Female running: Interesting Statistics

Whereas previously women have always been somewhere behind the men in the race for long and medium distances, but now they confidently overtake.

For example, women make up 57% of the 17 million runners finishers in the US, according to Running USA in 2015. These include runners who took part in various competitions, starting from the races before the Thanksgiving Day (distance - 4.9 kilometers) to the full marathon (distance - 42.2 km).

Some run for medals, but the majority begins to run on the treadmill, the stadium or in the nearby park for personal achievement, socialization and maintaining good physical shape.

Mary Wittenberg (Mary Wittenberg), CEO of Virgin Sport, in the past - the CEO of the Association of runners New York, engaged in the organization of the annual New York City Marathon, prefers to run on large distance. She says that now, compared to what it was before, it is much smaller than the cross-country events exclusively for women, and the majority of the significant number of common races - women.

In 1984, successfully completed the distance women were still much less than men when American Joan Benoit Samuelson (Joan Benoit Samuelson) was the winner of the first Olympic women's marathon. This happened 88 years after the first men's marathon at the Olympics.

Ten years later, in 1994, Oprah Winfrey (Oprah Winfrey) has completed the Marine Corps Marathon, held in Washington, DC, just 4.5 hours under the running number 40, which is consistent with its age. Millions of fans supported her throughout the race and at least three journalists fled with her. Among them was Embi Borfut (Amby Burfoot), journalist edition of Runner's World.

Just a year later Borfut, who won the Boston Marathon in 1968, received an unexpected call. It was one of the staff of the Fund for the fight against breast cancer to them. Susan G. Komen, who organizes charity run. Borfutu reported that one of these races have registered more than 10 000 women.

"Then it sounded very funny," - he says Borfut now Consulting Editor Runner's World, recently wrote a book called "The First Lady of running» (First Ladies of Running).

While men accounted for 68% of the runners in the race finishers. After marathon Oprah Winfrey number of women taking part in the race, it began to grow and by 2010 exceeded the number of male runners.

Apparently, running women like more than other types of endurance sport. For example, in cycling, according to USA Cycling, of less than 15%.

Tracy Russell (Tracey Russell), a former swimmer, says that in the race also attracts women the opportunity to communicate in the process of time, which is inconvenient to do while sailing.

In the marathon in Los Angeles this year, women accounted for 46% of runners, but 59% of the participants were there in charities that give discounts or free access to the participation in the race, in exchange for charitable contributions.

According to Running USA, in 2015, women accounted for 44% of marathon runners and 61% on the half-marathon distance. And one of the reasons for the increased number of women among the participants of the race - better clothes and running shoes. For decades, manufacturers of shoes and clothing have paid very little attention to women's needs. Many women had to run around in shorts for general physical culture and into a completely improper, ill-fitting and does not perform the function of supporting sports tops.

Recently, we have the roof caved in various women's clothing by such well-known sports brands like Under Armour or Adidas, which is not only functional, but also beautiful. Add to that the growing interest in a healthy lifestyle in general, and get the big picture.

Tony Carey (Toni Carey) and her friend from college Ashley Hicks Rock (Ashley Hicks-Rocha) made their own blog about running in the Black Girls Run the project! to facilitate the run spread among African-American women. Do Black Girls Run! 70 groups across the country and 200 thousand participants. Some of them take part in the 'virtual' races - registered on the races, complete them on their own and receive his medal in the mail. This option is ideal for runners who are afraid of participating in official competitions.

Number of male runners is not growing as fast as the number of people willing to run women, as many men now prefer to drag the iron and rock muscle or addicted to high-intensity interval training. In general, men's participation in the race for the last two years decreased millenialy showed less interest in the race compared to older generations. In this regard, the average age of the participants of the race increased, also increased the average time finishers.

For most women, jogging - it's not a competition, but a social experiment. Five years ago, Pam Borrus (Pam Burrus), 35-year-old mother of two who lives near Atlanta, founded Moms Run This Town - social sports organization in which more than 700 branches, most of them located on the territory of USA. Women can join the heats through Facebook, moreover allowed to participate not only mothers, but also their daughters and childless women who want to run.

Running can be an excellent remedy for depression, which women tend to suffer more often than men. Recent studies have shown that aerobic exercise and sunlight can improve the condition of people with mild or moderate form of depression.

Unfortunately, we do not have official statistics on the ratio of male and participants female in the competition taking place on the territory of Russia, Ukraine and other former Soviet States. However, if you look at the lists of participants of the competition, we can see that in the race for short distances Women involved approximately 2-fold less than that of men, but in the race for long distances - in 3-4 times less. We hope that soon the situation will be corrected.