Apparantly Kenyan males don't compete until age 14. Jesus a 15 year old running 13:25!!
Wasn't their a 13 year old American who ran a 15:47 on a XC course recently?
But it does appear that their is evidence that females are better at distance running at the years before age 13.
I meant "there"
So if woman pysically mature earlier, in regards to running, I'm guessing that their cardiovascular organs are larger than males at those ages?
Never considered that. It just blew my mind to see 7-9 year old girls consistently beating boys the same age.
And also it gives me the creeps to see the parents that get overly involved and have big plans for the 12 year old girl that dominates everyone.
LOok at the age group lists for ages 8-14. How many of them have you ever heard of. But they say its so important at the grass roots level to promote the sport and in America we're all about winning and competition and that's why we have age divisions. Somehow I don't see a correlation of early age national records and Jr. Olympics affecting the quality of our world class competiveness in the sport. In fact, I think there is no correlation at all.
my sister beat all the boys until 8th grade. She stopped running all together by 10th, mostly because training was expected. (and the coach was a b*&*^, as I'd find out the next year)
What I've generalized (in my sociological way of thinking) is that the majority of young female phenoms dominate without much effort but don't ever progress their workloads. They train the same that they did as freshman and don;t move up once they get the boobs, hips, and butts.
I know its hard to motivate to work more when things were eary as cake before but I wonder too how these talents can get through that. Maybe its better to get your ass kicked young.
It seems that, physiologically speaking, girls get a roaring start at 11-12, sail pretty smoothly at 13-15, then hit rocky shoals at 16-18. All of which makes for a lot of ups-and-downs and difficulties, notwithstanding sociological issues that are going on at the same time.
It's tough enough for the boys, who have more of a relatively smooth maturation/performance curve. For a young female runner to successfully navigate this minefield without major setbacks seems almost impossible.