ArticleExtreme physiology & medicine2013
Age and gender difference in non-drafting ultra-endurance cycling performance - the 'Swiss Cycling Marathon'.
Article in Extreme physiology & medicine, 2013. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 20 papers.
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Who cites it
20 citing papers in PubMed.
- Women in the triathlon-the differences between female and male triathletes: a narrative review.Frontiers in sports and active living · 2025Review
- Ultra-Cycling- Past, Present, Future: A Narrative Review.Sports medicine - open · 2024Review
- Comparing the Performance Gap Between Males and Females in the Older Age Groups in IRONMAN® 70.3: An Internet-Based Cross-Sectional Study of More Than 800,000 Race Records.Sports medicine - open · 2023Article
- Gender similarities and differences in skeletal muscle and body composition: an MRI study of recreational cyclists.BMJ open sport & exercise medicine · 2023Article
- Changes in Sex Difference in Time-Limited Ultra-Cycling Races from 6 Hours to 24 Hours.Medicina (Kaunas, Lithuania) · 2021Article
- Antioxidants in Sport Sarcopenia.Nutrients · 2020Review
- Can the Performance Gap between Women and Men be Reduced in Ultra-Cycling?International journal of environmental research and public health · 2020Article
- Participation and Performance Trends in the Oldest 100-km Ultramarathon in the World.International journal of environmental research and public health · 2020Article
- From Sedentary and Physical Inactive Behaviours to an Ultra Cycling Race: A Mixed-Method Case Report.International journal of environmental research and public health · 2020Article
- Participating In The Race Across AMerica In A Team Of Eight Cyclists: Do Not Neglect Crew Preparation.Open access journal of sports medicine · 2019Article
- Relationship of anthropometric and training characteristics with race performance in endurance and ultra-endurance athletes.Asian journal of sports medicine · 2014Article
- Runners in their forties dominate ultra-marathons from 50 to 3,100 miles.Clinics (Sao Paulo, Brazil) · 2014Article
- Analysis of sex differences in open-water ultra-distance swimming performances in the FINA World Cup races in 5 km, 10 km and 25 km from 2000 to 2012.BMC sports science, medicine & rehabilitation · 2014Article
- Sex difference in top performers from Ironman to double deca iron ultra-triathlon.Open access journal of sports medicine · 2014Article
- Sex and age-related differences in performance in a 24-hour ultra-cycling draft-legal event - a cross-sectional data analysis.BMC sports science, medicine & rehabilitation · 2014Article
- Performance and sex difference in ultra-triathlon performance from Ironman to Double Deca Iron ultra-triathlon between 1978 and 2013.SpringerPlus · 2014Article
- Age, sex and (the) race: gender and geriatrics in the ultra-endurance age.Extreme physiology & medicine · 2014Article
- Change of the age and performance of swimmers across World Championships and Olympic Games finals from 1992 to 2013 - a cross-sectional data analysis.SpringerPlus · 2014Article
- The best triathletes are older in longer race distances - a comparison between Olympic, Half-Ironman and Ironman distance triathlon.SpringerPlus · 2014Article
- Age group athletes in inline skating: decrease in overall and increase in master athlete participation in the longest inline skating race in Europe - the Inline One-Eleven.International journal of general medicine · 2013Article
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
5 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
backgroundIn recent years, there was an increased interest in investigating the gender difference in performance and the age of peak performance in ultra-endurance performances such as ultra-triathlon, ultra-running, and ultra-swimming, but not in ultra-cycling. The aim of the present study was to analyze the gender difference in ultra-cycling performance and the age of peak ultra-cycling performance in the 720-km 'Swiss Cycling Marathon', the largest European qualifier for the 'Race Across America'.
methodsChanges in the cycling speed and age of 985 finishers including 38 women and 947 men competing in the Swiss Cycling Marathon from 2001 to 2012 covering a distance of 720 km with a change of altitude of 4,993 m were analyzed using linear regression.
resultsThe gender difference in performance was 13.6% for the fastest cyclists ever, 13.9% ± 0.5% for the three fastest cyclists ever and 19.1% ± 3.7% for the ten fastest cyclists ever. The gender difference in performance for the annual top three women and men decreased from 35.0% ± 9.5% in 2001 to 20.4% ± 7.7% in 2012 (r2 = 0.72, p = 0.01). The annual top three women improved cycling speed from 20.3 ± 3.1 km h-1 in 2003 to 24.8 ± 2.4 km h-1 in 2012 (r2 = 0.79, p < 0.01). The cycling speed of the annual top three men remained unchanged at 30.2 ± 0.6 km h-1 (p > 0.05). The age of peak performance for the ten fastest finishers ever was 35.9 ± 9.6 years for men and 38.7 ± 7.8 years for women, respectively (p = 0.47).
conclusionsThe gender difference in ultra-cycling performance decreased over the 2001 to 2012 period in the 720-km Swiss Cycling Marathon for the annual top three cyclists and reached approximately 14%. Both women and men achieved peak performance at the age of approximately 36 to 39 years. Women might close the gender gap in ultra-endurance cycling in longer cycling distances. Future studies need to investigate the gender difference in performance in the Race Across America, the longest nonstop and non-drafting ultra-cycling race in the world.
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Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the Socratic graph.