Toronto Marathon Stats

The Scotiabank Toronto Waterfront Marathon was held last Sunday (9/25/05). Here's a piece of the race summary from the marathon's website:

Despite humid conditions, Kenyan Simon Bor ran 2:11:57 to win the Scotiabank Toronto Waterfront Marathon this morning, taking almost 3 minutes off the course record of 2:14:51, set last year in one of North America's most rapidly-growing new marathons.

Anastasia Ndereba took the women's title with a 2:36:29, ahead of Lucy Hasell of England in 2:38:09. Almost 10,000 runners from over 30 countries and 40 American states participated in the combined 42k, 21k, and 5k events. Nearly 25% of the marathon field of over 2,500 was made up of international runners.

The article mentioned the humid conditions so I checked weatherunderground, and the conditions from 8:00am through 9:44am were 66°F and 94% humidity. At least it wasn't in the seventies, but it was definitely not ideal marathon running weather.

I've downloaded last Sunday's results for both the full and half marathon, and put them through my stats program. One thing that complicated things was the race's early-start marathon that began at 6:15am rather than the standard 7:30am time. The intent was to allow runners expected to finish over 5:30 to start early. The results from these early-bird marathon runners were put into a separate list. At first I was going to exclude these runners, but after reviewing the results, I noticed it included many serious runners, 92 of whom finished in under 5 hours. Perhaps many were trying to finish ahead of the elite runners. So my marathon stats include both the early-bird runners and the runners in the standard race.

I excluded stats based on location. The results mixed cities and countries together making it difficult to group runners by city or country. And since it was in Canada, there was no state information.

For the full marathon there were a total of 2022 timed finishers: 1282 men and 738 women (37%). The half had over twice the runners (4738) with 2081 men and 2638 women (56%).

The fastest age group for the men was the 30s age group for both the full and half marathon. The next fastest group were those in the 40s for both races. It's interesting that the 40s group had a faster average time than those in their 20s.

The fastest age group for the women was the 20s age group for both the full and half marathon.

Full Marathon

Total Runners by Times

under 3:00	3:00 to 4:00	4:00 to 5:00	over 5:00
49 (2%)	761 (38%)	869 (43%)	343 (17%)

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

Ages	under 3:00	3:00 to 4:00	4:00 to 5:00	over 5:00
teens	0 (0%)	2 (40%)	3 (60%)	0 (0%)
twenties	15 (10%)	68 (43%)	51 (32%)	23 (15%)
thirties	16 (4%)	188 (51%)	129 (35%)	39 (10%)
forties	12 (2%)	242 (48%)	202 (40%)	45 (9%)
fifties	1 (0%)	72 (35%)	98 (48%)	32 (16%)
sixties	0 (0%)	8 (21%)	16 (41%)	15 (38%)
seventies	0 (0%)	2 (40%)	0 (0%)	3 (60%)
Total	44 (3%)	582 (45%)	499 (39%)	157 (12%)

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

Ages	under 3:00	3:00 to 4:00	4:00 to 5:00	over 5:00
teens	0 (0%)	1 (100%)	0 (0%)	0 (0%)
twenties	2 (1%)	36 (24%)	73 (50%)	36 (24%)
thirties	3 (1%)	70 (26%)	138 (51%)	58 (22%)
forties	0 (0%)	60 (25%)	123 (51%)	59 (24%)
fifties	0 (0%)	11 (16%)	33 (48%)	25 (36%)
sixties	0 (0%)	1 (10%)	3 (30%)	6 (60%)
Total	5 (1%)	179 (24%)	370 (50%)	184 (25%)

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

Ages	Number	Percent	Mean Time	Best Time
teens	6	0%	4:07:19	3:33:54
twenties	304	15%	4:17:39	2:12:16
thirties	641	32%	4:13:28	2:11:55
forties	743	37%	4:14:22	2:25:29
fifties	272	13%	4:27:23	2:52:27
sixties	49	2%	4:49:39	3:23:19
seventies	5	0%	5:07:02	3:02:37
unknown	2	0%	5:37:38	5:05:03
Total	2022	100%	4:17:22	2:11:55
Fastest Ages (by average)
teens	6	0%	4:07:19	3:33:54

Average/Best Times By Male Age Groups

Ages	Number	Percent	Mean Time	Best Time
teens	5	0%	4:08:53	3:33:54
twenties	157	12%	4:06:13	2:12:16
thirties	372	29%	4:00:41	2:11:55
forties	501	39%	4:04:14	2:25:29
fifties	203	16%	4:19:37	2:52:27
sixties	39	3%	4:43:34	3:23:19
seventies	5	0%	5:07:02	3:02:37
Total	1282	100%	4:07:21	2:11:55
Fastest Ages (by average)
thirties	372	29%	4:00:41	2:11:55

Average/Best Times By Female Age Groups

Ages	Number	Percent	Mean Time	Best Time
teens	1	0%	3:59:27	3:59:27
twenties	147	20%	4:29:52	2:38:08
thirties	269	36%	4:31:09	2:36:28
forties	242	33%	4:35:20	3:03:23
fifties	69	9%	4:50:12	3:33:18
sixties	10	1%	5:13:25	3:55:36
Total	738	100%	4:34:35	2:36:28
Fastest Ages (by average)
teens	1	0%	3:59:27	3:59:27

Half Marathon

Total Runners by Times

under 1:30	1:30 to 2:00	2:00 to 2:30	over 2:30
159 (3%)	1869 (39%)	1954 (41%)	756 (16%)

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
teens	0 (0%)	20 (74%)	3 (11%)	4 (15%)
twenties	26 (9%)	164 (58%)	78 (27%)	17 (6%)
thirties	55 (8%)	437 (62%)	189 (27%)	23 (3%)
forties	41 (6%)	415 (61%)	200 (29%)	25 (4%)
fifties	17 (5%)	137 (44%)	119 (38%)	37 (12%)
sixties	0 (0%)	14 (24%)	29 (49%)	16 (27%)
seventies	0 (0%)	1 (7%)	9 (60%)	5 (33%)
Total	139 (7%)	1188 (57%)	627 (30%)	127 (6%)

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
teens	0 (0%)	7 (23%)	15 (48%)	9 (29%)
twenties	3 (1%)	196 (36%)	287 (52%)	63 (11%)
thirties	12 (1%)	256 (29%)	467 (52%)	159 (18%)
forties	5 (1%)	185 (22%)	430 (52%)	206 (25%)
fifties	0 (0%)	31 (11%)	98 (35%)	155 (55%)
sixties	0 (0%)	2 (4%)	18 (37%)	29 (59%)
seventies	0 (0%)	0 (0%)	1 (20%)	4 (80%)
Total	20 (1%)	677 (26%)	1316 (50%)	625 (24%)

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

Ages	Number	Percent	Mean Time	Best Time
teens	58	1%	2:09:47	1:33:31
twenties	834	18%	2:03:59	1:04:33
thirties	1598	34%	2:04:33	1:04:46
forties	1507	32%	2:08:19	1:14:06
fifties	594	13%	2:19:12	1:13:48
sixties	108	2%	2:32:02	1:39:02
seventies	20	0%	2:33:18	1:57:23
unknown	19	0%	2:25:14	1:39:46
Total	4738	100%	2:08:23	1:04:33
Fastest Ages (by average)
twenties	834	18%	2:03:59	1:04:33

Average/Best Times By Male Age Groups

Ages	Number	Percent	Mean Time	Best Time
teens	27	1%	1:58:38	1:33:31
twenties	285	14%	1:55:20	1:04:33
thirties	704	34%	1:53:35	1:04:46
forties	681	33%	1:55:08	1:14:06
fifties	310	15%	2:03:29	1:13:48
sixties	59	3%	2:18:59	1:39:02
seventies	15	1%	2:24:51	1:57:23
Total	2081	100%	1:56:49	1:04:33
Fastest Ages (by average)
thirties	704	34%	1:53:35	1:04:46

Average/Best Times By Female Age Groups

Ages	Number	Percent	Mean Time	Best Time
teens	31	1%	2:19:29	1:46:51
twenties	549	21%	2:08:29	1:29:23
thirties	894	34%	2:13:11	1:15:07
forties	826	31%	2:19:11	1:24:16
fifties	284	11%	2:36:21	1:36:53
sixties	49	2%	2:47:45	1:51:17
seventies	5	0%	2:58:39	2:23:18
Total	2638	100%	2:17:23	1:15:07
Fastest Ages (by average)
twenties	549	21%	2:08:29	1:29:23

The above stats are based on results from the 2005 Scotiabank Toronto Waterfront Marathon results page.

Train Tracks and Marathons Don't Mix

The Quad Cities Marathon last Sunday had an unfortunate problem: two trains interrupted the race for several runners. The marathon course happened to cross some railroad tracks, and the train officials failed to cooperate with the race officials. Apparently, this frustrated the race director so much that he actually parked his pace truck on the tracks that went across the course at around mile 22. This forced the train to stop and allowed the runners to finish without interference. It also caused a lot of commotion with the train's engineer. Luckily, the train was able to stop. I guess it was going slow enough or had a small enough load that it was able stop. I've heard that it can take a train thousands of feet for it to make a complete stop.

Berlin Marathon - Where Are The Women?

The big story for last Sunday's Berlin Marathon was Japan's Mizuki Noguchi, the reigning Olympic champion. She broke the women's course record with a time of 2:19:12. She looks like Japan's version of Paula Radcliffe. According to Runners World Magazine, 15 million Japanese viewers tuned in to watch television coverage of the Berlin Marathon. The fastest male runner was the Kenyan Philip Manyim with a time of 2:07:41 (More at RunnersWeb.com).

The Berlin Marathon is famous for world record times. A page at the Berlin Marathon website lists the all-time top 10 race performances (not yet updated with Sunday's results). The fastest time is Paul Tergat's world record 2:04:55 followed by Sammy Korrir's 2:04:56 (who came in second to Tergat). That was run in the 2003 race and must have been an exciting finish. The tenth place time is 2:06:52 run by Vincent Kipsos in 2002. I wonder how many marathons have course records faster than this 10th place record?

Another thing I found interesting about last Sunday's marathon was the gender demographics. There were a total of 30,584 marathon finishers. Out of these runners, there were only 5,946 women. That's only about 19%. Most marathons that I've reviewed in the US tend to average around 40% women. For example, for the LA Marathon in 2005, women made up about 38%. I wonder if this 19% percentage is common for marathons across Europe? Perhaps European women haven't taken to running like US women have?

New Orleans Marathon Scheduled for 2006

It is good to see that the Mardi Gras Marathon is being planned for February 5th, 2006. The latest updates are available at the Marathon's website. Hopefully, New Orleans will be able to avoid any damage from Hurricane Rita and the race will be able to be run as planned. As reported by the website, race management is working out course details and overall race logistics with city officials.

The races include the Mardi Gras Marathon, Half Marathon, and The Hornets 5K. I covered the 2005 race stats for this marathon and half marathon in a March post. One thing that impressed me about this marathon was the scenic course which went through the French Quarters and ended inside the Superdome. Another thing I noticed was how many out-of-state runners there were. 81% of the marathon runners were from outside Louisiana. For the half marathon, 60% were from outside the state. So this marathon will definitely help the city revive its tourism industry.

Rock 'N' Roll Half Marathon

The Rock 'n' Roll Half Marathon was held this morning in Virginia Beach, VA. A men's course record was set by James Mwangi of Kenya with a time of 1:00:42 (more info, RunnersWeb). The weather was pretty good for a summer weekend. The temperature at the start of the race was 64°F. There were 15.5K timed finishers in this race. 20K entrants had registered. I wonder if the hurricane disaster deterred anyone from running. I guess it could also be due to the skyrocketing gas prices.

This article from HamptonRoads.com provides some history and interesting stats about this race. This half marathon started back in 2001 with 15K runners. There was consideration of having this be a full marathon, but due to the warm weather and the competition of other full marathons like Washington and Chicago, it was decided to make it a half marathon that could be used as a training run for these other races. The race organizers felt the half can still have some of the prestige of a full marathon. That combined with the beach and Labor Day weekend could get out-of-state runners to make the trip.

As the article described, this half had good timing. Half marathons have been consistently growing in popularity throughout the nation. I've seen this also in my statistics. The article quoted a stat from Running USA on the growth half marathons: 15 years ago 236K runners finished half marathons in the US. Last year it had grown to 500K. Another stat that matches what I've seen is the half popularity with women. In last year's race, 7231 (57%) women finished compared to 5564 men. This year's percentage was about the same: 8790 (57%) women vs 6715 men (race results).

As the article mentioned, training for halfs can be fit into a daily schedule of a typical runner. They don't require the time and physical commitment of a full marathon. And half marathons are being added to more full marathon races. Next spring, the Shamrock Marathon will add a half for the first time.