Participation and Performance in the Oldest Ultramarathon-Comrades Marathon 1921-2019 Participation and performance trends were analyzed for limited periods for different ultramarathons. This study examined trends in terms of participation and performance at the oldest ultramarathon in the world, the Comrades Marathon (South Africa), during a century (1921-2019). Data from www.ultra-marathon.org to 100'000 finishers were analyzed using various general linear models.Women made 4.2% of the total sample (n = 4'152), and the first women ran this race in 1978. Before 1965, the number of participants was between 5 and 35 athletes and began to grow exponentially by the mid-90s. In the 1970s, an increase in finishers was observed mainly due to an increase in male athletes in age groups 30-39, 40-49 and 50-59 years. There was a stable running speed for women and men as a whole, but a performance improvement for the annual top 5 women and men.Male runners were faster than female runners in all ages.
While overall performance has not improved over years, the five best women and men improved their performance over the years. The study can be found under https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/33260248/