Biomechanical changes identified during a marathon race among high-school aged runners

Background: Despite the increasing popularity of endurance running competitions among adolescent runners, there is currently limited information regarding expected biomechanical changes across the duration of a longdistance running event, and the relationship between young runners' biomechanics and running performance. Wearable technology offers an ecological means to continuously assess runners' biomechanical data during outdoor running competitions.Research question: Do adolescent athletes adopt changes in sensor-derived biomechanics throughout a marathon race, and are there relationships between race performance and biomechanical features among young marathoners?Methods: Fourteen high-school aged runners (9 M, 5 F; age: 16 +/- 1 years, height: 170.8 +/- 7.5 cm; mass: 63.6 +/- 9.4 kg) wore lace-mounted sensors to record step-by-step biomechanics during a marathon race. Official race segment completion times were extracted across 5 race segments (5-K, 15-K, Half Marathon [21.1-K], 35-K, Marathon [42.2-K]). Within-participant repeated measures of covariance (pace) were conducted to assess changes in biomechanics across the race, with Bonferroni post-hoc comparisons. Pearson's r correlations were performed to assess the relationship between race finish times and biomechanics.Results: Pace was significantly slower (p-range: 0.002-0.005), contact times significantly longer, and stride lengths significantly shorter in the final segment compared to middle segments (p-range: 0.003-0.004). The rate of shock accumulation was significantly higher in the final race segment compared to the first three segments (p range: 0.001-0.002). Moderate relationships existed between finish times and pace (r =-0.63), stride length (r =-0.62), and contact time (r = 0.51).Significance: Adolescent runners altered their gait patterns in the final marathon segment compared to earlier segments. Spatiotemporal measures were moderately correlated with race finish times, suggesting a link between faster run pace, increased stride lengths, and reduced contact time for improved running performance during an endurance race.

Automated summary

Adolescent athletes alter their gait patterns throughout a marathon race, and there are correlations between biomechanical features and race performance among young marathoners.