Purpose:Thepurposeofthepresentstudywastoinvestigatetheage-relatedchangesintheenduranceperformanceamongmaleamateurmarathonrunners.Methods:Subjectsweretakenfromthe36StockholmMarathonsheldfrom1979through2014,andageandfinishingtimewereanalyzedforatotalof312,342malerunners.Results:Therelationwasfoundtobeasecond-orderpolynomial,t=a+bx+cx~2,whichmodels99.7%ofthevariationintheaveragerunningtimetasafunctionofagex.Themodelshowsthatthemarathonperformanceoftheaveragerunnerimprovesuptoage34.3±2.6years,thereafter,theperformancestartstodecline.Aquantificationoftheage’sinfluenceonrunningtimeshowsthatitaccountsfor4.5%ofthetotalvarianceseenintheperformancedata.Conclusion:Theseoutcomesindicatethattheeffectofageonperformanceinendurancerunningeventsisclearlymeasurable,quantifiable,andpossibletodescribe.Atthesametimethefindingsindicatethatotherfactors,suchastraining,affecttheperformancemore.Acomparisonwiththeeliteshowedpeakperformanceatthesameage,buttheratesofchangeinperformancewithage,improvementaswellasdegradation,wasfoundtobehigheramongtheelite.
