ATHLETES CAN COMPARE THEIR PERFORMANCES AGAINST SIMILAR AGED ATHLETES ACROSS THE WORLD USING AN AGE GRADE CALCULATOR
THERE ARE SEVERAL VERSIONS OF THE CALCULATOR AVAILABLE (Runners World, Howard Grubb etcetera). HERE YOU CAN LINK TO ONE ON THE RUNBAYOU WEBSITE IN AMERICA WE USE THIS AS ITS IS BASED ON TABLES REVISED IN 2015 AND IS SIMPLE TO USE WITH NO ADVERTS AND EXPLAINS THE CONCEPT WELL.
THE ATHLETES SCORES ARE SOMETIMES REFERRED TO AS WAVA AGE GRADINGS BECAUSE THE ORIGINAL TABLES ON WHICH THE CALCULATORS WORK WERE DEVISED BY WAVA (WORLD ASSOCIATION OF VETERAN ATHLETES - NOW CALLED WMA WORLD MASTERS ASSOCIATION)
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WAVA AGE GRADING IS BASED ON THE ATHLETES PERFORMANCE AT RECOGNISED DISTANCES BASED AS A PERCENTAGE OF THE WORLD RECORD AT EACH DISTANCE. AS NEW WORLD RECORDS ARE SET THE AGE GRADE PERCENTAGES WILL DECREASE AS HAPPENED IN 2015 FOR EXAMPLE WITH THE MARATHON
AS A GUIDE THE FOLLOWING AGE GRADINGS ARE PROVIDED:-
100% APPROXIMATE WORLD RECORD
ABOVE 90% - WORLD CLASS
ABOVE 80% - NATIONAL CLASS i.e. International Level
ABOVE 70% - REGIONAL CLASS i.e. County level
OVER 60% - LOCAL CLASS i.e. Good Club Runner Level