eRaceWalk / Calculators / Age Grading

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Calculators > AGE GRADING

NOTE: If a red "Java Enabled" does not appear at right between the arrows --> <--, you MUST change your browser settings to enable Java/JavaScript in order to use this calculator.

A Four-Part Series:

Age Grading

Age Grading - Calculation Notes

Age Grading - Non-Standard Distances

Age Grading - Calculator

This page calculates the age-graded percentage and age-adjusted time for all WAVA supported ages (5-100) and walking distances (1500m, mile, 3K, 5K, 8K, 10K, 15K, 20K, Half Marathon, 25K, 30K, 40K, Marathon and 50K) PLUS some popular running distances (mile, 5K, 10K, 20K, Half Marathon and Marathon). This calculator uses the current (2006) version of the WAVA age-graded tables.

The calculator allows you

to age-grade up to five performances at the same or different distances and, based on estimates of equivalent effort,

to compare walking and running performances at six popular distances

to estimate your finish times for other distances (walking or running)

to estimate your age-adjusted finish times for other distances (walking or running)

to estimate your finish times as if you were any age from 5 to 100

Use the calculator to answer the following types of questions:

Based on my recent 5K or 10K times, what is a reasonable goal for me in the 20K?

At age 54, do my slower times really indicate poorer performances?

Given my recent best times, which distance offers me the best opportunity for improvement?

How do my current walking times stack up against my running times in high school?

Did that runner who passed me in the race this weekend REALLY beat me?

Who was the age-graded winner of our 5K / 10K / 20K extravaganza last Saturday?

Age grading is a subjective process based on careful analysis of "world best" times at each age for both males and females. It is NOT an exact science. At the same time, it provides one of the best-available tools for evaluating, forecasting, and comparing walking and/or running performances. Note also that all of the distance comparisons are based on your being physically able to do the various distances, and to have trained at least as well for those distances as you trained for the distance entered. Being able to perform at the 75% level for 5K in no way infers that you can simply go out and perform at the same level in a 50K. With these caveats in mind, we invite you to explore the world of age grading as you have never been able to do so before.

The performance percentage values shown below estimate how your race times compare to a "world best" time for the same age-gender-distance combination. For example, an 80% estimates the race pace to be 80% of a "world best" pace. The adjusted finish times shown below estimate what your finish time would be if you were in your prime years of 20-29. If you are now in those prime years, the adjusted finish times are the same as the actual finish time entered. For a detailed explanation of these values, please see the Calculation Notes page.

ERROR NOTE: Times generating percentages less than 10% or more than 105% are assumed to be data-entry errors and are not accepted. Both conditions would be highly unlikely. For example, to go under 10%, you would have to take more than 60 minutes to walk a mile. To go over 105%, you would have to race 5% faster than the current world record for your age-gender category.

And now, on to the calculator.


CALCULATOR - To operate, follow the 6 steps listed below for each of 1-5 people. The calculator only operates for persons (columns) for which a specific "W-" (walk event) or "R-" (run event) has been selected.


STEPS:	PERSON 1	PERSON 2	PERSON 3	PERSON 4	PERSON 5
1. Select distance:
2. Select gender:
3. Enter race day age:
4. Enter finish time:
hours (0-19):
minutes (0-59):
seconds (0-59):

5.
6. Results:
performance percent:
adjusted finish time:

THE FOLLOWING CHARTS REFER ONLY TO PERSON 1 ABOVE

DISTANCE COMPARISONS: (same age, different distance) If you had trained to walk or run ALL of the listed distances at the same performance level as shown directly above in the field titled "performance percent," you could expect to approximate the finish times shown below in the "Actual" column. When those finish times are then age adjusted, the "Adjusted" column below shows what each of those times would probably be if you were in your prime years (i.e., age 20-29). Of course, if the age entered for Person 1 above IS in the 20 to 29 (or so) range, the "actual" and "adjusted" times will be the same. (This comparison is based on information entered in the "Person 1" column at the top of the calculator. If the Person 1 column is "not in use," the following fields will be blank.)		AGE COMPARISONS: (same distance, different age) The 3-column chart below estimates what your finish times would be at the same distance entered for Person 1 above at ages 5 to 100. These values reflect the age variations in the "world best" times for men and women as reflected in the WAVA Age Graded Tables. The age is printed to the left of the column. This table is useful in comparing your current times to those of prior years, or in predicting your future times at the same performance percentage. (This comparison is also based on information entered in the "Person 1" column at the top of the calculator. If Person 1 is "not in use," the following fields will be blank.)
ACTUAL ADJUSTED 1500M WALK MILE WALK 3K WALK 5K WALK 8K WALK 10K WALK 15K WALK 20K WALK 13.1M WALK 25K WALK 30K WALK 40K WALK 26.2M WALK 50K WALK MILE RUN 5K RUN 10K RUN 20K RUN 13.1M RUN 26.2M RUN		ACTUAL 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20-29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42	ACTUAL 43 44 45 46 47 48 49 50 51 52 53 54 55 56 57 58 59 60 61 62 63 64 65 66 67 68 69 70 71	ACTUAL 72 73 74 75 76 77 78 79 80 81 82 83 84 85 86 87 88 89 90 91 92 93 94 95 96 97 98 99 100

NOTES

1. The age grading information upon which this calculator is based was compiled by the World Association of Veteran Athletes (WAVA), and published by National Masters News. This page uses the 2006 version of the tables.

2. The "world best" times that serve as the basis for the age grading tables reflect a mathematical smoothing to compensate for distance-age-gender records that are spectacularly high, pitfully low, or have too few examples to provide a reasonable value (e.g., fastest 50K by a 99-year old racewalker). Because of the smoothing process, actual world "records" may generate a performance percentage above or below 100%.

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