As I get older my race times are getting slower. Not surprising as anyone over forty will probably experience the same effect. So age grades are an excellent tool to see how you compare, not only to other runners, but to your own scores over the years.
Runners World describe it as follows:
Age-grading your race performances can be inspiring, instructional, or just plain interesting. If you’re no longer setting personal records, age-grading shows how your current times compare to those who are younger and/or faster than you. For example, if you set your 10-mile PR at age 28, and recently ran a 10-mile race at age 54, you can input the data for both races and see which scores higher. You might discover that, although slower in absolute terms, your current times are of relatively greater quality. Using the calculator to compare recent times at different distances can show you which performances were best. Age-grading can be used to compare yourself with other runners. Using the information from race results, input the age and gender of those who finished around you to see whose performance was relatively best. (You’ll get a little boost of confidence if that younger runner who passed you near the end scored lower with his age-graded score.) Also fun: Compare your score for a race to that of the winner to see how close you were to “winning” the race.
I know for a fact that I score higher the shorter the race. My best ever age grade was 69.19% for a 5k at parkrun in October 2016 followed by 68.51% at a Marlow 5 Mile in May 2017. Even running my favourite distance of 10k, my best age grade for this distance is 67.59% for the Bearbrook 10k in August 2016. At ten miles I'm down to a best 65.92% at maidenhead in April 2017 and for a half marathon 63.94% at Milton Keynes in March 2017.
Sticking to this last result. That was not my best time for a half marathon, that was the Oxford Half in September 2015. But although this was over two minutes faster than MK, it only attracted an age grade of 62.09%.
On Saturday 30th March at parkrun I ran the 5k in 27:17 with an age grade of 68.30%. This was my third best age grade for all the 221 parkruns to date. It was a better grade than the two times in 2014 I ran under 26 minutes, a time I will never get close to again. But age grade is a little miracle for someone in their seventies. Especially if you can get in the top 20% of runners at parkrun.
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