Abstract

Selected blood indices of 14 subjects who were distributed among the first 50 finishers of the 1975 AIAW Cross-Country Championship were analyzed. The ranges for hemoglobin, hematocrit, red blood cell count, mean red blood size, mean cell hemoglobin, and mean cell hemoglobin concentration were wide and, for all but hematokrit, exceeded normal ranges for the age group in the general female population. However, the average values were within normal ranges, although all of them exept for hematocrit and red blood cell count were above average normal values. None of the hematological indices correlated significantly with performance in the race and when the 14 subjects were divided intotwo groups of seven on the basis of their performances in the race, there wereno significant differences between the two groups in any of the blood indices.The lack of a relationship betweenactual competitive performance and hematological indices in this study does not rule out the possibility that such a relationship might exist among groups of subjects who are less well-trained or more heterogeneous. Because oxygen delivery to the tissues is influenced bymore factors than those analyzed in this study, the results also do not indicate anything about possible relationships between maximal oxygen consumption and competitive performance. Verf.-Referat