That's interesting to me, because one of the few athletic categories where men and women are relatively evenly matched is long distance hiking and running. The current appalachain trail speed record is held by a woman for example. In general (if pack weights are proportionate), men and women can happily hike long distances together at the same pace, which is not so true for some other sports.

100%. Ann Trason often was first overall in ultras: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ann_Trason. I think it may be that over extremely long endurance events, having more muscle mass goes from being an advantage to a disadvantage. Some more information: https://ultrarunninghistory.com/hall-of-fame/hall-of-fame-an....

True, but men tend to be physically larger and heavier.

My guess is any differences are very general and relevant over population, and can be compensated by training.