Search arXiv⌕ Search
Home/Archive/arXiv

arXiv · 2608.14776

NRCD: An Open Database of Collegiate Running with Unified Performance Standardization

Jonathan A. Karr Jr.·Ryan M. Fryer·Ben Darden·Nicholas Pell·Kayla Ambrose·Evan Hall·Ramzi K. Bualuan·Nitesh V. Chawla
View original source ↗Read source document ↗Export metadata ↓

Abstract

Collegiate running in the United States generates thousands of race results annually in cross country and track and field, yet no large-scale dataset has been publicly available for research. Existing websites such as Athletic.net, MileSplit, and TFRRS host results but do not support bulk download, restricting prior analyses to ~500 performances, often skewing studies toward male athletes. We introduce the National Running Club Database (NRCD), the first openly available collegiate running dataset at scale: 143,868 approved performances from 31,351 athletes across 1,423 meets in four sports (cross country (XC), indoor and outdoor track, and road races), 36.2% women, spanning 2003-2026. Meets from August 2023 onward carry comprehensive course distance, elevation gain and loss, weather at race time, and track venue metadata (99.9% of XC rows with weather fields). NRCD is community-governed through open submission and expert approval and is maintained as a live database whose meet volume has grown yearly. We release a unified performance standardization framework that operationalizes established distance, elevation, and heat adjustments in one pipeline; XC-only validation; heat is a Hadley-band heuristic. We recommend gender-stratified modeling. On XC, full standardization lowers median within-athlete cross-meet variability by 51.1% (women) and 35.4% (men) versus raw times. We release the dataset and pipeline with a Python package `nrcd' under FAIR principles, supporting longitudinal athlete modeling, environmental-confounder studies, and gender-equity research in collegiate sport.

Explore related subjects

cs.LGcs.CYcs.IR

Keep this discovery

Explore connections, maps & timelines

BibTeXRIS

Jonathan A. Karr Jr., Ryan M. Fryer, Ben Darden, Nicholas Pell, Kayla Ambrose, Evan Hall, Ramzi K. Bualuan, Nitesh V. Chawla. 2026-08-26. NRCD: An Open Database of Collegiate Running with Unified Performance Standardization. https://arxiv.org/abs/2608.14776

Cite the original work for its findings. Save a collection to share your selection of sources.

KEEP EXPLORING

Related papers

arXiv2026

Online Regularized Statistical Learning in Reproducing Kernel Hilbert Space With Non-Stationary Data

We study recursive regularized learning algorithms in the reproducing kernel Hilbert space (RKHS) with non-stationary online data streams. We introduce the concept of a random Tikhonov regularization path and decompose the tracking error of the algorithm's output for the regularization path into random difference equations in RKHS. We show that the tracking error vanishes in mean square and almost surely if the regularization path is slowly time-varying. Then, leveraging the monotonicity of inverse operators and the spectral decomposition of compact operators, and introducing the RKHS persistence of excitation condition, we develop a dominated convergence method to prove the mean square and almost sure consistency between the regularization path and the unknown function to be learned. Especially, for independent and non-identically distributed data streams, the mean square and almost sure consistency between the algorithm's output and the unknown function is achieved if the input data's marginal probability measures are slowly time-varying and the average measure over each fixed-length time period is uniformly above a strictly positive finite Borel measure.

cs.LG↗
arXiv2026

Reflective Policy Optimization

On-policy reinforcement learning methods, like Trust Region Policy Optimization (TRPO) and Proximal Policy Optimization (PPO), often demand extensive data per update, leading to sample inefficiency. This paper introduces Reflective Policy Optimization (RPO), a novel on-policy extension that amalgamates past and future state-action information for policy optimization. This approach empowers the agent for introspection, allowing modifications to its actions within the current state. Theoretical analysis confirms that policy performance is monotonically improved and contracts the solution space, consequently expediting the convergence procedure. Empirical results demonstrate RPO's feasibility and efficacy in two reinforcement learning benchmarks, culminating in superior sample efficiency. The source code of this work is available at https://github.com/Edgargan/RPO.

cs.LG↗
arXiv2026

Transductive Off-policy Proximal Policy Optimization

Proximal Policy Optimization (PPO) is a popular model-free reinforcement learning algorithm, esteemed for its simplicity and efficacy. However, due to its inherent on-policy nature, its proficiency in harnessing data from disparate policies is constrained. This paper introduces a novel off-policy extension to the original PPO method, christened Transductive Off-policy PPO (ToPPO). Herein, we provide theoretical justification for incorporating off-policy data in PPO training and prudent guidelines for its safe application. Our contribution includes a novel formulation of the policy improvement lower bound for prospective policies derived from off-policy data, accompanied by a computationally efficient mechanism to optimize this bound, underpinned by assurances of monotonic improvement. Comprehensive experimental results across six representative tasks underscore ToPPO's promising performance.

cs.LG↗