Marathons produce not just champions but also great health benefits, especially for older, slower and first time runners, says study. Lower blood pressure and aortic stiffening in healthy participants equivalent to four-year reduction in vascular age, are some of the benefits of running a marathon, say researchers.

Published in Journal of the American College of Cardiology, the study emphasised on the benefits of running a marathon in slowing the ageing process. The researchers used a cohort of 138 healthy, first time marathon runners from 2016 and 2017 London Marathon. They examined the participants before training and after marathon completion to determine if age-related aortic stiffening would be reversible with real-world exercise training.

The training decreased the systolic and diastolic blood pressure by 4 and 3mmHg. Overall aortic stiffness reduced with training and was most pronounced in the distal aorta with increases in distensibility of 9%.