Medbase St. Gallen Am Vadianplatz, 9000 St. Gallen, Switzerland.
Institute of Primary Care, University of Zurich, 8000 Zurich, Switzerland.
Medicina (Kaunas). 2022 Jan 25;58(2):179. doi: 10.3390/medicina58020179.
The 6-h ultra-marathon is the shortest time-limited ultra-marathon race, but little has been investigated regarding this race format. Previously, only the age of peak performance in the context of longer time-limited ultra-marathons was determined. The purpose of this study was to investigate the trends in 6-h ultra-marathon races from 1982 to 2020 for female and male ultra-runners, the participation and performance by countries, the age of peak performance, and the differences in performance regarding countries. The sample included 23,203 female ultra-runners, aged 18-83 years, and 87,264 male ultra-runners, aged 18-85 years, who were finishers in a 6-h ultra-marathon held between 1982 and 2020. The age of peak performance was tested using the Kruskal-Wallis test, followed by the Bonferroni Correction. The difference in performance by countries was verified using a linear regression model with the fastest runners from Russia in women, and Tunisia in men, used as reference. Over the years, the men-to-women ratio decreased. The mean age was 43.20 ± 9.30 years for female and 46.09 ± 10.17 years for male runners. Athletes in younger age groups were faster than athletes in older age groups. Most female and male participants originated from Germany. Women from Russia (10.01 ± 1.28 km/h) and men from Tunisia (12.16 ± 1.46 km/h) were the fastest. In summary, in 6-h ultra-marathons held between 1982 and 2020, the participation for both women and men increased, while the men-to-women ratio decreased. The mean age was higher in men compared to women. Most female and male runners originated from Germany, but the fastest women were from Russia, and the fastest men from Tunisia. Future studies need to investigate whether Russian women and Tunisian men are also the best in other distance-limited ultra-marathon races, such as 12-h and 24-h.
6 小时超级马拉松是最短限时的超级马拉松比赛，但对此比赛形式的研究甚少。以前，仅确定了在较长限时超级马拉松比赛中表现最佳的年龄。本研究的目的是调查 1982 年至 2020 年女性和男性超级跑者的 6 小时超级马拉松比赛趋势、参赛国家和表现、表现最佳年龄以及各国之间的表现差异。该样本包括 23203 名年龄在 18-83 岁之间的女性超级跑者和 87264 名年龄在 18-85 岁之间的男性超级跑者，他们在 1982 年至 2020 年间完成了 6 小时超级马拉松比赛。使用 Kruskal-Wallis 检验测试表现最佳年龄，然后使用 Bonferroni 校正。使用俄罗斯女性和突尼斯男性最快跑步者作为参考，使用线性回归模型验证各国之间的表现差异。多年来，男女比例下降。女性的平均年龄为 43.20±9.30 岁，男性为 46.09±10.17 岁。年轻年龄组的运动员比年龄较大年龄组的运动员快。大多数女性和男性参与者来自德国。俄罗斯女性（10.01±1.28 公里/小时）和突尼斯男性（12.16±1.46 公里/小时）的速度最快。总之，在 1982 年至 2020 年举行的 6 小时超级马拉松比赛中，男女参与者均有所增加，而男女比例下降。男性的平均年龄高于女性。大多数女性和男性跑步者来自德国，但最快的女性来自俄罗斯，最快的男性来自突尼斯。未来的研究需要调查俄罗斯女性和突尼斯男性是否也是其他限时超级马拉松比赛（如 12 小时和 24 小时）的最佳选手。
