How tall is marathon runner

The most obvious reasons why people run them are the positive health and mental wellbeing effects. While some people worry about the harms you can do to your body if unprepared, the overall health benefits tend to significantly outweigh any risks with proper training.

The benefits for weight loss and cardiovascular health are well known, but research is continually unveiling new upsides. Running marathons cuts years off your "artery age", for example, and a recent study led by Astrid Roeh at the University of Augsburg showed a possible relationship between improved cognitive function — and greater eye health — as a result of marathoning.

In , the number of worldwide marathon finishers was estimated to be 1,, Credit: Getty Images. Matt Huff, a New Yorker and author of Marathoner: What to Expect When Training for and Running a Marathon who completed his ninth marathon this year in Berlin, says his passion for racing "stems directly from my being a delayed-gratification junkie".

Can you push yourself through enough hell to finish is the only question. For other runners, rising above physical limitations is part of the appeal. Tom Eller is a deaf-born marathoner who lives in Essen, Germany, and has run 11 marathons. He ran a in the Berlin Marathon, making him the fastest deaf German marathon runner.

Eller, who teaches deaf and blind students, says, "I challenge my life, which has communications barriers, by running marathons around the world to show people that even disabled people can achieve great things. For my deaf kids and teenagers at school, I am a role model.

And for Kailey Bennet, a faculty assistant at Harvard University, marathons help her transcend her epilepsy. Studies suggest that women are better at pacing during marathons, and tend to be more precise in maintaining a consistent speed.

Copenhagen Business School statistician and runner, Jens Andersen, collected data from marathons and examined each gender's "slow-down" rate. Men showed a sharper decrease in speed than women during these slowing periods. And while men's race-times tend to be faster at marathon length, over very long distances like ultra-marathons women may have an advantage : they have a greater distribution of slow-twitch muscle fibres, which are more resistant to fatigue.

However, while every runner has different personal reasons, there are some general trends that researchers have observed underpinning people's attraction to racing over long distances.

A study from researchers at the Jerzy Kukuczka Academy of Physical Education in Poland found that "proving the ability to run a marathon race constituted an important life event for a person " and that it could impact their beliefs about the successful execution of potential future achievements. Carys Egan-Wyger at Sweden's Lund University found that aspects of daily life are tanigibly and measurably mirrored in marathon running, such as the tracking of progress, along with the necessity of productivity and efficiency.

Across her interview subjects, runners tended to cite three primary motivators: freedom, achievement and competition. But less obviously, Egan-Wyger also suggests endurance running can also be a way of gaining social status.

Showing you are capable of a long-distance race projects qualities of health, productivity and efficiency to others, she argues, akin to cultivating a personal brand. When it comes to running, smaller individuals with slight frames will almost always do better than their bigger, bulkier peers, no matter how good their biomechanics or training.

With less load to carry, smaller runners are simply lighter on their feet. In addition, larger runners are more likely to be sidetracked by injury, Prof.

Hughson says. So, heavy individuals will exert much greater forces on their bodies. Now, multiply those forces by the number of steps — not many in a sprint but of very high force, versus very many for the long-distance runner even if of lower force per step — and you end up with a recipe for trouble," he says.

But that doesn't mean that you can't run if you not the perfect ectomorph. Most injuries are usually a result of things that have nothing to do with body type, says Reed Ferber, director of the Running Injury Clinic, in Calgary.

Mechanics, strength, flexibility and alignment play a much greater role in injury, and injury prevention, than body type, he says. It's taking into consideration those four factors," he says. It is simply a matter of tailoring training to best fit your body type, says Paul Regensburg, co-founder, along with fellow former Olympic triathlon coach Lance Watson, of LifeSport Coaching, in Victoria.

Share: Facebook Twitter. Check out the list of Olympic Games sports , as well as discontinued and demonstration sports. The largest sporting event in the world is the Olympic Games , but there are many other multi-sport games. To see what's coming up, check out the calendar of major sporting events. Kenneth McArthur, the marathon champion Height 1. Height changes over time The height of the Olympic marathon champion has varied greatly over time, ranging from the cm 6 ft 2 in Kenneth McArthur in , to the tiny 1.

Weight changes over time The weight of the Olympic marathon champion has generally decreased over time. Any comments, suggestions or corrections? Please let us know.