Trends in Weather Conditions and Performance by Age Groups Over the History of the Berlin Marathon

Abstract

The effect of different environmental conditions such as temperature, wind, barometric pressure, and precipitation has been well investigated in elite marathoners, but not by age categories (i.e., age group marathoners). The aim of the study was to investigate the potential influence of environmental conditions such as temperature, precipitation, and atmospheric pressure on marathon performance in age group marathoners competing in the ‘Berlin Marathon’ from 1974 to 2019. A total of 869,474 valid finisher records were available for analysis, of which 711,136 correspond to males and 158,338 to females. The influence of temperature, atmospheric pressure, and precipitation on marathon race times was investigated in age group marathoners grouped in 5-year-intervals. Within the 46 years of Berlin marathons under investigation, there was some level of precipitation for 18 years, and 28 years without any rain. Sunshine was predominant in 25 of the events, whilst in the other 21 years, cloud cover was predominant. Marathon race times were significantly and positively correlated with age (i.e., older runners were slower than younger runners) where the correlation was higher for males than for females. Marathon race times were significantly and positively correlated with both the hours of sunshine and the daily maximum temperature. The fastest marathon runners (meaning the minimum times) achieved the fastest race times on race days with higher maximum temperatures (i.e., 15–30°C). Daily maximum temperatures showed an influence on age group marathoners from age group 35–40 years and older. Higher precipitation levels impaired performance across most age groups. In summary, higher daily maximum temperatures (i.e., >15°C) and higher precipitation levels impaired performance of master marathoners (i.e., 35–40 years and older) competing in the ‘Berlin Marathon’ in the last 45 years. Master marathoners should start in marathon races with temperatures < 15°C and no precipitation in order to achieve a fast marathon race time.

Optimally controlling nutrition and propulsion force in a long distance running race

“…Recall, that our only constraints are that the energies have to be above 0, and that there are some upper bounds on forces and velocities. As the average finish time for a marathon such as the Berlin marathon is between 4 and 5 h ( 43 ), it is important for future work to address this. We plan to amend our current model such that the runner is not only being constrained by total amount of glycogen energy, as this limitation impacts the models accuracy for runners moving at slower velocities, as well as the model's ability to predict realistic optimal finishing times for shorter races.…”

“…As an important next extension, we would like to incorporate a key feature, hydration to our model. Hydration levels and fluid overload can be a huge factor for a runner ( 43 , 47 – 49 ). Low hydration can negatively affect the rate at which the body uptakes the nutrition.…”

The Influence of Environmental Conditions on Pacing in Age Group Marathoners Competing in the “New York City Marathon”

“…Considering that, slower runners tend to present the highest values for body mass (especially, body fat), these morphological characteristics can be related to performance decrease among the non-professional runners ( Thuany et al, 2021 ). An analysis from the “Berlin Marathon” with 882,540 finishers from 1974–2019 showed that the general mass of runners slowed down with increasing temperature and sunshine duration ( Knechtle et al, 2021 ). A very recent study including all 1,280,557 finishers the “New York City Marathon” between 1970 and 2019 also showed a positive association between air temperature and race times ( Knechtle et al, 2021 ).…”

“…Also, the influence was pronounced for middle-aged runners where high temperatures had an increased effect on race times in 30–64 years old men and 40–64 years old women ( Knechtle et al, 2021 ). Interestingly, elite marathoners (world record runners, top three and top ten finishers) improved performance with increasing temperature ( Knechtle et al, 2021 ; Knechtle et al, 2021 ), what can be associated with better acclimatization for heat environment.…”

“…It is well-known that environmental conditions have a strong influence on marathon running performance ( Trapasso and Cooper, 1989 ; Zhang et al, 1992 ; Ely et al, 2007 ; Vihma, 2010 ; El Helou et al, 2012 ; Knechtle et al, 2021 ; Mantzios et al, 2021 ; Trubee et al, 2014 ; Ely et al, 2008 ). These influences have been investigated in different large city marathons such as the “Boston Marathon” ( Roberts, 2007 ; El Helou et al, 2012 ; Knechtle et al, 2019 ; Nikolaidis et al, 2019 ; Trapasso and Cooper, 1989 ), the “Chicago Marathon” ( El Helou et al, 2012 ; Trubee et al, 2014 ), the “New York City Marathon” ( El Helou et al, 2012 ; Gasparetto et al, 2020 ; Knechtle et al, 2021 ), the “Berlin Marathon” ( El Helou et al, 2012 ; Knechtle et al, 2021 ; Knechtle et al, 2021 ; Scheer et al, 2021 ), the “Stockholm Marathon” ( Vihma, 2010 ), the “London Marathon” ( El Helou et al, 2012 ), the “Beijing Marathon” ( Zhang et al, 1992 ), and the “Paris Marathon” ( El Helou et al, 2012 ).…”