Men Over 40 Should Think Twice Before Running Triathlons
lakespray
Senior Member
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2013-06-20/men-over-40-should-think-twice-before-running-triathlons.htmlThe 40-to-60-year age bracket, often referred to as middle aged men in Lycra, or Mamils, now holds 32 percent of the membership in USA Triathlon, the sport’s official governing body in the U.S. More fitness conscious than previous generations, their numbers in competitive races are swelling, along with their risk of cardiac arrest. Triathlons, the most robust of endurance races requiring swimming, biking and running, are also believed to be the most risky.
“People need to understand that they’re not necessarily gaining more health by doing more exercise,” said David Prior, a cardiologist and associate professor of medicine at the University of Melbourne. “The attributes to push through the barriers and push through the pain are common in competitive sport, but that’s also dangerous when it comes to ignoring warning signs.”
Comments
see comments here ...
http://www.usatriathlon.org/news/articles/2012/10/102512-medical-panel-report.aspx
... which also has a link to the 14 page PDF.
I read as far as that @oxo. Any review into health that cannot cite the previous medical history may as well be ignored.
... which is from page 6 of the 14 page PDF:
http://www.usatriathlon.org/news/articles/2012/10/102512-medical-panel-report.aspx
So, yeah, there are more USAT fatalities among participants in their 40's than any other decade-bracket, but maybe there are more 40-somethings triathletes than any other age group. In fact there are.
While USAT has not published an age-group break-down of event participation per se, USAT makes available a 21 page PDF titled 2012 USA Triathlon Demographics Report on this webpage ....
http://www.usatriathlon.org/~/media/e5d25331eee14e8a8f97a562939b42df.ashx
... which contains on page 9 a table titled 'Annual Membership by Age Range' (annual membership as opposed to one-day memberships) which I've adapted here ...
... and incorporated in column 4 as a surrogate for Historical Participation using the assumption that when it comes to age-distribution, participation is proportional to membership, and previous memberships are proportional to 2012's ...
Note that risk (column 5) is nearly identical for anyone 20-50, and for practical purposes, anyone age 20-60.
Looking at risk (rather than absolute numbers) gives a radically different perspective on fatalities in USAT events, albeit a perspective not as sensational as might be desired by a news outlet that targets readers aged 20-60 years, and a perspective that is perhaps legally more troublesome for USAT.
A couple fwiws. Normalizing column 5 such that it adds up to 100 will yield ... USAT reported data (blue and white chart above) that lacks age information for one fatality. Column 5 can be recalculated with it added in, which yields ...
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