has never been conclusively demonstrated in humans, only in rats. In this study, 23.9 percent of the men and 20.6 percent of the women reported having experienced pain associated with a specific site or injury. Fatigue “sufficient to make them think they could not continue” was endured by 14.5 percent of the men and 11.3 percent of the women. So it would seem from this evidence that estrogen doesn’t help during the race but may reduce the postrace agony and inability to descend stairs.

7. Women think differently. Ultramarathon running is intensely physically and mentally demanding, so being able to cope with this high level of stress is key to successful performance. Little research has been done on the appraisal and coping patterns of endurance athletes, but a recent study has shown that men and women conceptualize and deal with the unique pressures of endurance racing differently. In this study on Ironman triathletes and marathon runners, both sexes exhibited the same degree of anxiety before the race about the same factors: the environmental conditions, the course, their race strategy, and their ability. However, the difference was that the women perceived that they had less control over these factors than did the men. Thus, during the race, men employed a coping strategy that was intended to reduce the external and internal threats, while women tended to employ more emotion-focused coping strategies. They attempted to positively reinterpret their situation, seek social support, and dissociate from what they were experiencing. While men employed a problem-solving approach, women used a more emotion-focused technique.

In a race of the duration and difficulty of the Comrades Marathon, both strategies are useful and necessary, but perhaps the women are better socialized to benefit the most from the spectator support and the camaraderie of fellow runners. The Comrades Marathon is probably unique among ultra-endurance events in the extent and depth of spectator participation. It can become overwhelming at times, but there is no stretch of the long road that does not have enthusiastic and generous supporters making every runner feel like a hero for that one day. Those runners who can tap into this energy while maintaining their focus on the practicalities of the race have an advantage that is not measurable.

Thanks to the Comrades Marathon Association, Graeme Vincent of Mr. Price Group (IT), and the Sports Science Institute of South Africa for all data.

FOOTNOTES

‘ Until 1975, women and black persons participated in the marathon unofficially, and their finishes were not formally acknowledged.

? All data not shown due to the extent and complexity thereof. i

SPORTSMED SPECIAL SECTION

They Came, They Saw, and They Continue to Conquer.

t just might be true that never before in history has a single country so dominated an event in track and field and distance running as Kenyan men have dominated the marathon during the past five years. Breaking 2:20:00 in the marathon has long been considered the benchmark for elite athleticism in this event: racing the distance averaging at least 5:20 per mile. In 2005, as shown in figure 1 on page 66, 490 out of the 1,126 sub-2:20:00 men’s marathon performances worldwide were achieved by Kenyans—that’s 43.5 percent of the total! Far back in second place was Japan (106 performances, or 9.4 percent). Even more astounding is the quality of Kenyan marathon achievements:

» Paul Tergat finished second in

his first three marathons (London 2001—2:08:15; Chicago 2001— 2:08:56; and London 2002—2:05:48) and then fourth at both Chicago in 2002 (2:06:16) and at London in 2003 (2:07:59) before his world record 2:04:55 at Berlin in 2003. The record still stands.

Victah/www.PhotoRun.net

Figure 1 The # of Sub-2:20:00 Marathon Performances by Kenyan Men: 1980-2005

Number nm

2004 2005

= 2 sgs8 sss aa 8

of the 401 sub-2:15:00 performances recorded worldwide in 2005, 199 were by Kenyan men (49.6 percent)! And on the world all-time list of 50 fastest marathon performances (as of the end of 2005), 29 of those belonged to Kenyans; the remaining 21 were divided up with a few each among the United States, Brazil, Japan, South Africa, Ethiopia, Portugal, France, and Morocco.

Kenya is a little smaller than Texas, with a population of 34.7 million, a 40 percent unemployment rate, and a life expectancy of 48.9 years. The country is divided into several ethnic groups. The Kalenjin (12 percent) are the most talented at distance running, followed by the Kikuyu (22 percent) and the Kisii (6 percent). The marathon dominance by the Kenyans is a relatively recent phenomenon, starting in the late 1990s and developing with no really good explanation. Taking a brief jaunt back into history provides some interesting perspective. The first sub-2:20:00 marathon performance by anyone over the standard 42,195-meter marathon distance was 2:18:41, by Jim Peters of England on June 13, 1953, at Chiswick, England. The first Kenyan man to break the 2:20:00 marathon barrier was Joseph Kinyabi, running 2:16:31 at Kisumu (in Kenya) on June 6, 1976 (table 1 on page 68). Thus, 23 years elapsed from the time of the initial sub-2:20:00 marathon until a Kenyan runner achieved it.

NO LONG-RUNNING DOMINANCE

At the 1968 Mexico City Olympic Games, Kenya sent two marathoners, who placed 19th (Naftali Temu) and 48th (Paul Mose). In the 1972 Munich Olympic Games, Kenya’s lone entry in the marathon (Richard Juma) failed to finish. In the Montreal Olympic Games, Kenya was one of the boycotting nations, and it also

sent no marathon runners to the Moscow Olympic Games of 1980. Why Kenya was apparently uninterested in the marathon is a mystery.

As seen in table 1, Kinyabi’s performance was 1,637th in the historical sequence of sub-2:20:00 performances recorded worldwide. Thus, it was not the Kenyans who initiated the breakthrough in racing marathons during the decade of the 1960s but rather the Japanese (table 2 on page 69) and the Americans (table 3 on page 69). As seen in figure 2 on page 70, Japan has been unique in maintaining a steady development of talent over the past 25 years. Figure 3 on page 70, on the other hand, records the dramatic falloff in top-level marathon achievements by American athletes that began just after the 1984 Olympic Games in Los Angeles, for reasons still not clearly understood. Table 1 also points out that the majority of early Kenyan top-level marathon performances were achieved by Kenyan athletes on academic scholarships in the United States, attending schools such as the University of Texas at El Paso and helping to make them powerhouses in sports such as cross-country.

Since 1984, shown in figure 4 on page 71, despite the worldwide boom in marathon activities, the annual total of sub-2:20:00 marathon performances has remained remarkably constant. You might have expected instead during this nearly 20-year period—when the world record quickened by 34 minutes, from

TABLE 1 The First Dozen Kenyan Sub-2:20:00 Marathon Performances: 1976-1983

Joseph Kinyabi 2:16:31 1 Kisumu 06 Jun 1976 (#1637) Philip Ndoo 2:17:26 2 Kisumu 06 Jun 1976 (#1638) Kip Sirma 2:19:39 30 New York 26 Oct 1980 (#3745) Ben Moturi 2:18:01 3 Dallas 05 Dec 1981 (#4501) James Maweu 2:17:46 1 Tucson 24 Jan 1982 (#4501) Ben Moturi 2:17:30 10 Boston 19 Apr 1982 (#4762) Joseph Nzau 2:11:40 2 Chicago 26 Sept 1982 (#5114) Ben Moturi 2:19:09 43 New York 24 Oct 1982 (#5285) Ben Moturi 2:19:32 2 Hamilton BER 30 Jan 1983 (#5429) Joseph Nzau 2:09:44.6 1 Chicago 16 Oct 1983 (#6260) Simeon Kigen 2:10:52 3 Chicago 16 Oct 1983 (#6262) Debut Gabriel Kamau 2:14:54 8 Chicago 16 Oct 1983 (#6267)

TABLE 2 The First Dozen Japanese Sub-2:20:00 Marathon Performances: 1961-1963

Takayuki Nakao 2:18:54 1 Nagoya 21 Mar 1961 (#27) Takayuki Nakao 2:18:52 1 Auckland 20 Oct 1962 (#30) Toru Terasawa 2:19:14 2 Auckland 20 Oct 1962 (#31) Toru Terasawa 2:16:19 1 Fukuoka 02 Dec 1962 (#33) Takayuki Nakao 2:16:54 2 Fukuoka 02 Dec 1962 (#34) Kenji Kimihara 2:18:02 3 Fukuoka 02 Dec 1962 (#35) Makoto Nakajima 2:19:10 6 Fukuoka 02 Dec 1962 (#38) Makoto Nakajima 2:19:52 7 Fukuoka 02 Dec 1962 (#39) Toru Terasawa 2:15:16 1 Oita 17 Feb 1963 (#41) Kazumi Watanabe 2:15:40 2 Oita 17 Feb 1963 (#42) Haruo Otani 2:15:57 3 Oita 17 Feb 1963 (#43) Kenji Kimihara 2:16:19 4 Oita 17 Feb 1963 (#44)

TABLE 3 The First Dozen USA Sub-2:20:00 Marathon Performances: 1962-1968

Eamonn O’Reilly 6:40 1 Santa Rosa 21 Apr 1968 (#309)

Buddy Edelen 2:18:57 4 Fukuoka 02 Dec 1962 (#36) Buddy Edelen 2:14:28 1 Chiswick 15 Jun 1963 (#52) Buddy Edelen 2:15:10 1 Kosice 13 Oct 1963 (#58) Buddy Edelen 2:18:13 6 Tokyo 21 Oct 1964 (#95) Buddy Edelen 2:14:34 3 Chiswick 12 Jun 1965 (#139) Norman Higgins 2:19:13 1 Culver City 11 Dec 1965 (#152) Norman Higgins 2:18:26 5 Boston 19 Apr 1966 (#188) Michael Hazilla 2:18:47 1 Detroit 26 Nov 1966 (#205) Thomas Laris 2:16:48 2 Boston 19 Apr 1967 (#239)

Ambrose Burfoot 4:30 6 Fukuoka 08 Dec 1968 (#367)