Ultra-endurance and gender performance
For much of modern history, the common narrative has portrayed women as the weaker sex, especially in the context of sports. Time and again, conventional wisdom suggested that while women might excel in skill-based or endurance activities up to a certain point, their capacity to compete at the highest levels - particularly in the most punishing events - would always fall short of men’s.
Yet a growing number of recent achievements in ultra-endurance racing (i.e. more than 6 hours of working out), coupled with scientific insights, are proving this myth wrong. Indeed, if in traditional endurance events like marathons, men consistently outperform women by about 10%, in ultra-distance competitions this disparity can be as small as 4% and, in some cases, women have even outpaced men.
For instance, it has been found that female ultra runners are faster than their male counterparts for distances longer than 195 miles (314km)1. The data showed that as distances get longer, the gap in pacing between genders shrinks until women come out on top.
As illustrations:
- Courtney Dauwalter – Moab 240 (2017): she (notably but not only) won the 240-mile footrace through the Utah desert in 57 hours and 55 minutes, finishing more than 10 hours ahead of the first male competitor.
- Jasmin Paris – Montane Spine Race (2019): in one of the most grueling races in the UK -covering 268 miles along the Pennine Way in the dead of winter - she not only claimed first place overall but also set a course record. She finished the nonstop, self-supported event in 83 hours and 12 minutes, shattering the previous record by over 12 hours.
- Fiona Kolbinger – Transcontinental Race (2019): she emerged victorious in a 4,000 km nonstop cycling race across Europe, beating all the male competitors. She completed the Transcontinental in just 10 days, two hours, and 48 minutes.
How come there have been such remarkable women performance over the recent years?
Recent known women performance in ultra-endurance sport is mainly due to the fact that there are more women taking part in such sports than before, and there is more media coverage, which is in line with the growing interest in women in sport over the last years.
For instance, it has been found that the part represented by women amongst ultra-runner went from 14% around 25 years ago to 23% in 20202.
In addition, women tend to be well equipped to perform well in such sports. Studies and sport experts have come to the conclusion that women performances in ultra-marathon come from both physical specificities and psychological ones.
Women body is hence in general more efficient in ultra-endurance sport than men:
- Thanks to Estrogen3:
- women have a better oxidation rate (56%) than men, this means that they burn fat slower than men, and have a very good glycogen conservation;
- they have reduced inflammation and muscle damages, allowing them to recover more quickly from long exercise.
- In some conditions, women’s higher fat mass can be benefiting as it allows better thermoregulation4.
- Besides, women have “a higher proportion of type I (slow-twitch) muscle fibres, which are more efficient and resistant to fatigue during prolonged activity compared with type II (fast-twitch) fibres”5. Said otherwise, women face muscle failure later than men.
Indeed, in general, men “have more Type II (‘fast twitch’ or glycolytic) fibres, which in part explains why males are much better at sports requiring high power output such as sprinting. These large fibres can actually restrict blood flow during exercise by putting pressure on arteries, reducing oxygen delivery in extended exercise”6.
In addition, it has been noted that women’s psychology is well adapted to ultra-endurance efforts as in general women tend to be more resistant to pain during lengthy and grueling efforts7.
Finally, women strategies are often more adapted as they are more conservative and consistent with pacing strategy8, meaning they start slower than men but keep a steadier pace9.
To conclude, recent athletic performances and studies lead to rethink long-held beliefs about women being less capable than men, especially in ultra-endurance sports. Stamina, recovery, and pacing strategies are turning out to be just as important as raw power, suggesting that the traditional gender divide in sports performance is far from definitive.
That said, more research is needed to confirm these first findings and analysis as, to date, there is very little researches on females, and on comparisons between males and females athletes.
The growing interest for women in sport will lead to more women participating in sport before seen as “men sports” and there will also be more research on women in sport, especially on performance. This may pave the way for a more inclusive and accurate understanding of human athletic potential.
