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Frequently asked questions - FAQ

A race is not displayed in my runner profile.

Please check if the result list of the race is already included in the results database.

If yes
then go to your runner profile and reload the web page. Depending on your web browser this can be achieved by using the F5 key or the appropriate buttons labelled Reload/Refresh.
Eventually due to missing year of birth your performance was assigned to another runner with same name or a new profile has been generated because name or year of birth do not match.
Please use the contact form to inform us so that we can merge the profiles or move the performance to the correct profile.
If no
then check if the race fulfills the criteria for inclusion in our database.

A race is not displayed in my personal best performances.

Your list of personal best performances only contains performances of races which can be included into rankings.

Criteria for inclusion of a race

Course length is 45 km or longer
The course must be at least 45 km or longer. For stage races at least one stage has to be 45 km or longer. (That's the reason why we did not include the results of Transalpine-Run 2013.)
For races with a fixed time (6h, 12h, 24h, etc.) we include performances from 45.0 km and longer, performances below that limit will be ignored.
There is a little exception for 6h races: For women beginning with age category W75+ and men age category M80+ and older we include also performances below the 45 km limit (according to DUV rules for 6h championships).
Official competition
No private training runs, group runs or group runs with a final dash with just a few minute difference between all runners.
No invitational races, as the organiser could influence the competition to his favor by picking the competitors.
For a true competition it is indispensable that there is more than one athlete at the start line, but not necessarily more than one finisher.
The event has to be publicly announced. e.g. by advertisement, placard, web page.
Independent timekeeping
Timekeeping has to be independent from runners by organiser or other person (timekeeper, helper). No self timing of athletes is accepted.
Quality of results list
The list of results has to contain a minimum of usable information. Lists which contain just surnames or initials of first names are not usable because we can not find out which athlete achieved the performance. See also the hints about content and file type of result lists.
Furthermore we generally do not include results of relay races as we can not or only with big effort find out which of the relay participants did which distance or time.
Priority
There is no legal claim to inclusion of a race. We include races:
  1. which fulfill the above mentioned rules
  2. as our spare time permits
  3. by priority (measured courses before trails, national before international events)

See also Intermediate rankings and DNF.

Entries for our calendar can be submitted by everybody, not just race directors. Please use this form. DUV统计小组将核实数据并将其在网上赛历公布。

Virtual runs will not be included

Due to the restrictions imposed during the Covid-19 pandemic, we repeatedly receive inquiries as to whether we can also include results from virtual runs in the DUV statistics database. We welcome the initiative for virtual runs and we support every sporting activity, be it alone, virtually connected or together.

The DUV statistics database is however a database for the collection of competition results and not for recording any performance that has ever been achieved beyond the marathon distance. This means that the performances we include must meet certain quality criteria. Due to the restrictions imposed by the authorities these criteria cannot be met in a lock-down situation, which means that no competitions or only with limited number of participants can take place.

A competition is an event in which several athletes come together at the same time in the same place to compare each other and to determine the best / fastest over a certain distance or period of time under supervision.

A virtual run is therefore not a competition according to our definition because it is

The DUV statistics database also has its good reputation because we strictly apply the above mentioned and a few more quality criteria, even if this occasionally leads to discussions with athletes or organizers why we do not include certain performances. Unfortunately, some runners see the sole purpose of running as adding one more performance to their runner profile. Their (own) runner profile may be the most important aspect of the DUV statistics database for most runners, but in fact it is only a 'byproduct' if data acquisition of competition results for rankings is set up correctly.

The DUV statistics team sees no reason to weaken the quality criteria for the inclusion of race results in the DUV statistics database. The fact that 2020 (and maybe 2021) will be a year in which we will not record 7000 races worldwide, but maybe only half as many, does not hurt us and leaves more time to process historical results and more time to run ourselves. In contrast to team sports, runners can still practice their sport in the current situation, even if not competitively.

Nevertheless: Keep on running!

年龄组分段算法

国际承认的年龄段算法是按照选手参赛当天的年龄来计算。尽管通过过滤功能只显示一个国家的统计数据， 在国际最好成绩榜里的排名仍参照此算法。

对只有提供出生年度没有出生日期的选手，其出生日统一按12月31日估算，这就是说，此选手将被划分到年轻的年龄组 （相应难度高的年龄组）。在个别情况下会出现划分年龄组上的错误。 如果您通过 联系表格 告诉我们您的出生日期，我们会及时给予更正。

此分段算法有别于在德国，法国及其它国家的通用办法，对其适用特定日期规则。在德国适用选手在年底的年龄。如果选手在12月31日50岁的话，在此全年度他将会被划分到男50岁年龄组，具体的比赛时间在此不予考虑。德国最佳成绩排名 及其所有成绩按德国年龄组分段算法操作。

Age groups according to IAAF and WMA

International (IAAF & WMA)
calculated by date of birth		 German (DLV)
calculated by year of birth
U23: < 23 years (Juniors) 
 M20/W20: 20-29 years (Männer/Frauen Hauptklasse)
M23/W23: 23-34 years (Men and Women open class) 
 M30/W30: 30-34 years (Senioren/-innen)
M35/W35: 35-39 years (Master Men and Women)M35/W35: 35-39 years
M40/W40: 40-44 yearsM40/W40: 40-44 years
M45/W45: 45-49 yearsM45/W45: 45-49 years
M50/W50: 50-54 yearsM50/W50: 50-54 years
M55/W55: 55-59 yearsM55/W55: 55-59 years
M60/W60: 60-64 yearsM60/W60: 60-64 years
M65/W65: 65-69 yearsM65/W65: 65-69 years
M70/W70: 70-74 yearsM70/W70: 70-74 years
M75/W75: 75-79 yearsM75/W75: 75-79 years
M80/W80: 80-84 yearsM80/W80: 80-84 years
M85/W85: 85-89 yearsM85/W85: 85-89 years
M90/W90: 90-94 yearsM90/W90: 90-94 years
M95/W95: 95-99 yearsM95/W95: 95 years and older
M100/W100: 100 years and older 

Gun time and chip time

If a results list contains gun time and chip time then we include both times in our database.

We sort the results of an event always by gun time. The same is true for the order in age categories. Chip times are a goody for the runners but will not influence the ranking in a race. Otherwise someone could win a race even though he does not cross the the finish line as the first. If a race organisers sorts his ranking by chip time he can do so but then he does not comply with the international competition rules of IAAF.

See also the national rules for Germany and Austria which complement rule 165.24 of the international competition rules. This can be found on page 104 in the 2022 edition of the International competition rules: It allows the inclusion of chip times into yearly rankings.

This means in our results database that we display the gun times in the results list of a race but show the chip times in the runner profile.

By default the yearly rankings are shown with chip times, but it is possible to switch to gun times by changing the setting in filter field 'time type'.

Inclusion into rankings

We provide rankings for those distances for which the IAU sanctions world records:

Inclusion into rankings follows these requirements:

  1. Race course is officially measured according to AIMS/IAAF rules. Drop between start and finish is not more than 1 meter per kilometer.
  2. The event is sanctioned by national athletics federation
  3. The event should be supervised by referee or other official of the federation

For races in foreign countries this is difficult to check for us because the sources (e.g. list of measured courses) might not be available on the internet or not readable for us.
In this case we have to rely on the details given on the web site of the race. If in doubt we contact the organiser and eventually change the classification in one or the other direction, also later on.
All yearly rankings, record lists and personal bests are adjusted automatically after a change in classification.
Should you have further details for a race so please contact us and we will adjust the classification accordingly.

These cases can not be included into rankings:

Reason:
In sports statistics nobody should be credited a performance which he or she did not achieve. In ultramarathon results have to be displayed in full seconds. If fractions of seconds were measured then 01-99 hundredths always have to be rounded up to the next full second. If only full minutes are measured (e.g. 10:12 h) then this will be displayed as 10:12:00. But it is not clear whether the exact time was maybe 10:12:23 h and was rounded down to the next full minute. Hence performances with such inexactly measured times can not be included into official rankings.

The international rankings only include performances by athletes who are at least 16 years old. Performances by younger runners are explicitly filtered out because:

  1. According to the competition rules of most national athletics federations, an athlete has to be at least 18 years old for participation in a marathon or ultramarathon. Sometimes even at least 20 years old. In some countries participation is allowed from the age of 16, depending on the distance. We therefore set 16 as the minimum age for inclusion of the performance into rankings.
  2. We don't want to encourage a contest here as to who is the youngest finisher over a certain ultramarathon distance. This is often done by overzealous parents or coaches and is not in the best interests of children or adolescents. Hence these performances remain hidden for reasons of youth protection.

Intermediate rankings, splits and DNF

The purpose of this results database is collection of final results of ultramarathon races. Intermediate results will only be captured if the full race has been finished, i.e. the distance or time the runner was inscribed to, and if the intermediate result is one of the standard distances of the IAU, e.g. the 50 k split of a 100 k race. The intermediate distance must fulfill the rules for inclusion into rankings.

All other intermediate timings and rankings are for us 'DNF' and will not be included into the database, no matter how long and difficult the race is. As usual in athletics we only count the final results achieved on the officially announced distance(s). E.g. for the Chiemgauer 100 it is possible to inscribe to 100mi or 100km, but not for 60km, 88km, 105km or 129km etc. We will not include these intermediate results even if the organiser of UTMB acknowledges them as qualifying races.

If a race has to be shortened or the course changed during the competition for more than half of the field due to reasons which are beyond the responsibility of the organiser (adverse weather, force majeure, etc.) then we will include the results of the affected athletes as one(!) additional event in the database.

Apart from these principal rules: Considering the increasing number and popularity of ultra races the inclusion of every intermediate ranking would outrun our working capacity.

Which data should be included in a result list?

As we have many athletes in our database we need detailed information to assign the performance to the correct person. The optimal result list should contain all informations listed below in separate columns. The order of columns does not matter.

These file formats are suitable:

PDF files cause often problems, images and flash files are completely inapplicable.

For submission of result lists you can download this Excel template, fill in and return to results@statistik.d-u-v.org by e-mail.

Why do we collect the date of birth (DOB)?

  1. As we have a huge number of athletes in our database we need as detailed information as possible to assign the performance to the correct person. Often we have several persons with identical first and last names who need to be distinguished by an unchangeable attribute, ideally DOB. Other attributes like club, residence, nationality, age and even gender can change.
  2. In international rankings assignment to an age group is calculated by the exact age at the (first) day of competition. If we have a DOB we can calculate the age group automatically.
    This is in contrast to some national regulations which have a due date for assignment of age groups, e.g. in GER, FRA, ITA. See also calculation of age categories.
  3. See also 数据​保护​声明
  4. In order to legally secure the transfer of data, we recommend that race directors include the following clause in their conditions of participation:
    Your result including name, birthday, nationality, club affiliation may be shared with other organizations that have statistics, rankings or points systems such as ITRA, UTMB and DUV.

Date and Time

All dates (start dates of events, date of birth of athletes) use the European format in the order day, month, year (dd.mm.yyyy).
If the start or end time of an event is given then this is always the locale time at the location where the race starts. If no time is given or 00:00 h, then the start time is unknown. In a few cases the race starts actually at midnight, but unfortunately this can not be differentiated.

Timestamps when a result list was included into database use the locale time of the person who did the data acquisition. In most cases this is CET (GMT+1), but not always.

What is a elimination race/Backyard Ultra?

The backyard ultra (or sometimes called 'last man standing') is a form of an elimination race where competitors must consecutively run the distance of 6706 meters (4.167 miles) in less than one hour. When each lap is completed, the remaining time within the hour is typically used to recover for the next hour's race. Exactly one hour after a backyard ultra's first starting time, the competitors run an additional 6706 meters with a one-hour window for completion. These distance loops are repeated hourly. The race ends when the last runner or runners either concede or fail to finish the distance within the allotted time frame.

The distance the runners race each hour is set at 100/24 miles or 6705.6 meters, which is then rounded up to 6706 meters. The total distance run by a competitor who completes 24 laps is exactly 100 miles. Backyard ultra races are usually held on a loop measuring 6706 meters, though sometimes shorter loops or a 400-meter track are used. If no competitor manages one more lap than the others, then all athletes receive a DNF and there is no winner or the fastest to complete the previous lap is deemed the winner.

(From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.)
See also: http://backyardultra.com/

In DUV Statistics for Backyard ultras we include all performances >= 45.0 km no matter if these are labeled as DNF or not. (same as for hours races).
All backyard performances in km contained in our database are recalculated based on the number of laps (full hours) multiplied by the exact requested lap length of 6706 m, irrespective of some differently rounded results given in the original lists from the race director or time keeper.

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Calculation of age graded performances

Basics

Statistical studies with age group and age records of distances from 1500 m up to 200 km show that runners of 23 to 35 years are at the peak of their physical fitness. Younger runners, due to biological reasons have not yet reached their full potential. Beyond 35, the performance decreases slowly, then faster with increasing age.

The age group from 23 to 35 years is called main class or open class (M23/F23 or OC).
To enable a fairer assessment more age classes were introduced in 5 or 10 year's intervals, so that older athletes need to compete only with those who have about their own age.

To make performances comparable across age group and gender boundaries, the above mentioned study tries to fit a mathematical model to the performances curve and by this means obtains an age factor, which is stored in tables by age, gender and discipline. The World Masters Athletics (WMA) Association, organizer of the senior world championships in athletics, uses these officially sanctioned tables to make performances of senior athletes comparable.
(Is a time of 39:25 minutes over 10,000 m at 55 years better than a width of 4.25 m in long jump at 65?)

Age factor

The age factor is a number between 0 and 1. For an athlete in main class it is 1, 0.9439 for a 44-year old man and 0.8556 for a 55 year old man running marathon and longer. That means an athlete of 55 years can achieve just 85% of the performance of a 30 year old athlete. When multiplying the performance of the 55 years (eg 3:10:00 h) with his age factor, the result is a time of 2:42:34 hours, he could have theoretically achieved if being 23-35 years old (same training status required).

This makes it possible to compare performances within a race among runners of different ages, as well as to evaluate performances of one athlete, that are years or decades apart. It is rare that a 55 year-old can set up a personal best in absolute terms, but it may well be that a current performance projected to the level of an open class athlete is better than a performance of previous years.

The above mentioned study states that the decrease of performance over age is identical from Marathon to 200 km, i.e. for a given age the same age factor can be used for all these distances. There is no data available for distances beyond 200 km.
Details about differences in men and women can be found in the aforementioned good article by Alan Jones (the inventor of the Jones-Counter).

Percentage level of performance

Age graded performances can be used to compare performances within a discipline and a gender. The calculation of a percentage level of performance goes one step further. By this performances across disciplines and gender can be compared.

The percentage level of performance is a ratio: The actual performance divided by the maximum possible performance for an age and gender.
The maximum performance (e.g. 100 km open class men ~ 5:56 h) is usually slightly better than the current age group world record (6:05:41 h for 100 km open class men) and allows some margin for further improvements of records without immediate need for adjustment of the tables.

A percentage level of performance of
100% corresponds to about a world record level
over 90% = World Class
80% = National Class
70% = Regional Class
60% = Local Class

The implementation in DUV Ultra Marathon Statistics