Women's running: entertaining statistics

2024 Author: Malcolm Clapton | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 03:44

It wasn't until 1972 that women were officially admitted to the Boston Marathon. Much has changed since then, and if - the first woman to take part in the marathon - in 1967 they tried to literally drag them off the track in the literal sense of the word, now women have caught up with men and continue to conquer the world of running.

If earlier women were always somewhere behind men in long and medium-distance races, now they are confidently overtaking.

For example, women make up 57% of the 17 million finishers in the United States, according to 2015 Running USA data. This number includes runners who have taken part in a variety of competitions: from the Thanksgiving race (distance - 4.9 km) to full marathons (distance - 42.2 km).

Some run for medals, but most start running on a treadmill, stadium, or nearby park for personal achievement, socialization, and staying fit.

Mary Wittenberg, CEO of Virgin Sport and former CEO of the New York Runners' Association, which organizes the annual New York Marathon, prefers long-distance running. She says that there are far fewer running events exclusively for women than before, and the majority of participants in a significant number of general races are women.

In 1984, women were still far less successful than men when American Joan Benoit Samuelson won the first women's Olympic marathon. This happened 88 years after the first men's marathon in the Olympic Games.

Ten years later, in 1994, Oprah Winfrey completed the Washington, D. C. Marine Corps Marathon in just 4.5 hours with running number 40, which matched her age. Millions of fans supported her the entire distance and at least three journalists ran alongside her. Among them was Amby Burfoot, a journalist for Runner's World.

Just a year later, Burfoot, who won the 1968 Boston Marathon, received an unexpected call. This was one of the staff members of the Foundation for the fight against breast cancer. Susan Komen, who organizes charity races. Burfoot was informed that more than 10,000 women had registered for one of these races.

“It sounded very funny back then,” recalls Burfoot, now a consulting editor at Runner’s World, who recently wrote a book called First Ladies of Running.

At the time, men accounted for 68% of runners who finish in races. After the Oprah Winfrey Marathon, the number of women running in races began to grow and by 2010 exceeded the number of male runners.

Women seem to enjoy running more than other endurance sports. For example, in cycling, according to USA Cycling, there are less than 15% of them.

Tracey Russell, a former swimmer, says that running women are also attracted to the ability to communicate during the process, which is inconvenient when swimming.

In the Los Angeles Marathon this year, women made up 46% of runners, but 59% of participants got there through charities that offered discount or free access to the race in exchange for charitable contributions.

According to Running USA, in 2015, 44% of marathon runners and 61% of half marathon runners were women. And one of the reasons for the increased number of women in the race is the improved clothing and running shoes. For decades, sportswear and footwear manufacturers have paid very little attention to women's needs. A huge number of women had to run in gym shorts and in completely unsuitable, poorly fitting and unsupportive sports tops.

Recently, we have been hit by an avalanche of various women's clothing from such famous sports brands as Under Armor or Adidas, which is not only functional, but also beautiful. Add to this the growing interest in healthy living in general and you get the big picture.

Toni Carey and her college friend Ashley Hicks-Rocha have turned their personal running blog into Black Girls Run! to promote jogging among African American women. Black Girls Run! about 70 groups throughout the country and 200 thousand participants. Some of them take part in "virtual" races - they register for the races, complete them on their own and receive their medals in the mail. This option is ideal for runners who are intimidated by competing in official competitions.

The number of male runners is not growing as fast as the number of women wanting to run, as many men now prefer to pull iron and pump muscles or are addicted to high-intensity interval training. Overall, men's participation in running has declined over the past two years, with millennials showing less interest in running compared to older generations. In this regard, the average age of the participants in the races has increased, and the average time of the finishers has also increased.

For most women, running is not a competition, but a social experiment. Five years ago, Pam Burrus, a 35-year-old mother of two living near Atlanta, founded Moms Run This Town, a social sports organization with more than 700 branches, most of them in the United States. Women can join the races via Facebook, and not only mothers, but also their daughters and childless women who want to run are allowed to participate.

Running can be a great cure for depression, which women tend to suffer more often than men. Recent research has shown that aerobic exercise and sunlight can improve the well-being of people with mild to moderate depression.

Unfortunately, we do not have official statistics on the ratio of the number of male and female participants in competitions held in Russia, Ukraine and other post-Soviet states. However, if you look at the lists of participants in the competition, you can see that in short-distance races women participate in approximately 2 times less than men, and in long-distance races - 3-4 times less. We hope that the situation will improve soon.