WhythePineTrailRunUsesAge-Grading

Why the Pine Trail Run Uses Age-Grading

As you may know, the Pine Trail Run has calculated age-graded times and presented agegraded awards. I'm hoping that calculating age-graded times will become popular in U.S. races with the Pine Trail Run leading the way.

I have communicated to many runners about age-grading. It seems to be a polarizing subject - many people think it is great, others are vocal about disliking it. I really believe in age-grading and feel most people don't really understand how it can be used and its benefits. This is my attempt to explain the benefits. First I will present the Pine Trail Run age-grading survey question results. Then I will discuss what age grading is and the benefits of using age-grading. Then I will present some interesting age-grading facts and age-graded examples. Note that this discussion is only intended to apply to running, although forms of age-grading are used in many sports.

Pine Trail Run survey results First, thanks to all who completed a survey. They have been, and will continue to be, very helpful in improving our race.

The age-grading survey statement is: "I liked using age and gender grading to determine an age-graded winner." The 2018 survey results had 45% of the respondents agreeing and 20% disagreeing, the rest were neutral. The 2019 survey results were 67% agreeing and 10% not agreeing. After the 2018 race we gave out age group awards and top 3 agegraded awards (no ungraded awards for the overall top 3). Hearing your feedback, for the 2019 race we gave out the traditional age group and top 3 male/female ungraded awards. In addition, we gave out an award to the top age-graded runner. It is not surprising that the survey scores improved from the 2018 race to the 2019 race due to the change in awards. What is surprising is that some runners still didn't like age grading in 2019 even though we presented all of the traditional awards that the other races present.

What is age grading? Here I discuss what age-grading is and a little history of it. This will be a bit of a dry read (sorry, I'm an engineer).

Age-grading is a way of applying a handicap to a runner's time, similar to handicaps used in golf and bowling, in order to give all participants the ability to compete. With age-grading the handicap is based on age instead of ability. The first common form of age grading was the creation of the Masters division (age 40+). This allowed for runners past their running peak years to still compete for a prize, but really doesn't make much sense. For instance, for the half marathon, based on age specific records, by age 40 men have slowed down 5.2 sec./mile, whereas by age 45 males have slowed down 12.2 sec./mile. Thus the master division only helps men in their early 40's.

As road races became more popular age-grading using 10 year age groups became common. In large races the 10 year age groups still didn't work. For example, continuing with the male half marathon race, men slow down an additional 14.8 sec./mile between

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the ages of 40 and 50. Thus 5 year age groups have become standard for large races. Most small races still use 10 year age groups, otherwise most runners would be receiving place medals.

Because our drop-off in capability accelerates with age, competing in 5 year age groups becomes increasingly difficult as we enter our 50's, 60's and beyond . Again with the male half marathon example, from age 40 to 45 we slow down an additional 7.1 sec./mile, while from age 70 to 75 we slow down a whopping 15.4 sec./mile. This is why competitive runners such as myself look forward to aging into the next age group (I was devastated when I came in 2nd in my age group in the Lost Dutchman 10k when I was 59, losing out to a 55 year old kid).

While age groups are fun and keep our competitive spirit alive, there still can be a better way of accommodating the effects of aging. This is where the age standards come into play. Without going into all the gory detail, the age standards are tables of factors of 1.000 or less, for ages 5 through 100 and road race distances of 5k through 200k. There are tables for both female and male. The factors are roughly calculated by dividing the "open class" world record for the distance by the world record at the given age for the same distance. For example, for the male half marathon, the open class record is 58:01, or 3481 seconds and 1:05:02 (3902 seconds) for a 50 year old. Thus the age factor for a 50 year old male running a half marathon is 3481/3902 = .8921. Similarly, for a 50 year old female half marathon, the age factor is 3871 sec open class record divided by the 4381 seconds age record, which is .8836. For the brave, or insomniac, further information on how the age factor tables were developed and the actual tables are available at GitHub AlanLyttonJones/Age-Grade-Tables: Tables for grading road-running performances based on gender and age. Okay, hopefully I haven't lost you.

So what do the age factors mean and how are they used? The age factor reflects the real effects of aging that are well documented via many street races. Multiplying a runner's actual race time by his age factor results in an age-graded time. This age-graded time removes the effect of aging and allows all runners in a race to be compared to each other on a relative running ability basis. The Pine Trail Run uses both age-grading and gender grading. Gender grading takes age-grading one step further by calculating a gender factor that accounts for the difference between the male and female open class records. This results in an additional factor less than 1 being applied to women's times.

Why age-grading Here I will hopefully inspire you to appreciate and use age-graded timing. Age-grading gives us hope and encouragement while the natural loss of ability with age is discouraging. It can be used for: Self competition

Every race you have a shot at an age-graded personal record (PR). Whereas without age-grading our ability to PR rapidly decreases with age as we pass our prime.

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 Friendly competition Age-grading allows a 40 year father to have a real competition with his 15 year old

son or daughter. Or a 70 year old grandmother can compete with her 25 year old grandson (loser

buys dinner). Relative competition

Maybe your goal is to finish in the top 50% of runners. Without age-grading it

becomes increasingly difficult with age. With age-grading, every year you have the

chance to improve your relative ranking as you improve your training and relative

fitness level.

Age-grading interesting facts

The male age-grading tables were first created in 2004 and the female tables in

2006. The female tables were updated in 2010. Both tables were updated again in 2015

and then to the current tables in 2020. Tables were created for both track and street (road)

races. Masters Long Distance Running (MLDR) of USA Track & Field (USATF) has approved

the tables.

The male age factors do not change with distances from the half marathon and

longer races. The female age factors do not change with distance from the marathon and

longer races.

The age factors for males 19 to 29 years old and females 22 to 29 years old are

1.000 for all distances. So you have a reason to look forward to turning 30!

For those of you who are interested, some age-graded timing math (apologies for the

math to my editor, Miss Elsa)

A 45 year old female runs a 20K course in 1:50:00, which is 6600 seconds. Per the

female table the age factor is .9318, so the female age-graded time is 6600 x .9318 =

6150 seconds (1:42:30). Applying the gender factor of .8938, her final age and gender

graded time is 6150 x .8938 = 5497 seconds, or 1:31:37.

A 45 year old male runs the same course in 1:40:00, which is 6000 seconds. Per

the male table the age factor is .9308, so the male age-graded time is 6000 x .9308 =

5585 seconds, or 1:33:05. Since there is no gender factor applied to the male, 1:33:05

is his final age and gender graded time.

Note that the Pine Trail Run uses the 20K (12.4 miles) road factors to approximate the difficulty level of the 9 mile trail race, the 6K road factors for the 5k trail race and the 50K road factors for the 50K.

Thanks,

Scott Kehl Race Director Pine Trail Run

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