Each time I’ve run a marathon, I’ve noticed that around mile 20, the casualties also seem to be overwhelmingly male. At the London Marathon, you see guys being stretchered off by the St John Ambulance volunteers with just a couple of miles to go or being wrapped in foil blankets and rolled to the sides of the road.

That, I’m sure, is all about pacing. Women are more cautious and perhaps nervous about running a long way, so we start slow and build – and that leads to fewer earth-shattering cramps. And the science backs this up: a Danish study looked at the results from over 130 marathons and found that women are nearly 19% better than men at running with a controlled and consistent pace.

Back in 2018, Strava also looked at the data of 10,706 runners who completed the 2017 London Marathon and found that women were ‘significantly better’ at pacing – with the best pacers being women aged over 60.

Women are built to run stronger and longer than men – here’s why