AGE GRADING

Age-graded tables are a series of "age factors" and "age standards" which can be used to compare performances at different ages in road races. Age-graded tables show how much a typical person's athletic performance improves during youth and declines during aging. The performances vary by event. The tables were researched by the World Association of Veteran Athletes (WAVA), the world coverning body for masters (veterans) long distance running.

The purposed of age-graded tables is two-fold:
1) To correct a person's performance, no matter what his/her age, to what it would have been (or will be) in their prime years. By doing so, all kinds of interesting comparisons can be made. You can compare back to your best performances. You can compaire your performances to other people of any age, such as open-class athletes, etc.

2) To provide each individual with a percentage value which enables them to judge his/her performance in any event without bias to age. No mattter how old one gets, this performance percentage will always be judged against the standard for one's age. As your performances decline with age, so do the world standards that the tables use to calculate your percentage, giving a true measure of your performance.

The standards correspond approximately to world record marks for a person of that age and sex in that event.

Achievement Levels Within Sex
100% Approximate World Record Level
90%+ World Class
80%+ National Class
70%+ Regional Class
60%+ Local Class

Age graded tables can be used to:
--Keep track of your progress over the years
--Compare your own performance in a given event
--Compare your own performance in different events
--Compare your progress in the current year
--Set goals for the current year and future years
--Compare back to your best-ever performance
--Compare your performance to people of any age
--Estimate your performance in new events
--Compare performances of older and younger individuals in the same or different events
--Select the best performance in an event among all age groups
--Select the best overall performance in a race
--Select outstanding athletes
--Give recognition to good performnces in the younger and older age groups
--Enable athletes at the upper end of their age groups to compete on an equal level with those at the lower end of their age groups.
--Make the competition more interesting and exciting
--Make awards more meaningful
--Establish medal standards

Age Graded Times
The age graded times compute your time and age into an age graded time for yourself when you theoretically were in your peak running performance years (age 30-35). The computations begin at age 36, and a different multiplication factor is used for each single age.

These results were compiled by:
S. Mark Courtney, The Runner's High, Grove City, PA
www.runhigh.com

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