Question

The record for the Boston Marathon's wheelchair division is 1 hour, 18 minutes, and 27 seconds.


The Boston Marathon is 26.2 miles long. What was the average speed of the record winner of the wheelchair division?
Round to the nearest hundredth.

At this rate, about how long would it take this competitor to complete a 30 mile race?

Answer 1

Given Boston Marathon distance = 26.2 miles = 42164.81 m

And the record time to cover this distance is 1 hour 18 minutes and 27 seconds.

Let us convert that time to seconds = 1*60*60+18*60+27 = 4707 seconds

Average speed = $\frac{total distance}{elapsed time}$

                          = $\frac{42164.81}{4707}  = 8.96 m/sec$

Time taken to complete 30 miles(48280.3 meters) at 8.96 m/sec is =

                          $\frac{distance}{average speed} = \frac{48280.3}{8.96}  = 5388.4 seconds$ = 1 hour 29 minutes 48 seconds