Running trends in Switzerland from 1999-2019 – slower, longer and older? (Preprint)

BACKGROUND Several single race events (5 km, 10 km, half-marathon, marathon, ultra-marathon) have been analyzed in multiple studies. It is known that 5 km and 10 km races attract many athletes with a focus on women and that the top finishers are getting faster in 10 km races, while younger runners were the fastest. Regarding half-marathon and marathon races there is a focus on male participants, with less but faster marathoners compared to half-marathoners. Across years, the sex difference in performance decreased in both races. In ultra-marathon, an increase in participation numbers as well as in performance has been detected, with a focus on male finishers. The performance gap between men and women seems to be stable. In summary, we have a lot of single study results, but not the running trends for several running distances over 20 years and in a whole country. OBJECTIVE The aim of this study is therefore to examine 5 km, 10 km, half-marathon, marathon and ultra-marathon races by age, sex, participation numbers and performance during two decades (1999-2019) for one country (Switzerland). METHODS We analyzed 1,172,836 finishers (370,517 women and 802,319 men) competing between 1999 and 2019 in 5 km, 10 km, half-marathon, marathon and ultra-marathon running races held in Switzerland. We used online available data about the athletes and examined total finishing numbers, sex, age and performances. In ultra-marathons, we performed a linear model as sensitivity analyses for change in running speed. Do-not-finishers were excluded. RESULTS The most frequented race was the half-marathon (33.1% of finishers), the less frequented was the ultra-marathon distance (8.5% of finishers). In most recent years, only the number of finishers in ultra-marathon, especially in trail runs increased. In total, there were more male finishers (68.4 %) than female finishers (31.6 %) and only in 5 km races, more women finished than men (55.3%). Men were faster than women and both sexes were running slower in all race distances across years. Athletes in 10 km races had the best performance within the five analyzed race distances. Median age increased with longer race distance and decreased in ultra-marathon in recent years. CONCLUSIONS In summary, finishing numbers especially in ultra-marathons increased with a focus on trail runs, female and male athletes had a declining performance across years in all race distances and men ran faster than women. Median age increased with longer race distance and showed a downtrend only in ultra-marathon in recent years.