IM Triathletes and Ages

I recently read a couple articles on Slowtwitch that contained the writer's picks to win The Ironman World Championship race this Saturday (men's favorites; women's favorites). Actually, these are showings or his take on their odds and they are not necessarily based on previous results as far as I can tell. But the names weren't as interesting to me as the ages, so I did a couple calculations:

The average age of the men in these picks is 33.05; if you subtract the oldest and youngest (28, 40, 40), the average age is 32.58. There is a 12-year spread between oldest and youngest; that spread is 9 years when the outliers* are removed.

The average age of the women in these picks is 31.58; if you subtract the oldest and youngest (30, 45), the average age is 30.4. There is a 15-year spread between oldest and youngest; that spread is 4 years when the outliers* are removed.

* I say outliers, but there is really only 1: Natascha Badmann, aged 45. I think she is in the list only because the writer likes her, she has won previously, and she won an IM earlier this year. I do not think she has a chance at winning, but that's just me.

Here are the lists of racers from the articles:

Men Age: Name

Women Age: Name

39: Craig Alexander 36: Andreas Raelert 36: Marino Vanhoenacker 28: Sebastian Kienle 35: Dirk Bockel 39: Chris McCormack 31: Pete Jacobs 32: Jordan Rapp 37: Rasmus Henning 36: Andy Potts 36: Eneko Llanos 32: Michael Raelert 32: Timothy O'Donnell 37: Timo Bracht 33: Frederik VanLierde 33: Ronnie Schildknecht 36: Viktor Zyemtsev 30: Joe Gambles 40: Cameron Brown 34: Faris Al-Sultan 40: Greg Bennett 34: Tom Lowe

34: Caroline Steffen 31: Mirinda Carfrae 34: Leanda Cave 34: Rachel Joyce 35: Mary Beth Ellis 35: Kelly Williamson 34: Rebekah Keat 31: Linsey Corbin 32: Gina Crawford 34: Meredith Kessler 30: Caitlin Snow 45: Natascha Badmann

Basically what this says is that currently, based on only the names in this list, if you are a female Ironman triathlete, your best years will likely be between 30 and 35. Or maybe there just are not that many older females, and some of these ladies' best is yet to come. What it tells me is that the next few years could be some of my best! And if you are a male Ironman triathlete, you have 9 years to do some of your best work.