Have you watched Courtney Dauwalter race? Every year
It seems like she's winning another race outright. The Moab 240,
the Big Backyard Ultra. And she's ahead of the men. Did you
see when Jasmine Paris crossed the finish line at the Spine Race, winning the
race outright? Or when Sabrina Verjee did the same thing shortly afterwards at the
Spine Fusion?
Or, just recently when Ruth Croft became the first ever female to win the title at
the Tawawera 100 in New Zealand?
Women are just amazing aren't they? So we thought it was about time
we celebrated some of these incredible achievements.
So today we're looking at those occasions where women beat men. I'm Kate.
And I'm Anna, and a big welcome to you. If you're new to The Running Channel,
please do make sure you hit subscribe and tap the bell icon.
So you get notified when we upload new videos, all about running,
which we do every week.
It's well-known that there's a gender performance gap between women and men of around
5 to 15%, depending on the sport.
This means that thanks to physiology,
the fastest man will generally be around 11% faster than the fastest women.
If you look at world records,
which is the easiest way to compare the fastest and the strongest,
you'll see that same percentage gap between men and women over and over again.
This performance gap used to be much larger simply because women weren't
allowed to compete in the same events as men for a very long time. In fact,
it was only during the latter part of the 20th century that things began to
change, and women were able to compete in the events that were once closed to
them, therefore being able to show what we're really capable of.
There were no women at all at the first Olympic Games in 1896,
and although a few were allowed to participate in Paris in 1900,
it was only in sports that were deemed appropriate,
like lawn tennis or golf. Of the 997 participants,
only 22 were women.
It wasn't until the Amsterdam Games in 1928
that women were permitted to take part in athletics, with 5 track and field
events open to them. However,
a journalist who wasn't even there claimed that after the 800 meter final,
the women collapsed and were very ill,
which put a stop to women competing in these events again until 1960.
They of course weren't allowed to compete in anything longer than that either.
It's only now that the Olympics is becoming more balanced again, and
2024 in Paris is set to become the first gender-balanced Olympic
Games in history.
It took a long time before women were accepted into other races too.
The first female marathon time was only acknowledged by the International
Association of Athletics Federations in 1926.
That was run by Violet Piercy in the time of 3 hours,
40 minutes and 22 seconds.
At the time, the male world marathon record was over an hour quicker than that,
and that was held by Albert Michelsen from the US, who completed his marathon in
a time of 2 hours, 29 minutes and 1 second.
Now, 100 years later,
and that gap is shrinking. In 2019,
Brigid Kosgei set the female marathon world record running Chicago in a
time of 2 hours, 14 minutes and 4 seconds.
Now, Eliud Kipchoge's world record time for running the marathon - under 2
hours in 1 hour 59 and 40 seconds -
doesn't strictly count as an official world record.
So his actual world record set at Berlin of 2 hours
1 minute and 39 seconds still goes to show that in a century,
the gap has closed from over 1 hour to around 15 minutes,
proving that female runners are giving their male counterparts a run for their
money. Pun intended.
In the vast majority of sports, the gap still stands, but in the last few years,
an interesting pattern has begun to emerge when it comes to the longer ultra
events. In the last decade or so, more women are outright taking titles at
ultra races, beating their male counterparts. We wanted to take a look at why.
There's no denying that the world's fastest athletes are men.
Often called the fastest man alive,
Usain Bolt holds the world record for a hundred meters,
crossing the line in 9.58 seconds.
In 2020,
Joshua Cheptegei broke the 5,000 meter track world record running a time of
12 minutes, 35.36 seconds.
And then there's Eliud Kipchoge, who ran the first ever sub 2 hour marathon.
His time of 1 hour, 59 minutes and 40 seconds meant
He was running at a pace of 4:35 minutes per mile.
This is all down to physiology.
Men and women are very different in the way that they're made up.
Men have a higher level of testosterone.
They also have lower body fat percentages and have higher anaerobic
capacity. Not only this, but they also have a higher level of glycogen stores,
which is used as fuel for speed. Men also have bigger hearts,
higher bone density, longer stride length, higher cardiac output,
and bigger lung capacity.
These are all traits that are great if you're an elite athlete.
But as the distances get longer, something interesting happens.
Women are not only winning races outright,
but sometimes doing so by huge margins - minutes, hours, even days. In fact,
one small study found that once you get beyond 200 miles in a seriously long ultra
race, women are actually 0.6% faster than men.
That same study showed that while men were faster than women in all the shorter
events, the percentage difference got smaller and smaller
as the distances got longer and longer.
Scientists have started looking into whether there are any physiological factors
that could benefit females over ultra endurance events.
Now, it's important to note that this is a fairly recent phenomenon, and all of
the studies that have been done so far have a very small sample size of elite
women. So there's plenty more research to be done into this.
But what is it about being a woman that could give us an advantage over those
longer ultra distances?
There are a number of theories.
The key factor in ultra running success - indeed marathons too -
is teaching your body to burn fat efficiently.
We have a limitless amount of fat in ourselves,
whereas carbs do run out - otherwise no one would ever need to take a gel.
Now some scientists have suggested that women may be better at converting the fat
in their cells into fuel over long periods.
Another theory links this with estrogen helping to make the fat more available as a
fuel source.
If you've ever run an ultra before you'll know that a crucial part to the
training is the preparation for it.
And this might actually be where women have a slight edge over men.
So some men,
not all of them, may approach the ultra endurance distance with a
macho testosterone-fueled mindset, with a lot of talk about
pain and suffering. Women -
some women, not all - on the other hand could approach it with a more
positive mindset. Therefore,
you tend to find that you would get more male non-finishers
in an ultra event than females.
And that's because females who feel under-prepared going into an ultra endurance
event, won't line up on that start line. Instead,
they'd rather not start at all
than quit partway through. Fail to prepare, prepare to fail.
A number of studies have looked at women in marathon races and found that they are
better pacers. Now that doesn't mean that they're faster,
it just means they're more consistent,
more likely to start at the pace they intend to maintain.
And that also can help prevent burnout because you're not starting off too fast.
If you're an ultra runner or in fact a marathoner,
then you may have experienced a point during a race where it's become mind over matter.
The act of putting one foot in front of the other becomes a real mental battle.
Now women tend to use emotion-based coping mechanisms when it gets to this
point, helping them to reframe that thought.
And this can be a real strength when it comes to ultra endurance. On the pain
side of things,
it's thought that women tend to cope better with pains experienced during
ultra events, because of their experience with things like menstrual
cramps and other conditions like endometriosis. In fact,
some runners who are mums have even said that experiencing childbirth has helped them
with that ultras because they know what they're capable of
and they know what it's like to push their body through pain.
So now we've heard a bit about the science behind female endurance athletes and
listened to some fascinating insight into training and preparation,
but how does this affect the average runner?
We've picked out our top tips that will help you if you're training for an ultra or
any endurance event for that matter.
Preparation is key. Training for a race is important, whatever the distance,
but this becomes even more crucial when you're taking on an ultra.
Make sure you know
what you're signing up for and leave plenty of time to build up strength and
endurance in the lead up to the big day.
A huge aspect of ultra endurance events is the mental side of things and
maintaining a positive attitude and enjoying the journey can be the
difference between seeing it through and not.
So, break it down.
How long is it until the next aid station or that amazing view that you've been
dying to see? Before you know it, you'll have run 20 miles.
The pain you've endured in other areas of life can really help your endurance
when it comes to long distance races - turns out all that period pain was useful
after all! It's been training you for ultras.
That and childbirth makes you seriously hardcore. When you've found a pace that
works for you, stick to it,
and definitely don't go off too excited at the start of the race because your
body won't thank you for it later. Even pacing is a gift,
especially in ultra endurance events
if you want to be able to maintain your energy
to see you through to the end. And finally,
you've got to be in it to win it. A hundred years ago,
people would never have imagined that women would be continually smashing records
for endurance races and look where we are today.
Every long distance race starts with a first step.
It certainly is an exciting time to be a woman in ultra endurance events.
Now we'd like to say a huge thank you to DHB for their support in bringing you
this video. They are passionate about women in sports.
So do check out that new Aeron Ultra collection,
which is designed to take you on all of your adventures. Let us know in the
comments below if you have any inspiring ultra stories you want to share with us.
Are you thinking about maybe taking on an ultra endurance event? Tell us,
and we'll see you next time on The Running Channel.