So you have finished your race. Chances are someone will ask you “well, how did you do? Did you beat so and so?” you give your answer, and they might respond “you couldn’t expect to beat him/her, they’re ten years younger than you.” that statement is a recognition that age and gender make a difference when it comes to race results. Some folks at the running data center have compiled a list of “age graded tables” for various distances which take these factors into account, thus making the playing field (or should i say race course) more level. Having compiled a list of performance for both sexes of all age groups, they have produce a list of ‘best possible times” for men and women between the ages of 8 and 100. The tables for the marathon, half marathon and 10k are produced below. (purists will note these tables should be revised since the men’s 10k and marathon best possible times were eclipsed in 1998.) You can use these tables to compare how you did against your ideal same sex, same age competitor, and then compare your rating with that of anyone else.
Let’s see how this works. Suppose a 44 year old man and his 41 year old wife decide to enter the avenue of the giants marathon, and that in order to spice things a bit they make a bet; the loser washes dishes for a month. Suppose he runs 3:29:30 and she 3:38:24. Does she have to wrinkle her hands for the allotted time? Perhaps not. Lets compare their performance on the tables. We see that the “best possible time” for a 44 year old male is 2:12:44. To compute our hero’s race effort, we convert his time to minutes and divide that time into the “ideal time” also converted into minutes. 3:29:30 converts to 209.5 minutes and 2:12:44 converts to 132.73 minutes. It probably wouldn’t make much of a difference if we simply forgot about converting seconds into hundredths of a minute, but heck, pride, not to mention lots of soap suds, is on the line here. Dividing 132.73 by 209.5, we get a value of.634 (rounded off), giving him a “performance rating” of 63.4%. In comparison, the ideal time for a 41 year old female is 2:23:39, or 143.65 minutes. Converting her 3:38:24 to 218.4 minutes and doing the proper division, we get a performance rating ,657, or 65.7%. Since her 65.7% rating is higher than his 63.4% rating, it looks like hubby is assigned kp for a while.
So to answer the question, “how did you do?” look up your “ideal time” on the tables. Convert your actual time and the ideal time into minutes (60 minutes per hour.) If you are a stickler, convert the seconds into hundredths of a minute by dividing the seconds by 60 (e.g. 30 seconds =.5 minutes.), and divide your time into the ideal time to get your performance rating. Now you can compare this rating with those of your younger and older friends of either sex. Have fun!
P. S. You may wish to wait awhile after the race to do this, for especially after a marathon, the math doesn’t seem to come easily.
AGE |
MAR(M) |
MAR(W) |
1/2MAR(M) |
1/2MAR(W) |
10K(M) |
10K(W) |
8 |
2:45:55 |
3:11:18 |
1:16:12 |
1:29:21 |
34:03.7 |
39:25.0 |
9 |
2:38:09 |
2:59:42 |
1:12:49 |
1:24:03 |
32:04.7 |
37:10:07 |
10 |
2:31:56 |
2:50:42 |
1:10:09 |
1:19:58 |
31:24.4 |
35:23.0 |
11 |
2:26:34 |
2:33:47 |
1:07:06 |
1:16:46 |
30:28.1 |
34:09.0 |
12 |
2:22:46 |
2:38:03 |
1:06:16 |
1:14:16 |
29:43.0 |
33:07.0 |
13 |
2:19:23 |
2:33:06 |
1:04:51 |
1:12:17 |
29:05;7 |
32:19.0 |
14 |
2:16:32 |
2:30:02 |
1:03:41 |
1:10:42 |
28:36.0 |
31:41.0 |
15 |
2:14:11 |
2:27:12 |
1:02:44 |
1:09:28 |
28:11:0 |
31:12.0 |
16 |
2:12:14 |
2:24:57 |
1:01:57 |
1:08:29 |
27:51:0 |
30:48.0 |
17 |
2:10:37 |
2:23:10 |
1:01:20 |
1:07:42 |
27:35.0 |
30:31.0 |
18 |
2:09:17 |
2:21:46 |
1:00:49 |
1:07:07 |
27:22.0 |
30:17.0 |
19 |
2:08:11 |
2:20:41 |
1:00:24 |
1:06:39 |
27:11.0 |
30:07.0 |
20 - 34 |
2:06:50 |
2:18:51 |
59:39 |
1:05:48 |
26:58.0 |
29:55.0 |
35 |
2:06:50 |
2:18:51 |
59:39 |
1:05:48 |
26:58.0 |
30:00.0 |
36 |
2:06:50 |
2:18:51 |
59:39 |
1:06:00 |
27:06.0 |
30:14.0 |
37 |
2:06:50 |
2:19:09 |
59:55 |
1:06:32 |
27:17.0 |
30:28.0 |
38 |
2:07:11 |
2:20:14 |
1:00:19 |
1:07:03 |
27:29.0 |
30:43.0 |
39 |
2:08:04 |
2:21:21 |
1:00:45 |
1:07:35 |
27:40.0 |
30:58.0 |
40 |
2:08:58 |
2:22:29 |
1:01:10 |
1:08:04 |
27.52.1 |
31:13.0 |
41 |
2:09:53 |
2:23:39 |
1:01:37 |
1:08:42 |
28:04.0 |
31:28.0 |
42 |
2:10:49 |
2:24:50 |
1:02:03 |
1:09:16 |
28:16.0 |
31:44.0 |
43 |
2:11:46 |
2:26:02 |
1:02:30 |
1:09:51 |
28:29.0 |
8:00:00 |
44 |
2:12:44 |
2:27:15 |
1:02:58 |
1:10:26 |
28:41.0 |
32:16.0 |
45 |
2:13:42 |
2:28:29 |
1:03:26 |
1:11:02 |
28:54.0 |
32:34.0 |
46 |
2:14:43 |
2:29:46 |
1:03:56 |
1:11:39 |
29:07.0 |
33:50.0 |
47 |
2:15:45 |
2:31:05 |
1:04:24 |
1:23:17 |
29:21.0 |
33:07.0 |
48 |
2:16:47 |
2:32:24 |
1:04:54 |
1:12:56 |
29:34.0 |
33:25.0 |
49 |
2:17:51 |
2:33:26 |
1:05:24 |
1:13:35 |
29:48.1 |
33:43.0 |
50 |
2:18:55 |
2:35:08 |
1:05:55 |
1:14:15 |
30:02. |
34:02.0 |
51 |
2:20:03 |
2:36:35 |
1:06:27 |
1:14:57 |
30:17.0 |
34:25.0 |
52 |
2:21:11 |
2:38:03 |
1:07 |
1:15:39 |
30:32.0 |
34:41.0 |
53 |
2:22:21 |
2:38:33 |
1:07:33 |
1:16:23 |
30:47.0 |
35:00.0 |
54 |
2:23:22 |
2:41:04 |
1:08:07 |
1:17:07 |
31:03.0 |
35::20:00 |
55 |
2:24:34 |
2:42:38 |
1:08:41 |
1:17:52 |
31:18.0 |
35:42.0 |
56 |
2:26:01 |
2:44:16 |
1:09:17 |
1:18:40 |
31:35.0 |
36:04.0 |
57 |
2:27:19 |
2:45:57 |
1:09:55 |
1:19:29 |
31:52.0 |
36:27.0 |
58 |
2:28:38 |
2:47:40 |
1:10:32 |
1:20:19 |
32:09.0 |
36:49.0 |
59 |
2:29:59 |
2:49:25 |
1:11:11 |
1:21:10 |
32:27.0 |
37:13.0 |
60 |
2:31:21 |
2:51:13 |
1:11:50 |
1:22:-1 |
32:45.0 |
37:37.0 |
61 |
2:32:50 |
2:53:08 |
1:12:32 |
1:22:57 |
33:04.0 |
38:03.0 |
62 |
2:34:20 |
2:55:06 |
1:13:15 |
1:23:54 |
33:24.0 |
38:29.0 |
63 |
2:35:53 |
2:57:06 |
1:13:59 |
1:24:53 |
33:44.0 |
38:56.0 |
64 |
2:36:26 |
2:59:10 |
1:14:44 |
1:25:53 |
34:05.0 |
39:23.0 |
65 |
2:39:02 |
3:01:16 |
1:15:30 |
1:26:54 |
34:26.0 |
39:52.0 |
66 |
2:40:47 |
3:03:34 |
1:16:20 |
1:28:01 |
34:49.0 |
30:23.0 |
67 |
2:42:35 |
3:05:55 |
1:17:11 |
1:29:09 |
35:12.0 |
40:54.0 |
68 |
2:44:24 |
3:08:20 |
1:19:03 |
1:30:20 |
35:36.0 |
41:27.0 |
69 |
2:46:17 |
3:10:49 |
1:18:57 |
1:31:32 |
36:01.0 |
42:00.0 |
70 |
2:48:11 |
3:13:21 |
1:19:52 |
1:32:46 |
36:26.1 |
42:34.0 |
71 |
2:50:19 |
3:16:11 |
1:20:53 |
1:34:08 |
36:54.0 |
43:12.0 |
72 |
2:52:30 |
3:19:05 |
1:21:55 |
1:35:33 |
37:22.0 |
43:52.0 |
73 |
2:54:44 |
3:22:04 |
1:22:59 |
1:37:00 |
37.52.3 |
44:32.0 |
74 |
2:57:02 |
3:25:09 |
1:24:05 |
1:38:30 |
38:23.0 |
45:14.0 |
75 |
2:59:24 |
3:28:20 |
1L25:13 |
1:40:03 |
38:54.0 |
45L56.4 |
76 |
3:02:04 |
3:31:55 |
1:26:30 |
1:41:47 |
39:29.0 |
22:45:00 |
77 |
3:04:49 |
3:35:38 |
1:27:49 |
1:43:36 |
40:05.0 |
47:35.0 |
78 |
3:07:40 |
3:39:28 |
1:29:10 |
1:45:28 |
40:43.0 |
48:27.0 |
79 |
3:10:35 |
3:43:27 |
1:30:34 |
1:47:25 |
41:21.0 |
49:21.0 |
80 |
3:13:37 |
3:35:25 |
1:32:01 |
1:49:26 |
43:31.0 |
50:17.0 |
81 |
3:17:09 |
3:52:24 |
1:33:42 |
1:51:47 |
43:46:00 |
51:23.0 |
82 |
3:20:48 |
3:37:25 |
1:35:07 |
1:54:14 |
43:37.0 |
52:31:00 |
83 |
3:24:47 |
4:02:40 |
1:37:17 |
1:56:48 |
44:27.0 |
53:42.0 |
84 |
3:28:34 |
4:08:29 |
1:39:10 |
1:59:29 |
45:19.0 |
54:57.0 |
85 |
3:22:40 |
4:13:53 |
1:41:08 |
2:02:17 |
46:14.0 |
56:15.0 |
86 |
3:37:48 |
4:21:01 |
1:43:36 |
2:05:46 |
47:28.0 |
57:53.0 |
87 |
3:43:10 |
4:28:33 |
1:46:11 |
2:09:28 |
48:33.0 |
58:40.0 |
88 |
3:48:50 |
4:36:33 |
1:48:53 |
2:13:24 |
49:48.0 |
1:01:26 |
89 |
3:54:46 |
4:45:02 |
1:51:45 |
2:17:34 |
51:08.0 |
1:03:22 |
90 |
4:02:01 |
4:54:03 |
1:54:45 |
2:22:00 |
52:31.0 |
1:05:26 |
91 |
4:10:02 |
5:06:55 |
1:59:05 |
2:28:20 |
54:31:00 |
1:08:34 |
92 |
4:19:31 |
5:20:54 |
2:03:44 |
2:35:16 |
56:41.0 |
1:11:38 |
93 |
4:30:09 |
5:36:22 |
2:08:46 |
2:42:52 |
59:01.0 |
1:15:12 |
94 |
4:41:29 |
5:53:18 |
2:14:14 |
2:51:16 |
1:01:33 |
1:19:08 |
95 |
4:53:48 |
6:12:033 |
2:20:11 |
3:00:24 |
1:04:10 |
1:23:30 |
96 |
5:16:40 |
6:47:02 |
2:31:15 |
3:18:00 |
1:09:28 |
1:31:42 |
97 |
5:43:24 |
7:29:18 |
2:44:14 |
3:39:09 |
1:15:31 |
1:41:02 |
98 |
6:15:04 |
8:21:20 |
2:59:38 |
4:05:23 |
22:44.0 |
1:54:08 |
99 |
6:55:10 |
9:27:01 |
3:16:13 |
4:38:43 |
1:31:28 |
2:10:02 |
100 |
7:39:53 |
10:17:46 |
3:41:05 |
5:22:33 |
1:42:15 |
2:31:06 |