Annual participation trends for the New York City Marathon between 1980–2010 for older (50–70 years) men and women. The number of participants was correlated with finishing time for men (grey circles; r = −0.617, r² = 0.381, p < 0.001; y = −0.0013x + 157.98) and women (unfilled triangles; r = 0.948, r² = 0.899, p < 0.001). For the men, the correlation was linear across the range of annual participation numbers (n = 855–6467); however, the association for the women was cubic with an approximate horizontal asymptote at ∼180 minutes and which corresponds to approximately 1500 participants. For women, the correlation between participants and women was linear when participation was over 1500 participants (red triangles; r = −0.592, r² = 0.350, p < 0.001; y = −0.0062x + 191.80). Data were extracted from Hunter and Stevens (2013).