2006 Freescale Austin Marathon - Women's Stats

Earlier this week I put together the stats for the men's marathon (see post). Now I'll post the stats for the women.

Marathon Race Issues

Before going into the women stats, I should mention that there were a few problems in the race that may have skewed the times. One significant issue is that not all start times were captured. This caused many runners to have chip times that equaled the gun times. Since my stats are based on chip times, this will skew the times to be longer than they should be. Refer to this RunTex thread for information on this issue. A quick analysis shows the following number of runners with equal chip and gun times:

       Same    %  Different    Total
Men    1549  55%       1285     2834
Women  1032  54%        879     1911

So for both men and women, over half of the runners had equal chip and gun times.

The other issue was the automobile traffic problems that runners experienced getting to the start at the Freescale plant in North Austin (see RunTex thread). This may have delayed many and caused the gun times to be longer by more than what is typical.

Women's Statistics

As I mentioned in my previous post, the most extraordinary performance in the marathon was from the women's winner, Tatyana Pozdnyakova of the Ukraine. She was 50 years old and finished with a time of 2:34:23. From the stats you can appreciate how good this is. The best time for the men in this age group is over 16 minutes slower at 2:51:43. Tatyana's nearest women competitor in that age group finished over an hour behind her (3:35:29).

Looking at the overall stats, the trend of higher percentages of young women continues. Women in the 20's and 30's made up 67% of all women. This was up from 66% last year. For men this age group only made up 49%.

The state with the fastest mean time by the women was Georgia. The 18 women runners had a mean time of 3:58:19. This was faster than the 13 Georgia men who had a mean time of 4:03:49.

The stats below are based on the results for the 2006 Freescale Austin Marathon provided by MarathonGuide.

Female Runners - 2006 Freescale Austin Marathon

Total Runners by Times

under 3:00	3:00 to 4:00	4:00 to 5:00	over 5:00
29 (2%)	412 (22%)	840 (44%)	630 (33%)

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
13-19	0 (0%)	3 (23%)	9 (69%)	1 (8%)
20-29	10 (2%)	127 (23%)	245 (45%)	166 (30%)
30-39	14 (2%)	154 (21%)	322 (45%)	227 (32%)
40-49	4 (1%)	114 (24%)	205 (43%)	157 (33%)
50-59	1 (1%)	13 (10%)	50 (38%)	69 (52%)
60-69	0 (0%)	1 (6%)	9 (53%)	7 (41%)
70-79	0 (0%)	0 (0%)	0 (0%)	2 (100%)
80+	0 (0%)	0 (0%)	0 (0%)	1 (100%)
Total	29 (2%)	412 (22%)	840 (44%)	630 (33%)

Average/Best Times By Female Age Groups

Ages	Number	Percent	Mean Time	Best Time
13-19	13	1%	4:19:44	3:46:55
20-29	548	29%	4:38:36	2:44:56
30-39	717	38%	4:43:49	2:36:56
40-49	480	25%	4:43:52	2:49:47
50-59	133	7%	5:16:43	2:34:23
60-69	17	1%	5:30:17	3:42:18
70-79	2	0%	5:59:39	5:24:00
80+	1	0%	7:17:10	7:17:10
Total	1911	100%	4:45:02	2:34:23
Fastest Ages (by average)
13-19	13	1%	4:19:44	3:46:55

Average/Best Times By State (cutoff=10)

State	Number	Percent	Mean Time	Best Time
Arkansas	11	1%	4:25:18	3:31:23
California	40	2%	5:05:03	2:47:55
Colorado	19	1%	4:17:52	2:42:52
Florida	15	1%	4:00:31	2:43:33
Georgia	18	1%	3:58:19	2:50:37
Illinois	21	1%	4:35:17	3:36:58
Kansas	15	1%	4:37:43	3:31:09
Louisiana	22	1%	4:28:21	3:15:16
New York	12	1%	4:09:18	2:55:49
Oklahoma	20	1%	4:35:42	3:24:31
Oregon	10	1%	4:27:00	2:55:12
Tennessee	13	1%	4:26:52	3:16:40
Texas	1563	82%	4:49:10	2:45:35
Unknown	21	1%	3:51:04	2:34:23
Below Cutoff	111	6%	4:25:30	2:44:18
Total	1911	100%	4:45:02	2:34:23
Fastest State (by average)
Georgia	18	1%	3:58:19	2:50:37

2006 Freescale Austin Marathon - Men's Stats

The temperatures were around 30°F with some frozen drizzle, but the marathon went on as planned except for a 30 minute delay. According to this RunTex news article, there were many PRs. The winner for the men was Mindi Pukstas of Lithuania with a personal record time of 2:13:43. He just finished ahead of Abebe Yimer of Ethiopia who had a time of 2:13:52 which was a PR by more than 4 minutes.

The most extraordinary performance was the women's winner, Tatyana Pozdnyakova of the Ukraine, who won with a time of 2:34:23. Her winning time is five minutes slower than her PR, but she has an excuse: Pozdnyakova is 50 years old. Her time might be a new world age group record.

One thing to note is that the number of timed finishers went down this year. This is likely due to the weather. However, the total number of finishers have also gone down the last two years so it might not all be weather related. The percentage of females went up from last year but is slightly less than in 2004 and 2003. The details are shown below:

Year    Total   Male    Female % Female  Total Change
2006    4788    2866    1922   40.1%     -3.6%
2005    4967    3034    1930   38.9%     -5.2%
2004    5238    3126    2112   40.3%     -2.3%
2003    5360    3171    2189   40.8%

The Statistics for the Men

The Freescale Marathon website changed formats on me so I had to use the race data from the MarathonGuide.com. This slowed me down, So for today's post, I only have the men's stats. Later in the week, I'll put together the women's stats.

The cold weather seemed to have a positive effect on finish times. The total mean time was 4:20:44 last year. This year it was 4:15:31. There was even more difference in the total median times: 2006 4:05:40 vs 2005 4:15:13. Some of this difference may be due to the serious runners being more likely to ignore the bad weather than the recreational runners. However, the number of sub-3:00-hour and sub-4:00-hour runners also increased:

Year   Sub-3:00  Sub-4:00
2006   153 (5%)  433 (15%)
2005   106 (4%)  373 (12%)

I'll have to use this data to continue my look at temperature effects on running. My guess is that there won't be much difference between temperatures of 30°F to 55°F. Over 55°F I would think the times would start to slow down. The question I would like to find is how should you adjust your pace based on temperature. The more precise you are able to select your ideal pace, the better race you should have. Refer to this post for some detailed stats on this issue.

Below are the stats for the men stats from the 2006 Austin Marathon data at MarathonGuide.com. Note, some runners were excluded who were listed as unknowns without names or ages. Last year's stats are available in this previous post.

Male Runners - 2006 Freescale Austin Marathon

Total Runners by Times

under 3:00	3:00 to 3:30	3:30 to 4:00	over 4:00
153 (5%)	433 (15%)	708 (25%)	1540 (54%)

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 3:30	3:30 to 4:00	over 4:00
13-19	1 (5%)	5 (24%)	3 (14%)	12 (57%)
20-29	46 (10%)	75 (16%)	105 (22%)	251 (53%)
30-39	63 (7%)	147 (16%)	232 (26%)	462 (51%)
40-49	37 (4%)	162 (18%)	240 (27%)	454 (51%)
50-59	5 (1%)	37 (9%)	116 (27%)	271 (63%)
60-69	1 (1%)	7 (7%)	11 (11%)	80 (81%)
70-79	0 (0%)	0 (0%)	1 (11%)	8 (89%)
80+	0 (0%)	0 (0%)	0 (0%)	2 (100%)
Total	153 (5%)	433 (15%)	708 (25%)	1540 (54%)

Average/Best Times By Male Age Groups

Ages	Number	Percent	Mean Time	Best Time
13-19	21	1%	4:13:47	2:55:30
20-29	477	17%	4:09:47	2:13:43
30-39	904	32%	4:09:45	2:14:54
40-49	893	32%	4:12:03	2:26:42
50-59	429	15%	4:29:33	2:51:43
60-69	99	3%	4:59:09	2:55:18
70-79	9	0%	5:17:57	3:49:25
80+	2	0%	5:33:36	5:33:36
Total	2834	100%	4:15:31	2:13:43
Fastest Ages (by average)
30-39	904	32%	4:09:45	2:14:54

Average/Best Times By State (cutoff=10)

State	Number	Percent	Mean Time	Best Time
California	48	2%	4:22:23	2:19:45
Colorado	28	1%	4:35:03	2:45:05
Florida	24	1%	3:54:47	3:01:38
Georgia	13	0%	4:03:49	2:50:19
Illinois	28	1%	3:56:13	2:28:49
Kansas	23	1%	3:43:55	2:27:50
Louisiana	40	1%	4:06:57	2:58:25
Maryland	11	0%	4:20:53	3:22:22
Massachusetts	12	0%	3:06:37	2:15:28
Michigan	12	0%	3:16:07	2:20:41
Missouri	19	1%	3:42:22	2:34:28
New Mexico	13	0%	3:42:16	2:37:15
New York	23	1%	4:01:03	2:59:15
North Carolina	13	0%	4:13:23	2:19:47
Ohio	15	1%	3:51:02	2:14:28
Oklahoma	41	1%	4:20:11	2:43:06
Oregon	12	0%	3:07:32	2:22:18
Pennsylvania	16	1%	3:50:55	2:24:32
Tennessee	10	0%	3:48:43	3:00:28
Texas	2213	78%	4:19:37	2:19:47
Unknown	103	4%	4:00:47	2:13:43
Virginia	10	0%	4:10:37	2:17:37
Washington	10	0%	4:13:35	2:53:33
Below Cutoff	97	3%	3:59:22	2:14:16
Total	2834	100%	4:15:31	2:13:43
Fastest State (by average)
Massachusetts	12	0%	3:06:37	2:15:28

Tomorrow's Austin Marathon and Last Year's Stats

There's going to be one big difference between tomorrow's Freescale Austin Marathon and last year's marathon: the weather.

The temperature at last year's marathon was way above average. The temperature at the start of the race as measured at the airport was 62°F with 96% humidity. At around 10:00am the temperature was 68°F and 84% humidity. At the race, I think it was even warmer since I remember the sun coming out of the clouds around 9:00am. The high for that day was 80°F. (weatherunderground.com.)

Tomorrow is predicted to be frigid. The lows are predicted to be in the upper 20s. The highs are only predicted to reach the upper 30s. It'll be cloudy with winds of around 10mph and there'll be a slight chance of freezing drizzle.

If the race had been run last Thursday, it would have brought back memories of last year. The high Thursday was 83°F and the low was 68°F. As is typical for Texas, the weather in February can be either warm or very cold.

I started this road race stats blog with the 2005 Freescale Marathon. Here's the link to my February 2005 posts, most of which are related to the Freescale Marathon and Half-Marathon. Through last year, I made several improvements in the display of the running statistics. So I thought it would be useful to post the 2005 Marathon stats in this new format. Next week, I'll run the program on tomorrow's results and compare the two. It'll be interesting to see how the weather affected the times.

Male Runners - 2005 Freescale Marathon

Total Runners by Times

under 3:00	3:00 to 3:30	3:30 to 4:00	over 4:00
106 (4%)	373 (12%)	684 (23%)	1850 (61%)

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 3:30	3:30 to 4:00	over 4:00
13-19	0 (0%)	6 (23%)	6 (23%)	14 (54%)
20-29	27 (6%)	72 (16%)	86 (19%)	276 (60%)
30-39	49 (5%)	147 (14%)	231 (22%)	604 (59%)
40-49	25 (3%)	112 (12%)	242 (27%)	525 (58%)
50-59	4 (1%)	31 (7%)	106 (23%)	318 (69%)
60-69	0 (0%)	3 (3%)	8 (9%)	77 (88%)
70-79	0 (0%)	0 (0%)	1 (13%)	7 (88%)
80+	0 (0%)	0 (0%)	0 (0%)	1 (100%)
unknown	1 (3%)	2 (6%)	4 (11%)	28 (80%)
Total	106 (4%)	373 (12%)	684 (23%)	1850 (61%)

Average/Best Times By Male Age Groups

Ages	Number	Percent	Mean Time	Best Time
13-19	26	1%	4:09:32	3:05:49
20-29	461	15%	4:16:38	2:17:14
30-39	1031	34%	4:16:46	2:12:38
40-49	904	30%	4:15:55	2:22:33
50-59	459	15%	4:31:17	2:47:25
60-69	88	3%	5:10:21	3:11:47
70-79	8	0%	5:15:59	3:59:40
80+	1	0%	8:43:23	8:43:23
unknown	35	1%	4:40:40	2:53:43
Total	3013	100%	4:20:44	2:12:38
Fastest Ages (by average)
13-19	26	1%	4:09:32	3:05:49

Average/Best Times By State (cutoff=10)

State	Number	Percent	Mean Time	Best Time
Arkansas	11	0%	4:14:06	3:03:32
California	43	1%	3:54:43	2:47:25
Colorado	15	0%	4:01:41	2:55:18
Florida	17	1%	4:02:27	2:49:38
Georgia	23	1%	3:52:13	2:58:43
Illinois	30	1%	4:26:32	2:27:29
Kansas	22	1%	3:54:25	3:05:40
Louisiana	29	1%	3:52:04	2:46:39
Maryland	17	1%	3:56:19	2:12:38
Michigan	17	1%	3:59:31	2:17:14
Minnesota	13	0%	3:46:17	2:53:50
Missouri	27	1%	4:19:33	2:42:25
New Jersey	10	0%	3:44:38	2:42:12
New York	19	1%	3:58:49	2:14:00
Ohio	31	1%	4:00:25	2:42:11
Oklahoma	44	1%	4:32:44	3:07:19
Oregon	11	0%	3:03:14	2:25:53
Pennsylvania	16	1%	3:43:25	2:39:03
Texas	2330	77%	4:26:08	2:33:45
Unknown	38	1%	3:58:10	2:17:34
Virginia	26	1%	4:05:34	2:45:12
Washington	20	1%	3:45:28	2:52:53
outside US	100	3%	4:08:21	2:15:09
Below Cutoff	104	3%	4:00:09	2:30:52
Total	3013	100%	4:20:44	2:12:38
Fastest State (by average)
Oregon	11	0%	3:03:14	2:25:53

Female Runners - 2005 Freescale Marathon

Total Runners by Times

under 3:00	3:00 to 4:00	4:00 to 5:00	over 5:00
5 (0%)	333 (17%)	867 (45%)	711 (37%)

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
under 13	0 (0%)	1 (100%)	0 (0%)	0 (0%)
13-19	0 (0%)	3 (15%)	5 (25%)	12 (60%)
20-29	2 (0%)	98 (18%)	254 (47%)	192 (35%)
30-39	2 (0%)	134 (19%)	339 (47%)	245 (34%)
40-49	1 (0%)	88 (19%)	220 (47%)	160 (34%)
50-59	0 (0%)	8 (6%)	43 (32%)	82 (62%)
60-69	0 (0%)	0 (0%)	4 (29%)	10 (71%)
70-79	0 (0%)	0 (0%)	0 (0%)	3 (100%)
80+	0 (0%)	0 (0%)	0 (0%)	1 (100%)
unknown	0 (0%)	1 (11%)	2 (22%)	6 (67%)
Total	5 (0%)	333 (17%)	867 (45%)	711 (37%)

Average/Best Times By Female Age Groups

Ages	Number	Percent	Mean Time	Best Time
13-19	20	1%	4:58:13	3:36:54
20-29	546	28%	4:48:49	2:31:01
30-39	720	38%	4:47:44	2:34:47
40-49	469	24%	4:47:30	2:57:06
50-59	133	7%	5:19:06	3:30:28
60-69	14	1%	5:52:13	4:41:21
70-79	3	0%	5:57:17	5:12:08
80+	1	0%	7:42:14	7:42:14
under 13	1	0%	3:55:03	3:55:03
unknown	9	0%	5:01:58	3:34:38
Total	1916	100%	4:50:59	2:31:01
Fastest Ages (by average)
under 13	1	0%	3:55:03	3:55:03

Average/Best Times By State (cutoff=10)

State	Number	Percent	Mean Time	Best Time
California	29	2%	4:48:38	3:08:06
Colorado	21	1%	4:19:23	3:26:43
Florida	12	1%	4:34:29	3:40:23
Georgia	14	1%	4:09:42	3:37:45
Illinois	12	1%	4:20:30	3:27:46
Kansas	10	1%	4:35:46	3:29:34
Louisiana	25	1%	4:42:48	3:17:50
Missouri	12	1%	4:50:03	3:29:58
New York	14	1%	4:23:30	3:11:17
North Carolina	11	1%	4:39:35	3:33:01
Ohio	16	1%	4:14:47	3:23:40
Oklahoma	27	1%	4:27:59	3:29:54
Oregon	13	1%	4:21:43	3:03:04
Texas	1551	81%	4:55:51	3:05:49
Virginia	14	1%	4:37:15	3:40:25
outside US	36	2%	4:27:19	2:42:23
Below Cutoff	99	5%	4:28:58	2:31:01
Total	1916	100%	4:50:59	2:31:01
Fastest State (by average)
Georgia	14	1%	4:09:42	3:37:45

New Orleans Mardi Gras Marathon 2006

The Mardi Gras Marathon was run yesterday in New Orleans. It was the first major athletic event in New Orleans since Hurricane Katrina. This AP article has some descriptions from a runner's viewpoint. The race started in the French Quarters which survived Katrina and subsequent flooding without much damage. After 7 miles, the author noted how the damage became more apparent with street after street of abandoned homes. The last part of the marathon finished with a loop around the Superdome. The author noted that while some neighborhoods are in very bad shape, there are some that look "like they could throw a parade every day of the week".

It's good to see there was a solid turnout. There were 698 marathon finishers and 1426 half-marathon finishers. As would be expected, this is down from last year when there were 1966 marathon finishers and 2394 half-marathon finishers (see my post from last year).