Which Is Harder: A Man Running a Marathon Under 3:00 or a Woman Under 3:30?

Let’s see what the data says about how common each feat is

Brian Rock
Runner's Life
Published in
8 min readMar 16, 2024

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Photo by Miguel A Amutio on Unsplash

Recently, I saw a discussion online about whether the following accomplishments were equivalent — a man running a marathon in under 3 hours and a woman running a marathon in under 3:30.

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Brian Rock
Runner's Life

I'm an avid runner, focusing on longer distances like the marathon. I also enjoy being out on the trails, walking my dog, and making beer. And I'm a data nerd.