Quote Originally Posted by #bob# View Post
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