Background: Recent studies found that the athleteâ��s age of the best ultra-marathon performance was higher than the\nathleteâ��s age of the best marathon performance and it seemed that the athleteâ��s age of peak ultra-marathon\nperformance increased in distance-limited races with rising distance.\nMethods: We investigated the athleteâ��s age of peak ultra-marathon performance in the fastest finishers in time-limited\nultra-marathons from 6 hrs to 10 d. Running performance and athleteâ��s age of the fastest women and men competing\nin 6 hrs, 12 hrs, 24 hrs, 48 hrs, 72 hrs, 144 hrs (6 d) and 240 hrs (10 d) were analysed for races held between 1975 and\n2012 using analysis of variance and multi-level regression analysis.\nResults: The athleteâ��s ages of the ten fastest women ever in 6 hrs, 12 hrs, 24 hrs, 48 hrs, 72 hrs, 6 d and 10 d were 41 �±\n9, 41 �± 6, 42 �± 5, 46 �± 5, 44 �± 6, 42 �± 4, and 37 �± 4 yrs, respectively. The athleteâ��s age of the ten fastest women was\ndifferent between 48 hrs and 10 d. For men, the athleteâ��s ages were 35 �± 6, 37 �± 9, 39 �± 8, 44 �± 7, 48 �± 3, 48 �± 8 and\n48 �± 6 yrs, respectively. The athleteâ��s age of the ten fastest men in 6 hrs and 12 hrs was lower than the athleteâ��s age of\nthe ten fastest men in 72 hrs, 6 d and 10 d, respectively.\nConclusion: The athleteâ��s age of peak ultra-marathon performance did not increase with rising race duration in the\nbest ultra-marathoners. For the fastest women ever in time-limited races, the athleteâ��s age was lowest in 10 d (~37 yrs)\nand highest in 48 hrs (~46 yrs). For men, the athleteâ��s age of the fastest ever in 6 hrs (~35 yrs) and 12 hrs (~37 yrs) was\nlower than the athleteâ��s age of the ten fastest in 72 hrs (~48 yrs), 6 d (~48 yrs) and 10 d (~48 yrs). The differences in the\nathleteâ��s age of peak performance between female and male ultra-marathoners for the different race durations need\nfurther investigations.
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