Department of Physical Medicine & Rehabilitation, Department of Veterans Affairs, Northern California Health Care System, and University of California Davis Medical Center, Sacramento, CA, USA.
Med Sci Sports Exerc. 2009 Dec;41(12):2191-8. doi: 10.1249/MSS.0b013e3181a8d553.
Examine changes in demographics of participants and performance trends at the Western States 100-Mile Endurance Run (WSER) since its inception in 1974.
Name, age, sex, and finish information was obtained on runners in the WSER from 1974 to 2007. Linear regression analyses, ANOVA, and t-tests were used to examine participation and performance trends.
The mean age of participants increased (P < 0.001) to around 45 yr, with men being an average of 3 yr older (P < 0.001) than women. The increase in average age of starters was accounted for by the growth in participation among women >or=40 yr and men >or=50 yr, and by the decreasing participation among men <50 yr. Between 1986 and 2007, there was an increasing participation among women to around 20% of all starters. With this came improved (P < 0.01) finish times for the top 5 overall women and the top 5 women in the 30-39 and 40-49 yr age groups, whereas performances among the men did not improve over this time span. Average ages of the top performers increased (P <or= 0.002) since 1990 to the upper 30s for both sexes, but the fastest times among men were comparable across the 30-39 and 40-49 yr age groups.
Participation in the WSER has increased among women and older athletes, and the ages of the fastest runners at the WSER have gradually risen to the extent that these runners are older than the ages at which the fastest marathons are run. In contrast to what has been observed for men, finish times have improved for the top women across the last two decades at the WSER.
自 1974 年西部 100 英里耐力跑（WSER）创立以来，研究参与者的人口统计学变化和表现趋势。
从 1974 年至 2007 年，获取 WSER 跑步者的姓名、年龄、性别和完赛信息。采用线性回归分析、方差分析和 t 检验来检验参赛和表现趋势。
参与者的平均年龄增加（P < 0.001）至 45 岁左右，男性比女性年长 3 岁（P < 0.001）。首发选手平均年龄的增加归因于 40 岁及以上女性和 50 岁及以上男性的参赛人数增加，以及 50 岁以下男性的参赛人数减少。在 1986 年至 2007 年期间，女性的参赛人数增加到了所有首发选手的 20%左右。由此带来的是，前 5 名女性和 30-39 岁、40-49 岁年龄段前 5 名女性的完赛时间提高（P < 0.01），而在此期间男性的表现并未提高。自 1990 年以来，顶尖选手的平均年龄增加（P <or= 0.002）至男女均为 30 多岁，但男性的最快时间在 30-39 岁和 40-49 岁年龄段之间是可比的。
WSER 的女性和老年运动员的参赛人数有所增加，WSER 最快跑者的年龄逐渐上升，以至于这些跑者比马拉松最快跑者的年龄还要大。与男性的情况形成对比的是，在过去的二十年里，WSER 的顶尖女性的完赛时间有所提高。
