You think you're special? (aka Numerical Madness part 2)

In 1976, 25,000 people finished a marathon. Thirty years later there has been a 16-fold increase in the number of marathon finishers to 410,000 finishers in 2006.

Over the past 20 years the average marathon finish time has slowed by 45 minutes.

Lest you think the elitism of finishing a marathon is waning, just remember, less than 0.01% of the world’s population will finish a marathon this year with estimates of less than 0.1% of the world’s population have ever finished a marathon.

Of 2006 finishers:
52% of finishers were men
46% of finishers were women
2% were junior

Median age:
40 for men
35 for women

Median finish time:
4:15 for men
4:46 for women

Most finishers:
#1 ING New York City Marathon with 37,866
#2 Chicago Marathon with 37k+
#3 Flora London with 33k+
#4 Paris with 30k+
#5 Berlin with 30k+

Nike Women’s Marathon has the highest percent of women finishers at 94% (and the other 6%?)
Steamtown Marathon has the highest percent of male finishers at 69%.

For even more statistics, the complete article is here:

A look at marathons, by the numbers
By Diane Sherrer