Women winning outright

[Bob]

Number of actual starts would be very useful data. And for those who didn't complete - how far did they get?

Of those who've failed, some completed the round but in over 24hrs; some didn't start; some got X distance and stopped.

On the basis that some who succeed have to be prompted to send in their form - presumably I'm psychic and just "know" that they have succeeded and all their details - working out who started, who didn't, how far those who did start got before giving up, etc. is not easy. I "prompt" folk to let me know how they got on but even then not all reply, at the end of July I contacted those 39 who had registered for June and at that time hadn't let me know:

3 responded that they had succeeded but yet to send in their forms.
16 responded that they had failed in some way (one didn't start as they had Covid so weren't coming over from Canada!)
20 have yet to respond so no idea how they got on.


So it's a very incomplete picture and I don't think we'd ever get a fuller one given the above.

[Travs]

Megan Carter Davies (MDC, and i believe one of the top orienteers in Britain), won the Fan Brycheniog race outright today, beating some very decent male runners.

[anthonykay]

Megan Carter Davies (MDC, and i believe one of the top orienteers in Britain), won the Fan Brycheniog race outright today, beating some very decent male runners.

Yes, I've just seen this: https://drive.google.com/file/d/13Cq...orVbNSKa6Up9vg . She is a World Orienteering Champion at the Sprint distance.

[MattPo]

A fine one today at Litton Birks Fell Loop! Vic Wilkinson won and Eve Whitaker second - Girl power!

[anthonykay]

At the Staunton Harold event (see https://forum.fellrunner.org.uk/show...on-Harold-10km) there were Canicross races (where you have a dog dragging you round on a harness) on the same course as the trail race. I have just looked at the Canicross results, and in both the 10km and 5km races about two-thirds of the human runners were female. In the 10km Canicross the first three humans to finish were all female (winning time 42:02), although the first two dogs appear to be male (I am assuming that Oscar and Spud are male dogs' names). [In the 10km trail race, the fastest female took 51:46, in 7th place.]

[#bob#]

I think women do a lot better at the long distance stuff than men. It must be a genetic thing. I've been booed a few times when I have outsprinted females in the last 100m - I don't know why? I let they think they've beaten me, tuck in, and smash em in the last 10m. Lovely Stuff!

[Marco]

I think women do a lot better at the long distance stuff than men. It must be a genetic thing.

It definitely seems to be the case in very long races. I read that it is because women have smaller hearts, lungs and muscles than men; in shorter races men's higher power usually wins, but in very long events the extra energy cost of running bigger hearts, lungs and muscles works against men.

In 1967, cyclist Beryl Burton set a new 12-hour time trial record of 277.25 miles. It exceeded the men's record by 0.73 miles and was not beaten by a man until 1969.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Beryl_Burton

[Graham Breeze]

It definitely seems to be the case in very long races. I read that it is because women have smaller hearts, lungs and muscles than men; in shorter races men's higher power usually wins, but in very long events the extra energy cost of running bigger hearts, lungs and muscles works against men.

In 1967, cyclist Beryl Burton set a new 12-hour time trial record of 277.25 miles. It exceeded the men's record by 0.73 miles and was not beaten by a man until 1969.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Beryl_Burton

Well there was only one Beryl Burton and I am not convinced the facts support this general argument because the same (few) cases are always trotted out, really I suspect to prompt discussion.

In the forthcoming and excellent new book by Steve Chilton, Voices From The Hills, which is all about women runners, Steve has a chapter Women Coming First - but it only runs to 3 pages (and 2 sentences) in a book of 343 pages.

[PeteS]

There was a lot of research done into the physiological changes that affected women after childbirth and why that would affect athletic performance. I think the findings were inconclusive which suggests that the physical act of childbirth raises the bar mentally, on what the body can endure.

[ba-ba]

Another mental aspect would be daft blokes with silly egos going hard early then fizzling out, leaving them to be swept up. Works for both women and those blokes who are less daft. Tortoise and the hare jobbie.