The Kaike triathletes' hematocrit values. With relation to their competition results

The subjects were 20 male triathletes in the 4th Kaike Triathlon, held in Tottori during 1984. The competitors' hemogram values were estimated at rest, during, and after the competition. The results were related to their competition order by methods of rank correlations and cluster analysis, using the average distance method. The first cluster, including an competition order is composed of hematocrit at rest, after swimming, after bicycling, and after the finish. The rank correlation coefficients between competition order and hematocrit values were significant (p less than 0.05) at each of the four periods, especially after swimming, though the probability is the same. We found that lower hematocrit values correlate with excellent competition results, as the competitors' hematocrit values could be elevated during exercise if their hematocrit values are in the low normal density whilst at rest.