Participation and performance trends: Polish Nordic marathoners

For the last two decades, the physical activity of the Poles has increased dynamically. Nevertheless, there has been a decline in the number of Polish athletes running marathons compared with an increase in participation in a variety of competitions not directly associated with running. The purpose of this study was to investigate participation and performance trends in Nordic walking marathons in Poland between 2014 and 2019. A total of 490 Polish Nordic walking marathoners, who completed races between 2014 and 2019 were included. Participation and performance were analysed with an emphasis on the demographics of the age and gender of the athletes. The results suggest that overall male participation in Nordic walking marathons was high, yet the number of female finishers increased over the period of the study. Though men also had significantly better finishing times over the same period. In terms of age, middle-aged competitors were the biggest and the fastest age-group between 2014 and 2019.The strength of this study lies in its novelty. It is the first research project to directly examine the participation and performance of Nordic walking marathoners between 2014 and 2019 in terms of gender and age.