Abstract
BackgroundThe purpose of this study was to examine the sex and age-related differences in performance in a draft-legal ultra-cycling event.MethodsAge-related changes in performance across years were investigated in the 24-hour draft-legal cycling event held in Schötz, Switzerland, between 2000 and 2011 using multi-level regression analyses including age, repeated participation and environmental temperatures as co-variables.ResultsFor all finishers, the age of peak cycling performance decreased significantly (β = −0.273, p = 0.036) from 38 ± 10 to 35 ± 6 years in females but remained unchanged (β = −0.035, p = 0.906) at 41.0 ± 10.3 years in males. For the annual fastest females and males, the age of peak cycling performance remained unchanged at 37.3 ± 8.5 and 38.3 ± 5.4 years, respectively. For all female and male finishers, males improved significantly (β = 7.010, p = 0.006) the cycling distance from 497.8 ± 219.6 km to 546.7 ± 205.0 km whereas females (β = −0.085, p = 0.987) showed an unchanged performance of 593.7 ± 132.3 km. The mean cycling distance achieved by the male winners of 960.5 ± 51.9 km was significantly (p < 0.001) greater than the distance covered by the female winners with 769.7 ± 65.7 km but was not different between the sexes (p > 0.05). The sex difference in performance for the annual winners of 19.7 ± 7.8% remained unchanged across years (p > 0.05). The achieved cycling distance decreased in a curvilinear manner with advancing age. There was a significant age effect (F = 28.4, p < 0.0001) for cycling performance where the fastest cyclists were in age group 35–39 years.ConclusionIn this 24-h cycling draft-legal event, performance in females remained unchanged while their age of peak cycling performance decreased and performance in males improved while their age of peak cycling performance remained unchanged. The annual fastest females and males were 37.3 ± 8.5 and 38.3 ± 5.4 years old, respectively. The sex difference for the fastest finishers was ~20%. It seems that women were not able to profit from drafting to improve their ultra-cycling performance.
Highlights
The purpose of this study was to examine the sex and age-related differences in performance in a draft-legal ultra-cycling event
For the annual fastest females and males, the age of peak cycling performance remained unchanged at 37.3 ± 8.5 and 38.3 ± 5.4 years, respectively
The main findings were that females accounted for ~9% of the field, the sex difference for the annual winners was unchanged at ~20%, the performance in females remained unchanged while their age of peak cycling performance decreased and the performance in males improved while their age of peak cycling performance remained unchanged, and the annual fastest females and males were 37.3 ± 8.5 and 38.3 ± 5.4 years old, respectively
Summary
The purpose of this study was to examine the sex and age-related differences in performance in a draft-legal ultra-cycling event. Several studies reported an increased participation in ultra-endurance performances − defined as an endurance performance of six hours and longer [1] − such as ultra-running [2,3,4], ultracycling [5,6,7,8] and ultra-triathlon [9,10] For several of these ultra-endurance events, an increased participation and an improvement in performance of master athletes older than 35 years [11] have been observed [5,12,13,14]. Cycling as a non-weightbearing activity represents an interesting model because it can be performed even in older ages [7] because of its non-technical and its non-weight-bearing character [25]
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