One of the main doubts of master runners is how good their performance is. As Bill Pierce, Scott Murr, and Ray Moss point out in their book Run Less, Run Faster, there are ways to find out through the WMA conversion tables.

What is the WMA age classification?

The World Masters Athletics Association (WMA) publishes tables every year in which, depending on the age of the athlete and the distance run, a factor is multiplied by the mark, resulting in a time adapted according to the runner’s age.

Formerly known as the World Association of Veteran Athletes (WAVA), this organization was founded in Sweden in 1977. A committee within the organization compiled a series of age factors and standards for rating athletic performance by gender and age.

The Master age-graded tables covered all standard track and field events and standard long-distance running and walking events. WAVA later changed its name to World Masters Athletics (WMA).

These tables were updated and expanded in 1994 to ages 8 to 19 in a new National Masters News publication entitled Age-Graded Tables.

This is the formula for the calculation

This formula uses the time the individual runs according to the distance (taken to seconds) X Factor for the runner’s age (the same must be looked up according to the current age within the WMA table).

Here is an example showing how to perform the calculation:

• A 53-year-old man runs a 5K race in 23:10. From the male age-graded tables for 5K road races, the factor for 53-year-old men is 0.8536.
• Multiply 23:10 by 0.8536 to get 19:47. (Note: convert to seconds, multiply by the WMA factor, then convert back to MM:SS).
• This man’s age-graded time for 5K is 19:47.
• The 5K world record is 12:37.
• When comparing this time to the world record: 12:37 / 19:47 X 100% = 63.8%.
• In this case, the performance shown for the individual’s age is 63.8% of the world standard for this distance.

Controversy

Of course, these tables are not without controversy and criticism. Many point out that African and Chinese runners monopolize the age factors for both male and female youth, and for some, this leads to questioning the age integrity of some of these elite young athletes.

On some occasions, it may also happen that some athletes, whether young or even over 40 years of age, can achieve a performance within the level that the tables indicate in their margins of possibilities, although this does not apply so much in long-distance races, especially in distances of 5k to 15k. On the other hand, there may also be cases where higher-level runners (both young and old) fail to achieve the levels expected in the tables.

Despite these anomalies in the data, and after several years of adjustment, the WMA age-graded tables are generally considered the world standard for age factors related to athletic performance.

In fact, the WMA Council has approved the use of the updated Age-Grading Factors: “WMA Council accepts the statistical analysis undertaken on their behalf by the expert panel on Age-Grading. The outcomes of that analysis are implemented globally from the 1st of January 2023 until further notice by all competition organizers affiliated to and operating within the Master Athletics’ structure.”

Source: Running after 40: The Complete Guide.

Personalized plans with running.COACH

Soymaratonista.com together with running.COACH offers personalized English plans that fit your current conditions and future competitions. running.COACH is a customized plan for running with iOS and Android applications.

In addition, with this subscription, you get 30 days on the running. You can create a 100% personalized and dynamic training plan with the COACH app.

USE PROMO CODE: B6TQTH

GET YOUR PLAN NOW!