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Male and female Ethiopian and Kenyan runners are the fastest and the youngest in both half and full marathon

Overview of attention for article published in SpringerPlus, February 2016
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About this Attention Score

  • Above-average Attention Score compared to outputs of the same age (54th percentile)
  • Good Attention Score compared to outputs of the same age and source (67th percentile)

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2 Facebook pages

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19 Dimensions

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47 Mendeley
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Title
Male and female Ethiopian and Kenyan runners are the fastest and the youngest in both half and full marathon
Published in
SpringerPlus, February 2016
DOI 10.1186/s40064-016-1915-0
Pubmed ID
Authors

Beat Knechtle, Pantelis T. Nikolaidis, Vincent O. Onywera, Matthias A. Zingg, Thomas Rosemann, Christoph A. Rüst

Abstract

In major marathon races such as the 'World Marathon Majors', female and male East African runners particularly from Ethiopia and Kenya are the fastest. However, whether this trend appears for female and male Ethiopians and Kenyans at recreational level runners (i.e. races at national level) and in shorter road races (e.g. in half-marathon races) has not been studied yet. Thus, the aim of the present study was to examine differences in the performance and the age of female and male runners from East Africa (i.e. Ethiopians and Kenyans) between half- and full marathons. Data from 508,108 athletes (125,894 female and 328,430 male half-marathoners and 10,205 female and 43,489 male marathoners) originating from 126 countries and competing between 1999 and 2014 in all road-based half-marathons and marathons held in one country (Switzerland) were analysed using Chi square (χ(2)) tests, mixed-effects regression analyses and one-way analyses of variance. In half-marathons, 48 women (0.038 %) and 63 men (0.019 %) were from Ethiopia and 80 women (0.063 %) and 134 men (0.040 %) from Kenya. In marathons, three women (0.029 %) and 15 men (0.034 %) were from Ethiopia and two women (0.019 %) and 33 men (0.075 %) from Kenya. There was no statistically significant association between the nationality of East Africans and the format of a race. In both women and men, the fastest race times in half-marathons and marathons were achieved by East African runners (p < 0.001). Ethiopian and Kenyan runners were the youngest in both sexes and formats of race (p < 0.001). In summary, women and men from Ethiopia and Kenya, despite they accounted for <0.1 % in half-marathons and marathons, achieved the fastest race times and were the youngest in both half-marathons and marathons. These findings confirmed in the case of half-marathon the trend previously observed in marathon races for a better performance and a younger age in East African runners from Ethiopia and Kenya.

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X Demographics

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Mendeley readers

Mendeley readers

The data shown below were compiled from readership statistics for 47 Mendeley readers of this research output. Click here to see the associated Mendeley record.

Geographical breakdown

Country Count As %
United Kingdom 1 2%
Unknown 46 98%

Demographic breakdown

Readers by professional status Count As %
Student > Master 10 21%
Student > Bachelor 6 13%
Researcher 4 9%
Lecturer 4 9%
Student > Ph. D. Student 3 6%
Other 8 17%
Unknown 12 26%
Readers by discipline Count As %
Sports and Recreations 18 38%
Medicine and Dentistry 5 11%
Nursing and Health Professions 3 6%
Social Sciences 2 4%
Business, Management and Accounting 1 2%
Other 4 9%
Unknown 14 30%
Attention Score in Context

Attention Score in Context

This research output has an Altmetric Attention Score of 3. This is our high-level measure of the quality and quantity of online attention that it has received. This Attention Score, as well as the ranking and number of research outputs shown below, was calculated when the research output was last mentioned on 31 July 2021.
All research outputs
#12,951,096
of 22,858,915 outputs
Outputs from SpringerPlus
#621
of 1,849 outputs
Outputs of similar age
#134,219
of 297,592 outputs
Outputs of similar age from SpringerPlus
#52
of 162 outputs
Altmetric has tracked 22,858,915 research outputs across all sources so far. This one is in the 42nd percentile – i.e., 42% of other outputs scored the same or lower than it.
So far Altmetric has tracked 1,849 research outputs from this source. They typically receive a little more attention than average, with a mean Attention Score of 5.7. This one has gotten more attention than average, scoring higher than 65% of its peers.
Older research outputs will score higher simply because they've had more time to accumulate mentions. To account for age we can compare this Altmetric Attention Score to the 297,592 tracked outputs that were published within six weeks on either side of this one in any source. This one has gotten more attention than average, scoring higher than 54% of its contemporaries.
We're also able to compare this research output to 162 others from the same source and published within six weeks on either side of this one. This one has gotten more attention than average, scoring higher than 67% of its contemporaries.