1:05:11	31:59
30-39	2182	29%	1:07:07	32:48
40-49	2052	27%	1:07:25	33:22
50-59	1026	14%	1:11:24	38:38
60-69	293	4%	1:15:11	47:14
70-79	29	0%	1:23:15	58:14
over 80	4	0%	1:15:20	47:08
Total	7525	100%	1:07:48	31:59
Fastest Ages (by average)
20-29	1325	18%	1:05:11	31:59

Average/Best Times By Male Age Groups

Ages	Number	Percent	Mean Time	Best Time
under 15	103	2%	1:08:32	48:28
15-19	233	5%	1:00:30	33:33
20-29	585	14%	1:01:46	31:59
30-39	1107	26%	1:04:50	32:48
40-49	1258	30%	1:05:25	33:22
50-59	715	17%	1:09:24	38:38
60-69	234	5%	1:14:41	47:14
70-79	23	1%	1:20:19	58:14
over 80	2	0%	1:01:58	47:08
Total	4260	100%	1:05:49	31:59
Fastest Ages (by average)
15-19	233	5%	1:00:30	33:33

Average/Best Times By Female Age Groups

Ages	Number	Percent	Mean Time	Best Time
under 15	79	2%	1:14:33	51:42
15-19	199	6%	1:10:42	46:35
20-29	740	23%	1:07:54	37:26
30-39	1075	33%	1:09:28	36:09
40-49	794	24%	1:10:35	37:50
50-59	311	10%	1:15:58	40:10
60-69	59	2%	1:17:08	59:22
70-79	6	0%	1:34:28	1:21:58
over 80	2	0%	1:28:42	1:13:24
Total	3265	100%	1:10:24	36:09
Fastest Ages (by average)
20-29	740	23%	1:07:54	37:26

Average/Best Times By Cities (cutoff=50)

City	Number	Percent	Mean Time	Best Time
Arlington, MA	57	1%	1:05:23	39:30
Boston, MA	214	3%	1:07:17	35:18
Brookline, MA	72	1%	1:06:14	39:22
Cambridge, MA	62	1%	1:04:50	37:49
Canton, MA	59	1%	1:09:43	48:15
Charlestown, MA	59	1%	1:08:10	47:06
East Falmouth, MA	275	4%	1:10:10	45:11
East Sandwich, MA	53	1%	1:07:57	47:47
Falmouth, MA	323	4%	1:07:56	39:45
Franklin, MA	76	1%	1:08:16	46:58
Mansfield, MA	74	1%	1:08:29	48:30
Mashpee, MA	95	1%	1:10:38	41:58
Milton, MA	78	1%	1:06:17	37:11
Natick, MA	56	1%	1:07:40	41:04
Needham, MA	89	1%	1:07:14	47:49
New York, NY	95	1%	1:05:15	42:30
Newton, MA	100	1%	1:06:12	37:45
North Easton, MA	57	1%	1:05:55	49:18
North Falmouth, MA	117	2%	1:09:01	45:54
Plymouth, MA	69	1%	1:10:45	44:58
Quincy, MA	91	1%	1:10:26	47:58
Sandwich, MA	59	1%	1:09:42	52:12
Somerville, MA	64	1%	1:04:56	37:29
South Boston, MA	90	1%	1:06:42	40:27
Walpole, MA	58	1%	1:07:16	42:03
Waltham, MA	86	1%	1:12:56	48:47
Wellesley, MA	51	1%	1:05:17	45:38
West Falmouth, MA	58	1%	1:09:47	41:38
Worcester, MA	59	1%	1:10:00	47:58
unknown	50	1%	49:04	31:59
Below Cutoff	4779	64%	1:07:49	33:22
Total	7525	100%	1:07:48	31:59
Fastest City (by average)
Cambridge, MA	62	1%	1:04:50	37:49

Average/Best Times By State (cutoff=20)

State	Number	Percent	Mean Time	Best Time
CA	58	1%	1:06:36	36:48
CO	22	0%	1:00:58	33:50
CT	228	3%	1:06:12	38:02
DC	23	0%	1:10:14	48:39
FL	36	0%	1:10:16	44:00
GA	21	0%	1:11:47	50:01
MA	5979	79%	1:08:13	34:52
MD	63	1%	1:11:18	48:00
ME	30	0%	1:06:35	38:42
NC	21	0%	1:10:06	47:53
NH	133	2%	1:07:19	45:43
NJ	89	1%	1:06:12	34:20
NY	278	4%	1:06:05	40:02
OH	21	0%	1:06:15	39:11
PA	75	1%	1:07:20	37:04
RI	134	2%	1:06:24	42:51
VA	68	1%	1:05:00	35:48
VT	43	1%	1:08:13	47:46
other	72	1%	55:01	31:59
Below Cutoff	131	2%	1:05:24	33:22
Total	7525	100%	1:07:48	31:59
Fastest State (by average)
CO	22	0%	1:00:58	33:50

SBLI Falmouth Road Race

The 33rd SBLI Falmouth Road Race will be held this Sunday (8/14) in Falmouth Massachusetts. There's a couple of things that caught my eye about this race. First, it's an odd distance of 7 miles which is 11.26km. Those 7 miles should be scenic for the runners as they run along the coast.

The other thing that caught my eye was the prize purse of $112,000 which is claimed to be America's largest non-marathon prize purse (not including bonuses). Gilbert Okari who won last week's Beach to Beacon 10K will be running along with many other elites. Many of the elite runners in the race will be hosted by local Falmouth residents. The Boston Globe has a story on this.

The day before this race there's the Falmouth Mile which is an invitational track race. An article from the Boston Herald has a story about former Notre Dame running star Luke Watson who is an elite regular at both the Mile and the 7-Mile race.

Beach to Beacon 10K Stats

I've put together the stats for the top 500 finishers. I would have liked to include more but the results database only shows 10 finishers at a time.

Most of the top men seem to be in their 20s. This was the same as Atlanta's Peachtree 10K. The top 2 men came from their 20s. For the top 500 men, those in their 20s had a median time of 38:21 and a mean time of 37:02. This is about two minutes faster than the top men in their 30s (median of 40:13 and mean of 39:14).

For the top 500 women, the 30s age group is the fastest although not by much. First, the top 2 women came from the 30s age group. The median time of the 30s age group is 40:11 with a mean of 39:15. For the 20s age group, the median time was 40:27 with a mean of 39:13 (actually 2 seconds faster than the 30s mean).

One thing to note is the average times between the men and the women are close. I believe this is mostly due to the fact that I included the top 500 finishers regardless of gender. This would likely be much different if I included the top 250 men and the top 250 women.

The Beach to Beacon did a good job for a 10K in attracting out-of-state runners. 33% of the top 500 runners were from outside the state. I would guess this percentage would go down, however, if all the runners were included.

The fastest state was Vermont. It had 11 runners with an mean finish time of 38:24. The fastest city was Freeport Maine. It had 15 runners with a mean time of 39:24. This was actually tied with Falmouth Maine. Freeport wins the tie breaker based on the best individual time of 32:03 (24 seconds faster than Falmouth).

Austin Connection

As I was looking through the results I noticed the Austin runner Carmen Ayala-Troncoso. She finished with a time of 35:53 which was number one in her 45-49-year-old division. She also had run the Peachtree. Her time in that race was 35:33. Just like the top women who had run both races, the Beach to Beacon time was slower. For Carmen her time was 20 seconds slower than her Peachtree time. Refer to my previous Beach To Beacon post for more info on this trend.

The Stats

Below are the detailed stats based on the results of the August 6, 2005 TD Banknorth Beach to Beacon 10K Road Race. These stats are only based on the top 500 finishers.

Total Runners by Times

under 30m	30 to 35m	35 to 40m	over 40m
15 (3%)	59 (12%)	168 (34%)	258 (52%)

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

Ages	under 30m	30 to 35m	35 to 40m	over 40m
under 15	0 (0%)	0 (0%)	2 (22%)	7 (78%)
15-19	0 (0%)	10 (17%)	27 (45%)	23 (38%)
20-29	10 (11%)	19 (21%)	28 (31%)	32 (36%)
30-39	4 (4%)	11 (11%)	32 (32%)	53 (53%)
40-49	1 (1%)	9 (8%)	33 (29%)	69 (62%)
50-59	0 (0%)	0 (0%)	16 (48%)	17 (52%)
60-69	0 (0%)	0 (0%)	0 (0%)	2 (100%)
Total	15 (4%)	49 (12%)	138 (34%)	203 (50%)

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

Ages	under 30m	30 to 35m	35 to 40m	over 40m
under 15	0 (0%)	0 (0%)	0 (0%)	2 (100%)
15-19	0 (0%)	0 (0%)	4 (31%)	9 (69%)
20-29	0 (0%)	5 (21%)	6 (25%)	13 (54%)
30-39	0 (0%)	4 (13%)	12 (38%)	16 (50%)
40-49	0 (0%)	1 (5%)	7 (35%)	12 (60%)
50-59	0 (0%)	0 (0%)	1 (33%)	2 (67%)
60-69	0 (0%)	0 (0%)	0 (0%)	1 (100%)
Total	0 (0%)	10 (11%)	30 (32%)	55 (58%)

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

Ages	Number	Percent	Mean Time	Best Time
under 15	11	2%	41:36	38:53
15-19	73	15%	39:02	30:35
20-29	113	23%	37:30	27:38
30-39	132	26%	39:14	28:05
40-49	132	26%	39:54	29:39
50-59	36	7%	40:01	35:53
60-69	3	1%	41:21	40:46
Total	500	100%	39:07	27:38
Fastest Ages (by average)
20-29	113	23%	37:30	27:38

Average/Best Times By Male Age Groups

Ages	Number	Percent	Mean Time	Best Time
under 15	9	2%	41:30	38:53
15-19	60	15%	38:36	30:35
20-29	89	22%	37:02	27:38
30-39	100	25%	39:14	28:05
40-49	112	28%	39:52	29:39
50-59	33	8%	39:58	35:53
60-69	2	0%	40:50	40:46
Total	405	100%	38:57	27:38
Fastest Ages (by average)
20-29	89	22%	37:02	27:38

Average/Best Times By Female Age Groups

Ages	Number	Percent	Mean Time	Best Time
under 15	2	2%	42:05	41:32
15-19	13	14%	41:01	38:33
20-29	24	25%	39:13	32:21
30-39	32	34%	39:15	31:35
40-49	20	21%	40:03	34:39
50-59	3	3%	40:37	39:49
60-69	1	1%	42:23	42:23
Total	95	100%	39:47	31:35
Fastest Ages (by average)
20-29	24	25%	39:13	32:21

Average/Best Times By Cities (cutoff=10)

City	Number	Percent	Mean Time	Best Time
Cape Elizabeth, ME	36	7%	40:11	34:32
Falmouth, ME	23	5%	39:24	32:27
Freeport, ME	15	3%	39:24	32:03
Portland, ME	48	10%	39:33	31:51
Scarborough, ME	32	6%	39:50	33:49
South Portland, ME	26	5%	39:29	30:35
Yarmouth, ME	16	3%	39:56	32:53
unknown	29	6%	32:11	27:38
Below Cutoff	275	55%	39:25	29:39
Total	500	100%	39:07	27:38
Fastest City (by average)
Freeport, ME	15	3%	39:24	32:03

Average/Best Times By State (cutoff=5)

State	Number	Percent	Mean Time	Best Time
CT	8	2%	39:28	31:53
MA	58	12%	39:02	31:09
ME	333	67%	39:43	30:35
NH	12	2%	39:44	32:11
NY	10	2%	39:14	34:21
PA	5	1%	38:38	35:42
VT	11	2%	38:24	32:00
other	29	6%	32:11	27:38
Below Cutoff	34	7%	39:08	29:39
Total	500	100%	39:07	27:38
Fastest State (by average)
VT	11	2%	38:24	32:00

Technorati Tags: running, 10K, Maine

The Research into Nike Free

A Wired News article describes the research that went into Nike's latest line of running shoes called Nike Free. These are the shoes that are designed to make you feel like you're running barefoot.

The barefoot running concept didn't catch on at Nike all too well (kind of goes against the grain of a shoe company.) But the Nike Designers came out with something that supposedly combines the best of both the shoe and barefoot running. The main design change seems to be the deep grooves in the sole allowing lots of flexibility. Supposedly they feel noticeably different than the typical running shoe.

I have to admit, I like their Nike Free commercial where a guy running on a beach gets slowly transformed into running through a downtown of a city. I must have seen this commercial at least a dozen times. I wonder how popular this shoe is becoming. Some Nike Free sales stats would be interesting.

TD Banknorth Beach To Beacon 10K Road Race

The TD Banknorth Beach to Beacon 10K race was held last Saturday (8/6) at Cape Elizabeth Maine (near Portland). Not too many places in the US are suitable for a running race in August. Being far north and on the coast, Maine is one exception. Portland's August 6th average low is 59°F and average high is 79°F. However, last Saturday was above average. Race time temperature at Portland was 73°F with 57% humidity.

Gilbert Okari won his third straight Beach to Beacon 10K. He's amazingly consistent. His 3 times are all within 10 seconds (27:38 this year, 27:35 last year, and 27:28 in 2003). John Korir finished fourth with a time of 28:21. He didn't run in the Peachtree last month due to visa problems. Good to see he's able to run now.

More highlights from MaineToday.com and The Race's website.

Comparison to the Peachtree

Interesting to see the men's and women's winners were the same winners of Atlanta's July 4th Peachtree 10K. In the Beach to Beacon 10K, Gilbert Okari took first place with a time of 27:39. It was 39 seconds faster than his Peachtree victory. For the women, Lornah Kipligat won the Beach to Beacon with a time of 31:35. She was slower than the Peachtree by 18 seconds.

The temperature at the Peachtree was close to the Beach to Beacon at around 73°F at race time. However, the Peachtree had higher humidity of around 87% compared to 57% at the Beach to Beacon.

I looked at some other of the top runners to see how they compared between these two races. The only other top man I found who ran both was William Chebon who came in 6th at the Beach to Beacon with a time of 28:24 (4 seconds faster than his Peachtree time). There were 4 top-10 women who had also run the Peachtree. Interestingly, all 4 of them ran slower in the Beach to Beacon. In addition to Kipligat's 18 seconds slowdown, Sally Barososio ran 34 seconds slower, Lunmita Talpos ran 50 seconds slower, and Nicole Aish ran one second slower (now that's consistency!).

The Glenn Close Story

There was an interesting story about Glenn Close in this race. She had registered to run. It turns out that she was on vacation in Maine visiting a friend. According to her publicist, Glenn came down with a cold and didn't run. Amusingly, she gave her number and timing chip to a friend who ended up winning the women's 55-to-59-year-old division. I hope her friend did fit in this division. If too many people do this, there goes my stats...

In the next couple of days I'll try to put together some of the detailed stats from this race.

2004 U.S. Road Running Stats

Since it's mid summer without many road races taking place, I thought it would be a good time to look at Running USA's 2004 road race stats. Running USA has published a series of articles on 2004 road race stats. It also has added 2004 races to its database of the largest US races by distance.

Part 1 looks at the numbers and percentages of runners in 2004 based on a sports participation study. It estimates there were about 37.3 million runners in the US in 2004 and the total has been increasing 4 years in a row. The article confirmed a stat that I've noticed in many races. It said the popularity of running among younger women continued in 2004. The largest group for female runners was '18 to 24 years'. The other thing I found interesting was the list of the top running cities and states. It's based on the largest per capita running populations over the last 3 years. Denver/Boulder was tied with San Diego as the top metro with 18.9 runners per 100. San Antonio was third with 18.3. The top 3 states were California with 17.5, Texas with 15.8, and New York with 13.1.

Part 2 provided some stats on road race growth and demographics. Overall it said US raod races grew by an average of 4% in 2004. The largest increase has been in half-marathons with an increase of 7%. For gender ratio it showed a slight decline in the female/male ratio from 2003 to 2004 (from 47.5/52.5 in 2003 to 46.1/53.9 in 2004. This was for timed events. For untimed events women made up 52% in both 2004 and 2003. It also gives some gender ratio details by race distance. In 2004 Marathons, 40% of the participants were female. In half marathons, it goes way up to 49%. From my race coverage this year, I'll be willing to bet this goes up in 2005. In this year's largest US half marathon (Indy Mini-Marathon), there were 50.4% timed female runners.

Part 3 goes into more detail on the stats for the different road races. There were 1.79 million finishers in the largest 100 US races in 2004. One interesting stat is that almost 59% of the 2004 finishers were timed compared to about 44% in 2003. I guess the ChampionChip devices are gaining popularity. This is good news for folks like me who enjoy collecting road race stats. As mentioned in part 2, the race distance with the largest growth was the half marathon. It increased by 7% in 2004. The largest race distance in 2004 was the 5K with over 3 million.