Hey!
Have you heard? Time takes its toll. There’s no arguing with
the fact that runners peak at a certain age and then get slower. No one can peg
an exact age. Several factors are involved: fitness level, the number of years
one has been running and training regularly, nutrition, gender, state of mind.
And at any given event there are altitude, terrain, temperature, and other
weather factors such as wind and rain to contend with. It is generally conceded
that runners between the ages of 19 and 29 are at the top of their game. If they
are ever going to win a race, chances are they’ll do it when they are somewhere
between these ages.
It is often said that runners tend to improve their times
for seven years after they begin regular participation and training. But it’s
hard to imagine that this holds true at whatever age one starts to run. If you
start when you’re 65, it might be tough to continue to improve for seven years.
Who cares about times anyway? Lots of people do. While the
speed at which they run matters not one whit to many runners, arguably the
wisest ones, there are plenty of runners of all ages out there in search of
ways to cut a few seconds from their 5k or 10k time to achieve a PR “personal
record.” And it is important to them.
In order to level the playing field for runners of all ages,
something called the age-graded scale has been established. First conceived of
as early as 1989, it officially came into being in 2002 and has been gaining in
visibility and credibility ever since. It has been revised and adjusted in 2010
and most recently in 2015.
I must have had my head in the sand. I’d never heard of it in
2011 when I went to Seattle to participate in the National Cross Country Club
Championships, fondly referred to as “The Battle in Seattle.” It was new to me
in lots of ways. It took place on a golf course. I’d never run cross-country
before and dutifully inserted spikes into my racing flats—and then I couldn’t
get them out again.
The awards ceremony in a downtown Seattle hotel was a blur.
I had a little trouble finding the place and arrived late but in time to get
this array of medals that had me more than a little puzzled. Seems the women’s
70 and over team I was on had won the team event. (I suspect we were the only
team in that category, but I’m not sure.) Then I won my age group and I won the
age-graded scale for the event. I had no idea what that was. I’d never heard
the term age-graded, but who was I to argue about heading home with three big
medals clunking around my neck? I thought it was pretty cool!
Four years later I’m doing some serious research into the
age-graded scale for an article for Double Runner Magazine. It seems that in
the 21 Double Road Races that have been run during the last two-plus years,
women over the age of 57 have won the Victory Cup 12 times. Twelve times they
have bested every man and woman in the race when their score is measured by an
age-graded scale. Why?
Is the scale out of whack? Are older women running faster
than ever before? Are there more older women participating in Double Road
Races? Is there an outlier running these races? Christine Kennedy who turned 60
in 2014 has claimed nine Victory Cups and currently holds the women’s 60 and
over age group record in the 10k with a time of 39.24 could well be considered
an outlier.
I’m still pondering why. Anyone out there with some ideas?
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